MG ALBA, the Gaelic Media Service, has confirmed that it is to continue its sponsorship of the Scottish Football League Challenge Cup for the 2009 competition. The announcement was made as the draw for the first round of the tournament took place at Hampden Park.
The tournament, now in its 19th year, will again be known as the ALBA Challenge Cup and will see live televised coverage of one semi-final and the final on BBC ALBA. BBC ALBA is a partnership between MG ALBA and the BBC.
Alasdair Morrison, Chairm
an of MG ALBA, said: "We are delighted to enter into this agreement again with the Scottish Football League which will enable BBC ALBA to offer viewers national coverage of the ALBA Challenge Cup. Working with a national partner such as the Scottish Football League supports our objective of promoting Gaelic at national and community level. Televised coverage of the ALBA Challenge Cup will also bring football of that level to new audiences who rarely see their teams on television."
David Longmuir, Chief Executive of the SFL, said: "We are delighted to welcome MG ALBA as the title sponsor of the Challenge Cup for a consecutive year. Our aim has always been to improve the coverage and profile of the Challenge Cup and to increase the awareness of the true community spirit attached to the competition. The partnership links the community aims of both organisations and provides live coverage of two very important games in the competition."
mneTV will be responsible for providing coverage of the ALBA Challenge Cup as part of a comprehensive package of programming which they provide to BBC ALBA.
Allan MacDonald, Managing Director of mneTV, said: "Co-operation like this between broadcasters, production companies and sports bodies is good news for the broadcast industry in Scotland and for viewers and sports fans alike. I am pleased that mneTV is involved in covering these football games at a time of great opportunity for the production industry, allowing us to record and broadcast more sports coverage than ever before."
