Hearts v Hibs Edinburgh derby not included in festive Scottish football TV fixtures

The next Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibs at Tynecastle is set for another TV snub after the SPFL announced the Sky Sports fixtures for the festival period.

The league’s governing body released a list of seven games, going from December 15 up until the Old Firm meeting between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox on January 2, the same day Hibs are set to visit their rivals.

Hibs will find themselves on Sky Sports twice in the period. Their trip to Rangers has been moved to Thursday, December 15 will be shown live on Sky Sports, while their home match with Celtic on Wednesday, December 28 has also been selected.

The last meeting between the Capital rivals at Tynecastle was also not shown on TV with the broadcaster having used up their quota at the stadium prior to the April 9 meeting, which Hearts won 3-1. It was the first Edinburgh derby in 15 years to take place on a Saturday at 3pm.

Andy Halliday scores to make it 3-1 to Hearts against Hibs in the last Edinburgh derby to be held at Tynecastle. Picture: SNS

This season’s clash has been rejected despite an increase in the quota from four games to five allowed at each stadium per campaign, an agreement which came into immediate effect with Sky’s contract renewal with the SPFL late last month.

Under the revision of the deal, Hearts will have the option to screen the game live via their pay-per-view channel, which will be accessible to supporters on both sides, as the Monday afternoon kick-off falls outwith the Saturday blackout times of 2.45pm to 5.15pm.

The other games selected by Sky in the run up to Christmas are Celtic’s trip to Aberdeen and Rangers’ visit of Ross County on December 17 and December 23, respectively.

Hearts and Hibs drew the first derby of this season when Martin Boyle’s last-gasp equaliser cancelled out a Lawrence Shankland opener at Easter Road.

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