THE ongoing funding row between the SPFL hierarchy and the BBC deepened last night when Barbara Slater, the head of BBC Sport, told the league to forget about trying to squeeze a bigger share out of the contract which the public service broadcaster has to screen Scottish domestic matches.

Neil Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, said only last month that the consensus among the SPFL board was that the BBC was selling the Scottish game short when it comes to the deal, now in its final year, by which the BBC currently pays around £1m for the right to screen a domestic highlights package on a Sunday night, in comparison to the £68m annually which goes to Match of the Day south of the border.

While senior sources in the Scottish league feel the broadcaster should be obliged to pay at least the equivalent per head of population north of the border, which could see the Scottish game earn closer to £7m out of the deal, Slater yesterday defended the corporation's position and said that paying any more just didn't represent value.

"That is just the law of the market," said Slater, speaking in Edinburgh at a Scotland Policy Conference seminar into the future of sport in Scotland. "As you can imagine, it is absolutely the right thing for us to do, as a licence fee funded organisation, to get the best possible value rights that we can. There is a market, and it is not the BBC which dictates that.

"It was difficult and we take a lot of things into consideration when we bid for rights, one of those for instance is 'cost per viewer hour'. We look at what it costs per viewer to show them an event. Actually, even though there is a significant disparity between the rights that we may pay for one event over another, in terms of our Match of the Day contract that delivers a lower 'cost per viewer hour' figure. So that has to be my answer on it."

These are challenging times for the public service broadcaster, with pressure building on the licence fee and many commercial rivals keen to take over their portfolio. The BBC recently surrendered rights to the Open golf to SkySports from Royal Troon next summer and Slater admitted the broadcaster must be increasingly resourceful.

"The BBC is is not immune from cutbacks and budgetary restraints," she said. "Are we disappointed to lose the Open golf live? Of course we are. I know that significantly more money was paid for those rights by a paid-for broadcaster. It is very difficult to balance all of the interests from many, many different sports."