When Heart of Midlothian host Hibs on Wednesday night the Sky Sports cameras will be 16 miles west, providing live coverage of bottom-of-the-table Livingston's Premiership clash with Motherwell. 

It will be the sixth Premiership Edinburgh derby in the last three seasons that has not been taken up by the broadcaster despite being one of the biggest games in the Scottish football calendar.

As things stand, Sky Sports can only show four games at each Premiership ground during a season and they have already selected three matches to broadcast from Tynecastle Park this campaign. Those being the 4-1 defeat to Celtic in October, the 1-0 loss to Rangers in December, plus the upcoming clash with Celtic on Sunday.

READ MORE: The many warnings Hearts failed to heed in sobering Rangers defeat

It means the broadcaster has just one selection remaining from Tynecastle for the remainder of the season. An educated guess suggests it will be left for Rangers' second visit to Gorgie after the split as they go for the Premiership title.

The Edinburgh derby in recent seasons hasn't been a popular choice for Sky Sports. 

SPFL Mediawatch informed Hearts Standard that across the past three seasons, only four of 10 Edinburgh derbies have been selected by Sky Sports for live coverage. That could rise to five in 11 if Hibs were to make it into the top six before the split and the final fixture between the sides is chosen.

In 2021/22 two of the three fixtures between the sides were aired live. The one that was not was on matchday 33 when Hibs were playing for a place in the top six. Last season, just one of four were selected. Hearts v Ross County was picked before the split meaning the final game of the campaign was not able to be shown, when the Gorgie side held off their rivals for fourth spot.

That game ended with controversy as players and coaching staff clashed. As for this season, just one of three has been picked.

READ MORE: Zander Clark Q&A: Manner of defeat, Hibs response, Hearts captain's armband

Ahead of that game in May 2023, Hearts head coach Steven Naismith voiced his concern with the current TV deal.  

"It’s a bigger issue with Scottish football," he said. "We’ve got a TV deal and an amount of games each season don’t get covered. That’s not good enough in all honesty. I think every derby across the top level should be shown on TV whether it’s the Dundee derby, the Edinburgh derby or the Old Firm.

“We have got a product here that we need to push and it’s good. I definitely agree this game should be on telly but that’s probably a discussion for the people higher up.”

The new TV deal will bring a change that is more likely to see Edinburgh derbies shown live. Starting in 2024/25, Sky Sports will have up to 60 matches to show per season "with scope to increase this over the term of the deal". As part of the deal, the number of games that Sky Sports can broadcast from each ground will increase from four to five.