A LACK of interest from broadcasters is the reason behind Burnley's Europa League clash with Istanbul Basaksehir not being shown live on TV.

No domestic broadcaster showed an interest in screening either leg of the Clarets fixture with the Turkish side in the Europa League third qualifying round.

After a goalless draw at the Fatih Terim Stadium last Thursday the tie is delicately poised ahead of the Turf Moor return this week, but the game won't be available to watch live.

Club officials contacted BT Sport, who had screened the second leg of the second qualifying round with Aberdeen, but were told there was no interest in showing the game.

Matt Williams, Burnley's head of football operations, said: "As soon as we came through the tie with Aberdeen we contacted BT Sport and asked if they had any appetite for showing either of the legs against Istsanbul Basaksehir and they said no because of the lack of interest from viewers.

"The Aberdeen fixture peaked with viewing figures of about 260,000. The interest in a second leg against a relatively unknown team from Turkey, albeit they finished third in the Turkish league and have some quality players, wasn't appealing to the broadcasters, so we didn't have anyone domestically who wanted to take the game."

The first leg against Aberdeen at Pittodrie wasn't shown live on TV, but after discussions between the two clubs the Clarets were able to beam it back to the Turf Moor fanzone.

But they were unable to come to a similar arrangement for last week's fixture in Turkey and the Lancashire Telegraph understands Istanbul Basaksehir wanted a significant six-figure sum from Burnley for the rights to do that.

The Clarets have since registered their disappointment at the situation with UEFA, as have the Football Association, with an FA representative accompanying Burnley on their trips abroad and present in meetings with opposition clubs.

"We had lengthy discussions with our counterparts in Turkey and their local broadcasters about doing a beam back and facilitating a stream of the first leg, which despite our best efforts and some heated conversations, we weren't able to facilitate," said Williams.

"We made it clear to them that we wouldn't be facilitating anything similar for their broadcasters or supporters, as we felt that our supporters were denied the opportunity to watch the game on a legal stream.

"We registered our disappointment with UEFA on that, as have the FA in their report back."

If Burnley progress on Thursday they are set to face Greek giants Olympiakos in the Europa League play-off round, with the first leg to be played in Greece on Thursday, August 23 and the return at Turf Moor a week later.

Olympiakos are 4-0 up against Swiss side Luzern from the first leg and preliminary discussions have already taken place about possible TV rights.

"We have spoken to Olympiakos and should we progress we don't foresee the same problems we've had in Istanbul," added Williams.

"We would expect the broadcasters would want to take both legs of the Olympiakos game, should we be fortunate enough to progress."