Sky and BBC in danger of losing rugby league rights to ESPN

[Stan Dish]

Richard Lewis as chairman of the Rugby Football League is quite right to sell the broadcasting rights for Rugby League for as much as he can get. He also has a duty to promote the game as a whole, to get as large an audience as possible. We, as punters, want to see the best coverage we can get.

When the BBC showed rugby league matches in my youth, the programmes were usually presented by Eddie Wareing. In those days TV presentation was in it’s infancy, but Eddie’s enthusiasm was widely regarded ‘up north’ as embarassing. - We don’t need a comic figure to front our sport. We want to be taken seriously. It’s a great game.

This isn’t an attack on Sky; on the whole their product is very good. - I am sure they have grown the audience during the time they have had the broadcasting rights, but right now, we’ve got Stattler and Waldorf. In the aftermath of the Keys / Gray controversy, all TV presenters should be reminded that we mostly watch programmes despite them, not because of them.

As a nation we love the BBC. (Just go with me for a minute). If our game was shown now by the BBC it would be seen as a sort of legitimacy.Their coverage would, by it’s very nature, endorse the fact that ours is a proper game. It would get a bigger audience.We might even get some half decent presenters.

The problem as I see it, is that the BBC cannot afford the millions that Richard Lewis would like to get. But, being a terrestrial broadcaster, they could provide a larger audience. Especially once we switch over to digital. Sky, because they are effectively a pay per view organisation can afford more, but will always deliver a smaller audience. And then there’s ESPN. Money has just about killed Football. The pursuit of more and more revenue could ruin our sport too. Mr. Lewis finds himself on the horns of a dilemma.

[wiggydoran]

hopefully more channels in the race means more RL shown on TV. Does ESPN show NRL?

[THE 18th Man]

with this talk about ESPN it would be an extra £10 a month, how would people feel about a rugby league channel. it would have:

- 4 SL Matches a weekend (Friday Night, Saturday Evening, Saturday Night, Sunday Afternoon)
- NRL Matches
- Highlighht shows
- Reserve Match Highlights
- shows were Legends talk about their favourite time at their club
- talk shows about all things rugby
- plus all the other stuff like Championship, WCC, Four Nations etc

i know it wont happen but the RFL could do that and charge £10 a month and have adverts on it to cover other costs it would be great for fans. rugby is already on subscribe tv so why not put it all in one place

[exile in Tiger country]

Richard Lewis as chairman of the Rugby Football League is quite right to sell the broadcasting rights for Rugby League for as much as he can get. He also has a duty to promote the game as a whole, to get as large an audience as possible. We, as punters, want to see the best coverage we can get.

When the BBC showed rugby league matches in my youth, the programmes were usually presented by Eddie Wareing. In those days TV presentation was in it’s infancy, but Eddie’s enthusiasm was widely regarded ‘up north’ as embarassing. - We don’t need a comic figure to front our sport. We want to be taken seriously. It’s a great game.

This isn’t an attack on Sky; on the whole their product is very good. - I am sure they have grown the audience during the time they have had the broadcasting rights, but right now, we’ve got Stattler and Waldorf. In the aftermath of the Keys / Gray controversy, all TV presenters should be reminded that we mostly watch programmes despite them, not because of them.

As a nation we love the BBC. (Just go with me for a minute). If our game was shown now by the BBC it would be seen as a sort of legitimacy.Their coverage would, by it’s very nature, endorse the fact that ours is a proper game. It would get a bigger audience.We might even get some half decent presenters.

The problem as I see it, is that the BBC cannot afford the millions that Richard Lewis would like to get. But, being a terrestrial broadcaster, they could provide a larger audience. Especially once we switch over to digital. Sky, because they are effectively a pay per view organisation can afford more, but will always deliver a smaller audience. And then there’s ESPN. Money has just about killed Football. The pursuit of more and more revenue could ruin our sport too. Mr. Lewis finds himself on the horns of a dilemma.

If I remember rightly,it was only after southerner Mike Yarwood started his cheesey, very poor, impression of him that people found Eddie funny

[Nezza Faz]

The TV bargain of all is on Premier Sports TV (I think that's their name)- showing 20+ live NRL matches from Oz each month,for £6.99, which works out roughly at 35p per game.
It's on Sky ch. 433 & starts in mid March.

Got a Polo shirt pressie for Valentines from 'Down Under Leisure' & a leaflet put in the
bag to do the channel for £2.99 month ! Not sure if there's a catch' or minimum contract, but will try at that price & can always be recorded, anyway.

[simmy1]

just seen then end of boots n all tonight and noticed the games are now on the HD channels does anyone know if they are on normal sky sports 1 as well or has it gone to the Hd side if so i will be cancelling not paying any more than i have to only have it for the rugby dont watch any other sports...and def not upgrading to Hd subscription when wont be cost effective

[exile in Tiger country]

just seen then end of boots n all tonight and noticed the games are now on the HD channels does anyone know if they are on normal sky sports 1 as well or has it gone to the Hd side if so i will be cancelling not paying any more than i have to only have it for the rugby dont watch any other sports...and def not upgrading to Hd subscription when wont be cost effective

Still on standard, they just advertise the HD only to promote it.
I happily watched 15 hours on standard sky this weekend.
Well 13 and a bit, didn't enjoy the last 15 minutes of our game, and the Wakey Cas game was a bit pants.

[simmy1]

cheers im working friday night so get to watch it saturday and then drive to bradford sunday so hopefully a better weekend

[Fujiman]

just seen then end of boots n all tonight and noticed the games are now on the HD channels does anyone know if they are on normal sky sports 1 as well or has it gone to the Hd side if so i will be cancelling not paying any more than i have to only have it for the rugby dont watch any other sports...and def not upgrading to Hd subscription when wont be cost effective

Simmy Sky changed all HD to the standard channels. So what you would call normal Sky Sports 1 is not channel 401 Hope that makes sense

[THE 18th Man]

what he means is Sky Sports HD1 is on 401 and Sky Sports 1 is on 408. they have all swapped around. except for BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 who have kept theirs normal