Has the RFL issued a tender or does anyone have any insider info on what might happen? Did Bikko infer that ESPN might try and bid for it/ part of it?

Given the financial situation it is imeprative that SL clubs get a good deal but if ESPN does not bid it looks as if we will have to go cap in hand to Sky

when does it run out?

This is the last season.

Panic stations. They'd be mad to offer us half what they do now. The terrestrial channels aren't interested and any non-sky sports channels are a risk as they often disappear within a year.

This is the time the RFL should be hiring some Union administrators on a consultant basis to give us the commercial ability to approach these crucial negotiations.

You saw what happened to the Naboo when they brought the Jedi in to negotiate with the Trade Federation.

Are IMG selling them again for us?

Forgot all about this!

Would be good if someone like ESPN came in to take on at least one game a week. The more games on TV, the more video referees we get which is always a bonus to the game itself. Plus, I'm not really satisfied with just my Friday and Saturday SL games on TV (especially since I usually miss the Friday game due to Hull playing). A Sunday game or two would be ideal!

Sky have started to introduce the Sunday games through the summer months over the last year or two IIRC, probably down to the fact there's no "Super Sunday" on during June/July.

That is a ball ache isn't it, especially as over the years since Wigan switched in 2001, more and more clubs have moved to Friday, (and before anyone says its not the same watching it delayed after on Sky+ or whatever).



ESPN aren't going anywhere. They are a globally brand with 30 years of successful broadcasting behind them. A far cry from Setanta.

it makes sense for SKY to keep the amount they put in to the game at the same level it is at now (at the very least), in order to maintain the standards of the competition.

If they reduce their TV deal, they will inevitably be reducing the standard of product they can offer to their customers.

In my view the product quality has been reduced vastly anyway, particulary since the increase from 12 to 14 teams.

You make a good point.

Love it. Even has the dark side references with Union.

That is the first time that film has ever put a smile on my face, thankyou.

indeed



If you didn't like the star wars prequels then you're stupidpants

Oh I think the clubs are doing that quite nicely without any assistance from Sky!!!!

I wonder if the clubs REALLY know who their "customers" are and who Sky's "customers" are.

You could always find out from the media, thanks to the efforts of media managers the clubs employ

Good idea... and perhaps at the same time, this individual could also change the entire demographic of sports fan base - say from a majority being C2 (skilled working class) and D (working class) to A (upper middle class) and B (middle class) so that we can sell our TV rights for vastly more than the anticipated audience as they are deemed to be attractive for potential advertisers

Sometimes, people’s naivety in these things staggers me

have i got this right ?.

a company like gillette pays more for the right to advertise,before,during and after an RU game on sky tv than it does for a SLE game ?.

yep

No they don't. Martyn Sadler at League Publications said quite clearly about two years back that when his company looked at advertising on Sky they found it was cheaper to do so with RU matches than RL.

For the growth of the game I'd love to see them get a split package like NRL.

Friday night 2 games and Saturday 5pm on Sky.
Sunday afternoon BBC HD channel

Time to get SL onto FTA and break the Sky Monopoly. They pay us less than RU so the exclusive value is clearly not that valuable.

Indeed...ESPN are probably more "global" than SKY........

If we can get ESPN on board to show games as well as Sky I don't see how it can be bad for Super League. Having the Friday and Saturday night games on Sky and a Sunday lunchtime game on ESPN would be ideal IMO. The RFL should also look into whether having seperate rights for the playoffs would be workable. If there is a chance that it could be then why not? They are going to need all the money they can get from this new deal. The BBC, for example, won't want to show a league game every week but a live playoff game may be more tempting, as they will only be giving up four weeks of their scheduling for them.

One thing that can definitely improved on is highlight shows. One thing that there should be is a proper highlights show, preferably on Sunday night on Sky after every game has been played, with detailed analysis of how and why key tries were scored. There could also be a Soccer AM/Footy Show style programme for ESPN.

In my dream ideal world this is how the league season TV wise would go

Friday 8pm ko- Sky
Saturday 6pm ko - Sky
Sunday 12:30pm ko - ESPN

The first week of the playoffs would be like this

Friday 8pm ko - Sky
Saturday 3pm ko - BBC
Sunday 12:30 ko - ESPN
Sunday 3pm ko - BBC

then for the next two weeks followed by

Saturday 3pm ko - BBC
Sunday 3pm ko - Sky or ESPN

For the Grand Final itself I'm not too sure. It does need to be on the BBC somehow. Maybe it could be rotated between the three channels, like the Superbowl used to be in the states.

There is not a chance the scenrario above is remotely possible. How much do you think Sky would pay to show just 2 play off games??

Highlights get very poor viewing figures so Sky just would not be interested

...which is because Super League gets double the viewing figures of the Zurich Premiership on Sky.

Rugby Union's demographic is ABC1, ours is C2DE. They get more insurance companies and high-end aspirational products, especially for their international game but not so much for their tv club-game output; we get more community and mass market products.