Thats exactly why this is a non-starter. Sky wouldn't offer anyhwere near the amount they do if they lost this.

Only for Premier League football?

As long as FTA are offering at least what Sky drop by then we are still streets ahead. Getting SL on to FTA will provide a massive boost to viewing figures and increase sponsorship to clubs and the RFL.

I beg to differ.

Exclusive rights to show the Super League is not a desirable commodity, except for Sky.

However, the recent developments re Championship football show that the BBC are more willing to invest in league sports when they are not committed to screening 40 odd games a season.

I genuinely think that SL rights would be desirable in cleverly devised packages. Maybe forget the middle package, and just devise a terrestrial package. As I say, such a package could include 1 international, 10 Sunday SL games, and the Challenge Cup.

Having ten games a season on the BBC would not stip die-hards subscribing to Sky, it would not stop people who subscribe for football/cricket but who also watch SL from watching, and it would not stop pubs from seeing weekly friday night rugby as a worhtwhile investment.

Terrestrial coverage would bring in new interest, new sponsors, and would generally help develop a sport which Sky would continue to dominate.

You've again ignored the key point though.

The BBC currently has access to Super League content which, for whatever reason, it doesn't believe has national appeal. Therefore it makes it difficult for the BBC Director of Sport to ask the Director General for £xm to screen what the corporation considers to be a regional sport, given the terms and conditions of its public service charter.

Football League has national appeal. F1 has international appeal - the BBC can easily cover those sports as part of its public service charter. The same cannot be said for RL.

Maybe, but the BBC also screen the Challenge Cup nationally.

The RFL could easily ensure that the package should include at least one Quins home game, one Celtic home game etc, and I think the BBC would treat live sports better than they do a highlights show.

At the end of the day, there is no way of knowing for sure how receptive the BBC would be to the idea of screening a small number of SL games on a Sunday afternoon.

But, one thing is for sure, the way SL rights are currently sold effectively prohibits terrestrial television from screening live SL, which is a shame.

The Challenge Cup final is a protected event and so legally, it has to be shown nationally. The Beeb shows the competition from round four nationally but I suspect that's more to build up to the final.



It's all ifs / buts / maybes. The reality is that if the BBC were that bothered to show Super League nationally, those down south wouldn't be watching Country File instead of the Super League Show.



I'd say that the current levels of coverage on TV and on Radio Five are a good indicator.



The way they are sold now is geared towards what is mutually best for all involved. Ie, the best value package in terms of finance and coverage for the RFL, along with what suits Sky. There is nothing to stop any other broadcaster from coming in with a comparable, or better, offer. It's just that to date, nobody has done.

Because nobody else wants to show two live games every week, which is pretty much the minimum if you want to storm in and win exclusive rights.

The way the rights are packaged and sold stops anyone else being interested.

And they've got the rights to the whole comp … how many games do they actually choose to broadcast?

The fact they don't choose to broadcast lower league clubs playing to 500 people doesn't mean they wouldn't broadcast Wigan V Hull in a Super League tie.

The main reason this is unworkable comes down to Sky's exclusivity. They aren't going to give anything away, especially not for the same place. There would be plenty of households that maybe struggle to afford Sky every week but keep it for the rugby league. If you gave them the option of 10 games a year for free then they might choose that instead. Therefore Sky have lost money.

It seems to me that Sky give us an offer take it or leave it, non-negotiable. Don't forget the one time we did try to negotiate over the issue of internationals then they came back with a reduced offer.

Declaration mentioned that they aren't a charity and they aren't. They pay the minimum they can to keep the sport at the level that it is at safe in the knowledge that nobody will bid anything like they do and that we need them to survive. They have us by the balls and they will take everything they can, it makes perfect sense for them.

If this new package resulted in one person cancelling their sports package then Sky have lost out. So they simply won't allow it to happen.

The idea in principle is a good one, but as has already been mentioned, is unworkable due to Sky and how much money they would offer for non-exclusivity.

Why not try this with the other competitions we have though?

Challenge Cup for instance. Sky are now showing NL/Championship games. Could they not show a lower-level Challenge Cup game also? Split the rights up so that BBC get the first two choices, and Sky (if they want them) the third choice? Better publicity would result (as Sky might actually acknowledge the Cup more if they're showing it!). Possibly even a third-round game.

BBC don't have us by the balls, so it's less of a gamble doing this with them.

I've just checked the veiwing figures for sky for the last month and the numbers are dropping like mad,the lions tour was pulling in 500k compared to our 36k national league to a high of 170k for a super league game....some games didn't reach 100k for a super league game....now thats a very big worry

As most of you expansionist believe we will get more veiwers with these far flung teams...seems people are voting with there remotes

500k isn't good for the Lions.

Hmmmm international touring team which only plays every 4 years against a club matches on 28 weeks a year (plus playoffs).....I wonder!

i have an idea and it'll work because hey im not mad.

Here it is

1. Put Radio 5 live on or whatever BBC radio channel it's on.
2. Put GPS chips in all the players boots
3. Put an animation screen up on one of those obscure 301/2/3/4 channels they have or a computer with dots with numbers on.
4. Follow the action premier manager style.

No rights lost, bobs your uncle

I like that idea, delete your post and email me the details, we have to register this today to keep its exclusivity, do not talk about your idea even to your family until we have the Radio 5 Live rights in the bag.

My dad used to tell me how the Radio Times had a drawing of a football pitch on the back page, divided up into squares, each square having a letter and number so that when a player had the ball the radio commentator could tell you what imaginary square he was in, thus allowing you to follow the game perfectly adequately from the comfort of your armchair.

Your idea just brings this up to date a little.

GPS in the ball too...or you'll just see a line of 12 moving up/down and a cluster of the other side all bunched up in the middle. if its a salford game that it...

Back to square one …

All this banging on about getting the BBC to show a game, they are stuggling to scheduale the Superleague show at the moment with F1 and other things. Not long now till full digital switch over what will they do when they can't show it on BBC2 analogue.

if you want that idea MF it's yours, go for it, no seriously.
Now if i could just remove my tongue from my cheek...

Quote ="Maximus Decimus"500k isn't good for the Lions.'" 500k not good? football ony pulls in just over one million at times We have been no were near that with any international veiwing figures Stick all your super league heads in the sand if it makes you all feel good Simple truth is they are growing with there veiwing figures were we are dropping this year Now the arguement thrown in by franchise and expanding the game to new areas is sky will be happy bigger veiwing figures..truth is this year the numbers are falling So how do we ask for more money when they point and say your games figures are falling? www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammes?

Quote ="Maximus Decimus"500k isn't good for the Lions.'" 500k not good? football ony pulls in just over one million at times We have been no were near that with any international veiwing figures Stick all your super league heads in the sand if it makes you all feel good Simple truth is they are growing with there veiwing figures were we are dropping this year Now the arguement thrown in by franchise and expanding the game to new areas is sky will be happy bigger veiwing figures..truth is this year the numbers are falling So how do we ask for more money when they point and say your games figures are falling? www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammes?

We got nearly 450k for a test against Australia down under in 2006. That was with nothing like the level of media attention given.

Your average run of the mill Premier League game gets over 1 million. Even England RU games get about 750k. How is 500k good?

I think that may well be the way forward. Offer CC games that the BBC don't want to show to Sky.
Or why not have a SL package and a Championship package, with the finals and the NRC? That would be something that could be sold to another tv station, would be matches to chose from and Sky would not lose out much on that (atm they show Championship matches on thursday nights more as a favour than anything).

We have a championsip package (though not including the GF). sky show it because they offered more than the only other broadcaster to show interest*. Though admittedly they showed no interest before British Eurosport did.

* British Eurosport wanted toshow the the National Leagues, but only if the RFL payed the production costs. sky offered no money, but at least didn't want us to pay them. I think ( but I'm not sure) that the new TV packages do nclude a (small) fee for the championship.

And afaik we did offer the game to all broadcasters. The only ones who were interested were Sky (league games only) and the Beeb (Cup only). Both wanted the internationals, but Sky bid more (though the Beeb got one game as a consolation).

I'm not aware of anything to indicate the situation has changed in the pastyear at all. Or that it will be any different when the rights are next up for sale. Which rather destroys thewhole foundation of this thread.