28 replies to this topic

[Railway End]

Just heard on talkSPORT that they have won the rights to the British & Irish Lion RU tour to Australia next year. The rights were previously with BBC Five Live. They will provide commentary on all Three tests, the tour matches and even a warm up match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong!

Out of interest do we give the Radio rights to our International games to the BBC as part of the TV package or do they pay for them separatley? If so what chance talkSPORT providing coverage of the 2013 RLWC?

[Johnoco]

Wouldn't want it. Its a terrible station.

[Railway End]

Wouldn't want it. Its a terrible station.

That may be so but are we not trying to raise the profile of our sport off the back of the World Cup?

[Futtocks]

Radio 5 would definitely be the better choice out of the two anyway.

[Railway End]

Radio 5 would definitely be the better choice out of the two anyway.

Again, possibly so, I'm not arguing. Could they not share the rights so all games are catered for rather than some games not being covered at all or stuck on the Five Live digital platform.

Just because we as RL fans may not be keen on talkSPORT dosen't mean they couldn't bring the game to a new audience. This after all is surely what the legacy of the World Cup should be.

[Johnoco]

You're right there. But I doubt they would be interested anyway. I remember they had SL games for a while and dropped it like stone.

[Lesmets]

I'll say this for talksport they get right behind the sports they get the rights to and it's excellent national coverage ,5 live more often than not relegate League to sports extra!

[JohnM]

Think of it this way! Radio 5 live gives quite good coverage of Rugby League and it has George Riley figting its corner, too! In addition, it puts live and uninterrupted game coverage on an additional station Radio Five Live Sports Extra!

Both stations are available on DAB, of Freeview channels 705 etc, on Sky Sat channels 0105 etc, and on line, too! For all I know, its on Freesat, Virgin etc,as well! That pretty god coverage, though of course we can always do with more!

Edited by JohnM, 07 November 2012 - 02:59 PM.

[Cherry and White]

I'll say this for talksport they get right behind the sports they get the rights to and it's excellent national coverage ,5 live more often than not relegate League to sports extra!

not quite as bad as being online coverage only, as talksport very often do with their union coverage.

[Futtocks]

As for RL being mainly on the Sports Extra subchannel, surely everyone can access this station anyway? If you don't have internet or a DAB radio, it is available on Freeview, and with the analogue TV switch-off complete (or at least close to completion), people can't miss out unless they're really trying.

Edited by Futtocks, 07 November 2012 - 04:43 PM.

[brooza]

As for RL being mainly on the Sports Extra subchannel, surely everyone can access this station anyway? If you don't have internet or a DAB radio, it is available on Freeview, and with the analogue TV switch-off complete (or at least close to completion), people can't miss out unless they're really trying.

With the amount of televised matches, the only time I'm interested in listening to the commentary on 5 Live (or Sports Extra) is when I'm in the car. Where I don't get 5LSE

[Bleep1673]

Last weekends England v France game was on 5Live (not extra) as I was out and listening to it on my radio.

Will be doing the same this weekend as my daughter has a 4th Birthday party between 1400-1600 at http://www.clambers.co.uk/

[JohnM]

With the amount of televised matches, the only time I'm interested in listening to the commentary on 5 Live (or Sports Extra) is when I'm in the car. Where I don't get 5LSE

I realise its £55 but maybe consider one of these? http://compare.ebay....type=pla&crdt=0

or one of these? http://www.halfords....tegoryId_265865

[ParraEelsNRL]

They can talk it up as much as they like, won't make a difference out here, the game is done in Australia.

[mmp]

I realise its £55 but maybe consider one of these? http://compare.ebay....type=pla&crdt=0

or one of these? http://www.halfords....tegoryId_265865

no one is going to buy them just to listen to the occasional RL game! a large group of people will continue to have non-digital radios in their cars for many years to come.

anyway, that's besides the point - the point about Talk Sport is that it has a lot of listeners and when it has the rights to something it plugs it at every opportunity. I do around 3 - 4 hrs a day in the car an will inevitably flick to talk sport at some point and will no doubt hear adverts for the RU now - they sell the sport, not just their own coverage....most importantly, they sell it to what is a kind of captive market (people stuck in the car flicking between radio stations). The way the RU coverage is promoted when they have it will mean more RU experts interviewed as guests in the various shows, the adverts for their own commentary and then snippets in other areas - can guarantee the betting features will start offering the odds on who will win the tests and first scorer etc etc. - all in all, RU will get a lot of value from what might be perceived to be 'just commentary'.

The BBC of course can't offer that wrap around coverage because it cannot advertise and because it has a broader range of topics to focus on. Talk sport is 'Talk football' 95% of the time beacuse that's what its audience desires - 5 Live hasn't such a narrow focus.

the real win for RU in giving rights to talk sport is that is also allows them to target a new market...if most listeners are football fans they're not typically RU fans so it allows them to push their product to new groups and also reduce a perception that the sport is for posh boys from public schools. that's a value RU gets from being on talk sport that RL wouldn't to the same extent.

so I agree, BBC would probably offer better commentary to the typical RL fan - but talk sport is a route to selling the game wider.

[MrPosh]

Not wanting to have this chucked over to the cross code, I'll bet that Five Live still send a pack of reporters and presenters with the Lions - effectively one major jolly for the old boys.

[Bleep1673]

no one is going to buy them just to listen to the occasional RL game!

Same argument about Sky Sports/Premier Sports, who is going to pay for that just for the occasional RL game? Oh yeah.......!

PS are showing repeats of NRL games all through the off-season (probably to make up for the loss of the NHL), are Sky doing the same?

Edited by Bleep1673, 08 November 2012 - 09:54 AM.

[Futtocks]

I was an early adopter of DAB, mainly for Test Match Special*, but also because I sort of expected any future RL coverage (R5 wasn't doing Superleague commentary at the time, IIRC) would be far more likely to end up on there than on the main station.

*superb on DAB, compared to noisy, drifting Long Wave.

[roughyedspud]

get a wifi radio.............best thing i ever bought

[Black Country Wire]

Wouldn't want it. Its a terrible station.

Absolutely. Talkbollocks would be a more apt name for it.