DI Keith Fowler

He gets some good stories John but today was another case of his inherent pessimism. The original headline was something like A Third of Super League Chairmen Support New TV Deal on the basis only 4 of the 12 clubs bothered to respond to him (100% positively).

A game a week on C4 along with a highlights show would be very positive.

There's a number of people, myself included, who would purchase a full OurLeague season pass just to watch the odd game. I don't think you need to have everyone tuning into every game to make it work. However, as you say the app (or lack thereof) needs a complete overhaul which is something I hope IMG are working up in the background currently. I subscribe to Viaplay through Amazon but to be honest only really watch the Widnes matches on it, but it's easy and convenient and works slickly on my TV so I just keep it rolling. A lot of people are the same.

Yep, as you say devils in the detail. We knew this was going to be a reduction from the noises made, and that it's a minor-ish reduction is somewhat of a relief, but the true picture will be in what it looks like from the secondary C4 games and streaming offering. See what gets announced this afternoon after the clubs get briefed.

I don't think giving the feral youths of Featherstone guns is going to help things.

They pay for filming of the match itself but all the coverage around it is C4 using IMG and a company whose name escapes me.

It does. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/video-referees-set-to-be-at-every-super-league-game-next-year

I don't think that's fair. A useful idiot is someone put out into the world by others for nefarious purposes. Mick is an idiot entirely on his own terms.

Oh absolutely. It's just we did have this in the last deal. It just never happened, I assumed Sky gave us some money back for it and we didn't push it.

On or around the current deal with all matches filmed by Sky, video refs at every game, more C4 matches and the ability to sell games through an improved 7League produced OurLeague app would be a positive outcome. However, frustratingly, this is more or less what we were supposed to have in the last deal and only the C4 element actually came to pass. I'd like to see us drive it further and get the GF on C4, turn that into a yearly big event on terrestrial TV. As an aside, thank god the deal with IMG is contingent on increased commercial performance and not just a CVC style we'll have 20% of whatever you get even if it's less.

What it might be is an interesting case study of interest amongst a somewhat lamen audience of the value of quality vs. relative competitiveness. The original Wolfpack spent most of their existence rolling over travelling teams but with quality players. This incarnation might see lesser quality but more even games. Will that appeal? Can these naive crowds tell the difference much, do they care? I honestly don't know.

As is common with Mick, he gets some genuine inside information then ends up getting carried away and projecting his own wishful thinking onto it. He's a useful source he just needs a bit of filtering.

I imagine, much like on here, there was a degree of skepticism that the match would go ahead given recent cancellations. To pull several hundred is actually quite impressive.

Maybe start boning up! Not a problem for me. Because I don't watch it.

Mick's also decided that IMG think Bradford are as high as 11th in the scoring. Also that they think Mick is something of a "hunk" and that he's won the raffle without even buying a ticket. Makes you think.

Absolutely cost will have played a part. I've found where I read it, it was a reply on Quora (I've screenshotted so you don't have to visit that buggy website).

Can't remember the exact story but I read that the V design (which came from Australia I think) started as an allusion to Cricket jumpers which had thick coloured V neck collars.

I love theoreticals but prevent WW2 is probably outside the scope of this.

I'm expecting a kind of Michael Scott Rabies Awareness Fun Run situation where the cost of the oversized cheque impacts on the amount written on it.

Hmm, that has got me thinking. It might not be that a bad an outcome depending on how much the Sky reduction is. *Caveat* specifically in this scenario, I have no idea whether this delay is due to us begging Sky for more and planting stories of other bidders or genuine negotiations.

I advise you stop buying your calendars from that stall in Golden Square if you think Septembers in 10 days.

Good post but if you use an O instead of a zero again I will be having words.

Other than the new Ops Manager coming from Oldham, I can't see why we're centred on Littler as a target.

Listen, you and I might not like this but at least they might actually put a shirt on the mascot now.

To my mind it just needs to be a venue where the RL team has primacy of tenure. So Leigh and Widnes (plastic pitch forbidding) are suitable but Wigan and Hull FC aren't.