Why on earth....

[HawkMan]

Here is a theory,  sorry but it's not a pleasant thought. Remember last year when The Sun stopped reporting RL, because of non access to their staff at Anfield,  also on the opening night of Premier League football Sky showed RL up against it. Tomorrow they'll be doing the same, showing RL when Liverpool vs Leeds United are on. Now that is a BIG game because of Leeds return to the EPL. So why do Sky do it, ? I think they really think that the audience potential for RL is at maximum,  that no more can be added to audience figures. The Sun of course owned by Murdoch too also presumably didn't think RL's absence would matter diddly squat to sales.

Sky will be rightly hyping up the Anfield game tomorrow,  I understand that, but don't they think it'll affect RL viewing figures,  or vice versa even, presumably not. Do they think footy and RL fans - never the twain meets.

[Derwent]

6 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Here is a theory,  sorry but it's not a pleasant thought. Remember last year when The Sun stopped reporting RL, because of non access to their staff at Anfield,  also on the opening night of Premier League football Sky showed RL up against it. Tomorrow they'll be doing the same, showing RL when Liverpool vs Leeds United are on. Now that is a BIG game because of Leeds return to the EPL. So why do Sky do it, ? I think they really think that the audience potential for RL is at maximum,  that no more can be added to audience figures. The Sun of course owned by Murdoch too also presumably didn't think RL's absence would matter diddly squat to sales.

Sky will be rightly hyping up the Anfield game tomorrow,  I understand that, but don't they think it'll affect RL viewing figures,  or vice versa even, presumably not. Do they think footy and RL fans - never the twain meets.

Murdoch doesn’t own Sky and hasn’t done since 2018. 

[HawkMan]

3 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Murdoch doesn’t own Sky and hasn’t done since 2018. 

Okay thanks, didn't know that.  Sky still treat RL like a filler, whoever owns it. 

[whatmichaelsays]

1 hour ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Not suggesting they be our PR agency 

It makes good business sense for SKY

Drum up more fans with a taste then they might want more 

A lot of NRL games are free to air and NRL is going very nicely. 

No it doesn't. We already have RL on terrestrial TV and that isn't translating into demand for £40+ per month TV subscriptions. The NRL has demand for RL that makes it valuable to free-to-air broadcasters. 

Sky isn't going to cheapen it's exclusivity for such poor reward. 

[Dave T]

The BBC have highlights rights for Super League and treat it like a third rate sport, showing it begrudgingly. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

No it doesn't. We already have RL on terrestrial TV and that isn't translating into demand for £40+ per month TV subscriptions. The NRL has demand for RL that makes it valuable to free-to-air broadcasters. 

Sky isn't going to cheapen it's exclusivity for such poor reward. 

Then why are they now doing it for cricket 

Why do BT do it with the kick and clap? 

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Then why are they now doing it for cricket 

Why do BT do it with the kick and clap? 

Because the rights were sold across different broadcasters. 

[Tommygilf]

I'll say it again but the next TV deal simply has to have some element of FTA with it. Sky exclusivity for 2 games a week on Arena and mix aren't worth it.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Then why are they now doing it for cricket 

Why do BT do it with the kick and clap? 

BT aren’t doing it. The last TV deal was for less money and was split between BT and Channel 5.

They are doing it for the cricket as a goodwill gesture because the ECB had a contract to provide live games to the BBC this season but that tournament was cancelled.

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

The BBC have highlights rights for Super League and treat it like a third rate sport, showing it begrudgingly. 

Too many people involved in BBC Sport give the impression of not really liking sport. That’s not exclusive to rugby league but we do suffer from it because they hold pretty decent rights coverage for us that they just ignore.