The Sportsman

[wiggler]

How does the sportsman fund its Rugby League broadcasting?  Excellent coverage of the thatto heath osj game got me wondering.  Perhaps the BBC could copy their model and give us all a small refund on our TV licences!

[Just Browny]

I don't know about the funding but I believe it's Neville Smith's production company that does the coverage.

[JonM]

Betfred/ Fred Done, isn't it?

[RigbyLuger]

22 minutes ago, JonM said:

Betfred/ Fred Done, isn't it?

Yep. Exactly. And if they weren't sponsoring it, the coverage wouldn't exist.

Edited January 24 by RigbyLuger

[sam4731]

38 minutes ago, JonM said:

Betfred/ Fred Done, isn't it?

It's a bit strange that he doesn't use the Betfred branding for it, like Betfred TV or something, or is it a legal thing?

[JonM]

13 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

It's a bit strange that he doesn't use the Betfred branding for it, like Betfred TV or something, or is it a legal thing?

Probably someone knows more about it than me, but IIRC, there are other shareholders (and I think the stake is owned directly by Fred Done rather than Betfred).

It started out as a sports news website which reported on the various sports that Betfred cover, and presumably some level of perceived editorial independence is useful there. It had been going some years before it branched out in RL video coverage.

[JohnM]

From Wikipedia:

The company (Betfred Group Holdings Limited) are the brand owners of Thesportsman.com (The Sportsman Communications Limited), an online sports news and broadcaster established in 2017. Betfred chairman, Fred Done is a major shareholder of The Sportsman Communications Limited. Starting as a sport news website, the company stepped forward into live sport broadcasting when it signed a deal with the Rugby Football League to show a number of matches from the 2021 Challenge Cup. This was followed with a 2022 deal to show rugby league games from the Challenge Cup, League 1, the Women's Super League and Wheelchair rugby league.

[gingerjon]

16 hours ago, JohnM said:

From Wikipedia:

The company (Betfred Group Holdings Limited) are the brand owners of Thesportsman.com (The Sportsman Communications Limited), an online sports news and broadcaster established in 2017. Betfred chairman, Fred Done is a major shareholder of The Sportsman Communications Limited. Starting as a sport news website, the company stepped forward into live sport broadcasting when it signed a deal with the Rugby Football League to show a number of matches from the 2021 Challenge Cup. This was followed with a 2022 deal to show rugby league games from the Challenge Cup, League 1, the Women's Super League and Wheelchair rugby league.

The Sportsman Communications Limited was dissolved last year.

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

The Sportsman Communications Limited was dissolved last year.

Ah! The Acid  Bath murderer strikes again!

Edited January 25 by JohnM

[Yorky]

I think its a cracking channel, I really enjoy their coverage - I just wish the showed more games. A championship game a week for example would be great.

Whoever selects the fixtures for the Sportsman knows their RL. They consistently pick close, exciting evenly matched games, as much as I enjoy SL some of the best games I watched last season were on this channel 

 

[Bongo1]

On 24/01/2025 at 14:23, sam4731 said:

It's a bit strange that he doesn't use the Betfred branding for it, like Betfred TV or something, or is it a legal thing?

They do use the Betfred branding on the header of their YouTube page