Am I the only one who feels the Rugby League Challenge Cup is a big loss on two front, To BBC and To Rugby League, Every Year 3 Million people watch the challenge cup, and for a town like my home town, who were the Runners-Up this year (Huddersfield) it brought at lot of good things to the club, and that is meant to be the two best clubs in the country, so if people who haven't watched League before, can see it's a great game. As for the Ashes, I think its not a big deal that it becomes part of the Crown Jewels, neither that the Winter Olympics is leaving , but it's the effect that Rugby League is leaving fta that'll bug me, because not that many people will watch it on sky.
Am I the only one who feels the Rugby League Challenge Cup is a big loss on two front, To BBC and To Rugby League, Every Year 3 Million people watch the challenge cup, and for a town like my home town, who were the Runners-Up this year (Huddersfield) it brought at lot of good things to the club, and that is meant to be the two best clubs in the country, so if people who haven't watched League before, can see it's a great game
I'm with you on that one, I don't follow Rugby League (a big Man U fan here, anyway) I'm from Warrington and when they reached the final of that this year you wouldn't believe the amount of people who actually went to Wembley to watch the game and pretty much alot of people saw it on BBC One , there are alot of die hard fans of the Warrington Wolves, the BBC doesn't show that much Live Rugby League a year, so I think it would be wrong to remove the final from FTA television. I didn't see much of the Challenge Cup, but I understand it wasn't on Sky at all was it?
No - IIRC it's never been on Sky live (most seasons they have highlights of the final) - but the RFL is desperate for the exposure of the game on national FTA tv so would probably take peanuts from the BBC to show the Challenge Cup rather than big bucks from Sky
Opening it up to Sky could also increase the amount the BBC are willing to bid for it, so if they don't sell out they could keep the BBC exposure and see an increase in revenue.
I think though axing the B-list (which guarantees highlights) is a bad idea and doesn't really benefit anyone. The Six Nations for example could in theory (outside Wales at least) become Sky exclusive with absolutely no guarantee of any kind of coverage on terrestrial TV, which would be a ridiculous situation really. IMO that list should be kept and enhanced with things viewers take for granted - I.e. Premier League highlights.
Interesting to see that Rangers vs Stuttgart on Tuesday night is to be shown on Sky Sports 3 in SD, but viewers who want to watch it in HD will need to tune to Sky Box Office HD1 (752) as the Arsenal match is being shown on Sky Sports HD3 (tennis on Sky Sports HD1 & Liverpool match on HD2.
Wonder if this event on Sky Box office will be free for everyone or just Sky Sports subscribers... certainly doesn't look like they're charging extra for it.
Wonder if this event on Sky Box office will be free for everyone or just Sky Sports subscribers... certainly doesn't look like they're charging extra for it.
Well, Ian Payne on Goals on Sunday said "You won't have to pay". Although that means nothing much as of course to hear that you'd have to be paying for Sky Sports.
The BBC didn't mention that they'd be showing any more than the weekend coverage so wasn't expecting this.
Hasn't this kind of happened before with some Tennis tournament? Such as the likes of Henman or Murray appearing mid morning on BBC Two or in the middle of the night unexpectedly on BBC One.
Usually with the French and Aussie Open they have live coverage on BBCi, with Murray matches promoted to BBC1/2, causing a scheduling nightmare.
Good news though, even if it is Sky's scraps. It seemed stupid showing the first match involving Murray then nothing else till the semi-finals next weekend. I think too they only get one semi, with Sky getting the second semi exclusively.
The BBC didn't mention that they'd be showing any more than the weekend coverage so wasn't expecting this.
Hasn't this kind of happened before with some Tennis tournament? Such as the likes of Henman or Murray appearing mid morning on BBC Two or in the middle of the night unexpectedly on BBC One.
... Great news. Could it be that BSkyB are overwhelmed with Football (8 CL Games) so that they are happy to release coverage easily.
I wonder if there is any clause in this deal that prevents the BBC from showing the match on BBC One or BBC Two?
Because, really, showing it on BBC Three is a pointless exercise IMO. There's nothing hugely important on BBC Two post-9pm tonight that couldn't be postponed until a later date.
At the very least, I'd like to see it heavily promoted on the two main channels this evening.