Champions Cup on terrestrial TV from 2018

[valley commando]

Great news for spreading the word. We need more coverage for our game and its not before time terrestrial TV being allowed to bid for European Cup games, heres hopping the BBC win so we get decent commentators and no bloody ad breaks.
Sky's commentators are awful, plus no more Stuart Barnes and Austin Healey must be good.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Whoever sold the TV rights for the games really screwed people over. Some on BT, some on Sky. FFS Why should people have to pay for both just to watch 1 competition? It's a farce.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

We have PRL and their power grab to thank for this.

 

[Stevens]

That means the BBC, ITV, Channel Four, Channel Five and S4C, will be able to bid for those terrestrial rights with EPCR anxious to meet its "key objective" of taking matches to a larger audience.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports has lost the rights to screen the Champions and Challenge Cup despite being the long-standing broadcaster of both European tournaments.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Supposedly CH4 will have it.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

TV3 look to have won the rights in Ireland. They're really ramping up their rugby coverage as RTE are losing theirs.

 

[munstermuffin]

TV3 look to have won the rights in Ireland. They're really ramping up their rugby coverage as RTE are losing theirs.

As I said RTE are gone to dogs in all aspects of Sporting coverage. In fairness too TV3 are doing great job of their coverage. Even the highlight shows with lads like Kinsella are very in depth and there no analysis looking for headlines it all very relevant and fair

 

[Leinster Fan]

Good news. Helps raise interest in the competition. I just hope we get Leinster/Munster games and aren't stuck with Connacht v Oyonnax B in the challenge cup. A lot will depend on how much control TV3 get over how they pick the game and whether they get any knockout coverage which seems like a possibility but I won't be holding out much hope for that. I hope they go for away games for the most part as well.

Getting rid of Sky is good news as well. Having to pay for two different channels to watch one competition was a brain dead idea designed to kill interest and it did hurt the competition to a certain degree.

I've given up on RTE at this point. I'm just happy there's another fairly wealthy free to air broadcaster in the country who are willing to hoover up the rights they used to take for granted because otherwise some of them would have ended up off terrestrial TV.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I've no issue with RTE losing rights to big competitions. I can't see any benefit for taxpayers if they're trying to outbid another channel who'll put these games on terrestrial TV anyway. RTE showing the u20 and Women's 6 Nations live with TV3 showing the main event gives us the best of both worlds.

I was surprised TV3 didn't make a big play for the Pro14 rights but seeing as they've got the Champions Cup back on terrestrial TV, it's a small complaint.

 

[munstermuffin]

Just an FYI. For Irish clubs. BT will have 7-8 games a weekend it is suggesting. Maybe more but the rest will be spread between free to air. For Ireland example the commitment is 1 province will be on their free to air channel each round so for example this year it will be Munster Ulster or Leinster.
There is negotiations on how the QFs would work but last 4 on will be exclusive but extensive highlights will be in play

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Details of the coverage on TV3 below. Presumably the coverage on Channel 4 will be similar.

In short, one game per round including the knockouts and a highlights show.

http://www.the42.ie/tv3-champions-cup-3908524-Mar2018/

CHAMPIONS CUP RUGBY will be shown on free-to-air television in Ireland for the first time since 2006 after TV3 further strengthened its position in the rugby rights market.

The Irish broadcaster, who this year acquired the rights for the Six Nations championship from RTÉ, has secured a four-year agreement with the EPCR to broadcast nine live Champions Cup games per season.

As part of the deal, TV3 will carry live coverage of one Champions Cup match per week of the group stages from the beginning of next season until the the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

The agreement also includes live coverage of one quarter-final, one semi-final and the Champions Cup final in each of the next four seasons, as well as a weekly highlights show featuring the Irish provinces.

 

[ratsapprentice]

If that's the volume CH4 get I would be ******* delighted... that's more than the tokenism I was expecting.

CH4 have linked up with BT in the past when they had NFL rights (used their studio), and they used Vernon Kay for that.
Vernon now does stuff for the RFU themselved, so I would not be at all surprised to see their coverage done with Kay, in BT's studio.

 

[munstermuffin]

Details of the coverage on TV3 below. Presumably the coverage on Channel 4 will be similar.

In short, one game per round including the knockouts and a highlights show.

This is very well set up to promote the game to larger audience and really will help get a bigger market.

Rumours also BT and Eir want in more on international game now too weather that Nov internationals or Summer tours

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Since I have Eir broadband and get those stations free, I'm all for it!

In Ireland at least, the average person who has interest in rugby wants to see the 6 Nations, November tests against New Zealand and Champions Cup games. If those remain on terrestrial TV to drum up interest and other games go to subscription services, it's probably the best outcome we can hope for. It's great to see Eir Sport and TV3 bring competition to rights for Irish sporting events. RTE did an excellent job with their coverage but TG4's presentation and production aren't good enough.

Having derided EPCR for their clumsy takeover of the game and awful TV deals requiring two subscriptions, I've no problem admitting they're getting their act together now. Hopefully the new TV and sponsorship deals bring in more revenue than before.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

NBC picking up the rights stateside. At least 15 games on NBC or NBCSN whatever that means. This tournament is redeeming themselves for the embarrassing first few years at the moment, all they need to do now is send the 2020-2022 finals to Wales, Italy and Ireland before they go somewhere like Spain or Newcastle again and we're Rosey .

 

[munstermuffin]

NBC picking up the rights stateside. At least 15 games on NBC or NBCSN whatever that means. This tournament is redeeming themselves for the embarrassing first few years at the moment, all they need to do now is send the 2020-2022 finals to Wales, Italy and Ireland before they go somewhere like Spain or Newcastle again and we're Rosey .

TSN also picking it up in Canada and Pro14 highlights.
There was murmurs a Pro14 final will eventually go stateside. Not sure how logistically viable that is unless you have a 2 week gap between SF and Final

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

It'd be crazy to have a final in the USA. There just isn't the interest there yet. No disrespect to Scarlets of Munster but could you imagine the size crowd they would have drawn last season?

A Champions Cup with lots of upselling in a major market like Chicago or New York could work. Kickoff would have to be no later than 8pm GMT (around 3pm EST) and there'd need to be a hard push of tickets from 6 months in advance.

 

[munstermuffin]

It'd be crazy to have a final in the USA. There just isn't the interest there yet. No disrespect to Scarlets of Munster but could you imagine the size crowd they would have drawn last season?

A Champions Cup with lots of upselling in a major market like Chicago or New York could work. Kickoff would have to be no later than 8pm GMT (around 3pm EST) and there'd need to be a hard push of tickets from 6 months in advance.

But the catch is Snoop not for Munster or Leinster or Scarlets etc in there for the final. The hope is that expats and new interests in game would be majority of tickets sales there. And that it eventually spills down to college scene. 1 of my mates is involved in S&C for Long Beach in California which has rugby and he said the problem with rugby there at moment is the 7s package is popular over there and most link skillset to 7s game and not 15s. That areas like the maul and ruck or scrummaging are a bit alienated

 

[Amiga500]

A Pro14 or HEC* game in the states is a terrible idea. Crowds would be very hard to get in the gate.

One off test matches like Soldier Field is a much better idea - you automatically are reaching out to a much bigger audience.

You could have the Eagles play another Tier 2 team in the same city on the same weekend (different days) as a Tier 1 game. So publicity for one would build off the other.


*call me old fashioned.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

A Pro14 or HEC* game in the states is a terrible idea. Crowds would be very hard to get in the gate.

One off test matches like Soldier Field is a much better idea - you automatically are reaching out to a much bigger audience.

You could have the Eagles play another Tier 2 team in the same city on the same weekend (different days) as a Tier 1 game. So publicity for one would build off the other.


*call me old fashioned.

I think it's more about getting US fans into the Pro14. It will never work, pointless. Spain and Germany are better targets.