Guinness Premiership live on Terestrial TV?

[Bullitt]

Within the next few years?

 

[Sir Speedy]

Zzzzz...

 

[Prestwick]

I believe that in the next few years, GP & ML rugby will probably be presented by three major broadcasters:

1) Sky
2) Setanta
3) BBC/ITV

...not allot of change then there, eh?

The devil will probably be in the detail with the GP and ML selling their games off in batches like the Premier League has been dragged kicking and screaming into by the European Union. With the low level of coverage that Sky has of the GP already, it could maintain its existing commitment by just buying one of those packages with the other two going to Setanta and a major terrestrial broadcaster.

However, unless there is a very good argument for having ML rugby in goobledegoo- Welsh, does anyone see the BBC losing its rights to showing ML rugby? What if it win the rights again but has to give in to demands to show it nationwide?

EDIT: Despite what the report says, the Six Nations will be staying terrestrial. So long as you have Berlusconi in power in Italy and a French government committed to aiding its terrestrial broadcasters in any way possible, the Six Nations will always be shown on terrestrial.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Prestwick @ Oct 28 2008, 08:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I believe that in the next few years, GP & ML rugby will probably be presented by three major broadcasters:

1) Sky
2) Setanta
3) BBC/ITV

...not allot of change then there, eh?

The devil will probably be in the detail with the GP and ML selling their games off in batches like the Premier League has been dragged kicking and screaming into by the European Union. With the low level of coverage that Sky has of the GP already, it could maintain its existing commitment by just buying one of those packages with the other two going to Setanta and a major terrestrial broadcaster.

However, unless there is a very good argument for having ML rugby in goobledegoo- Welsh, does anyone see the BBC losing its rights to showing ML rugby? What if it win the rights again but has to give in to demands to show it nationwide?

EDIT: Despite what the report says, the Six Nations will be staying terrestrial. So long as you have Berlusconi in power in Italy and a French government committed to aiding its terrestrial broadcasters in any way possible, the Six Nations will always be shown on terrestrial.[/b]

Not necessarily, in Ireland and the UK Six Nations matches are not A listed events so no guarantee that they would stay on terrestrial tv. I wouldn't be surprised if Sky bid for the Six Nations and in doing so it wouldn't make a tap of difference to France Televisions agreement of RAI in Italy.

I doubt the BBC Wales would lose its Magners league coverage either as it's cheaper for Setanta to cover the matches by taking the feed from them rather than doing it themselves.

Not sure about live terrestrial Premiership rugby either, if ITV aren't showing any interest then I don't see much hope, the BBC have live League football coming on stream next year as well as live formula one so whether they'd be interested in making a bid remains to be seen but I doubt it in those circumstances. Who knows if Channel 4 or Five would be interested but they've no rugby coverage previously, bar Inside Rugby with Theirry Lacroix!

 

[Prestwick]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Oct 28 2008, 08:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Not necessarily, in Ireland and the UK Six Nations matches are not A listed events so no guarantee that they would stay on terrestrial tv. I wouldn't be surprised if Sky bid for the Six Nations and in doing so it wouldn't make a tap of difference to France Televisions agreement of RAI in Italy.[/b]

Again, not necessarily. The majority of Unions are implacably opposed to one member going off and negotiating their own deal, thats why the Six Unions collectively negotiate deals with the broadcasters. Sky would have to present a compelling deal which would be financially desirable to all Six Unions. The idea that one Union could suddenly spin off and do their own agreement doesn't tally with all the drama and explosive anger caused when the RFU did just that with Sky back in the late 1990s.

 

[gingergenius]

Why is it that in Wales you can watch a decent rugby match on a saturday afternoon (if you don't have sky), whereas in England you have to put up with snooker and horse racing, which are boring as f***???

Especially since lat week the BBC had access to a game involving an English team (Worcester) and still decided to show it only in Wales.

It would be alright if there was a decent substitute, like a Premier League match, but obviously there isn't.

 

[Thingimubob]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Oct 29 2008, 08:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Why is it that in Wales you can watch a decent rugby match on a saturday afternoon (if you don't have sky), whereas in England you have to put up with snooker and horse racing, which are boring as f***???

Especially since lat week the BBC had access to a game involving an English team (Worcester) and still decided to show it only in Wales.

It would be alright if there was a decent substitute, like a Premier League match, but obviously there isn't.[/b]

I think you could have watched the Ospreys - Worcester match through the red button, but then again, that's still a problem for anyone who doesn't have freeview. It's one of the reasons I can't stand Sky, they take away the sport from the fans, and make them pay trough the nose to watch it on the telly. BBC Wales and S4C are doing a great job and tend to show at least two (sometimes three or even four) matches over Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. If the Six Nations, World Cup and all the Autumn Internationals go to Sky then Rugby has definitly gone down the pan...

 

[Bullitt]

On the other side of the coin, the terrestrial channels know that rugby isn't as huge a draw as, say, a highlights program on lower division football so they won't give it a good dedicated bit of coverage.

Remember back to when BBC used to show the Heineken cup final; Their coverage of the group and knockout stages was minimal to say the least and they showed NOTHING of the domestic season bar the Pilkington cup (in England at least, no idea about what BBC Wales had for the old Welsh premiership).

Sky, although expensive, do give the paying punters a lot of rugby for their money and are only limited on the amount they're licensed to show by the RFU/PRL agreement of one game per week in the Premiership. Without them, most of us would never see the NPC, Currie Cup, Super 14, Challenge cup or 90% of the HEC.

Only Eurosport are really any better with their Top 14 coverage.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Prestwick @ Oct 28 2008, 11:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Oct 28 2008, 08:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not necessarily, in Ireland and the UK Six Nations matches are not A listed events so no guarantee that they would stay on terrestrial tv. I wouldn't be surprised if Sky bid for the Six Nations and in doing so it wouldn't make a tap of difference to France Televisions agreement of RAI in Italy.[/b]

Again, not necessarily. The majority of Unions are implacably opposed to one member going off and negotiating their own deal, thats why the Six Unions collectively negotiate deals with the broadcasters. Sky would have to present a compelling deal which would be financially desirable to all Six Unions. The idea that one Union could suddenly spin off and do their own agreement doesn't tally with all the drama and explosive anger caused when the RFU did just that with Sky back in the late 1990s.
[/b][/quote]

but that's irrelevant to my point. I never said that Sky would only be bidding for England matches, that's not on the agenda anymore but there's nothing stopping them bidding for the whole tourament and being exclusive broadcaster in the Uk and Ireland without any threat to the deal in France or Italy.