Step closer to pay TV

[munstermuffin]

Previous articles I've read have said they were looking at moving both to March.

I should reverse a bit. I've seen some say August/Sept and others say April/May.

If it is April/May it will harm the club game. As @Leinster Fan says it clashes with Premier league but instead of clashing with start it will go against ending. And it will hurt the club game because if you try over compensate the club game then it is a case of piling a whole domestic and European season in to late Sept to March.
Using Leinster who are best example at moment. When is the window to aim to peak for and to relax it on.

Also if a Lions tour etc is still in the cards how does player welfare kick in here. Also a RWC.

The only way this will work and I suspect is being viewed is global world leagues and club leagues being Hemisphere based. It is the only way. So no Pro14, Premiership or Top14. No European Cup. More a European League with Div 1, 2 and 3 etc.

 

[mdaclarke]

I imagine they will change the club seasons too

 

[stus768]

I should reverse a bit. I've seen some say August/Sept and others say April/May.

If it is April/May it will harm the club game. As @Leinster Fan says it clashes with Premier league but instead of clashing with start it will go against ending. And it will hurt the club game because if you try over compensate the club game then it is a case of piling a whole domestic and European season in to late Sept to March.
Using Leinster who are best example at moment. When is the window to aim to peak for and to relax it on.

Also if a Lions tour etc is still in the cards how does player welfare kick in here. Also a RWC.

The only way this will work and I suspect is being viewed is global world leagues and club leagues being Hemisphere based. It is the only way. So no Pro14, Premiership or Top14. No European Cup. More a European League with Div 1, 2 and 3 etc.

They would change the club seasons as well. Aim is to create coherent blocks and remove overlap. Potentially lose July internationals and have a longer October-November international period.
The European clubs are involved in discussions so if there is going to be a reworking of the season it's now or never.

 

[mdaclarke]

I guess they would try to align the club seasons and the international windows so that there is no overlap whatsoever.

It would be cool if they could manage it

 

[TRF_Olyy]

They'd have to reduce the numbers of games in the premiership and the top 14 for that to happen - why should we destroy our leagues just to placate the SH?

 

[stus768]

They'd have to reduce the numbers of games in the premiership and the top 14 for that to happen - why should we destroy our leagues just to placate the SH?

Or reduce number of internationals. Can't see either happening to be fair.

 

[mdaclarke]

They'd have to reduce the numbers of games in the premiership and the top 14 for that to happen - why should we destroy our leagues just to placate the SH?

Don't the players want to play less games? I don't think they would have to reduce the number of games as the SH countries have 2 competitions that run consecutively (South Africa has the Currie Cup, New Zealand has the Mitre 10 Cup, not sure about Australia) these will take about the same amount of time as the European competitions

 

[TRF_Olyy]

NH play significantly more games than the SH,

If the plan is for no international/club overlap then:
Premiership is 24 weeks, Europe is 9 weeks, Six Nations is 5 weeks - that's 38 weeks of rugby, with no rest. Chuck in a 3 game tour down south, 3 game series up north - that's 44/52 weeks solid.
Pre-season is, what, 6 weeks? 50/52 weeks.
Nice two weeks in Marbella for the players to try and duct-tape themselves back together.

 

[Shimano]

CVC will be the death of rugby, or at least the world game. The ******** are prepared to **** all over ordinary fans for the sake of their bottom line.

**** them! **** them all to hell!

 

[Shimano]

They'd have to reduce the numbers of games in the premiership and the top 14 for that to happen - why should we destroy our leagues just to placate the SH?

Things is mate, its not about placating the south. You are now facing the biggest threat to the game since 1895, and its the same threat - money! If CVC get control of the game in the north, they will be coming after us next. The ordinary fan (i.e. those who cant afford Sky or Bein or any of the paywall platforms) will be shut out of the game.

I have Sky. I want all my sport from one provider, with one set top box. I do not want a collection of satellite boxes on my TV for different things, and nor can I be arsed paying out the big bucks required for a smart TV to stream it off the web. If Sky ever lose Rugby. then **** them. Will terminate the contract, and give up the game. If there is anything this lockdown has shown me, it that I can live without rugby.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

CVC deal heralds 'new era' - Morel

CVC's involvement in international rugby union will herald the start of a "new era" in the sport, says Six Nations boss Ben Morel.

www.bbc.co.uk

CVC have bought 1/7th of the Six Nations so now have an equal say in all that goes on
£365m deal, RFU get the biggest slice at £90m - rest doled out at varying increments

Be interesting to see what this means for TV deals - don't have a big enough share to strong arm a vote, but the more cash strapped (and greedy) unions will be eyeing up the Amazon (or whoever) money.

I think Wales and Ireland will vote against - as they have domestic deals - maybe France? I'm not sure what the deal is with their international rugby being shown on TV

Based on the ANC the RFU will likely be happy with an Amazon deal, Italy and Scotland will likely take the cash from wherever they can

 

[big ginger 8]

TV rights are up this year aren't they?

The IRFU don't want the full 6N to be on the protected list but I think our home games have to be on domestic tv.

 

[MikeTheNative]

CVC deal heralds 'new era' - Morel

CVC's involvement in international rugby union will herald the start of a "new era" in the sport, says Six Nations boss Ben Morel.

www.bbc.co.uk

CVC have bought 1/7th of the Six Nations so now have an equal say in all that goes on
£365m deal, RFU get the biggest slice at £90m - rest doled out at varying increments

Be interesting to see what this means for TV deals - don't have a big enough share to strong arm a vote, but the more cash strapped (and greedy) unions will be eyeing up the Amazon (or whoever) money.

I think Wales and Ireland will vote against - as they have domestic deals - maybe France? I'm not sure what the deal is with their international rugby being shown on TV

Based on the ANC the RFU will likely be happy with an Amazon deal, Italy and Scotland will likely take the cash from wherever they can

With them all losing money due to covid any ways, I think this was always kind of on the cards.
To be fair to the WRU they have tended to stay with free to air channels, last away tour was channel, 4 so hopefully they still push to keep it free.

 

[munstermuffin]

CVC deal heralds 'new era' - Morel

CVC's involvement in international rugby union will herald the start of a "new era" in the sport, says Six Nations boss Ben Morel.

www.bbc.co.uk

CVC have bought 1/7th of the Six Nations so now have an equal say in all that goes on
£365m deal, RFU get the biggest slice at £90m - rest doled out at varying increments

Be interesting to see what this means for TV deals - don't have a big enough share to strong arm a vote, but the more cash strapped (and greedy) unions will be eyeing up the Amazon (or whoever) money.

I think Wales and Ireland will vote against - as they have domestic deals - maybe France? I'm not sure what the deal is with their international rugby being shown on TV

Based on the ANC the RFU will likely be happy with an Amazon deal, Italy and Scotland will likely take the cash from wherever they can

Timing is fun too. At a time when most unions are vulnerable I know it great to see games on free to air but how long can they resist the bigger paydays.

It will be testing

 

[japitts]

I suspect the autumn internationals will go totally pay, my money's on Sky. Bundling the autumn & 6N series into one, just depends how much the home unions push for 6N FTA. BBC walking away would be no bad thing, ITV has been a breath of fresh air - perhaps join up with C4 or C5 if they'd be allowed.

I suspect Sky are keeping the powder dry for getting new long-term Sanzaar & NH-international deals, BT have the English club game sorted.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I suspect the autumn internationals will go totally pay, my money's on Sky. Bundling the autumn & 6N series into one, just depends how much the home unions push for 6N FTA. BBC walking away would be no bad thing, ITV has been a breath of fresh air - perhaps join up with C4 or C5 if they'd be allowed.

I suspect Sky are keeping the powder dry for getting new long-term Sanzaar & NH-international deals, BT have the English club game sorted.

I'd hate that, it means you have to have both sky and BT.

 

[japitts]

True, but Sky for internationals & BT for club, has been the case for many years - current season excluded. BT have never shown much interest in the internationals.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I think Amazon is more likely than Sky - Sky don't want to put up big money, and if they did they won't see a return on their investment (Sky costs significantly more than the alternatives so they're unlikely to pick up a lot of new subscribers)

By all accounts Amazon's foray into rugby was a success in the autumn, and the product (for the viewer) was bang on
They tried to get the Premiership rights but then backed out at the last minute when BT increased their offer - I can't see BT plumping for international rights though

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Just imagine the premiership on BT, 6 nations on Amazon and the others on sky. That would be terrible for a fan.

 

[japitts]

I'm far from convinced that the streaming package from the (tin-pot) ANC was "bang on" for the average viewer. I've heard the same that the unions were quite impressed, but my experience of "live event" streaming is the opposite. Marmite perhaps, and everyone's opinion will differ here. As for the Premiership, I'd read the opposite - there was much talk of Amazon bidding, but in the event they didn't table an offer.

Sky have stopped bidding for every contract going, but are still paying big for what they term as "core" contracts. F1, Prem football, English cricket etc. Long-term rugby internationals could well fit into that.