RugbyRebels

Th BBC was outbid by premiersports so no rugby on BBC next season.

They have not reported it BBC Alba or SC4 are affected but if you want to watch Munster or Leinster ever week it will be premiersports

Retrograde step by pro 14 which will proabbly only last 1 - 2 years and then BBC will pick it up for less money then it pays now

A momumentally stupid idea

It's the age old sport debate about money against visibility.

I have no idea how much more Premier Sports (and their sister Free Sports) have bid so it's difficult to fully shout down Pro14.

It does appear short sighted but FTA channels don't deserve to "get away with" paying significantly under market value* and be gifted coverage.

* I am assuming Pro14 weren't daft enough to walk away from FTA tv for 5-10% a difference.

Idiotic from the Pro14 but I wouldn't expect any less.

Growing the audience base will bring revenues eventually.

PS is that not just BBC Wales?

I noticed Welsh tv negotiations were ongoing so I wonder about BBC alba....

Premier Sports looks like an utterly pointless proposition from a consumer perspective. It looks like they carry 3-4 sports and heavily. I much prefer being able to watch a bit of golf, rugby, football, NFL.. whatever tickles my fancy.

Then again I may be biased as I work for Sky...

I doubt I'll purchase.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:Premier Sports looks like an utterly pointless proposition from a consumer perspective. It looks like they carry 3-4 sports and heavily. I much prefer being able to watch a bit of golf, rugby, football, NFL.. whatever tickles my fancy.

Then again I may be biased as I work for Sky...

I doubt I'll purchase.

I just dropped Sky so i could be willing to pay for some extra TV but my gut feeling is it will be focused on Munster and Leinster

[quote="hugh_woatmeigh"]Premier Sports looks like an utterly pointless proposition from a consumer perspective. It looks like they carry 3-4 sports and heavily. I much prefer being able to watch a bit of golf, rugby, football, NFL.. whatever tickles my fancy.

Then again I may be biased as I work for Sky...

I doubt I'll purchase.[/quote]I know who to come talk to when my year is up with sky :-)

What a load of shit. They sound like the new Setanta.

General Zod wrote:What a load of shit. They sound like the new Setanta.

Same owner /CEO isn't it?

Which Tyler wrote:

General Zod wrote:What a load of shit. They sound like the new Setanta.

Same owner /CEO isn't it?

Yup.

It will all end in tears.

General Zod wrote:

It will all end in tears.

And no cocoa.......

The more I think about this the more I think it could be devastating for the league.

I suspect Guinness will kick off and look for a massively reduced sponsorship as a result of the poor customer exposure this will bring - no free to air, pay TV channel with a tiny market share and limited audience, potentially less games aired... I cannot see the same deal staying in place.

Welsh and Irish pro teams will struggle to attract new fans with no free to air coverage. This will hurt Edinburgh especially IMO who should be looking to seriously grow their fan base after half a decade of rot.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:The more I think about this the more I think it could be devastating for the league.

I suspect Guinness will kick off and look for a massively reduced sponsorship as a result of the poor customer exposure this will bring - no free to air, pay TV channel with a tiny market share and limited audience, potentially less games aired... I cannot see the same deal staying in place.

Welsh and Irish pro teams will struggle to attract new fans with no free to air coverage. This will hurt Edinburgh especially IMO who should be looking to seriously grow their fan base after half a decade of rot.

Premier sport do have a FTA channel.

On the face of it this looks like a terrible decision, but we don't have the facts or figures behind it. We also don't know what the welsh/Gaelic speaking channels deal is (if there is one). So fairly analysing the deal is difficult.

Edinburgh and Glasgow are up there in the league but the reality is operating costs are getting higher so money from tv needs to come into it. Especially if there are large differences.

Sky pulled out of the UK rights because they didn't win the Irish rights. That leaves FTA channels and BT. We know for a fact that BBC Scotland barely gives a shit about rugby so why should they be gifted the rights at a reduced rate (if they bid significantly lower). We have to assume the cost/benefit/risk analysis was completed by the Pro14 power brokers.

Scottish Rugby know there is a finite pool of money and that the board cannot unduly take money from grass roots to stick into the pro teams. Dodson has said he won't and frankly the member clubs wouldn't allow it.

Problem is, they probably got 2-3 million more but divided by 14 is it worth the loss of an audience.

Let’s hope the SRU have a plan b just in case the tv money dries up!

whatisthejava wrote:Problem is, they probably got 2-3 million more but divided by 14 is it worth the loss of an audience.

Depends how they value the rumoured <50k who watch the game on alba I guess.

I feel sorry for the sports administrators in these sort of cases. I think they've made a mistake but one the other hand it's sort of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

For arguments sake, let's say it's an extra 300k per side. For the Scottish sides that's a Jonny Gray or almost WP Nel per year.

I've actually written an email to the SRU and pro sides over it. Won't make a difference but did it anyway.

I've been fortunate in Oz that BeIn Sports cover 1 or 2 Pro 14 games each week. It's usually Munster or Leinster but they often pick up the Alba game so get to see Glasgow or Edinburgh home games once in a while and some of their away games. Suspect that will be lost now if it goes behind a pay wall.

For the league in general and Scottish (mainly) and Welsh interest in particular, this smacks of the Irish looking after their own interests and again gives weight to the notion its a league run in, by and for the benefit of Ireland. Even if its reduced money, they have secured (possibly increased) their share relative to their competitors. Their teams will still be on tv, in the public eye both at home and elsewhere. Moreso if Welsh/Scottish games aren't covered as their exploits, even existence, are barely recognised currently by mainstream media and might as well not exist if not on tv.

BBC Scotland won't give a monkeys if they once again have a vaguely competitive Old Firm debate 4 times a season to chew over.

Looking further ahead, say the South Africans teams jump hemisphere and the English and French get interested? The Irish are again well placed with TV coverage and public consciousness to get a place at that table. The Welsh will jump ship and probably be satisfied with an Anglo-Welsh arrangement at or even below provincial level. Will we be left with our traditional rivalry with the Italians again?

'We' desperately need to put a stake in the ground in Europe next season and continue to make progress at international level through to the world cup to make our 'product' worth considering.

af73 wrote: For the league in general and Scottish (mainly) and Welsh interest in particular, this smacks of the Irish looking after their own interests and again gives weight to the notion its a league run in, by and for the benefit of Ireland. Even if its reduced money, they have secured (possibly increased) their share relative to their competitors. Their teams will still be on tv, in the public eye both at home and elsewhere. Moreso if Welsh/Scottish games aren't covered as their exploits, even existence, are barely recognised currently by mainstream media and might as well not exist if not on tv.
.

Time to rest the tin foil hat mate, the league is ran for the benefit of Ireland teams but remember they provide 3 european champions to the league and all 4 of their teams have won the league. I think its a gormless stupid decision but the teams will ave pushed for the most money to keep competitive. If for example its worth an extra 300K to both teams thats WP Nell and JG paid for.

I hate to admit it but i will probabbly stump up the tenner if i can chromecast from my phone and share a subscription with my mate and also get a guarenteed 1 scotland game a week without some irish twat commentating.

whatisthejava wrote:

af73 wrote: For the league in general and Scottish (mainly) and Welsh interest in particular, this smacks of the Irish looking after their own interests and again gives weight to the notion its a league run in, by and for the benefit of Ireland. Even if its reduced money, they have secured (possibly increased) their share relative to their competitors. Their teams will still be on tv, in the public eye both at home and elsewhere. Moreso if Welsh/Scottish games aren't covered as their exploits, even existence, are barely recognised currently by mainstream media and might as well not exist if not on tv.
.

Time to rest the tin foil hat mate, the league is ran for the benefit of Ireland teams but remember they provide 3 european champions to the league and all 4 of their teams have won the league. I think its a gormless stupid decision but the teams will ave pushed for the most money to keep competitive. If for example its worth an extra 300K to both teams thats WP Nell and JG paid for.

I hate to admit it but i will probabbly stump up the tenner if i can chromecast from my phone and share a subscription with my mate and also get a guarenteed 1 scotland game a week without some irish twat commentating.

I won't. I can't honestly see how this benefits anyone long term. The league might gain some extra money next season (or for the duration of the contract), but once PremierSports see fuck all income, Pro14 will be screwed over.

On the flip side again. The SRU need all the money they can get to keep the Hoggs, Grays, Watsons, even the likes of Bradbury and Kinghorn in the future.

I'd happily stump up the cash if there was a guarantee that I can watch every single Glasgow and Edinburgh game. My gripe with the current system is that quite often games aren't televised. As its FTA I cant really complain. If the new option is pay more get less then fwck it, I'll see the twitter updates and watch whats on sky/bt and then use my mad skillz of computering to find a stream.

France and England are not interested in the Pro 14. Their TV revenues dwarf the pro 14 by some margin.