different time slots?

sky charges more for ads during RL than union.



sky makes more money for ads during RL games than union games



sky pays union more than league



thats not sustainable.



ill repeat sky charges more for ads during RL than union..



MORE

And then pays RL less, so are you agreeing with me or not?

as ive said, the situation isnt sustainable.



which sport has a more solid basis?



RL, union has no viewers.



itll work itself out in terms of tv dollars eventually thats my point.

RL is viewed as a minority sport because lots of people don't have Sky Sports cos it's so expensive and the RFL effectively sold ALL RL to Murdoch.



If more than just the odd CC match was shown on terrestrial TV RL's profile would rise. A little less b1tch1ng about non-"heartland" non-"traditional" clubs who have the temerity to try and join in would help RL's image a bit too.



So there are some public schoolboys in the GP! You make it a class war and you'll never make headway down south. Leave ENGLISH union to the metrosexuals by all means, but don't criticise them for it. Instead of whining what the media and the south doesn't give you, meet them halfway. Be less parochial and less judgemental and get some RL on terrestrial TV because until we had Celtic Crusaders in S Wales, I'd pretty much forgotten there WAS another code of rugby than RU.

I agree, and you wont find a bigger supporter of non-heartland clubs than me, but it's incredibly difficult to expand the game when RL is constantly under-reported in the media, and it wasn't RL that made it a class war.

yeah its RL that made it a class war

It's really all about perception. RU is the higher profile sport in the UK. Why such a poorly constructed sport get any media time at all is beyond most people on here but it does. It is partly a class thing, partly a regional thing but RL is always presented as a niche sport.



Sky aren't as discriminating as the rest of the media but even so RL is probably still considered niche by them - along with Speedway, NFL, Wrestling and Darts - all of which get plenty of coverage on Sky and good viewing figures as well. However RU now has (thanks largely to other media outlets) a wealth of household names, a well known sponsor (Guinness) and a strong (in comparison with the sports above) international profile. It can use this to bring all parties to the table to bid on its TV rights. RL can not. Superleague is a Murdoch created concept and it's hard to think of anyone apart from the BBC taking enough of an interest to want to buy into it in the same way.



I accept the point about how much revenue RL and RU could generate based on the viewing figures but when it comes to the crunch would Sky let a sport like RU go to one of it's rivals? No they wouldn't because losing a sport with the profile of RU would be seen as a massive blow to them. Note I say 'seen as', it's the how RU is perceived in the media and subsequently by the public. This is why it gets a bumper TV deal and RL does not.



Those of us on these forums are used to seeing viewing figures like the ones in the OP. But I bet, if we are truly honest, we were all surprised (albeit pleasantly) the first time we came across them because of RU's 'national' image. I know that if I showed any of my non-RL supporting mates these stats they would be surprised. Most people in this country think that RU is a massive sport in Australia, so much so that when England beat the Wallabies it's presented as something akin to winning the Ashes in cricket. And when you point out that Aus RU has no professional domestic league, only 4 professional teams and viewing figures that make Quins attendences look decent they are genuinely taken aback. And while the perceptions continue in this way RL could have every Sky viewer tune in for Superleague and it still wouldn't mean they get a TV deal to match RU.



Shocking really, but that's what the media is like.

good post



perceptions change



the nrl will be in a place in 2013 where union in australia and even NZ wont matter



the whole game - SL included is going through a massive growth phase



the fact that more people watch club RL than union in england says RL is a big sport in england.



its inevitable it will get good tv deals off that

The nice one to note is that a national league game pulled in 100k less than barcelona,now how much do they pay for the rights to the spanish league and nothing to the national league clubs????



Sky sports 1 usually pulls in treble sky 3



I suppose the reason the union games are dropping is the fact fans have switched off due to the rule changes,as if you check at the start of there season they have very healthy veiwing figures

very good post.



Does anyone have any stats for the average superleague viewing figures vs the average yawnion guiness premiership viewing figures? it hardly makes sense looking at the Leeds vs Bradford, and Saints vs Wigan viewing figures (which will be some of the largest of the season, I imagine), comparing these with two corresponding Guiness Premiership games (which may be well above or below the average), and then assuming that this is typical of the difference between SL and GP viewing figures.

www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammes? use this link to mooch about in

www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammes? use this link to mooch about in