For the life of me I still, to this day, cannot work out how restricting your reach in the media can be a good thing.
By awarding sole commercial rights to a station, the NRL is giving competitors such as the AFL and Union a free kick. This year we've had 2UE call numerous Union games and even an AFL game. This was a station that was willing to devote 12 or more hours of coverage to rugby league each weekend. Triple M was willing to devote 6 hours a weekend to the game and so was 2SM.
How the NRL can ignore the publicity and promotion that comes with this is beyone me.
The only reason I can think of is self-interest.
The NRL, which is half owned by NEWS LTD, would want as much of the focus on it's Fox Sports coverage as possible. Take radio broadcasters and free-to-air TV out of the equation and that gives people more of a reason to take up PAY TV subscriptions.
And if that seems crazy, then have a look at Channel 9's current TV deal which does not allow for any live radio coverage whatsoever on Friday night to conflict with it's delayed FNF telecasts. How the ARL/NRL could have allowed this over the years is beyond me, but they have.
A self-interested News LTD is the main reason for the NRL's ridiculous radio rights decisions. They couldn't give a stuff about the real fans.
Somebody should force Gallop to sit down and listen for a couple of hours, the junk that 2GB serve up every weekend. I wonder if he could look you back in the eye and say 'I'm proud to have that station as the sole commerical broadcaster of the game.' A station that doesn't even bother covering the main Saturday night game - a move that Fox Sports would no doubt be happy with.
By awarding sole commercial rights to a station, the NRL is giving competitors such as the AFL and Union a free kick. This year we've had 2UE call numerous Union games and even an AFL game. This was a station that was willing to devote 12 or more hours of coverage to rugby league each weekend. Triple M was willing to devote 6 hours a weekend to the game and so was 2SM.
How the NRL can ignore the publicity and promotion that comes with this is beyone me.
The only reason I can think of is self-interest.
The NRL, which is half owned by NEWS LTD, would want as much of the focus on it's Fox Sports coverage as possible. Take radio broadcasters and free-to-air TV out of the equation and that gives people more of a reason to take up PAY TV subscriptions.
And if that seems crazy, then have a look at Channel 9's current TV deal which does not allow for any live radio coverage whatsoever on Friday night to conflict with it's delayed FNF telecasts. How the ARL/NRL could have allowed this over the years is beyond me, but they have.
A self-interested News LTD is the main reason for the NRL's ridiculous radio rights decisions. They couldn't give a stuff about the real fans.
Somebody should force Gallop to sit down and listen for a couple of hours, the junk that 2GB serve up every weekend. I wonder if he could look you back in the eye and say 'I'm proud to have that station as the sole commerical broadcaster of the game.' A station that doesn't even bother covering the main Saturday night game - a move that Fox Sports would no doubt be happy with.
