News limited will never stop degrading the game while they are the ones that own it. The are simply bringing the product down to pay unders.
It is a win/win situation for them, they bring the overall price of league down, they sell more papers, they increase the viewership of there overpaid programs(afl) and in turn maximize there profit from paid adverts for both codes.
If news limited did not own the NRL, they would be forced to pay more for there golden egg, and would have to recoup costs by promoting the game better so they can increase there advertising revenue, exactly like they are doing with the AFL.
There is absolutely no way in hell, that News Limited would allow for even a second Rugby League to vanish from there networks, they would simply lose billions, they would never let it happen. If we said to them to pay 2 billion dollars, i bet they would consider it. Without league they will plummet, they rely on league to sell papers, sell subscriptions, internet, every single part of there business model in Australia and 1000's of employees are directly influenced by League and the amount of support it has in NSW and Queensland.