Four games on Fox Sports this week.

[JasonE]

I think this is a first ?

Tonight we get Cas v Wakey and Leeds v Bradford.

Tomorrow we get the Hull derby and Saints v Wigan. Although only one of the games is actually a decent game (FC v KR) it's great to see.

Keep an eye out for Kallum Watkins for Leeds, just turned 17yo centre.

 

[Alehana]

what time?

 

[deluded pom?]

Watch out for "Hollywood" Ganson butchering any chance Hull had of winning the derby match. That's after he allows Hull to take the lead from a blatant forward pass. The last thirty minutes contain some of the worst refereeing you're ever likely to see.

 

[Brycey]

I don't like that they are nearly a week delayed.

Does Sentanta (sp?) Australia broadcast the ESL? If so I would get a subscription purely based on that.

 

[jed]

There were 4 games this week because Sky broadcast more than their standard 2 games per round. The downside is that there's no repeats of the games.

If people want to see ESL closer to the games being played, all I can suggest is to email Fox Sports and ask for it. If enough people are wanting it, then they'll start to listen. If there's only a handful of people actually interested, there's no incentive for them to buy the rights to live games.

 

[Brycey]

Do people even listen to emails? Theyd listen to ratings moreso, how does the SL rate over here anyway.

 

[Perth Red]

I emailed ages ago complaining about not getting UK games sooner, surprisingly I got no reply!

 

[ucantseeme]

I think Foxsports would love to air more ESL, except they only show 2 games in the UK. If Toyota Cup is a ratings winner then I assume ESL is the same.

There is no such thing as too much RL.

 

[jed]

Do people even listen to emails? Theyd listen to ratings moreso, how does the SL rate over here anyway.

The ratings aren't bad. But watching a game on TV doesn't indicate to them that people want the games either live or delayed by a few hours.


But change is a-coming.....

 

[bartman]

Sounds like good news afoot Jed?

 

[Brycey]

Dpes jed know something we don't? Even if we cannot get more games, going live like they do with the NFL and then back it up with a reasonable delayed game (not a 5 day delay) can only help ratings.

 

[jed]

Sounds like good news afoot Jed?

It's a-coming ;-)

 

[hutch]

are there any plans to increase the number of games shown on sky sports each week in the uk? i was under the impression that the new deal meant more games on tv!

 

[Evil Homer]

are there any plans to increase the number of games shown on sky sports each week in the uk? i was under the impression that the new deal meant more games on tv!

No, there are no plans to do this.

Sky currently televise a National League match on a Thursday night, as SL clubs were unwilling to play on Thursdays. I doubt they will show any more Super League games than two a week.

 

[hutch]

No, there are no plans to do this.

Sky currently televise a National League match on a Thursday night, as SL clubs were unwilling to play on Thursdays. I doubt they will show any more Super League games than two a week.

its shame, i would have thought the rfl would have pushed for more coverage. in australia, we can watch every game every week. when i lived in england i was dissapointed that i have to miss out on 5 games a weekend, and i thought that the rfl would have wanted increase the amount of games people could view with their next deal. so basically all they got was the same amount of games for more money?

they should have one fri night, one sat night and one sunday arvo game at least, or perhaps tried to get setanta to bid for the other non televised games.

do they at least have a set schedule every week this year? for example, a tv game every fri and sat night, or do they just show it whenever they can?

 

[Evil Homer]

There has always been TV games on Fridays and Saturdays. Last year they trialled putting some games on Sundays rather than Saturdays, but it wasn't as effective as a lot of clubs play home games on Sundays so would not be able to watch the Sky game whereas a Saturday night would not clash with anything. On Bank Holiday weekends they usually put 3 games on in a week, with a third game being played on the Monday. This happened last week.

I agree that it would be good to have 3 Super League games on in a week or to have Setanta buy the rights to the other games. However, part of the Sky deal is that they have 'exclusive' coverage, and for Setanta to show games would greatly decrease the value of both deals. The only way this would work would be if Sky sold the rights to the other games to Setanta, which is unlikely seeing as they are direct competitors. The most important thing is that the TV deal brings money into the game, the added viewership and potential to attract new fans are a bonus.