Offshore fans forced to fire up their PCs as league loses in war of the screens
ROY MASTERS
March 19, 2010
When Channel Nine's Ray Warren welcomed UK and USA ''viewers'' to last Friday night's opening NRL match between the Eels and Dragons, he was using the word ''viewer'' liberally.
Perhaps ''Rabbits'' meant fans watching the game via the web, because that was the only way they could see it.
He was probably referring to an NRL media release which trumpeted that Telstra Big Pond was providing free live streaming of NRL round one matches into the UK, Canada, USA, South Africa and Europe.
Fans will pay $US5.95 ($6.45) per match to watch round two games on their computer screens, although the NRL has subsequently finalised a deal with TV network America One to show one game a week on TV.
NRL chief operations officer Graham Annesley says: ''America One also shows the English Super League and fans will see one NRL game a week, although the remaining seven NRL games will be available only via online screening on Big Pond.''
AFL and Super 14 rugby are the beneficiaries in the UK as the NRL vacates the big screen. BSkyB now shows Super 14 on weekend mornings, when NRL was once televised, while ESPN screens wall-to-wall AFL.
NRL was once telecast on BSkyB but the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable network ditched it when forced to pay more for English Premier League soccer matches.
''They said they didn't have the budget for NRL,'' Annesley said. ''We're in negotiations now with BSkyB and ESPN to get NRL back on in the UK but no deal has been done. It will be only one game a week, with the remainder available on Telstra Big Bond. We're hopeful we can get it back on BSkyB.''
BSkyB's vacillation comes as News Ltd is seeking a five-year extension to its ownership of first and last rights to televise NRL matches. The existing rights expire in 2022 but News is demanding an extension to 2027 as a condition of its exit from part ownership of the NRL.
It is not showing any favours to rugby league with its international coverage of the game.
In addition to News Ltd and BSkyB, parent News Corp also owns the Fox network in the US which, according to NRL chief executive David Gallop, ''is not prepared to pay the fee we ask''.
Nor can Fox Sports in Australia, also half owned by News Ltd, reach an agreement with Nine to show Friday night matches live into Melbourne.
Nine, defying an agreement to show NRL matches before midnight, continually televises the double-header at hours when only insomniacs and shift workers are awake.
Yet Foxtel shows AFL games live in the northern states on Friday nights.
The News Ltd-owned Melbourne Storm, after four consecutive grand finals, cannot build a fan base in Victoria via live pay-TV coverage of the match of the round, or free-to-air TV in prime time, yet it is helping AFL's push into what it calls ''the developing states.''
In 40 years, the codes have swapped places. As league historian Sean Fagan points out, the 1967 Sydney grand final was shown live in Melbourne, 10 years before the first VFL grand final was screened live.
Fagan says: ''The screening of Winfield Cup matches from the late 1980s into New Zealand did lead to significant growth in jersey sales of NSWRL clubs and the eventual entry of the Warriors.''
I recall visiting South Africa a year before the Mandela government came to power and hearing a Springbok, referring to the NSWRL coverage, say that ''The Winfield Cup is killing rugby in this country''.
We have discarded the antiquated term NSWRL and have stubbed out tobacco sponsorship, but South African fans can see rugby league only by securing internet access.
Telstra sponsors the NRL and we recognise the day might come when we watch the majority of our sport online, although international viewers protest rugby league is fast-forwarding them too soon into the new electronic age.
Free-to-air TV will have a long tail, just like AM radio.
Gallop says: ''We've tried to do a deal internationally with TV but it hasn't come to fruition and we've had to take the internet option. Our priority is to get it on TV.'' Declaring he would prefer to have ''viewers'' than ''subscribers'', he said: ''TV is still the goose that laid the golden egg and it is very much our priority.''
