Great News for RL in the UK : Sun Sep 23, 2018 6:21 am  

Murdoch has lost his attempt to take 100% control of SKY, with Comcast likely to have their offer accepted. Comcast have a good record in sports broadcasting and offer a true "multi-platform" solution to the ever changing sports broadcast market..... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45615441

Murdoch has lost his attempt to take 100% control of SKY, with Comcast likely to have their offer accepted. Comcast have a good record in sports broadcasting and offer a true "multi-platform" solution to the ever changing sports broadcast market..... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45615441

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:13 am  

Call Me God wrote: Murdoch has lost his attempt to take 100% control of SKY, with Comcast likely to have their offer accepted. Comcast have a good record in sports broadcasting and offer a true "multi-platform" solution to the ever changing sports broadcast market..... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45615441 Hope you are right we need some good news

Call Me God wrote: Murdoch has lost his attempt to take 100% control of SKY, with Comcast likely to have their offer accepted. Comcast have a good record in sports broadcasting and offer a true "multi-platform" solution to the ever changing sports broadcast market..... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45615441 Hope you are right we need some good news

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:35 am  

I don't think you can make that claim at face value. Yes, Comcast is big on sports in the US, but that's because the sports market in the US is much more fragmented (teams will have their own TV deals, and that invariably involves the local cable company) and like Sky, it uses sport to sell subscriptions.

What will determine the value of our sports rights is how many subscriptions depend on RL content, the volume of the audience we deliver, and the value of that audience to advertisers.

Comcast buying Sky doesn't change the fact that the second and third of those factors are falling, and the first one can't be very high. The sport has ignored those issues for too long, and it's going to cost.

[Durham Giant]

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Sun Sep 23, 2018 3:30 pm  

They will be more interested if there is a N American team playing ratere than M62 clubs

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:25 pm  

Durham Giant wrote:

They will be more interested if there is a N American team playing ratere than M62 clubs

I doubt they care who is playing the game and more about a/ who has a subscription because of it and b/ how they can monatise that audience.......
...I fully expect them to get the chequebook out in terms of bidding for more sports and paying more to retain what they have.

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:57 am  

bramleyrhino wrote:

I don't think you can make that claim at face value. Yes, Comcast is big on sports in the US, but that's because the sports market in the US is much more fragmented (teams will have their own TV deals, and that invariably involves the local cable company) and like Sky, it uses sport to sell subscriptions.

What will determine the value of our sports rights is how many subscriptions depend on RL content, the volume of the audience we deliver, and the value of that audience to advertisers.

Comcast buying Sky doesn't change the fact that the second and third of those factors are falling, and the first one can't be very high. The sport has ignored those issues for too long, and it's going to cost.

Maybe the sport can stop shooting itself in the foot and stop playing matches on Friday night, dragging viewers away from the televised match. If a televised match is on then surely no other match should take place at the same time?

This alone would help increase viewing figures by a few thousand and give more clout to the sport in negotiating a new tv deal.

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:52 am  

wildshot wrote:

Maybe the sport can stop shooting itself in the foot and stop playing matches on Friday night, dragging viewers away from the televised match. If a televised match is on then surely no other match should take place at the same time?

This alone would help increase viewing figures by a few thousand and give more clout to the sport in negotiating a new tv deal.

I agree, and I've said that before - I don't understand why we willingly dilute our own TV audience. If I were on Sky's side of the negotiating table in 2021, I'd be demanding exclusivity of matchday (or exclusivity of the slot) for televised games. Of course, Lenaghan would probably have to run that past his bosses at Wigan Athletic first.....

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:17 am  

bramleyrhino wrote:

I agree, and I've said that before - I don't understand why we willingly dilute our own TV audience. If I were on Sky's side of the negotiating table in 2021, I'd be demanding exclusivity of matchday (or exclusivity of the slot) for televised games. Of course, Lenaghan would probably have to run that past his bosses at Wigan Athletic first.....

Are the Rhinos and United both playing tonight?

Re: Great News for RL in the UK : Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:19 am  

Durham Giant wrote:

They will be more interested if there is a N American team playing ratere than M62 clubs

The USA cares very little about Canada.