Sky to cover Rabo??

[Dave Cahill]

Sky dont have major sports interest in Italy do they? That's a problem unless its their opportunity. In which case it could be okay.

Sky Italia

[Donny B.]

With regard to them showing games I wonder if they were limited by the Premiership themselves in terms of the amount of games they can show or scheduling to allow as many games as possible.

If you look at their Super Rugby coverage they seem to cover as many games as possible, some online admittedly but still covered. With the HC they certainly show a huge proportion of live games either on the main channel or interactive.

So I wouldn't automatically assume they would follow the model of the AP and just show one or two games.

I'm still not sure if it would be a good thing as I'm not in a position to pay for Sky either. However it might be no bad thing for Sky to be sniffing about in order to get better terms from the current broadcast partners, not so much financially but in terms of showing a minimum amount of games, showing a highlights programme and online coverage where channels aren't available.

[fourthirtythree]

Sky dont have major sports interest in Italy do they? That's a problem unless its their opportunity. In which case it could be okay.

Sky Italia

I see they have some Serie A and the F1, I can't really see whether they cover rugby much right now. It's on their site (6N only) but I don't read Italian so I can't work out whether it's on their schedules.

[ceemec]

Well, in fairness ceemec, every Leinster HEC game in shown LIVE on Sky Sports. Over the past 3/4 years, can you think of another team that is always live, and not on a red button? Munster have not had that luxury yet. Even when we were a bit sh!t - Castres away in 2008 - we were live on the TV. The Rabo is not a good competition, but it has big potential. SKY can deliver that. Even if we weren't live on a weekend, you can sure there would be a dedicated magazine programme showing comprehensive highlights and analysis. Not 'Against The Head' style rubbish. Sticking with RTE is doing nothing for this League. If there was a dedicated broadcaster, it might help.

Besides, we don't know their running schedule yet. Perhaps they are willing to regionalise their matches? I would certainly consider whatever their proposal is, and if they are pumping large sums in, giving it maximum exposure and fixing kick off time well in advance with a dedicated round-up programme/show, then the Celtic nations will have to seriously consider this proposal.

Absolutely true and I'm very much only theorising in relation to their schedule. They may broadcast more games than that. I can't see them dedicating near the same coverage they do to HEC and S15 games which are their flagship, international club rugby tournaments with big pulling power. I think a move to Sky would improve the league as a product overall but it's very much up in the air as to how aggressively it would be promoted. Initially, I would think it will be used as a filler in their schedule. The English domestic league doesn't get huge coverage and never has had more than a couple of games on a weekend on Sky which I think is a realistic yardstick.

In relation to a rugby magazine show, that would be a great move but (and I am being selfish here), I'm used to putting the feet up on a Friday night, throwing one game on the TV, another on her laptop and then checking scores on my own laptop and immersing myself completely in live rugby. Obviously a lot of people don't have that luxury due to being elsewhere or having family etc. but it's something I enjoy hugely under the current arrangement.

[TerenureJim]

I wonder if the AP coverage being slightly low in terms of games covered is to due not only with ESPN having partial right but maybe also to AP requesting that certain games not be covered live of a Saturday afternoon to help drive up fan numbers through the turnstiles, I could be wrong but didn't the football league/premiership have some rule about Sky not showing the prime time Saturday afternoon 3pm KO's back in the day?

[Dave Cahill]

If the game away against Treviso is the same one I'm thinking of, then it wasn't available in Ireland, it was geo-locked to Italy. To watch it one either had to get around the geo-lock or watch a pirated stream. Neither are ideal (or technically legal)

[TerenureJim]

If the game away against Treviso is the same one I'm thinking of, then it wasn't available in Ireland, it was geo-locked to Italy. To watch it one either had to get around the geo-lock or watch a pirated stream. Neither are ideal (or technically legal)

Technically legal, what a great phrase, it's like saying Ritchie McCaw plays by the rules.

[nopeare]

I wonder if the AP coverage being slightly low in terms of games covered is to due not only with ESPN having partial right but maybe also to AP requesting that certain games not be covered live of a Saturday afternoon to help drive up fan numbers through the turnstiles, I could be wrong but didn't the football league/premiership have some rule about Sky not showing the prime time Saturday afternoon 3pm KO's back in the day?

Premiership still do as far as I'm aware, don't think I've ever seen a 3pm match on sky most of the games move to 12.45pm KO or 5pm if they are to be televised.

If it means more money for all the clubs so the Welsh,Scottish and Italians can hold onto more of their players and making it a better league, then I'm happy enough to lose a couple of matches on tv every year, once we get some sort of weekly highlight show which I'm sure we will. With the way the money is being spent in France and I reckon its only a matter of time before the English wage cap is lifted, then even with the getting the tax back we aren't going to be able to hold onto our top players unless something is done. I believe Sky given 2-3 seasons could really up the popularity of the regions and attendances in the other countries which will mean knock on effects for us.

[mikerob]

I assume the Pro12 won't think twice about awarding the rights to Sky if they will get more money from Sky than the existing broadcasters.

The existing broadcasters won't be paying much for the Pro12 at the moment. BBC regions don't have big sports budgets so they won't bust a gut to try and outbid Sky.

[ceemec]

If the game away against Treviso is the same one I'm thinking of, then it wasn't available in Ireland, it was geo-locked to Italy. To watch it one either had to get around the geo-lock or watch a pirated stream. Neither are ideal (or technically legal)

Not ideal but the 20 page thread at the time from those of us watching online suggests we have little consideration for Sean Sherlock!

[simonokeeffe]

if you look at when Rabo games tend to be played, Friday nights, thats generally the big rugby league fixtures, HC, Darts and football matches (internationals), suppose thats all the same demographic though so shouldnt be conflict there
Saturdays: if theyve an F1 and horse racing channel, even when theres the cricket (seasons wont overlap much), a football match, golf, theres still a spare channell

[Darce]

Not sure where all the Anti Sky stuff is coming from. AP weekends often have 4 out of 6 games screened by Sky and ESPN. Pre ESPN, Sky regularly did a Saturday double header and a Sunday game. At the sharp end of the season they would do Friday Saturday and Sunday.

They have done a shite load for the Hcup and that level of investment would only be good for the league.

Sign them up I say.

[mikerob]

I looked to see what Sky and ESPNs TV coverage of the AP is for the next 4 rounds. ESPN show 2 games each weekend, Sky 1.

All 4 of Leicester's games are covered, Quins, Saints, Wasps and Sale have 3 /4, 5 teams have 1 or 2 games covered and Worcester and London Welsh aren't covered at all.

There are Saturday and Sunday afternoon games on all 4 weekends, and 2 Friday and Saturday evening games.

Friday evening games aren't popular in the AP anyway. They only have 3 in the next 4 rounds while in comparison the Pro12 have 12.

My gut feel is that if Sky did take on the Pro12, Friday evening games would be a regular fixture. They aren't dumb and will know if there is a good atmosphere for a Friday game, they can do some Sky-tastic hype on it. In the HEC anyway, Friday games generally have higher viewing figures than afternoon games.

[ronk]

Rugby is a funny sport in that we like Friday nights. Football fans would be horrified at the prospect. In America it's mainly for high-school football.

Sky would definitely be pushing the Friday evening rugby slots because it's a slot where they're often looking for some live sport. Naturally, I say that and Sky will have live sport on 4 channels at the same time tonight.

[blockhead]

Nobody has yet mentioned the real bonus of Sky covering the Rabo....
Mark Robson.
"O'Driscoll buzzes with godliness"
"Like plucking the legs off a spider"
He'll be the main boyo for sure!

[johng]

Nobody has yet mentioned the real bonus of Sky covering the Rabo....
Mark Robson.
"O'Driscoll buzzes with godliness"
"Like plucking the legs off a spider"
He'll be the main boyo for sure!

Ah stop. Yer gettin me goin now.

He did the Rabo on Setanta back in the day too. "The Cappuccino Cowboys are back in town"

[fourthirtythree]

Nobody has yet mentioned the real bonus of Sky covering the Rabo....
Mark Robson.
"O'Driscoll buzzes with godliness"
"Like plucking the legs off a spider"
He'll be the main boyo for sure!

Ah stop. Yer gettin me goin now.

He did the Rabo on Setanta back in the day too. "The Cappuccino Cowboys are back in town"

Remember it well. Great times.

[Scrum 5]

Sky dont have major sports interest in Italy do they? That's a problem unless its their opportunity. In which case it could be okay.

Sky Italia

With Tania Zamparo presenting the Rugby world cup on Sky Italia when I was there I'm sure it'll help the Rabo ratings if she continues to present the Rabo matches http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMxnwyFqzuc


For the good of the game of course.

[Morf]

How tall is she?

The guy with her looks tiny.

I'd be worried I might break her though.

[Avenger]

Not sure where all the Anti Sky stuff is coming from. AP weekends often have 4 out of 6 games screened by Sky and ESPN. Pre ESPN, Sky regularly did a Saturday double header and a Sunday game. At the sharp end of the season they would do Friday Saturday and Sunday.

They have done a shite load for the Hcup and that level of investment would only be good for the league.

Sign them up I say.

+1