Looks like we can’t get the Bradford game on Our League. Heard somewhere (here?) that Bradford don’t want their games on it. As far as promoting the sport goes I’d make it a condition of being in the Championship that you’ve got to allow it. I know the purists will say crowds might go down, and there’s an argument for that, but as a season ticket holder who’s stopped going to away games I will be paying for every one of the away games they show (and I’d pay the fiver for the home ones I can’t get to on top of the season ticket).
So you are saying you'd make it a condition of Championship clubs, to have to pay to stream the games for the fans of other teams, a streaming that costs £1250, (and will become more expensive).
Do you not realise that the game is on it's arse, has no money, and you want it for a £5-a-game, with probably a few more sat on the couch with you, thus diluting the price.
Get real, it ain't gonna happen.
Paulie xx
Think the option should be out there if there are no away fans allowed...
Thanks for your advice Paulie (kisses back at you). I thought (stupidly it seems) this was a RL based attempt to get games in front of people during Covid and presumed was paid for by the league offset by the pay to view. Charging clubs to put the games on is disgraceful, no argument. But if done properly it could work as a model for getting a sport that (apparently) can’t get a proper TV deal to an audience who won’t, or can’t (age, geography, shift pattern, etc etc) get to games.
Thanks for your advice Paulie (kisses back at you). I thought (stupidly it seems) this was a RL based attempt to get games in front of people during Covid and presumed was paid for by the league offset by the pay to view. Charging clubs to put the games on is disgraceful, no argument. But if done properly it could work as a model for getting a sport that (apparently) can’t get a proper TV deal to an audience who won’t, or can’t (age, geography, shift pattern, etc etc) get to games.
How is charging clubs to put the games on disgraceful? How do you think the costs of filming, connection, software for delivery, commentators etc are paid for?
Championship has got a TV deal - with Sky. Sky don't show any games, but the clubs still get a relatively handsome amount of central funding from it.
Thanks for your advice Paulie (kisses back at you). I thought (stupidly it seems) this was a RL based attempt to get games in front of people during Covid and presumed was paid for by the league offset by the pay to view. Charging clubs to put the games on is disgraceful, no argument. But if done properly it could work as a model for getting a sport that (apparently) can’t get a proper TV deal to an audience who won’t, or can’t (age, geography, shift pattern, etc etc) get to games.
How is charging clubs to put the games on disgraceful? How do you think the costs of filming, connection, software for delivery, commentators etc are paid for? Championship has got a TV deal – with Sky. Sky don’t show any games, but the clubs still get a relatively handsome amount of central funding from it.
The games were streamed to allow ST holders the chance to see the games played behind closed doors, and now, with reduced capacity. It's been a good thing, Johno, but it can't go on forever, certainly not for £4.95, or the game will fold like a house of cards. The main issue, as I see it, is that the RFL haven't got the power to force Sky to show Championship games. Until Rimmer & Co grow a set, then the funding will carry on, on a downward slope. The game would be better served by another medium, even if it got slightly less funding, but with more exposure, to get to a larger audience. Whether BT or whoever are interested, is another thing. The ouRLeague app will never help grow the game, as it's only preaching to the converted.
Just my opinion
Paulie xx
The RL could try and sell the championship games to ITV, they could show a match or a highlights programme in the regions were RL is popular, like they do with their regional news programmes .
James, given your profile I suspect you know a lot more about the details of this than I do (which is nothing much) but I think it’s disgraceful. I’m not asking you to agree (I should add that it isn’t disgraceful if, say, the money goes to charity), but I think it’s disgraceful for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Sky own the rights to show our games but have chosen not to show any for a good number of years. When they did show them it was on a minor channel on a Thursday rather than, like SL, on Friday night on the main channel (which is perfectly understandable). Even so, we routinely got around a quarter to a third (think we got well over half once) of the viewing figures of the main game, and more often than not were the best viewing figures of the week on the channel we were on. My view is that proves the Championship is an attractive sport to watch on TV. I think Sky kept the rights at the next negotiation , knowing they wouldn’t be using them, to bury the Championship so no other channel could show games. The RL went along with that rather than demand that if they get the rights they must use them - I think that’s disgraceful.
Secondly, Our League is owned by The Rugby Football League Limited. They have reached a deal with Sky to show them. So, having got rights to our games back, the body which sold us up the river for the sake of Super League, are charging us to be on their platform. According to OurLeague, when they’d shown 50 games, the vast majority Championship games, they had 223,188 live stream starts, 75% at £4.95 the rest at a tenner. That averages to around 4,000 a game, generating £25,000. If the club is getting that money (they paid to put it on after all) I’ll take it all back. If not, and we’re paying to make them money I think that’s also a disgrace.
The RL could try and sell the championship games to ITV, they could show a match or a highlights programme in the regions were RL is popular, like they do with their regional news programmes .
Perhaps they have tried and found no interest.Nobody wants to cover second rate rugby league, even 'first rate' rugby league has seen a drop in value.Maybe we need to accept that the game has very limited appeal and is nowhere near as popular as we'd like to imagine
James, given your profile I suspect you know a lot more about the details of this than I do (which is nothing much) but I think it’s disgraceful. I’m not asking you to agree (I should add that it isn’t disgraceful if, say, the money goes to charity), but I think it’s disgraceful for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Sky own the rights to show our games but have chosen not to show any for a good number of years. When they did show them it was on a minor channel on a Thursday rather than, like SL, on Friday night on the main channel (which is perfectly understandable). Even so, we routinely got around a quarter to a third (think we got well over half once) of the viewing figures of the main game, and more often than not were the best viewing figures of the week on the channel we were on. My view is that proves the Championship is an attractive sport to watch on TV. I think Sky kept the rights at the next negotiation , knowing they wouldn’t be using them, to bury the Championship so no other channel could show games. The RL went along with that rather than demand that if they get the rights they must use them – I think that’s disgraceful. Secondly, Our League is owned by The Rugby Football League Limited. They have reached a deal with Sky to show them. So, having got rights to our games back, the body which sold us up the river for the sake of Super League, are charging us to be on their platform. According to OurLeague, when they’d shown 50 games, the vast majority Championship games, they had 223,188 live stream starts, 75% at £4.95 the rest at a tenner. That averages to around 4,000 a game, generating £25,000. If the club is getting that money (they paid to put it on after all) I’ll take it all back. If not, and we’re paying to make them money I think that’s also a disgrace.
Johno, I think Sky held the rights due to the Middle 8s where 4 Championship clubs played 4SL clubs, thus, tying in the Championship teams for 7 rds in September. The RFL Numpties have probably took their eye off the ball, and the contract has remained the same ever since.
Paulie xx
James, given your profile I suspect you know a lot more about the details of this than I do (which is nothing much) but I think it’s disgraceful. I’m not asking you to agree (I should add that it isn’t disgraceful if, say, the money goes to charity), but I think it’s disgraceful for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Sky own the rights to show our games but have chosen not to show any for a good number of years. When they did show them it was on a minor channel on a Thursday rather than, like SL, on Friday night on the main channel (which is perfectly understandable). Even so, we routinely got around a quarter to a third (think we got well over half once) of the viewing figures of the main game, and more often than not were the best viewing figures of the week on the channel we were on. My view is that proves the Championship is an attractive sport to watch on TV. I think Sky kept the rights at the next negotiation , knowing they wouldn’t be using them, to bury the Championship so no other channel could show games. The RL went along with that rather than demand that if they get the rights they must use them – I think that’s disgraceful. Secondly, Our League is owned by The Rugby Football League Limited. They have reached a deal with Sky to show them. So, having got rights to our games back, the body which sold us up the river for the sake of Super League, are charging us to be on their platform. According to OurLeague, when they’d shown 50 games, the vast majority Championship games, they had 223,188 live stream starts, 75% at £4.95 the rest at a tenner. That averages to around 4,000 a game, generating £25,000. If the club is getting that money (they paid to put it on after all) I’ll take it all back. If not, and we’re paying to make them money I think that’s also a disgrace.
To be fair, Sky showing Championship on Thursday has now been replaced by showing Super League on Thursday, which is partly why there’s no room for it.
It certainly was a big own goal by Nigel Wood at the time the Super 8s system was pushed through, which essentially stripped the Championship rights off Premier Sports, to give them to Sky, to effectively cover The Qualifiers part of the Super 8s.
Our League - RFL have invested a considerable amount in the platform.
Don’t forget that while there may have been 223,188 live streams, a good portion of those will be season ticket holders at clubs who are able to access the live streams for free having paid clubs for their season ticket.
The cost (which is believed to be roughly £1,200) isn’t a charge from the RFL, this is literally the cost of everything required, such as the equipment, software, directors, producers, commentators etc. The host club then makes any money back from the streams (believe it’s 90% to the home team).
COVID was an anomaly really. Realistically, these streams should be charged out at £15 a go when fans are in; because otherwise it’s a huge risk for the clubs. Take this weekend - one family of 4 can watch a game for £4.95; when typically the club would receive £50+ for the same four watching the game. That’s before you consider secondary spend such as food, drinks, programmes, golden gamble etc.
You might find this article on the subject interesting: https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/our-league-viewing-figures-success-story-and-future-growth/
Thanks for a very comprehensive summary James.
Like many on here, as a S/T holder I have “free access” to our home games and pay to watch away games. But I am at loss to understand the Our League pricing.
Surely most fans who pay £4.95 to watch a Championship game realise how cheap it is any would be willing to pay more? It costs far more to view S/L matched on Sky, so maybe a tiered pricing strategy should have been introduced.
The present charge is probably more suitable for League 1 games.
Maybe Our League could be used to show selected live Championship games on the same basis as Sky show SL games ie either as pay to view for each game (£10?) or an annual fee. This approach, if successful, may encourage the BBC or any other broadcaster to enter into an arrangement to buy the viewing rights.
Our league could also then show recordings of games to paid-up members.
As has been said, clubs want spectators to attend games and this may have an impact on the say one or two games a week broadcast live. This would, however, provide an opportunity to broaden interest in the game and encourage some to actually want to go to a live game.
I believe the plan is once normality resumes, that Our League will show a stand-alone live fixture each week (say on a Sunday night), which if you recall is what they had started doing in 2020 (our game away at Dewsbury was on at 6.30pm on a Sunday night).