Quote: Speccy "'interested' and 'rumoured' go into the same box as 'alleged'.
Clearly,ESPN will be interested and rumoured to be interested in RL,but that is far from knowing that they would come anywhere close to actually bidding,never mind out bidding Sky for the rights.Incidentally,if they were to do so,wait for the complaints from 'supporters',when they find out that Warrington v Hull is scheduled for 6.00pm on a thurs evening.Sky actively schedule against ESPN,meaning that ESPN have to counter by scheduling at inconvenient times,to 'beat' Sky.
One area where the RFL may be able to get an improvement in terms,is for the thurs evening Championship game,which now regularly gets around 60,000 viewers on Sky Sports 4.'"
I think your looking at this the wrong way to be honest. From what it seems, ESPN and Sky have a very good relationship. ESPN are smart and not doing what Setanta did and that was instead of working with Sky Sports they tried to go against them. Nobody is gonna beat the biggest Sports Broadcaster in Europe!
It is more likely that ESPN and Sky would get a split deal working together. Now the clubs and RFL wouldnt want this as it will mean less money.
Quote: Speccy "Although that does contradict Londo06's earlier post. Also the BBC shows some football Championship games and I think some League Cup games. Although I'd agree with your basic point that live domestic sport is a bit thin on the ground for the BBC. Which may be an advantage if they are looking to increase the amount of domestic sport they show.
2 games a week on Sky and 1 game + highlights shown nationally at a reasonable time on the BBC would be great.'"
BBC has dropped Football League coverage for 2011/2012 season. They showd no interest in any kind of live or highlights package.
