Quote: SmokeyTA "Sly put forward the highest financial bid but wouldn’t share with the BBC,
Premier sports put the best bid forward where all games were shown live, but the big games could be simulcast on the BBC.'"
which is why I think the RFL have made the correct decision. Would rather see a few million see England live on BBC1 each Saturday, than just 200K on Sky Sports for each game.
Premier Sports bid may also make SKY wary of rival bids from Premier, BT Sport etc next time the SL rights come up for tender. They have had a monopoly on the rights for far too long now.
also as much as we can try and dress it up, there are some low-profile games that are best not shown to the masses on BBC or SKY, such as games involving the USA, Cook Islands etc I can only imagine the 'outrage' on here if Cook Islands-USA at Bristol was live on SKY with a few thousand in the ground
the way the TV deals have been arranged, we are in effect giving casual viewers a 'greatest hits' package of the biggest and best attended games on BBC1.