Yes i think Nigel Wood is an idiot.

I did say only an idiot would choose to give it to Premier (or was there no other bids on the table).............

I did say before i slate him (i should have added "even more")..................

Now people, I asked for information in a nice manner and many kind people enlightened me regarding the decision for which i am grateful. I will leave it there.

Now we do too.

I think going with Premier Sports was a good decision. That way we get big games on the BBC with premier sports also showing every game, Also adding their online player which is really good for catch up.

I know Premier isn't available on Virgin for instance but I have the online player and think it really is worthwhile.

Good to see that we aren't bowing down to sky for once either.

Yep it's a shot across the bows to Sky. With BT Sport coming along RL might have some competition for the next TV deal.

BT are fully in bed with Union EXCEPT for the exempt? 6 nations (is this STILL one of nations establishment FTV treasures?)
Anyway it looks to me, especially as to how it is being advertised and promoted that not all is not well in BT land. Very similar I see it to ESPN ( which they still carry) Getting Cable on board was an interesting move but then Virgin don't want premier because it is not high enough profile. Well BT , to me is even lower profile. I happen to have BT as a "freebie" and the little I have seen ( about 10 minutes of various things) would not make me want to pay for what they have.
Premier have been good for RL, IMO, regarding exposure on the satellite platform and the quality of the games and value for money far surpasses the mess the game about Sky stuff.
Sky got ditched when they went to Thursday against the championship. Bad move by Sky in so many ways but then we all know that everything SL wise is wonderful and perfect in every way. Posters on here keep saying it is.
I'm going to see the entire World Cup for £19.98.
Value for money all the way. Sky deffo is not but then I don't like paying mainly for Mo & Ron Ball's game.

There is nothing wrong with the deal. At last we have free to air coverage.

Sky maybe the big money spinners, but they kill exposure.

RL needs exposure as constantly chasing the money has made us suffer long term as our public awareness has fallen as has our ability to get sponsorship.

RL fans in whinging shocker.

Wrong.

Virgin Media do want Premier, but they want it bundled with the XL package and Premier Sports don't want that, they want it as a separate subscription. Nothing at all to do with not being high enough profile.

Only have to look at popularity of Netlfix (see 'Breaking Bad') to see whilst online only being an inconvenience.. it's hardly an issue nowadays.

Also surely there's more people with Sky than Virgin..

Oh Sky have more than Virgin then that's just fine then is it? Lets not bother about the 3 million that subscribe to Virgin Media TV services. How narrow minded of you. I won't even mention the millions that have other TV platforms that it should be available on.

My op was asking if someone made the decision to go with premier or were they the only offer on the table. I have been made aware it was really the only way the RFL could go. We all agree that having as much RL on terrestrial TV is a good thing.

Having the WC games on a platform that only serves SKY customers or people that are prepared to watch it on a laptop/tablet/mobile is not how i imagined a sport should be looking to showcase it's World Cup....it's a great shame.

Do you have a newish TV? If so, you can connect your laptop to the TV and watch on the big screen, and all for a tenner a month without having to fork out the exhorbitant amount us Sky customers do in order to watch the TV version of Premier Sports each week.

Premier have done a great job with the Championships. Their style is homely, which suits the Championships, but very professional and their production crew are all rugby league fans, which you would know if you bought last months Forty20 magazine as I did (great mag that, well worth reading).

They also show matches from different levels of RL. I've seen college RL, amateur RL and international RL from Canada on there as well as the NRL and Championship matches. They bloody well deserve the World Cup on their enthusiasm for RL alone. I hope loads of people sign up for their world cup coverage and give their coffers a boost so that they are still with us for next season.

Sky weren't interested in sharing the England matches. If this world cup is successful then Sky may have a Paralympics moment (the BBC officially regretted not putting in a higher bid for the Paralympics when they saw how successful they were). If that happens then that could be very useful for us in the future as clearly Sky have been withdrawing from rugby league over the last few seasons.