Why should Sky Sports report on the RLWC? For its audience the big thing of the Autumn kicked off at exactly the same time as England played Ireland. Why should they promote something which could potentially cost them? They probably would have reported something if something exceptional happened for instance if Hock got booted out this week or if the score against Ireland was a world record score. They never do any build up for the football matches shown on BT Sport but for theirs it is on every bulletin (by that I mean it will be shown immediately after a commercial break).

Would BBC advertise Coronation Street and ITV Eastenders?

a real pity.

I'd agree the sport needs a Barry Hearn to an extent, but this is a sport that hates change, and Hearn from, as you mention both darts and snooker, needed some slight, some major changes, to be in the position it is in. I think the parochial nature of our sport wouldn't allow a Hearn to succeed, sadly.

Hearn not only wants change, he wants power.

Total and absolute control over the sport as an entireity and who does what, where and when.

Easy enough to do when you're dealing with an individual sport like darts or snooker (albeit there has been dissent within both games) but absolutely impossible when you're dealing with a sport like football or one of the rugby codes where the clubs are businesses.

Nothing novelty about darts. It gets good ratings, has a huge fan base and with a man such as Barry Hearn at the helm, it's thriving.

Needless to day, I can't stand Hearn. As Andy G says, it's not about the money with him, it's the power. He wants 100% control. Plus he always has his favourites in each sport he runs; Taylor in darts, O'Sullivan in snooker.

Main sports item on BBC and ITV, not a word on sky