You may be right in what you say bramleyrhino, but we will never know unless someone tries. Championship RL might ever only be a 'filler' program rather than directly a subscription generator but there are plently of new, and old, sports platforms out there who, I believe, will pay for such fillers.

By the way, a number of the programs that Championship RL beat were live RU games.

We have tried it with Premier Sports. I don't know how many subs it generated, but their ability or willingness to pay for Championship access was evidently less that Sky's. Whether Premier decided that the business case didn't stack up or whether the RFL took Sky's dollar, I don't know.

But we can't assume that the appeal of Championship and L1 RL is greater than it is. On several weeks, number of people willing to pay to watch the Championship and League One live in total can be less than the attendance at just one Super League ground.

If the Championship can't be a subscription seller, then it needs to be an advertising puller, and RL fails miserably on that count. If we genuinely want to make RL more attractive to TV, then we need to stop the blame game and the finger pointing and instead talk about how we make the sport more attractive than it is. We are not going to get an enhanced TV deal without offering Sky, BT or anyone else some added value.

Yet you're quite happy for NRL to be broadcast in the UK? Surely SKY should be showing Wath Brow v Siddal as that is British Sport in a Country in which they earn their revenue?

Have you ever stopped to think that a few hundred thousand, if not million people would prefer to watch Rugby Union and not Rugby League? Therefore Channel 4 are showing a product people actually want to watch. Or do you think they just sit there and think 'what shall we bang out in Autumn, tell you what forget what 90% of the UK perceive to be the better code of Rugby we will show West Wales against Coventry because some bloke in Halifax likes Rugby League'

Nailed it.

My Southern Football or Rugby Union customers laugh at me when I invite them to RL games, even Wembley or the Grand Final. They would not make the effort to cross the road to watch a game with full hospitality and free booze. Apart from Adrian Durham not one person I know at talksport will attend a game, again that includes full hospitality at Wembley, somewhere most of them go to for any Soccer game they can get into and fill their faces for free.

Rugby League is about as far from being accepted in the South (anywhere past Doncaster) Scotland, Wales and Ireland as it has ever been. It is because of a decade of mis-management whilst some fat got rich and clubs went to the wall.

It is actually heartbreaking to see.

And the answer.......'ring Eddie Hearn'

Why have you brought me into your petty ramblings.

So..... To counter what said about union being on BBC, ITV, C4 and C4....... You've come up with the BBC.....who this year will have shown 8 games.

The post Richard Lewis era is to blame. Nigel Wood and his 'bottom feeder' mentality diluting the standards.

Are the bbc, or any channel, going to show the England Knights v PNG games?

They have the potential to a great spectacle in front of packed stadiums with passionate supporters.

A documentary on the tour of PNG would be good too.

Do you really need that answering?

I watched the Lock Lane game on the free sports channel the other day. It was well produced and with a good standard of rugby but the viewing figures will have been in the hundreds. We should be actively seeking to partner with companies who will show our product and build our profile. Developing events like the Skolars versus Wigan might be one way to go. Every time someone types rugby into a computer they should get Super League adverts rather than Union ones.
I have posted before that we need to associate glamour with our game. What about a series of nines competitions in colourful locations. If Union can sell competitions , utilising second string players, like the sevens and the LV cup then there may be a market for us.
If any of you have seen the book " No helmets required" you will know that we have a back story that would certainly make a good film in the footsteps of Brassed Off or The Full Monty. That certainly is the type of thing that Channel Four would go for.

The majority of clubs don't have a second string!