I know Sky have just bought the rights for the foreseeable future and that is great but could the RFL still sell the rights to Catalans' home games?

The inclusion of Catalans is great for the game IMO and I have no issue with having a team in mainland Europe but financial times are hard and a lot of people just can't afford to travel all that way just for a game of rugby.

I would have expected a deal from the outset to show all Catalans home games on TV even at 2am (not just a highlights show).

I would happily pay per view or add a subscription channel (at the right price) for this to be the case. As Catalan had a TV deal over there I guess there could be scope for an international station to buy the rights? The RFL could surely get something sorted?

Could Catalans as a club not sell the rights to their home games for extra income?

Catalans have a TV deal themselves with a French channel and I think it's an exclusive one apart from selected Sky games. I think the problem is that Sky can't afford to send camera crews over to France unless it's a big game and I doubt any other UK channel would be interested.

Well I was thinking about this the other day.

You have specialist channels for Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool. Now, I know they're multi-million pound football clubs, however why couldn't the RFL push for a RL channel?

It wouldn't need 24 hour programming, but it would be an excellent way of increasing exposure of the sport. And not just at SL level. You can have live games or possibly games on delay from other leagues. Classic games from years gone by. Player and team profiles etc etc

I was thinking that. They could show more matches and games from the past and then make up the rest of the time with semi pro games, replays, interviews etc.

It would really improve the profile of the sport too and I'd be happy to pay to see it

I doubt it will ever happen because it would cost a fortune to run and we have just signed a 5 year deal with Sky.

How would having an RFL TV channel help exactly? To fund it, it would have to be paid for, which wouldn't increase exposure at all.

A while back I was reading what a Premier Sport rep was saying when they were looking at bidding for new sports. Premier Sports only pick up deals from sports that already have contracts with production companies. They don't have their own camera crews. They just own the rights to a channel, pay for access to a production company and then stream the footage. The big issue that they have is that Sky own the rights to an awful lot of stuff. If I remember rightly there was a period of time when when Sky weren't broadcasting NRL in this country, but still owned the rights, which meant no one else could step forward.

I suppose Premier Sport could get in touch with the French channel about streaming Catalans games, but I would imagine that Sky will own the rights to SL broadcasts in this country.

Unless they could raise advertising income which, admittedly, wouldn't be simple.

That is how I understand things to work , which is why the rumour of Premier showing Championship RL seems highly unlikely , unless their is some company out there that specializes in cheap outside broadcast of sports events , like a Netto version of SKY ?

Maybe the Polish version ?

Would evolving these RL forums onto a free sat radio format, like Talksport or Five live, be a realistic move where they could offer , live commentaries, fans chat & pay per view streaming of games.

pay per view online. All those fans who can't get to Perpignan could pay say 5quid to watch the game live online. It's the future!

I have thought about the RFL having its own channel it seems a great idea but at the moment Sky pay somwhere around 18 million a year into our sport. The RFL would have to recoup at least that in revenue plus running costs of the broadcasts all from subscriptions & adverts. Given the fan base of League it just would not work! a shame realy.

But unless there was some financial recompense for the clubs [ another cost ] it would be hopefully turned down by the clubs owners , at the moment the only money comes from the Co oP sponsorship , will they be willing to continue putting money in for a lower level of exposure ?

Only sensible option for the Championships is a Highlights package of 1 or 2 matches a week with a run down of results and preview of upcoming matches , otherwise , leave it alone , we cannot afford it anymore

You will find that most sport channels get an outside company to produce the games.

Premier Sports show Blue Square footie so they must hire a company to produce that for them.

As for Catalan Dragon games. Orange sports shows a few games a season live the rest are shown as live on Sunday mornings.