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.

Quote: WireFanatic III "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.'" It's the other way round. www.loverugbyleague.com/news_134 ... es-on.html PS don't wan tto be a premium standalone on Virgin because on Sky they sell the channel directly to customers, whereas on Virgin they would need to go through them as host broadcaster and pay them a %.

Quote: WireFanatic III "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.'" It's the other way round. www.loverugbyleague.com/news_134 ... es-on.html PS don't wan tto be a premium standalone on Virgin because on Sky they sell the channel directly to customers, whereas on Virgin they would need to go through them as host broadcaster and pay them a %.

I'm not talking about me, i am someone that has various devices and tech savy, cable, ps3, ipad, roku to name a few but i am referring to millions of potential viewers not being able to access the channel, it is not the answer "oh you can get it online so just plug it in to your tv"...oh which the quality is still quite cr@p. I do get MLB and NFL game pass via my Roku and PS3 and the quality is HD but that is not the point.

It is the way it is, it's a shame Premier can't get their product on various tv platforms

Given that the best senario is having the games on Beeb or other free to air.

Then the rest is down to the bidders.

The RFL can't force Sky to take the rest of the games and it would be foolish to offer the rest of the games at a cheaper price to sky than to Premier sports.

Also bringing Premier sports in for this set of games, brings another TV player in for future bidding on RL games.

The fact that Virgin don't host Premier sports is neither here nor there. Virgin media don't host many channels. But if x TV programme gets their best offer to be shown on a channel not on Virgin, then it's down to Virgin to try and offer a better range.

I used to be a Virgin Customer and would go back, but just because they don't show sky atlantic does not mean I berate game of throne for being shown on SKY atlantic.

RLWC on TV is just another TV product and they need the best price for the product on offer.

Imagine if this forum was around when Wire TV were awarded the rights to the 1995 World Cup!

The most important thing is England games live on the BBC. Everything else, as harsh as it may sounds, doesn't matter if they're on Sky, Premier or Information TV with greyhound races in the middle.