well the aussie commentator in the build up for union just said australia need to get the win to get AFL and Rugby league off the main pages back in australia... shows they do actually think about it. I think England rugby league need to win this world cup and hopefully we can get the hype that rugby union has been living on for the past 10 years.

Sky are doing what any media outlet is doing - talking about what is of interest to them.

They're not a public service and they are not the RLWC PR agency, they're a commercial enterprise, promoting its product. If I were Rupert Murdoch, I'd be pretty miffed if my news presenters were encouraging my viewers to switch to BBC One at the same time that some very expensive RU games were on.

Whilst I understand us not being headliners. As they want to push their own sports first. It's a bit strange it's not covered at all.

For those who promote the demise of the BBC, it just shows you what will happen to the news if it's left to commercial enterprise alone.

The biggest paycheck gets the best report. It will be like fox news in the USA. It's not news it's a promotion.

It's no more strange than F1, a much bigger sport than ours, not getting a look-in until a few years ago.

You're right, Sky Sports News' purpose is promotion - nothing more.

Without a doubt they are making a statement. I don't think that its a bad thing actually. A sports bulletin should include the main sports news, if it doesnt it looks amateurish.
If England turn in a great performance next week against Fiji, and continue on a path to the semi final at wembley then Sky like the rest of the media will have to increase/ improve their coverage.
Its a matter of momentum the better England do, the better the media. Channel four news did a highlights report tonight on the match at Twickenham followed by Chase's try so the coverage is there and Sky despite its lack of journalistic integrity will eventually, begrudgingly follow suit.
A bigger battle IMO is to convince the Beeb to improve and increase their day to day coverage of the tournament and the matches they plan to show.

The Beeb don't mention you can watch the rest of the RLWC on Premier Sports.

It's basically down the RFL/RLIF media and communications dept to ensure Sky are promoting and reporting on stories, matches and general hype. If the governing body are not being assertive enough in this particular area, then you cannot blame a media outlet who perhaps may not have enough material.

It has been widely know for decades that RL has been terribly managed and marketed.

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?

Sky news sports bulletin - football, golf, rugby union. Nothing on rugby league despite England playing yesterday

even Gary 'I-love-Clive-Woodward" Richardsons 'Sportsweek' on Radio 5 mentioned RLWC this morning..begrudgingly.

Sky is only interested in Sky.

I cancelled Sky Sports and signed up to Premier and the young lady on the phone said I was one of many who had done the same. Maybe this is feeding back but I hope it re-inforces the value of our game long term.

I don't think anyone is suggesting they 'advertise' the rlwc. But a sports news channel and now the bulletin on rolling news are simply hiding the fact there is a world cup happening at the moment. Watching now there is ice hockey, NBA and NFL reported.

Simple answer

YES, THEY ARE, and it is childish and pathetic, something the BBC have been accused of many times in the past

Didn't the parliamentary group help push Virgin into taking on Premier Sports? Hopefully the next step, if we can build sufficient momentum, is to get the RLWC onto that list too.

Totally agree with you on this one, I'm a Rugby League fan who pays SKY around £80 a month in subscriptions and I expect their Sports News channel to report on major sporting events whether they have the broadcast rights to it or not.

I feel pretty let down by their attitude toward Rugby League at present, it's a sport they now seem to take for granted. The increase in production values has not kept pace with other sports , they show little interest in refreshing their main commentary team despite almost universal dissatisfaction with Eddie & Stevo, there's little in terms of promotion compared with other sports, their magazine/leaflet advertising rarely includes images of Rugby League and we are under represented in their SKY Sports montage clips.