rlall of a sudden we are "back in negotiations" with @virginmedia, amazing what a bit a fan pressure can do...keep it up!rl

I saw that on twitter, too Wheels.

That's a good sign for the Virgin customers.

Im sure they were. Remember when the soccer season finishes we are the go to game on a Monday night on their premier channel.

Inverdale might be ok if someone explains to him what a try is and why the ball isnt in the crowd.

But he'll be even better if he's not in the country.

Fantastic news on the BBC coverage...but unless Premier Sports have offered a massive amount, then I think cutting SKY out could be a mistake.

When SKY don't have the rights to an event or a sport, they usually completely ignore it, and this means you miss valuable exposure to non-RL fans on SKY News and SKY Sports news. F1 for example didn't exist if you watched SKY a few years ago, until they won the rights and now it's offered extensive coverage and promotion.

According to reports, nobody cut Sky out. They withdrew from negotiations. So their interest wasn't there in the first place.

Other forums on other sports have discussed Sky having to make cut backs to pay for the new football deal. Whether that's true or not, speedway has had cuts, the Premier League Snooker has gone and other little bits will go too.

If they walked away from Super League, I'd be worried, but nothing suggests they will. They need a summer long event that isn't cricket, and we fit the bill.

If all this was true, why do broadcasters pay the earth to watch the England soccer team get repeatedly mauled in every world cup they enter? At least we managed to win our last world cup more recently than England soccer.

IMO Sky just want us on the cheap. In previous deals with them the internationals have come packaged with Superleague. That is now not the case and they simply aren't prepared to give us what our game is worth. They may regret their obstinacy should the BBC and Premier Sports make a killing in viewing figures.

Personally I don't care that Sky backed out. The most important broadcaster in all of this is the BBC because they offer access to our game to everyone. I've lost count of the rugby league supporters I have heard about and met who first came to the game by watching the Challenge Cup final. That is just one match. Imagine what impact six good rugby league matches could have!

I think people worrying about Sky Sports news not covering the world cup are being a little pessimistic – it’s our world cup and the one time of the year that we ‘should’ get some decent media coverage

The single and most important part of this deal is that the high profile England games are on free to air tv. I have passionate dislike for the BBC and think SKY have been great for our game but given a choice I would have the England games and semi’s/final on the BBC rather than all the games live on SKY. The world cup is a massive opportunity to showcase the sport (even better if England are successful) and to take most advantage of that opportunity it has to reach as many people as possible and that means the BBC

(plus I have just signed up to Premier Sports for the NRL so I’m all right, but that’s just a happy coincidence!!)

Because England football games draw huge ratings which means advertising revenue.

What a pity the BBC aren't showing the non-England semi-final. That is likely to be Australia vs France/Samoa/Italy/Fiji. Though Australia should win it comfortably the point is that it would whet the appetite for the final since then the BBC viewers would probably be seeing both final opponents for the first time.

Incidentally, though I would like to see England in the final, I wonder how many people will watch the final if England isn't in it. i.e. Australia vs New Zealand.

My only other regrets are:
(1) There is such a long time gap between the England vs Australia game and the quarter final. I hope that some BBC viewers of the first game, who are not regular rugby league fans, will be interested enough, even excited perhaps, to go watch some of the pool games on Premier Sports.

(2) The BBC didn't take the Wales vs Italy game. It will be a good game with Anthony Minichiello, Mark Minichiello, Craig Gower, Aiden Guerra, Anthony Lafranchi, Vic Mauro and Cameron Ciraldo probably playing for Italy.

I will be amazed if we have access by the time of the World Cup. Either way, it's still a tiny channel that means pretty much nobody apart from RL fans will see the tournament.

I'm not too bothered about matches like Cook Islands vs USA being exclusive on Premier Sports but 9 games is way too many, especially if that includes knockout matches and even a semi-final (which I'm struggling to comprehend if so). Hopefully they can get another broadcaster on board for the important games not involving England or the tournament is going to be a flop. It's nonsense after all the promotion and build-up that they would hide this tournament away on a channel where nobody will see it, the only saving grace would be an hour-long nightly highlights show on the BBC in a prime-time slot.

I think saying it's a flop is a bit OTT. I do agree it is a shame that most of the tournament will be hidden away on a tiny channel, but i would rather England be on the BBC and the rest of the games on the"tiny channel" rather than SKY having full rights, the "big games/England games" are what are going to showcase our event.

The RFL HAD to get the England games on terrestial TV, unfortunately looks as though SKy won't interested in broadcasting the rest so prem sports got it.

BBC is great news......Premier Sports on the other hand smacks of SKY not being prepared to "gamble" on the numbers of viewers they will get for the so called "smaller" games.....and to be fair, basic economics says that they are probably right to have passed.
Still, it gives the BBC an opportunity to grab a decent amount of audience share at a time when SKY TV are normally at thei strongest, with wendyball in full flight and the other lot entertaining their southern cousins over the month of November. I wonder if any of the financials will ever become common knowledge, because I doubt Premier Sports will have paid a lot....nowhere near the 60million ITV paid for the rights to the RWC's 2011 and 2015.

Up to the RFL now to ensure that all the games are well attended......nothing worse than half empty stadiums on FTA TV...