If Moonie Crusader Pete is unable to back up his assertions, perhaps he should just admit so?

You have the website with the figures, go work it out for yerself, I'm not doing it for you!

It's up to you to back up your assertions with evidence, and it appears you have none.

Sky viewing figures for SL exhibit a downward trend since 2009 (the exception being 2012).

So I'll ask you again... how does your earlier link to some partial data concerning the period 1998 to 2009 back up your assertion?

Err, since when have I had to prove anything to you????

The link was the first link I plucked from Google for the BARB site, as I said "knock yerself out" your the one who wants the minutae, not me.

If you could just fathom how to navigate the site, you'd quickly realise there was no assertion, just a statement of fact. ALL TV viewing figures are down, partially down to over-proliferation of channels (that means too many channels by the way) and also to the increased access to alternate media resources (that means the internet, android apps', streaming etc.).

www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/dat ... ewing?_s=4 This is perhaps a better example of the changing percentage of audience share over the years. 2003 v 2013 BBC 1....25.6 - 21.0 (down 4.6%) BBC 2....7.5 - 5.7 (down 1.8%) ITV....23.7 - 15.4 (down 8.3%) C4....6.8 - 4.9 (down 1.9%) C5....6.5 - 4.1 (down 2.4%) Other Channels....23.6 - 46.8 (up 23.2%)

www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/dat ... ewing?_s=4 This is perhaps a better example of the changing percentage of audience share over the years. 2003 v 2013 BBC 1....25.6 - 21.0 (down 4.6%) BBC 2....7.5 - 5.7 (down 1.8%) ITV....23.7 - 15.4 (down 8.3%) C4....6.8 - 4.9 (down 1.9%) C5....6.5 - 4.1 (down 2.4%) Other Channels....23.6 - 46.8 (up 23.2%)

Hull's games moved back to Sundays in 2012, but the crowds didn't increase, the away crowds still didn't turn up, and the club finds it a lot easier to sell corporate tickets on a Friday night than on a Sunday (as people prefer to take clients out after work, rather than spend a day of their weekend 'working') and it means less games are re-arranged for TV.

Friday night away games are a pain for me too, but I can see why the clubs do it.

I don't understand what the issue is. Surely the total number of people watching super league on Sky has gone up this season since they are showing more super league games due to the Catalan home games also being televised.

I preferred it when the old Crusaders played on Friday nights because it left the weekend free.

Or maybe you meant the other AA

I give credit where it's due, and you're almost in a premier league of your own in exhaustively analyzing these figures, bravely disregarding the fact that there's actually no point. You are the lone trans-Atlantic rower of this kind of thing and if I had a hat, I'd take it off. Sadly though, to a degree I share similarly anal traits so even though I may on occasion seem harsh, I do sympathise.

1. Round 8 was just before Easter when 5 of the 7 league games were on a Friday night including the aforementioned Warrington v Hull KR game and also when Wigan, St Helens, Leeds, Bradford and Castleford were all at home.

2. Bradford were only on sky 4 times; Wakefield away on a Thursday, Hull KR at home on a Friday night, Magic Weekend and Catalan away. The reduction in sky showing the Bulls is as good as any rationale to explain the decline in Super League viewing figures.

Case closed...

Take solice in the fact that SL on paytv in UK is far more popular than Super15 on paytv in Australia!

Sky has 10.5 million subscribers in the UK.

Foxtel has 2.5 million subscribers in Australia.

You need to factor in the huge difference in subscriber bases when comparing the viewing figures.

Australia also has a smaller population; UK 64 million, Aus 23 million. UK's 2.78 times more.

If both were comparable then Australia's figures (multiplying by 2.7icon_cool.gif it would only be around 155k, which isn't massively more significant tbh - certainly for the big games here.