that it can no longer control the scheduling of our games ?

The Friday night/ Saturday night format on Sky has been ruined
by Sky's spare top slot on Monday nights. Ludicrous !!

Apart from Sky, who prefer's Monday nights ? Oh, Eddy likes telling
all the new viewers from football how tough we are.

The BBC puts two CC semi's on at 5.15 pm and then yesterday they
even delayed kick off because of some Scottish game of golf !

Surely the Gates must be down because of all these crazy shenanigans ?

Not a whimper from the RFL.

If it had been the FA Cup semi final that had followed the golf then the golf would have gone off and the football would have come on on time.

It's been this way for 17 plus years hasn't it? We're a minority sport and they provide a massive part of our funding. We'd be largely part time without that money. We need Sky more than they need us, sadly. As long as that's true, we'll have to live with it.

The multi-billion pound valuation difference kind of gives an idea of where Sky are coming from.

Why wasnt the game allowed to start on time and the BBC then show a recorded version 15mins late?

100% agreement

Going back to the original post.
The Friday night/Saturday night has not always been set in stone.
A decade or so ago, it was Friday night/SUNDAY night, and before that, it was Friday night (live) and Sunday's game was extended highlights of a game from that day.

I prefer Monday nights (as I work Saturday nights)

The BBC delayed the kick-off due to some game of Scottish golf. Well, wouldn't you if you've spent millions getting TONS of gear up to the top end of the British Isles. It takes DAYS to set up a television broadcast for golf. They're not going to turn it off, just for the PREVIEW of a game played by (mostly) parochial Northerners, when there's been live coverage for 2 days, and edited highlights for the previous 2 days. IF (and it's a big if) the golf play-off had kept on going, and they had to keep on playing the 18th @ Castle Stuart 'til they found a winner, I'm damned sure the match commisioner @ Salford would have said "#### this for a game of soldiers, the match starts now". I'm pretty sure the majority of people in the UK have all switched over to digital broadcasting now, so all the punter had to do was press the red button. Not exactly a hardship now, is it.

The gates are down, because
1) There is little interest in the CC now (unfortunately), except the Final.
Our game v Bradford, and Pies v Stains in the last round, prove it. Add to this, a WHOLE STAND not being used for Wigan v Leeds on Saturday is an indictment of this.
2) Our own club's tactics (v Salford a couple of weeks ago, re team selection) prove that every game in the regular season is not a "be all and end all" search for 2 points. Coaches now take risks in squad rotation. Punters don't like it when it isn't "pulled off" so they sometimes "stay away".
3) There are few and far between shock results, anymore, in the cup. 99% of the time, the clear fav, wins. People's pockets aren't full anymore, so they pick and chose their matches.

We depend on Sky (and to a little extent, the BBC). WE NEED THEIR MONEY, AND EXPOSURE. If Sky say jump, we (unfortunately) have to say "how high". As Esther Rantzen would say, "That's Life"

I saw the whole 80 minutes on the box, so i was happy enough.

The RFL is no different to the Premier League. If you sell out to Sky, they dictate the kick off times & who is on when. TBH it wouldn't surprise me if the RFL & the club chairmen encouraged Sky to go for Monday night to give a bigger exposure to the sport.

Couple of weeks ago I heard that the PL had told Sky they were going to play less Monday night games and so Sky will be televising SL games on Friday and Monday night next year.

To be honest its little more than a handful of games due to Europe, League cup, Fa Cup replays & internationals.

Not everyone who has gone digital get the BBC red button. BT Vison doest and virgin customers with a v plus box dont.

Unfortunately our great game needs the sky money as there are only 2 wealthy/healthy clubs in the league and we are both in the CC final. The rest dont have a pot to p-ss in FACT!!!!!!

Wealthy healthy, i'd say Wire, Leeds, Wigan, Hull FC, Catalans and Saints
Wealthy not as healthy Widnes, London, Hudds.

this info f rom from Very RELIABLE SOURCE within the the heirachy of the game!!!!!!!

saints are not as healthy as people think..