Not sure the exact details of the deal but it looks like Sky will be sharing the cup with the BBC this year.

The BBC had already decided to drop one of the two matches they show from rounds 4 and 5 and it looks like Sky will fill the void with televised cup games on Saturday 14th April (3pm - Sky Sports 1) and Friday 27th April (8pm - Sky Sports 4).

Whether that will continue for the rest of the competition I'm not sure (Sky's listings for May onwards are not released yet) but I'd suggest its likely that the two networks will show one tie each round with BBC getting first choice. We shall see - sure they'll make a full an announcement soon.

Can only be good news. The big announcement is surely that Fox Soccer will be showing Super League, Challenge Cup and WCC till 2015.

I hardly think less terrestrial coverage is good news.

This was a lot of people's only viewing of rl and watering it down is bad news I feel.

What terrestrial coverage? The BBC weren't going to show the fourth and fifth round games so the fact that Sky have picked them up means more people will be able to see them. The BBC will still show the quarters, semis and final.

No the BBC are still showing 4th and 5th round matches I think, just one instead of the two they used to offer per round.

So without Sky Sports there would be one game less on television?

Plus extra games in the further rounds that the Beeb wouldn't have shown?

Plus, the muppets on sky might start taking the cup seriously and not promoting the SL as the only comp worth any salt.

The Guardian had long since reported that the BBC had intended to reduce coverage in rounds 4 and 5 from two matches per round to just one match per round.

So I'm unsure if sky are just picking up the lost games in Rounds 4 and 5 or whether 1 tie each per round is continuing for the quarters or semis.

The BBC area joke! They have been selling our great sport short year upon year with amateurish coverage and literally no publicity. I believe the challenge cup should be available on terrestrial TV but the BBC simply don't care about it and it's evident for all to see.

We can only hope!

This is the begining of the end for the challenge cup

This is bad news, we need as much RL on free to air as poss.

The free to air argument is a myth imo. They said the same about football and test cricket and they have done nothing but boom since sky got hold of them.

Attendances for the cup are poor unless the big clubs are paired in the later rounds. BBC coverage is poor an does little to promote the sport