W/C 26th March

The quarter finals were like that before as well weren't they? So all that's "lost" is 1 round 4 and a round 5, which isn't awful.

We've never had all four quarter finals Live, which it looks like what they are doing. Sky are definetly showing two. So their is actually an increase of two extra live games.

Seems odd that Sky would show matches in rounds 4 and 5 and then two quarter finals but show no coverage after that. Are there any plans for them to show highlights or delayed coverage of the Semi Finals and Final?

Would expect so. They've showed highlights of the final for years anyway, and did so last year.

What is interesting is that if the CC finals ends up on Sky in years to come, what will happen to the Grand Final. No matter what you may believe the truth is the Grand Final was invented as Sky were unhappy at pumping millions into our sport and still not having the biggest game in RL. Hence the Grand Final came into being and the masses where brainwashed into buying into the fact the GF was bigger than the CC.There is no doubt most people would say the GF is bigger than the CC now, but no one would have said that in 1998. Will the CC final go back to being after the regular season has ended? Even though the GF itself has been a success, other playoff attendances have been shocking, no more shocking than the 6,000 on at Wigan last year for a game that was effectively a Quarter Final.

The RFL has agreed a new contract with BBC which will see them host the Challenge Cup until 2016 with the final to be on BBC1.

BBC Director of Sport, Barbara Slater said “The BBC has been the proud broadcast partner of the Challenge Cup for over half a century so we're delighted to be continuing our long and successful relationship with the RFL. Rugby League forms a key part of the BBC's rights portfolio and through our new four year deal we're look forward to ensuring this prestigious and fiercely contested tournament reaches an ever growing audience.”

Also, it's intersting to read that viewing figures for the new Super League Show, which is now shown nationally on BBC2 in regular slots, are more than double what they were in 2011.

I don't know if people have picked up on Channel 4 winning the horse racing rights from the BBC recently.

The decision to move wasn't purely down to financial terms. According to press reports there was irritation within the industry that the BBC weren't interested in the bread and butter race meetings.

You would think that given they have little sport left on the BBC now they would make an effort with what they had left, but they seem only to care about what they consider glamorous/of interest to an upper middle class London elite (so the 3.15 at Uttoxer or a rugby league cup game aren't worthy of attention).

It seems to me that the BBC are interested in Wimbledon, the Six Nations, major athletics tournaments and the MOTD rights package and that's about it now from a sporting point of view.

Expect a continuation of poor quality RL coverage and very limited airtime for the sport on the BBC.

To be fair to the BBC, I don't know many punters who are that interested in your standard horse race. There's far too much racing and that's down, purely and simply, to the bookies. The standard is often poor and seen by many as a day out rather than a spectacle (draw your own comparisons with a certain code of football).

But in the grand scheme of BBC cuts we've lost out on very, very little. 1 game less for the 2 earlier rounds and thats it, 2 quarter finals, 2 semis and the final are all still on BBC.

Serious question, but in the digital era of television and given the choice of viewing via multimedia platforms, does terrestrial tv really provide the same exposure as in the past? I can understand in the era of 4/5 channels only that casual viewers could be picked up by RL through showing the Challenge Cup on the BBC. However nowadays there is so much choice and things like Sky+ / TiVo have changed viewing habits - people browse channels like the BBC a lot less.

Viewing figures for major RL games [CC Final & Internationals] are far superior to those on Sky TV. SKy get them in the 100,000s whereas BBC get them in their 1,000,000s.

It is essential RL remains on terrestrial TV IMO.

The game has to stay on terrestrial TV, but it has to be well respected by said TV.

Showing the Super League Show in the Northern regions only unless it's 3am, and having little to no advertising is not good enough imo. The Challenge Cup is one of the beebs biggest showpieces apparently yet I rarely see it promoted the way other sports are.