The game is slowly dying now, no sky coverage would kill it off altogether.

what makes you think the games dying now?

I blame clubs for overloading their team with Aussie's and Pseudo Tongans etc

Averages over the last 10 years prove you are wrong
2000 - 7412
2001 - 7,140 (-272)
2002 -7,207 (+67)
2003 - 7,955 (+74icon_cool.gif
2004 - 8,570 (+615)
2005 - 8,884 (+314)
2006 - 9,010 (+126)
2007 - 10,579 (+1,569)
2008 - 10,194 (-385)
2009 - 11,298 (+1,104)
2010 - 11,643 (+345)

Beat me to it hullbg - how some people can make such comments is beyond me!

The worry is if ESPN do get the rights that the game is lost to the masses and the viewing figures go down, as this would then devalue the rights for showing the sport which then could cripple those clubs who don't have their house in order or not backed by wealthy owners.

Quote: al283 "Any news of NRL coverage this season ?? Thoroughly enjoyed the free games end of last season.'" Quote: al283 "Premier Sports is the new home of NRL in the UK. We show at least 5 and sometimes 6 live games every weekend and an average of 150 live games a year It's the top rugby league in the world, full to the brim with the best players, the big hits and the most exciting plays, and we're bringing it straight to your living room. UK rugby league fans have even more reasons to watch with the Burgess brothers at South Sydney Rabbitohs and English duo Gareth Ellis and Mark Flanagan ripping it up at Wests Tigers. They battle alongside Australia's finest, from Melbourne pair Billy Slater and Cameron Smith to Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne and North Queensland Cowboy Jonathan Thurston. Throw in the finest South Sea Islanders and Kiwi internationals, and the 16-team competition is a mouth watering not to be missed prospect for any league fan. Subscribe now for coverage of the All Star match on February 12th followed by 150 live NRL matches.'" www.premiersports.tv/NRL.html

Quote: al283 "Any news of NRL coverage this season ?? Thoroughly enjoyed the free games end of last season.'" Quote: al283 "Premier Sports is the new home of NRL in the UK. We show at least 5 and sometimes 6 live games every weekend and an average of 150 live games a year It's the top rugby league in the world, full to the brim with the best players, the big hits and the most exciting plays, and we're bringing it straight to your living room. UK rugby league fans have even more reasons to watch with the Burgess brothers at South Sydney Rabbitohs and English duo Gareth Ellis and Mark Flanagan ripping it up at Wests Tigers. They battle alongside Australia's finest, from Melbourne pair Billy Slater and Cameron Smith to Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne and North Queensland Cowboy Jonathan Thurston. Throw in the finest South Sea Islanders and Kiwi internationals, and the 16-team competition is a mouth watering not to be missed prospect for any league fan. Subscribe now for coverage of the All Star match on February 12th followed by 150 live NRL matches.'" www.premiersports.tv/NRL.html

It's good to have competition for the rights but I hope Sky win out, they do the coverage better than anyone and people already have the required packages.

its great we have other broadcasters willing to show rugby league now and hopefully it will get to a point were sky may up there money a little but i do hope sky get the rights as they have been great for rugby league but would be nice to gte a abit more money from the tv deal though. ideally though a channel like itv or channel 4 hopefully could do a super league and challenge cup highlights show and maybe espn could get a few live games aswell

well i for one hope Sky do not lose the broadcasting rights,cannot afford to pay for sky and espn

Picture quality last year (when I watched a bit) was pretty shocking though. Has it improved?

Hmmm £6.99 per month for 150 games.

Will hang fire for picture quality but sounds good.

Firstly, it's nice to see some interest in RL from the major TV companies but I'd hate to think Super League coverage would be moved from SKY to ESPN though. SKY have made our sport since SL began and I for one want to see it stay. The audience figures would be down too, a lot of people have SKY Sports packages and can casually tune in and out of the rugby but I wouldn't have thought ESPN's subscribers would be anywhere near the same.

I'd simply cancel sky sports and order ESPN. I only have the sports for the rugby anyway. (mainly)

Indeed and then in 3 years time SKY pick SL back up for 10 bob and a sherbert dib-dab when ESPN realise they haven't pulled in the viewers they expected and dont even bid for it.