The broadcast partner pays for the rights, thats why games kick off at strange times on strange days. I would assume that this was agreed over an hour before kick off and would not impede the players preparation too much. You also need to consider that the RFL media and marketing teams would be present and would have had input into the delaying of the kick off. The morality of delaying for TV is the real debate, but as a sport we don't hold the clout of some other sports - plus the BBC probably paid significantly more for the rights to the golf.

How long was we there before kickoff? I also said we had a decent reason until i got told the players had more then 40minutes to prepare. Plenty of time i reckon.

That is nowhere near enough time to prepare properly.
Remember it probably takes about 20mins just to get all the strappings sorted.

The build up to the game was shown on the 'red button' which I presume everyone now has access to with the advent of digital TV. Claire Balding apologized for the fact that recording equipment would not work on that channel. If the golf playoff had not come to a quick conclusion then the game would have been shown on that channel so why the need to delay?