I wonder how many people are paying a monthly premium for HD channels so that they can view them on their "HD ready" TV's?



You'd be surprised how many don't know the difference between an "HD ready" TV and a "Full HD" TV.

Quote ="AJC"I see Super League's self appointed saviour is spouting off again m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/26023136'" what a tool. He doesn't like the Sky deal? Then why vote for it? Actually, he has form. Didn't he vote for the Stobart deal only to describe it as a disaster?

Quote ="AJC"I see Super League's self appointed saviour is spouting off again m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/26023136'" what a tool. He doesn't like the Sky deal? Then why vote for it? Actually, he has form. Didn't he vote for the Stobart deal only to describe it as a disaster?

Bless him, he felt "under pressure" to agree to the deal because the financially challenged clubs were going to agree to it and their was a stated desire for unanimity. This is the same guy that led a walk out of a meeting a few months ago because he didn't like what was going on.....now suddenly he's buckling to a call for unanimity?

Maybe he should be able to withstand a bit of pressure and go with what he feels right and not blame others as he's pretty much staying he got bullied into a decision.

He could've said no, his main gripe is that he only had 24 hours to think about. That it took him around 36 hours to think it was too early to be to be doing this with so long left on the current deal perhaps says more about him.

This man seems on a mission to destroy rugby league. He thinks he is the chairman of the biggest club in RL (I don't know how seeing as though they don't even own their own ground) and that he can throw his weight around. He makes Maurice Lindsay look like a saint, Lenegan clearly doesn't care about rugby league just his own agenda.

Irrespective of the merits or otherwise of the Sky deal, what on earth is Lenagan playing at.

Every time he spouts off his credibility diminishes. This time slating a deal he voted for; and slating himself in the process.

Being flippant wasn't I?

I'm sure there is a difference, I just can't see it particularly well (maybe if I look really closely, which I won't) on my 28" screen.

Since I don't have Sky, I just like the novelty of a RL game being on a channel I can watch. BBC1 or BBC1 HD, I couldn't care less.

Lenagan does seem to have a bad hait of legging t to the press with these concerns.

That said, if his account is true and the clubs really did only have 24hrs to consider the deal, that seems a peculiar way to negotiate a £200M contract to me.

I also can't help thinking the new wealth could trickle down to the lower tiers a bit better than that. We need a competitive, professional (in every sense) second tier for P&R to work. The budget split alleged by BBC Sport doesn't support that.

I think that Lenegan is correct in his criticism of the deal.
What sensible, ostensibly, democratic organisation would provide only 24 hours notice of a deal absolutely critical to the future of it's members.
A deal which does not come into force for 2/3 years!
Perhaps if folk set aside their anti-Wigan bias for once they too would comprehend Lenegan's concerns.
I'm sure there are other agendas at work here but on this point IMV he's absolutely spot on.

[url=http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/04/marwan-koukash-salford-rfl-skyKoukash didn't vote for the deal[/url

That can't be possible, Ian Lenagan clearly painted a picture of the hurricane force pressure he was put under that he had no choice but to cave in? Saying NO was simply not an option,

It is very strange and as Koukash says in that linked-to article, did they tout the business around, did they go to a tendering process, no apparently not, they had a gun held to their heads and backed down.

Its a sign of how deep in bed the sport is with the Murdoch empire that they can enforce terms like that in a "negotiation".

More likely a sign of how badly run and how skint the majority of clubs are that made them immediately cave in for the prospect of a £300k boost to cash flow next week.

Apart from one Chairman that is, who was so pressurised by these skint clubs that he threw the towel in.

The linked BBC report is lifted from a piece that Lenegan wrote for this week's league express. There's no suggestion whatsoever that the clubs were only given 24 hours to evaluate the deal. What Lenegan actually whines is that [ithe meeting[/i was called at 24 hours notice. He goes on to complain that the clubs were only given "limited time" to examine the deal but that's very different to only being given 24 hours in total. Unsurprisingly, his remarks are now being misinterpreted, as indeed they were meant to be in my opinion. Having had more than 24 hours to consider the content and potential impact of his piece, I find it hard to believe it wasn't constructed as anything other as another attack on the RFL.

The man simply has his own agenda, I don't trust a word that comes out of his gob. I admire Koukash's passion but he still has a lot to learn about Rugby League.

Having been offerred the deal, with its short expiry-date, should the RFL have told Sky to do one? Or should they, as they did, have presented it to the clubs for consideration?

I can just imagine what Lenegan's reaction would be had the RFL unilaterally rejected Sky's £200m

It would have been a lot more than a few foolish-looking comments in League Express that's for sure.

As ever, he criticises but offers no realistic alternatives and simply drags his credibility down further.

But he's Ian Lenegan. He's a massively successful businessman in his own right. He's exactly the sort of rational business orientated person we should be attracting to run rugby league clubs.

Right, Wigan fans...? *s*

With all due respect Lenegan is an highly successful businessman, so not anything to s about. Even Caddick would struggle to match the guy in business success.

However, of course sporting management is completely different. He makes very valid points in his complaining. But has MJM alludes to in his last sentence, you just can't help but think his complaints are more to do with an agenda against someone, rather than the decision.

Koukash and IL agenda? everybody knows it they have told the press them selves, they want the super league chairmans to be in charge of all commercial dealings. Now you could say Brian Barwick and Nigel Wood had there own agenda by pushing through this TV Deal at such short notice. Main sponsorship tied down for a couple of years and now an eight year Tv Deal. Looks as if they wanted to put a stop to it and keep complete power.

As Koukash hinted yesterday they may have been aided by your very own chairmen.

If some people seriously think that sky offered that deal out of the blue and a 48 hour deadline was with it they are the ones who are deluded.

i don't know what the measure of 'business success' is other than wealth, and in that measure Caddick is ahead of Lenegan. Koukash, Moran and Caddick are in the hundreds of millions, lenegan the tens of millions.

If Lenegan is getting out politicked by Nigel Wood he should be nowhere near any SL leadership.

The only people less suited to run this great game to a bright new future than Nigel Wood are the people he outsmarted.

what should he do offer the struggling clubs 400k to say no? Stop being stupid.

A statement from RFL Chairman Brian Barwick
For immediate publication: Wednesday February 5
I have been disappointed by the public response of a small minority of Super League clubs to the securing of a new broadcast agreement with our long-term partners, Sky Sports.
Without question, Sky have provided an outstanding service to the game in producing both live and associated programming that has been the envy of many other sports. And they have done it for two decades.
Therefore to retain this long-standing broadcast partnership, and at significantly increased financial terms, is indeed a great win for Rugby League.
Also, the terms of the new contract which starts in 2017 are so beneficial that they give Super League clubs, Championships clubs and the community game a fantastic, secure and long-sighted platform from which to build their futures and develop our great sport.
As to the Super League clubs meeting last week, I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say, after hearing a comprehensive presentation on all aspects of the new deal, the clubs themselves voted to vote on the proposal.
Most of the clubs recognised that the best result for the immediate future of the game was in front of them, as indeed the significant majority that voted in favour of the offer from Sky Sports underlined. The other clubs were able to vote against it as they saw fit, which is appropriate.
What I feel isn't appropriate, though, is the tone and content of the criticism by some of the Super League clubs who have their own reservations about the deal.
This broadcast contract is the biggest in Rugby League history and actually offers Super League clubs an uplift of 63 per cent in annual distributions. It is also the latest in a number of upbeat initiatives we have enjoyed in recent months: with such a strong wind in our sails, I will not stand by and allow the sport to be blown off-course.

What is stupid is voting for it (Koukash wasn't pressured in to doing so, why was Lenegan? Is he just a bit of a wimp?) then whining about it in Public. Either stand up for what you think is right or don't but not standing up for yourself and then whinging and bad mouthing in the press is just pathetic.

Whatever the validity of Lenegans concerns, they lose a whole lot credibility when it is pointed out that this is a deal he voted for, in a process he consented to.

Lenegan needs to either man up or shut up.

Leneghan's just playing the game.

I don't really care how he voted, i for one welcome his regular public outcrys if it brings the spotlight onto the cretins running this ailing game.

The SL clubs have the final say on the television deal.

The SL clubs have the final say on the commercial rights of SL.

And yet, the clubs appear to be whining like little b*tches about a deal that they had the final say over, and their acolyte fans are falling over themselves to laud them for it.

You couldn't make it up. Lenegan and Koukash are perfect examples that you can fool a lot of the people a lot of the time.