I'd be more concerned if it wasn't for the fact that the sponsorship for the CC has been so poor in the last few years. Hardly a sign that being on terrestrial is helping.

However, despite this, it would be sad. RL is only just hanging on to any form of national profile by its fingertips due to the CC being on the BBC. Take it off the BBC and we're a completely satellite game, and will retreat to hardcore 200-300k fans (compare that to the 1m who watched France v Australia mismatch last weekend). It's not like sports editors need any more excuses to give us no coverage.

Also, anyone who thinks the BBC will bid seriously for our game is sadly mistaken. The BBC is the establishment broadcaster and its sports priorities will always be the establishment sports. The beeb has shown plenty of times in the past that it values one viewer of a RU match far more highly than one viewer of a RL match. Which is odd, as it isn't reliant on advertising. But we all know what it's about.

It's not about advertising revenue or even ratings for Sky these days. Adverts during Super League games have become less and less as the years have rolled by.

These days Sky buy new sports rights that'll bring new subscribers in and retain enough to see that current subscribers stay. New subscribers getting Sky HD boxes is key and I don't think the Challenge Cup would bring Sky any extra subscribers as they have Super League anyway so it wouldn't be of any benefit to them what so ever.

An example of this is the National League games. They don't rate that well compared to Super League but if a few NL fans subscribe to watch it's well worth Sky showing the games even though the ratings are low.

People talk about Sky getting the NRL rights. Well they might if no one else bids but if it ends up a bidding war they just won't bother because it won't drag that many new subscribers in.

ESPN maybe but I don't think we televise enough, nor is their enough quality of matches to choose from, to make a pay broadcaster bite. The Cup just isn't a good enough competition these days. NRL + Challenge Cup could be a good package for ESPN but they don't seem that interested in splashing out. They seem happy to have American Sports + Premier League and be happy with that.

And we've only ourselves to blame. I keep saying that taking home internationals off the BBC and putting the games on Sky has damaged our sport a lot. They should have given the whole four nations to the BBC. Imagine if the final was on the BBC this weekend on Saturday Afternoon with the football premiership having a weekend off. I think a lot of pubs would have bitten that despite the Union international on Sky.

The irony of this four nations is the two best games Australia v New Zealand & England v New Zealand have been on Sky. A wasted opportunity because probably only the already preached saw it!

There's been nothing stopping Sky from bidding for the Challenge Cup and that includes showing the final.

Only the final is on the protected list and like the FA Cup Final previously it could be shown on both free and pay TV live.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/8356391.stm

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/8356391.stm

Bugger.

It will be interesting to hear what the Chairman of Sport England has to say about this, The silence will be deafening.

I was under the impression a few years ago the RFL where after getting the CC removed from the list? was I dreaming it?

I think a few things here, Andy Burnham has a large part to play with the list and he is one of "us" so to speak, I doubt he would allow the removal if it didnt have the blessing of the RFL.

I'm not sure either way, I've no love for the BBC anymore, so i'm not overly fussed about them losing the cup but i'm concerned that say if ESPN got it that it would alienate the tournement.

As has been said, it coming off the list doesn't mean it wont be on the BBC in the future.

I'm not sure what it has to do with him, it's to do with the department of media and sport and the RFL strategy department if there is such a thing, Nigel Wood most likely I guess.

But I bet Lewis is delighted that Wimbledon is on the retained list.

Well if thats what Wimbledon want then so be it.

these things aren't just thrown together, they do involve the sport governing bodies too you know

does it really matter?



if removing it from the FTA list means a bidding war between the bbc & sky for the challenge cup then good! i don't see what the problem is?

sky would love it,and they'll probably show games from round 1 or 2 if it was attractive enough

and the BBC would probably pay that bit extra to keep it given the historical ties between the BBC & challenge cup..


crack on i say

If Sky get it , prepare to lose live Saturday and Sunday afternoon games as we have now on the BBC.

The early rounds of the Cup fall slap bang in the middle of the football and rugby union seasons. No chance whatsoever of those getting shunted to fit in Rochdale v Halifax in Round 2 of the Challenge Cup.

Expect to see maybe one live game on a Friday night and the other on either Thursday or Sunday nights IMO.

Since when did the BBC cover a game before the quarter finals?

I seem to recall seeing Saints win at Leeds earlier this year. That wasn't the quarter-final, was it?

About the same time as fans stopped bothering about the competition before the quarter finals probably.

Don't the BBC pick up coverage from the last 16?

Well they have for as long as I can remember. At least 10 years.

Cover from Round 4, so last 32. And they have done for as long as I can remember.

I think it's a disappointing development for the game and whatever extra Sky bid will only be short term gain for long term pain.

For those of us who live outside the heartlands/north of England then the Challenge Cup games were about the only exposure you ever get of RL down here other than brief mentions hidden away several pages inside the newspapers. I think watching the BBC coverage was a large part of actually learning to love the game for me, and I've no do doubt that I wouldn't have gone out of my way to purchase a Sky subscription without having been fed the BBC diet first.

Imo, free, easy access viewing is a must if the RFL have any serious thoughts of expansion to areas where coverage of the game is already minimal at best. To think that this will start a bidding war is crazy. The BBC only really care about Football, Wimbledon and to a lesser extent Union, they won't go out of their way to keep it and Sky will be happy to bid just above what they're prepared to.

Don't think that will be the case at all. For a start, the BBC start at the 4th Round, and that is AFTER the start of the SL season, so Sky will obviously be able to find time to fit them in if they want. Not to mention they've managed to fit in Championship coverage.

If anything, I'd imagine they'd just keep the usual slots of Friday night and Saturday evening for the cup games (not really a problem) and possibly even a Thursday game to make up for the lack of a Championship game.

Plus, if that's a problem, surely the RFL will have some bartering power here and could request afternoon games if it was that much of an issue to them?

Sadfish is right, there where muttering's several years back about being part of the "crown jewels."
Rugby League has a huge support inside Parliament, for the life of me I cant see how the CC has been removed from the list, unless the RFL wanted it that way.

Given we've just taken a huge step forward in finally getting an international back live on the BBC, I couldn't agree more.

all its about is certain people not wanting to give a minority sport (as they see it) air time. but boost the level at which rugby union is given.

just because its not on the "list" doesnt mean that it wont be on FTA.

The RFL are now free to choose which platform it is broadcast on, if SKY want to pay silly money for it then great. I suspect that SKY will bid something, as will the BBC - who need to keep some sport on their channels.

I've not seen any media reports discuss the reasons why the CCF is coming off the list. They just mention that it and the Derby are getting the chop and move on.

I'm guessing the RFL is happy with this but doesn't want to be seen to be happy with it. Have any journalists asked them for a comment?