having nothing to do whilst the summer is open us I thought I would have a look at who is on Sky
and how many times they are on in comparison to league position, league is current to round 21

Appearances on Sky to Round 24
Pos Team No of apps League position
[list1 Leeds 11 5
2 Bradford 10 10
3 Hull KR 10 7
4 Wigan 10 1
5 Saints 9 3
6 Hull 8 4
7 Warrington 8 2
8 Wakefield 6 8
9 Huddersfield 5 6
10 Castleford 4 9
11 Crusaders 4 11
12 Quinns 4 12
13 Catalan 3 14
14 Salford 2 13[/list:u

This comes as no surprise BP. There appears to be a distinct bias against salford when it comes to Sky. Even when we were on against saints the commentary was sarcastic and suggesting that Saints will wake up in a minute and then little old Salford will be blown away. I understand they will want to show big games between the top sides but they far too often are way OTT in terms of sharing exposure around the league. It is disgraceful that we should be left out to such an extent. We must remember that Catalan are on french TV each week. I would not have as much of a gripe if we were treated equally to say the likes of Quins, Crusaders or Cas but this list is way too lop-sided for me.

And they've still managed to get on Sky more than us.

Well said the fact that the 3 named have been on double the amount of times we have

On the flip side are crowds are bobbins when we're not on Sky so can you imagine how many wouldn't bother to get their backsides to the Willows if they could watch it for free in a boozer or at home.

I also find it odd that Wakefield have been on more times that Huddersfield, surely as Huddersfield are further up the table, they finished 3rd last season just two points behind 2nd and madder the Challenge Cup final you'd suspect they are the better side to watch (no disrespect to Wakey BTW)

as an aside we were the last team to appear on sky this year, waiting until round 8 we were last on sky on the 15th May, I had hoped that the game against the Crusaders at Wrexham would be shown but that has now moved from the Saturday night slot to a Sunday afternoon on the 1st August.

Its not just the fact we get less coverage, but we also have one less official. Regardless of whether you think the video ref is a good or bad thing, surely one team having it more than another is unfair.

maybe more to do with viewing figures & entertainment value! Putting Salford on at home with no crowd in the stadium does not generate the image well within the game!

Surley still generates a better image than wakefield.

Yeah the atmosphere at Wakefield is disgraceful and comes across really poor on TV.

Yes, you are correct but do you really enjoy watching a game played at Wakefield on Sky!

Quite frankly no!!!! I watched their game against Hull last weekend and it was dreadful. Dull Yorkshire stodge. The most entertaining part of the game was watching John Kear lose the plot on the balcony (something Sky seem obsessed about showing; perhaps they have a sweep stake on how many times he is going to tap his fingers on the rail).

I hardly think showing an empty stadium is Sky's major concern when scheduling. They showed Crusaders at home to Bradford a few weeks ago and there was barely 2000 people there. It's buggerall to do with it. Someone at Sky doesn't think we should be in Superleague and is hell bent on making sure we're not there next time round. They only have McCrae on because he was doing the job before he became our coach!

Whenever we are on the comments are always negative or sarcastic. I am fed up with hearing the patronising tones of Hemmings with his "quaint little old Salford, awww don't they try hard but they're not very good are they" commentary.

Part of our problem is that we don't get the exposure in the first place. If you said name a superleague team to someone on the street who has a bit of knowledge but doesn't really watch that much what would they say? Wigan, Leeds, Saints, Warrington. Why? Cos they're always on.

I'm not saying it would increase attendances by a lot (only a winning team will do that) but a few per season might help. Our advertising is restricted to the Salford Advertiser and the MEN, neither of which are particularly glowing about the club in their articles. The clubs mentinoed above get prime 2 hours prime time TV advertising at least once evry other week. Of course they do better in the marketing dept.

What is unfair, if still the case, is that clubs get a payment (was about 20,000) for TV games. Therefore their is an imbalance in revenues being distributed from the tv deal. I know for football every team has to be shown so many times by a certain date. It is only late in the season that restrictions are lifted so key games can be broadcast. A similar system in RL would be better and fairer.

Don't all teams get a fair share of the Sky money?

Perhaps watch the two games Salford have appeared on Sky and re-assess your "entertainment value" comment.

This table doesnt shock me at all. The sky matches are probably all dealt out before the season begins so the clubs have there pick of who they want to be shown against: The 'big' clubs pick games against other 'big' clubs. The middle clubs pick some games against big clubs and some against middle clubs. The smaller clubs pick games against middle and bigger clubs. I could go into a spiel about how parallels can be made between this system and the flow of money in our economy but thats for another time. Its not just in RL, you see it week in and week out in the prem league. Man utd, chelski and Arsenal feature pretty much every week where as Blackpool will prob get a couple on sky this coming season (most probably when they play one of the top three).

I actually dread us being on (inter)national telly. The posts after many (most) games indicate criticism with the way we play and, I have to say, that often these posts are correct. Imagine the game v Wigan (away) or v Cas (away) being shown and put out as indicative of our "entertainment" value. imagine the cameras focusing on our away support at Hull or Wigan. Imagine focusing on the scuffles at Warrington.

I do feel there is a bias against us (the RL papers never praise us and all teams we beat are "having a day off"icon_wink.gif. However I still shudder when I remember some of our past games on Sky (a home game v London paricularily sticks in my mind).

heres the dates matches are decided which indicate not much time for the clubs.

SKY will confirm their selections by the following dates:
Round 15 Selections by April 21
Round 16 Selections by May 5
Round 17 Selections by May 12
Round 18 Selections by May 19
Round 19 Selections by May 26
Round 20 Selections by June 2
Round 21 Selections by June 9
Round 22 Selections by June 28
Round 23 Selections by July 5
Round 24 Selections by July 12
Round 25 Selections by August 2 next time matches are decided and Round 25 begins August 13th
Round 26 Selections by August 9
Round 27 Selections by August 22

with the football all games until the end of November already decided.