The sooner they allow it to go to Sky the better. BBC's coverage is poop. Only 15mins build up, no HD, no 3D, no marketing, and bleeding Jonathan Davies !

If being on the BBC was the way to promote the game it would have happened when we had the Challenge Cup and the John Player Cup free to view. Twice the games we have now and I can't recall an influx in new players and spectators then; and I don't expect it now.

I dont mind the game being on SKY I pay for my RL coverage and still go to the games. If I could pay SKY for the RL only I would as I pay for Aussie RL and enjoy a few GAA games on premier. The BBC does the game a disservice by its poor coverage; the one redeeming factor being Claire Balding who puts some of the RL pros to shame with her enthusiasm for the game. If people had the option of TV licence payments or a TV with no BBC i have a feeeling that the BBC would be gone

Quote ="green machine"BBC 2 does have a HD Channel it's 169 and 143 for BBC 1.'" www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broa ... 58.article

Quote ="green machine"BBC 2 does have a HD Channel it's 169 and 143 for BBC 1.'" www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broa ... 58.article

A few programmes from BBC2 are shown on the BBC HD channel though, despite there not being an actual BBC2 HD. Dont mind whether or not its on BBC1 or 2 but starting with this years final they should all be in HD.

A part from the final none of it is shown in HD. Even on the BBC1 HD channel just upscaled from SD.

The Rugby coverage is at present, thats because they only take SD cameras to the matches, but that will soon change. Take wimbledon tennis, it was glorious in HD, and awesome in 3D on the BBC. They even showed some replays in 3D that were not transmitted in 3D.
Not even sky 3D is true HD.

If it was shown on BBC1 I think it would attract more non rugby league supporters to watch it imo. Other than that I don't see a problem with it being shown on BBC2. Though it would be nice to get some HD coverage for the cup games. (other than the final)

I was at the game, so not bothered which channel it was on - but I don't think the channel makes a difference anyway. Some wendyball lover from Birmingham is going to change the channel if he doesn't want to watch. And some rah rah fan from Barth will change to the channel if he does want to watch.

its on free to air television so, personally, i couldnt care less if the coverage/commentary is rubbish or not. As long as I can see the action on the pitch im happy

Errm, when they had semi finals in those days they couldn't fit them into the HJ stadium in Warrington !

Our attendances for RL matches have gone down ever since the late 1950's. Never mind the nonsense that Eddie and Stevo come out with. RL attendances are down.

But now 20,000 attendances are quite rare and apart from the odd one at Wigan when was the last 20,000+ attendance ?

The BBC seem to be downplaying RL yet again. So of course it makes a difference. Sponsorship will also decline and we then get into a downward spiral. No doubt all this affected Crusaders ?

Then there's the issue that as a BBC licence payer should get 'equal treatment' to their 'favoured' brand of Rugby who have sponsorship coming out of their orifices due to greater exposure from the BBC.

They also had many more players in those days. The amateur game in the last 20 years has virtually disappeared to what it was right across our heartlands of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

I don’t think it matters if it’s on BBC1 or BBC2 tbh. I still think it needs to be on what was called terrestrial tv – BBC1/2,ITV,CH4/5. If it were to move to say BBC4 or ITV3 then yes, we would all watch it but would anybody else watch it on the off chance. What we need, and I think that this may have been covered on here before is a regular show shown at the same time each week, not the super league show shown at 11:45pm on a Sunday night one week and a 1:30am the next.

I think the BBC has not moved forward regarding it’s coverage of RL in the past few years. I think we would benefit greatly from a standard show on say Channel 4 / 5 who could seriously advertise us as a sport, show it at say 6.30pm on a Sunday night (a la when they had American football) Freshen up the coverage, be innovative, show a good 40 min highlights of a game followed by round ups / interviews.

The cricket coverage on CH4 was miles better for the game of cricket and revolutionised the coverage with hawkeye/snicko etc and was mightily impressive. I believe it could work wonders for rugby league.

Do you read the posts you quote? The point raised was that twice as much RL on the BBC did not improve attendances figures or bring in new fans. Sorry errm

Just seen the ratings for the 2 weekend games not much difference in figures from if it was on BBC1 or 2

Sat 0.9
Sun 0.8

Normally rates anything from 0.8 to 1.3 million on BBC1

Do you indeed read what you write ?

I said, when coverage was greater, crowds were indeed bigger and we had more players. Especially in the amateur game.

What part of all this do you not understand ?

We had bigger crowds years ago than we do now when we had more terrestrial TV coverage .


Oh and I never 'quoted' anyone !

Deary me! How can we have a pop at Jiffy when we have to listen to Stevo's pap every week? The best part of Sky 3D is the it has a different commentary team! I'd have jiffy over Stevo any day!!

You quoted my post.
As you stated the crowds were in decline and continued to decline. The greater coverage did not stem the decline. The greater coverage on the BBC had nothing to do with the crowds being any bigger than they are now. TV coverage on the BBC despite being "free to air" has done nothing to improve the decline.

As would i. The muppets have had their day. Steveo is oft made to look silly because he tries to be outspoken and Eddie is just rubbish. For all people like Eddie Waring, Ray French, and Stevo have done for the game, there comes a time where you have to clear out the old and bring in the new.

Because TV coverage has gone down for the RL by the BBC. Coverage has gone down, and crowds have gone down too.

Anyway, what the hell are you arguing about ?

I see no real arguments or polemics in your argument.

I think you are too young to provide any real argument here anyway.

If you have been watching the game for decades please reply back. Until, I won't.

To put it another way, you do not know what you are writing about.

Just like pro wrestling, the lack of TV coverage has been their downfall. The BBC are doing it to us now.

what a pathetic post !




who cares which channel it's on ?

Try reading the posts explaining why this is an issue. If you don't agree, well you're wrong but you're entitled to your opinion. It isn't crazy to think the CC being screened on BBC2 is not good for the game.

Quick question: do you picture people as switching BBC1 on, and watching whatever is on it, or do they look through all the channels they have available to them, and choose what they fancy the most?

It's proven that the same show will get a bigger audience on BBC1 than BBC2. I can't see why that would be any different for a sports programme.

People have their preferences and are influenced by the channel programmes are on.

so what difference does it make ? and why so many negatives in your post ?

beeb 2 was good enough before for much of the early RL tv coverage except the Grandstand saturday afternoon treat with dear old Eddie W so why shouldn't it be good enough now ?
The aims of terrestrial tv coverage should surely be to a) win back/remind previous RL regulars that the game is still great to be a part of as well as providing enetertainment for the current (but dwindling) RL fans and b) hopefully attract new speccies to our great game ?

BBC1 gets more viewing figure purely because they put the already most watched programmes like Eastenders on it, do you think if they put Eastenders on BBC2 people would stop watching it and start moaning? Geez get a life.

obviously,so it doesn't matter where the RL is shown - i'm glad we agree

and I have a great life thanks very much