Interesting -

After a nine-week hiatus since the quarter-final draw, there will only be a fortnight before the semi finals as the rhythm of the cup continues to be dictated by the BBC's television schedules. However that will change next season, when the final will be brought forward from late August to June or July to avoid a clash with the Olympic Games, and there is a growing move to make that switch permanent, depending on the outcome of negotiations with both Wembley and the BBC.
(c/o [urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/22/hull-takeover-challenge-cup-leeds[/url)

That would make a lot of sense.

Probably won't happen then.

Would like to see it removed from the BBC as i dont think they pay enough respect to rugby league.

I like it, the momentum of the competition totally stops in the big gap.

I still think the first round should be kept as a local draw.

Just to prove your point, has anyone else spotted what will be on BBC1 on Saturday from 5pm i.e. during the majority of the screening of our game on BBC2? An early evening feature filme presentation of Pixar family favourite, Cars. Seriously

Which will get much higher viewing figures than if we were on BBC1.

Isn't it on a government list so that it has to be shown by a free-view channel?

Correct.

[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other_Listed_and_Designated_Events[/url

Thought so.

The viewing rates are often higher for Challenge Cup due to being on BBC but the BBC commentators and camera angles are crap.

i think it's going to be hard for any team to peak for the cup final then again for the playoffs/grand final, my mate stu says we shouldn't bother trying to win either because according to eddie and stevo the wire have already won everything, probably the four nations as well

after all the have won 2 cups

So will the new format mean that SL clubs come in at the last 16 stage instead of as now the 32?
Also will it be a straight knockout or have four pools of four to maintain 5 rounds to boost revenue?

Even so if the BBC cant be bothered to show us the proper respect like they would if it was a yawnion gane id rather they just drop it altogether.,if it was a union cup match they wouldnt be showing some crap film instead.

I thought it was taken off the list last season.

Don't think I have seen one promotional ad on the BBC for probably the biggest game of the season so far.

I'd rather we went to ITV or Channel 5. They treat their sports with some dignity at least.

4 or 5...........4 did wonders for cricket when they took it away from the beeb.........sky took it to another level

sky would do wonders for the CC imo...........but i think we are still under the government thingy about events on terrestial

why do we need that law??.......everybody waches non-terestial.......you cant get a signal for terrestial nowadays on an old tv

I'd play one round first week of every month with the final in August.

Got all the big games at the business end of the season. Teams shouldn't be handicapped through being succesfull.

But that is the point, to do the double you need to maintain a level for a long period of time. When the cup was early in the year it was devalued

Only the final is on the list and has to be broadcast live on a FTA channel, so there is nothing to stop Sky from obtaing the rights. they could show the final on one of their Freeview channels making it avalioable to everyone.

[urlhttp://www.carnegiechallengecup.co.uk/article.php?id=17106[/url

I must confess I always thought it was the whole competition, but apparently not. Thinking on Sky and latterly ESPN had this with the FA Cup recently when they were first allowed to get games in the rounds but not show the final. Now they can show the final too, but is still has to be broadcast on FTA.

For me, I actually agree with the sentient of the statement in the link. FTA coverage of the CC is essential for our sport. However, it needs to be considerably better coverage than at present as the scheduling of the rounds is all over the place, the coverage is poor, the kick off times erratic and the crowds poor. So the positive coverage the RFL are hoping to get from FTA coverage just isn't happening because, quite frankly, it all looks a bit naff.