Clarke talks more sense than any other broadcaster in the game in my opinion. Always gives you a different, more scientific perspective on things that are happenening, whilst trying to explain the game more for those who are new to it. I am a massive fan of his and think he deserves his place on the team.

Shouldn't have been charging so much should they. Trying to fleece folk at the moment is not a good idea. Strange they felt able to reduce the price so much when they didn't get the subscribers they needed.

Think it is more to do with the amount they have to bid to get the rights over sky for the football stuff. David 0 Goliath 1

This to be fair is the most common marketing tool known to man, I dont think we can moan about that!

I for one would like to see someone like ESPN get the rights as they do a great job over the pond and Disney have got a huge purse so they should have the time to have a proper crack at our market.

WTF has that to do with an English version of the Footy Show ? this show is not about the knowledge of the game, or any scientific explanation of a passage of the game, its about fun, fun, and some RL thrown in. The show has singers, dancers, quizes, comedians, lots of special guests, and much much more. I would want Wayne Bennett if I wanted to know about the ins and outs of the game, but FM I bet he is a pi55 poor comedy artist !

The footy show is watched ( and according to a channel 9 servey ) by 40% of its viewers who are not RL fans, its a superb show and if you watched it, you would know exactly what I am getting at with Phil Clarke.

I like Phil, know him, and once played against him, but this show is not his cup of tea.

Maybe, just maybe, you and I want different things from an RL show? Maybe your idea of an entertainment magazine programme for the game is different to mine, perhaps our opinion differs because we both love the game for different reasons.

one part of the bootsnall show I like to watch is the analysis of the plays,
it was tonight listen to Cullan that I thought that they could do a coaching dvd showing plays,
I like to show my lad when its on as is highlighted and easy to see and understand,
steveo is just a going through the motions,
for comedy value you can't beat barrie mac and terry

hear hear squire, and he always seem to give us a fair crack too.

what a e comment! You're obviously not in threat of losing your job are you unlike many others.
Why should Sky get everything, just rip us off more and stick the NRL in an empty slot at some stupid time
I have Sky sports and only pay for it for superleague - how to rip people off, £18 a month for 8 matches and Stevo slobbering over Whinos
I hope Setanta survives because they deserve to!

I aint moaning about it and understand perfectly why they tried to get the maximum they could and why they then dropped this to the minimum they could. However I will shed no tears for a company that has screwed over not just it's subscribers but it's employees as well.

Seems to me that Setanta tried to compete for Premier League rights too soon. Perhaps they should’ve slowly built up a solid profile of cheaper ‘second tier’ sports before going for the ‘holey grail’ that is football. RL would’ve been an ideal sport to bid on due to the niche market of the RL TV subscribers. I imagine many only have Sky for the RL and cancel it during the off season.

It’s a shame because competition is a good thing. It ensures that a fair market value can be found. Sky now seem untouchable. Should any upstarts come along and take them on they can afford to take a hit buy paying over the odds to drive up the price forcing the competitor to bail out or leave the rival’s business future precariously balanced.