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gerg_861 
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Joined: 11 Jun 2017 Location: Ealing Status: Offline Points: 2887 |
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 Topic: TV rightsPosted: 25 Mar 2025 at 21:07 |
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I saw that Premier Sports has launched a dedicated Rugby channel. I remember a few years back that they were willing to show Champ games, but wanted them on a Thursday. If they asked again, then I think that the Champ should bite their hand off for the deal.
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Stalwart*
First XV regular 
Joined: 05 Dec 2024 Location: Penzance Status: Offline Points: 80 |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 21:44 |
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It would seem crazy not to have some coverage of The Championship on a dedicated rugby channel, but knowing what has gone on before don't hold your breath.
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Pirate
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JZSmith
British and Irish Lion 
Joined: 27 Aug 2024 Location: England Status: Online Points: 226 |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 12:36 |
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Have Premier Sports actually launched a dedicated rugby channel or is it just that Virgin Media are now providing a platform to watch the rugby already available on PS (albeit with new branding)?
There is nothing currently on the PS website about a new dedicated rugby channel (unless I have missed it).
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Rob C
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Joined: 26 Apr 2017 Location: Coventry Status: Offline Points: 197 |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 14:08 |
TV rights but, perhaps, at the expense of crowd attendances.
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Camquin
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Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Location: Cambridge Status: Offline Points: 11916 |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 17:37 |
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I think you need to balance the immediate loss of attendance - and possibly more important lunch revenue, against the possibility that the coverage encourages some new fans and the increased value of sponsorships and the money on offer. And I doubt these are in any way straightforward. And would vary from club to club. There are times I am glad I am not on the committee.
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Sweeney Delenda Est
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Nosides
Academy player 
Joined: 22 Sep 2024 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 11 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 08:08 |
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I would imagine that those who attend (or areinvited to attend) lunches are doing it for the occasion and not *just* for the game, so I don't think they'd be affected.
As for crowd numbers, not sure. I'd certainly be watching games other than those of my club but would it stop me going to the ground* if we were on the tele, I'm not sure. Completely understand the thinking though. *It's a long way from here....
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Mark Smith
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aka 'Ramshackle Smith' Joined: 17 Jul 2012 Location: Newcastle Upon Status: Offline Points: 2386 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 09:55 |
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It costs many tens of thousands of Pounds to generate the footage to broadcast a single game. Cameras, broadcast trucks, production staff, and that's assuming the Champ clubs have suitable broadcast gantries and infrastructure, which they don't. The same costs don't apply to Prem Sports when they're showing the French, American or Japanese leagues, because the footage already exists from the domestic networks in those countries. They're just buying the rights to show it. I'm plucking numbers out of the air to a degree, but I work in the industry so I don't think I'm far off. It would cost in the region of £50-80k to generate a broadcast for each Champ game. That's EACH game, and doesn't include paying the RFU for the actual broadcast rights (there's zero chance they would pay any money for the rights). Do they think they're going to make back that money in additional subscriptions and advertising, versus not showing the Championship at all? Especially when most games are at times which directly clash with other tournaments they're already showing. How many people are going to watch Bedford v Doncaster when Toulouse v Leicester is on the same network's other channel at the same time? Most of the people who are seriously interested are probably at the game already in person. Those are the questions that they, and any other broadcaster, has to ask themselves. And that's setting aside the fact that none of the Champ clubs are currently suitable for professional broadcast. That's why TNT didn't show any Cup games from Champ grounds. The season before, when they broadcast from Ealing, they had to spend circa £10k on scaffolding just to put a gantry in place for that one game, and they said they weren't willing to do it again.
Edited by Mark Smith - 27 Mar 2025 at 10:19 |
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Camquin
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Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Location: Cambridge Status: Offline Points: 11916 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 11:30 |
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Which is why they want games on a Thursday, when they are searching round to fill the schedule. But, it is harder to get a crowd out on a Thursday. And if you kick off at 8pm, that means dinner is at 6:30 - and it is not as convivial as lunch at 1pm on a Saturday, so less interesting to sponsors. Or nibbles served throughout the game in a box. I have watched a minor league baseball game from a box on a Monday, I was visiting a start-up that was spending its Venture Capitalists money. But Baseball has convenient innings breaks to grab another snack. I am sure Cambridge - and possibly many other clubs - could arrange to play the two televised games at the local football stadium, obviously at a cost. But that might be cheaper than putting up temporary gantries. I am assuming that the Abbey still has suitable facilities. Another option is for the league to finance a limited number of clubs to have gantries in the first season and only show games from those grounds. And then build them at the remaining clubs the next season. The other problem is that for a semi-pro side playing at Plymouth on a Thursday means the players missing at least two days of work. As the RFU have found, the market for sports has dropped from the peak, and the money tends to concentrate on the few top events that have the biggest draw, with the fringe and second tier events suffering most. So if we are offered a TV contract, it will not be a simple decision.
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Sweeney Delenda Est
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Mark Smith
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aka 'Ramshackle Smith' Joined: 17 Jul 2012 Location: Newcastle Upon Status: Offline Points: 2386 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 11:53 |
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Yeah, the only vacant slots for rugby realistically are Thursday night or Sunday night.
Although Thursday is up against Premier League darts and Super League RL on Sky, and Europa League football on TNT. And neither slot would be ideal for match-going fans. So bearing in mind that any potential broadcaster realistically wouldn't be paying any actual money for the rights, from the clubs' perspective you have to ask is it worth it? Annoying your paying punters by playing Thursday night or late on Sunday night, and making no direct income from it.
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cheshire exile
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Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Status: Offline Points: 2566 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 11:55 |
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Not sure why Plymouth is highlighted as Albion are in Nat1, but Penzance on a Thursday might be tricky for semi-pro sides.
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Camquin
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Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Location: Cambridge Status: Offline Points: 11916 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 12:09 |
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Lack of coffee, and the fact I have been to Albion more often than Pirates. |
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Sweeney Delenda Est
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fatbear
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Joined: 13 Sep 2013 Location: Thame Status: Offline Points: 3027 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 13:59 |
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I could be wrong on this, but the story I heard was that Chinnor were told their existing gantry wasn't suitable for TV coverage of games in the Championship and The Premiership Cup so in pre-season a new monstrosity was erected. Chinnor were then excluded from the Prem Cup so there was also never going to be any coverage from Chinnor, so pointless rules led to more unnecessary expense. I have happily watched live streams of Nat 1 games from Rams and Rosslyn Park. The coverage was more than adequate, and being on YouTube, I was able to watch on my TV screen. I doubt they forked out £50-80K for each game they showed...........
Edited by fatbear - 27 Mar 2025 at 14:00 |
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Breakdown
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Joined: 11 Apr 2023 Location: SW London Status: Offline Points: 132 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 15:05 |
Agreed - Sedgely Park have a very good video service, just the one camera but you can easily get the whole feel of the game and miss very little action. There are two people in commentary too. Probably costs them a few hundred quid and goes up on Youtube. The other poster was quite wrong about the costs of broadcast. Using Hawkeye ball-following technology, you can use multiple cameras, have a single director and very small staff with 1/2 commentators and total cost will be in the region of £12,000 to £20,000 per match. Not nothing, but affordable if the RFU were to subsidise it. But of course the RFU does not want to support lower tier rugby. It wants T2 and T3 to be feeder clubs to the mighty Premiership. |
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Broken down. Beyond repair.
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Mark Smith
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aka 'Ramshackle Smith' Joined: 17 Jul 2012 Location: Newcastle Upon Status: Offline Points: 2386 |
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Posted: 27 Mar 2025 at 15:34 |
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"I have happily watched live streams of Nat 1 games from Rams and Rosslyn Park. The coverage was more than adequate, and being on YouTube, I was able to watch on my TV screen. I doubt they forked out £50-80K for each game they showed..........."
A proper linear TV channel isn't going to broadcast a single-camera set-up more akin to a club youtube feed. Not a chance. And the notion that the RFU would subsidise £20k a week just to show one game on a sub-par broadcast set-up with automated cameras - again, there's no chance. I just can't see that there'll ever be the money for, or the interest in, a 'proper' channel covering live Championship rugby.
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gerg_861 wrote: