There was an interesting article in the Guardian a few days ago that was arguing the case for rugby in the UK to be more available on terrestrial TV in order to promote the game to a wider audience – http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/28/rugby-union-dishing-up-games-sky-bt-sport and there is merit in the argument that pay channels do not command the same viewing figures as free to air broadcasts. It is also interesting to note that the experiment in France of showing a limited number of games ‘free’ is being considered by the Premiership clubs in England. Anything to promote the game is welcome.
Rugby Union – TV Rights (and wrongs)
But there is a risk that we start to condemn Sky and BT as the villains of the piece who have kidnapped rugby (along with other sports) in order to line their pockets with cash from those who can afford to pay. This is garbage – before Sky started to show an interest there was a paucity of rugby available on the free channels. Oh, we got the 5 Nations on BBC (as it was back then) although you missed some games as they kicked off at the same time, you might also get maybe a Barbarians’ game once in a blue moon – but that was about it. I certainly don’t count Sunday afternoon’s half hour ‘Rugby Special’ – it was anything but special and consisted mainly of blokes talking rather than actual matches. The Lions? Don’t make me laugh – until Sky started in 1997 to show every tour game you had to wait until the next day and read the Telegraph to find out the score. The BBC did cover the Lions’ test games, but only on the radio. I remember in 1971, a couple of weeks after I got married, setting the alarm at 4.30 am to listen to the game at the ‘House of Pain’ (Terry was really chuffed!).
On Sky and BT Sport we can now watch live rugby – Internationals, tours, 7s, Premiership, Rabo Direct, Top 14, Women’s rugby, Currie Cup, ITM and the Rugby Championship – and I’ve probably missed a few too. Did the BBC try and pick up any of these? Of course not! ITV, to be fair covers some 7s and laudably has the World Cup. Arguably, if pay sports channels’ didn’t exist we would still be in the dark ages for rugby on TV. People will argue it costs a lot to buy the rights to cover these competitions – and they are right. But it didn’t before Sky came along and the BBC didn’t try to increase its coverage when it would have been available at a bargain price. Now they whinge that they can’t afford it. Although they do manage to afford umpteen reality TV rubbish programmes, to pay average talent a fortune and to send staff on jollies all over the planet. Think I’m exaggerating? How about BBC sending three times the number of staff to cover the football world cups compared with ITV – and building million pound studios for the four weeks. Newsreaders sent to Beijing studio to give us the same news they would have read in Salford. On the radio they have a different news reader for each station – reading exactly the same words at the same time! Sending the Bargain Hunt team to Australia for god’s sake! I could go on, but you get the picture. Don’t blame the pay channels’ for giving us rugby coverage – they are the only ones who will.
Is all the money pouring into the game good? Possibly not, I mean look at premiership football and the effect on the England team. But the amounts are very different and rugby will never command the same interest, so the game is probably safe for now. The article predicts that the All Blacks match this weekend in Chicago v the Eagles could be a springboard for the game over there – it fails to suggest that it is simply a money making exercise for the NZ RFU, and ignores the parallel that football hasn’t taken off completely there, despite much heavier investment over a long period.
Sky and BT Sport give us more rugby than ever before – don’t condemn them because we have to pay – rather ask why the terrestrial channels didn’t get involved when they could have done. Can the BBC compete? Not unless they choose a head with business experience, rather than a career politician or member of the establishment. They need to be commercially minded – cutting waste and improving the product – but they’ve probably missed the boat as far as sport is concerned now anyway! This had been a fairly serious piece – much more tongue in cheek stuff is in my blog www.rugbyoldbloke.wordpress.com I’m not usually this controversial but I believe that Sky and BT often wrongly get bad press.
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