Skys english Bias

First topic message reminder :

Dont get me wrong i can understand Sky is a fee paying terrestrial network with probably 10 times the amount of customers in england than in wales but covering the commentators box with english roses is kinda step to far!!!! i mean come on, really?.

RubyGuby wrote:If Ireland beat England then England will drop below Wales. At the moment its:

5 England
6 Wales
7 Ireland

an Irish win will see Eng amd Ire swap places with Wales staying in 6th

That will only happen if Ireland win by over 15 points. If it's by 15 or less, then England stay in 5th place, as I stated earlier.

Got to admit Sky seem to like kissing English rugby butts! I suppose you could explain it the fact that most of their commentators spend their lives watching the English league and nothing else apart from on Heineken weekends... but yeah Stuart Barnes and co do over elaborate on how good English players are.

Mr Thunder wrote:Got to admit Sky seem to like kissing English rugby butts! I suppose you could explain it the fact that most of their commentators spend their lives watching the English league and nothing else apart from on Heineken weekends... but yeah Stuart Barnes and co do over elaborate on how good English players are.

I think it's more likely that it's because they have the rights to English international rugby and so when showing an England game they expect most of the viewer (subscribers) to be English.

I really hope they don't say what they really think. They would go even further down in my expectations

EDIT: They're also generally the first to slate England and go further than most other channels. Every thing they do is aimed at the English. For obvious commercial reasons.

I don't think there is that much of a gap between viewing figures when it comes to rugby internationals.
The vast majority of English fans will be on the football channel because it's your most popular sport.
If you want to do something for commercial reasons I would have thought that catering for a wider audience would be a better selling point.

Cymroglan wrote:I don't think there is that much of a gap between viewing figures when it comes to rugby internationals.
The vast majority of English fans will be on the football channel because it's your most popular sport.
If you want to do something for commercial reasons I would have thought that catering for a wider audience would be a better selling point.

What, like showing soccer instead?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Cymroglan wrote:I don't think there is that much of a gap between viewing figures when it comes to rugby internationals.
The vast majority of English fans will be on the football channel because it's your most popular sport.
If you want to do something for commercial reasons I would have thought that catering for a wider audience would be a better selling point.

What, like showing soccer instead?

Yes if something is done purely for commercial reasons.

Cymroglan wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Cymroglan wrote:I don't think there is that much of a gap between viewing figures when it comes to rugby internationals.
The vast majority of English fans will be on the football channel because it's your most popular sport.
If you want to do something for commercial reasons I would have thought that catering for a wider audience would be a better selling point.

What, like showing soccer instead?

Yes if something is done purely for commercial reasons.

So, if it's not for commerical reasons, do you think Sky are catering to the English market just to annoy the other nations then? Cymro, I don't see where you're coming from at all.

SafeAsMilk
Not once have I said it's done to annoy other nations but I don't believe that they are giving the paying public what they want or at least not the knowledgeable rugby fans.
I don't know how well you know me but I can assure you I don't go for all this Wales v England nonsense I'm just posting my comments as a rugby fan who has a Sky subscription.
Even during the HK when there are games not involving English sides you can guarantee that the studio panel will have to spend most of the time talking about a English player or club.
As a knowledgeable rugby fan is that what you want or would you rather if they just commented on the game in hand and were balanced towards both sides.
It goes the same for BBC Wales personally I don't want to hear what George North had for breakfast but it's understandable when the coverage is aimed only at Welsh fans.

Cymroglan wrote:
It goes the same for BBC Wales personally I don't want to hear what George North had for breakfast but it's understandable when the coverage is aimed only at Welsh fans.

Not everyone who lives in Wales is Welsh or supports Wales so maybe not as "understandable" as you think based on that logic.

Sky are a commercial company and live and die (in profit terms) by aiming their coverage at the largest market. If it were true that Wales provided as much of an income market as England for rugby (for example's sake) then you would see the coverage change. As it hasn't then this clearly isn't the case.

I'm not saying this is necessarily the ideal world but it's why it's how it is.

Im too busty watching the cricket to care, England and Wales are about to win.

On Sky


But they keep calling them England




They did mention Cardiff earlier though so they arent racists.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Im too busty watching the cricket to care, England and Wales are about to win.

On Sky


But they keep calling them England




They did mention Cardiff earlier though so they arent racists.

Go England (and Wales)!!!!

If they had a dedicated rugby channel then maybe things would change they would then consider other nations to be a viable commercial figure.
The largest market it may well be but what percentage of them subscribe just to view the rugby.

Not everyone who lives in Wales is Welsh or supports Wales so maybe not as "understandable" as you think based on that logic.

No of course not but BBC Wales does not pretend to cater for all of the UK and thats why it's called BBC Wales

RubyGuby wrote:It is a strange one this and I'm not sure if its a Sky bias or just an english bias. There was an awkward moment after the game yesterday when the 4-5 on the panel spent about 4-5 minutes talking about Englands performance stright after the game when Quinnell said "shall we talk about Wales" - There was a brief silence and then an "of course" - The host was mildly embarassed but I think that moment spoke volumes.

It's funny the way people remember things. I've just returned from holiday, so only now finally watched a recording of the game somebody gave me. What actually happened was that there was an interview with Warburton pitchside straight after the match, then they went to break, upon return they immediately went to an interview with Johnson, then up to the studio after that and the presenter gave a few sentences outlining the match, then said:

"Before we come on to England, lets just, with you Scotty, say what a tremendous display by Wales."

SQ: "Yes, we've got to talk about Wales..."

alcoombe wrote:It's funny the way people remember things. I've just returned from holiday, so only now finally watched a recording of the game somebody gave me. What actually happened was that there was an interview with Warburton pitchside straight after the match, then they went to break, upon return they immediately went to an interview with Johnson, then up to the studio after that and the presenter gave a few sentences outlining the match, then said:

"Before we come on to England, lets just, with you Scotty, say what a tremendous display by Wales."

SQ: "Yes, we've got to talk about Wales..."

So RubyGuby wasn't speaking the truth, just some made up recollection of what actually happened ?

It’s strange that certain Welsh supporters will trot out the (and here’s a quote from a current thread) following ‘facts’

“England should be far better than Wales our population is far smaller.
Considering how small the population of Wales is we are punching way above our weight”

And will also play the “England have xxxxx more thousands of registered players than Wales” card in who's-the-best arguments

And then complain when a commercial organisation, who presumably has access to some market research, decides to slant its program’s towards the biggest market. Even the most basic research will show that there are more people interested in rugby in England than there are in Wales. Just pick a date in the season and compare crowds who attended a match.

Simples.

Sky are not bothered in your opinions, just how many of you are willing to give them money. There are more idiots in England willing to shell out their hard earned cash to the Sky pirates than there are in Wales, so Sky cater to them.

Nothing hard to understand there surely?

nottins wrote:

alcoombe wrote:It's funny the way people remember things. I've just returned from holiday, so only now finally watched a recording of the game somebody gave me. What actually happened was that there was an interview with Warburton pitchside straight after the match, then they went to break, upon return they immediately went to an interview with Johnson, then up to the studio after that and the presenter gave a few sentences outlining the match, then said:

"Before we come on to England, lets just, with you Scotty, say what a tremendous display by Wales."

SQ: "Yes, we've got to talk about Wales..."

So RubyGuby wasn't speaking the truth, just some made up recollection of what actually happened ?

Looks like your mate edited the recording before handing it over to you

You've got english guys acknowledging why Sky focus on England on this thread and giving relatively reasoned arguments for that as TrailApe illustrates above with his "it spure economics really" and Nottins and Co. seemingly trying to deny that this "slant" ever occurs - which one do you guys want. I found the discussion after the game interesting to say the least as I dont think most of us are used to the focus being on the losing team. However, welsh coverage would have focussed on Wales of course if we had lost - that's life - I guess the welsh fellas who subscribe to Sky perhaps have some justification in feeling aggrieved, but only some