TV broadcasting of Rugby

Is anyone else concerned about the way TV coverage of Rugby seems to be going. More and more matches are being broadcast on Sky, ITV etc.

For all it's faults, I still think that the BBC provides the best quality coverage and most unbiased coverage amongst all the current broadcasters. I know that Inverdale and company can be infuriating but I think that the overall package and pundits they offer is streets ahead of what ITV and particularly sky currently offer.

ITV don't seem to have any real history with the sport and the coverage I have seen to date has been below par in my view. They will probably do an ok job in covering the world cup but I think that it will be a shadow of what we would have got on the BBC.

Sky's priorities lie with the RFU and I feel their coverage can be quite one sided. Although they do provide some interesting video analysis.

Shantara - I have to be honest, being based in Wales I don't have a problem with the rugby coverage we get at the moment. The BBC covers the Six Nations, internationals (bar England ones) and the Celtic league (Pro 12). I can imagine that it is frustrating for English supporters as Sky covers most of their games.

Aye the BBC and S4C do a pretty good job. But Sky has the H Cup and Amlin, the only problem i have with Sky is Barnes is an awful pundit. ESPN has been alright too. Its good that there is different broadcasters. It would be dreadful if one broadcaster had them all.

I think RTE does an excellent job.

I'm pretty happy with the BBC and S4C, bit irritated that Sky has the HEC and Amlin, but what can you do? Sky are definitely the worst with their rugby coverage though, it really can be quite awful at times.

Trevor Brennan Rugby Tour wrote:I think RTE does an excellent job.

- George Hook aside though Trev ???

If the BBC got rid of John (I must talk to the plebs and keep repeating the name of the 1 player they might know) Inverdull, I'd say stick with the BBC. We are blessed/cursed with extensive coverage here in Wales plus we have pretty knowledgable commentators/pundits - Jason "Great to see you" Mohammed aside

In general I want to make sure we have the right amount of Rugby on free TV, then in total across all platforms. I am not sure I care so much on which pay tv platforms it is broadcast, as long as there is a balance. It is important because Rugby need more exposure to help bring more people into the sport. At this point, to me, the TV is still helping grow Rugby. I don't think we are at the point of oversaturation with Rugby in the NH. I personally like the BBC comentators.

Of course, coverage is not consistent anywhere, certainly not within the UK, which is surprising. Wales have great coverage, though some of the commentators are equivalent to sleep medication.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough to comment on the current SA, Aus, or NZ broadcast situations. But I would like to hear from our Southern friends.

PenfroPete wrote:

Trevor Brennan Rugby Tour wrote:I think RTE does an excellent job.

- George Hook aside though Trev ???

If the BBC got rid of John (I must talk to the plebs and keep repeating the name of the 1 player they might know) Inverdull, I'd say stick with the BBC. We are blessed/cursed with extensive coverage here in Wales plus we have pretty knowledgable commentators/pundits - Jason "Great to see you" Mohammed aside

I usually watch Scrum 5 online at 6 Nations time and I like Jason Mohammed (but I do find the women's rugby team audiences wearing darts players shirts are a bit off putting). RTE's team is like watching the two grumpy old men from The Muppets trying to sort out the Israeli / Palestinian conflict and Sky seems to have turned into an England love in.

On Auntie, I think Butler's commentary is great and I usually enjoy hearing what Davies, Wood and Moore have to say.

That aside, I think that it is really important for the sport that most of the coverage remains on free to air TV. My worry is that if Sky get hold of events such as the 6N, AIs & RWC then the sport will fail to get the exposure it needs to grow.

shantara wrote: I usually watch Scrum 5 online at 6 Nations time and I like Jason Mohammed .

Irish coverage needs a complete overhaul if you like 'Great to see you' Mohammed

I prefer ESPN.

I wouldn't say the BBC are the least biased. If anything they're the most biased. Only they've got biased people from all over. Wood is probably the best but all the others focus almost exclusivily on their own side (Nichol is by far the worst).

Sky annoys me because they're not that much different from the mainstream celebrity media. they treat players, teams and coachs in the saem way.

The ITV Jeff highlights are alright but sparse.

shantara wrote:On Auntie, I think Butler's commentary is great and I usually enjoy hearing what Davies, Wood and Moore have to say.

Absolutely agree. Don't always agree with Davies, Wood and Moore, but do enjoy watching Rugby with them commentating.

shantara wrote:That aside, I think that it is really important for the sport that most of the coverage remains on free to air TV. My worry is that if Sky get hold of events such as the 6N, AIs & RWC then the sport will fail to get the exposure it needs to grow.

This is a big point. First we need a broader free tv platform, then bolstered by Sky, ESPN, et al. No sure when the HC contracts expire, but that would be the perfect time for the BBC to attempt to re-enter club Rugby coverage.

PenfroPete wrote:

shantara wrote: I usually watch Scrum 5 online at 6 Nations time and I like Jason Mohammed .

Irish coverage needs a complete overhaul if you like 'Great to see you' Mohammed

I'm a London based Ulster man so I mostly watch Ulster games online. BBCNI coverage is pretty good I think and they sometimes make the effort with some behind the scenes material. Local pundits and commentary isn't brilliant but on a local level it's not that bad. I would love them to do a similar programme on the Irish rugby team's RWC that they recently did for Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy.

To be honest, I feel that RTE's coverage is pretty bad. It feels really dated, serious and grumpy. Hook is annoying to watch and the main presenter looks like he necks a bottle of whiskey and 2 packs of fags a day. I'm not surprised that most of my friends in the Republic watch the Ireland games on the BBC.

The free to air Rugby in Australia is god-awful. There is absolutely zero Super rugby broadcast all year and only Wallabies internationals. The broadcast starts 5mins before kickoff and they pump you full of ads at every conceivable opportunity. Ball goes into touch... that's an ad. Gary Owen... ad. Break down the sideline and about to score... ad.

The commentary during the game is covered by Fox sports Australia which is completely one-eyed which is fine for most Aussies

RTE's coverage is dire - mainly because we are still inflicfted with that boring old pantomime villain/failed rugby coach with a giant ego Hook and that windbag McGurk. Only time we get decent analysis is when Conor O'Shea is on the panel. And as for Frankie Sheahan last Saturday......

Have to say given that they have much less resources, Setanta don't do a bad job apart from the plank Francis - coverage of the Magners not bad at all. . Liam Toland is excellent and Matt Williams - apart from his irritating high-pitched Aussie squeak - is far and away the best at explaining what's going in scrums and the breakdown and other complicated parts of the game us non-specialists don't understand. He's better at being a pundit though than a presenter.

i voted for the BBC but feel i should mention ESPN, there coverage has been pretty good this year. Enjoyed the little joke here and there.

If Sky got rid of Barnes then i think it would improve dramatically!!

doctor_grey wrote:In general I want to make sure we have the right amount of Rugby on free TV, then in total across all platforms. I am not sure I care so much on which pay tv platforms it is broadcast, as long as there is a balance. It is important because Rugby need more exposure to help bring more people into the sport. At this point, to me, the TV is still helping grow Rugby. I don't think we are at the point of oversaturation with Rugby in the NH. I personally like the BBC comentators.

Of course, coverage is not consistent anywhere, certainly not within the UK, which is surprising. Wales have great coverage, though some of the commentators are equivalent to sleep medication.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough to comment on the current SA, Aus, or NZ broadcast situations. But I would like to hear from our Southern friends.

In South Africa you can only watch rugby through Multichoice's DSTV on the different supersport channels. Problem is that it cost about 60 pounds which in South African terms is a lot of money - that is almost 20% of the average family income per month. So no rugby on free to air tv, which is a shame because it makes it so much harder to promote it to other people outside the rugby circles anyway. The only reason I have DSTV is to watch rugby and cricket, although cricket does get broadcast on free to air channels. Don't know that much about Aus and NZ.

Do Sky dominate ?

ESPN do more Aviva games. Sky don't do non England internationals, or the World Cup, or Pro12, or the French league (I think)

The Six Nations and World Cup have to stay on free to view TV. They are the most likely events to promote growth, even if they are not always the best quality rugby.

I’ve never really had a problem with the Sky coverage (yes Barnes can talk some b0ll0cks sometimes) and I quite enjoy there video analysis during the game. I do however prefer the commentary and style of the ESPN coverage of the premiership. They have a lot of pre/post match banter which I love, Healey can be annoying, but he is good entertainment and a good reader of the game.

I really hope the ITV coverage for the world cup improves from last time, it always seemed to be a bit all over the place.

One little thing, I wish that when there is a match where bonus points can be allocated they had a little note on the scoreboard in the corner of how many tries each team has scored. They do this in the Top 14 coverage by just adding a little 2E for two tries for example next to the teams score (the E is for essay (try in French), in took me ages to work that out). The same could easily be done in England with a T instead.

personally i can only compare between sky and bbc, and bbc is far better yes the commentators like jiffy are biased but in a funny way compared to england losing on sky badly yet sky people talk about england...

also i think butler and moore make a good pairing and it can be really funny to hear them bicker

I really like the RTE coverage as well. I think Hook is hilarious!Pope and O'Shea always have intelligent analysis. McGurk annoys me though. Constantly interrupting everyone. Get rid of him and i'd love it.

sky are pretty good with their broadcasting, but i like the 6 nations and bbc coverage of that is really good

Any channel is ok by me but I much prefer going to the stadium.

i just hope that itv do a better job than last time round. they kept running adverts so we would miss the kick offs, really peed me off

BridgendBoyo wrote:i just hope that itv do a better job than last time round. they kept running adverts so we would miss the kick offs, really peed me off

I'm beginning to think that's a feature of ITV coverage and not a mistake. It happens to so often in various sports that it can't be an error

Given the early kick-off times I'll be catching a lot of the mid-week games on radio while getting self/family ready for work/school - here in the UK that means the (mostly) god-awful TalkSport does anyone think they are likely to make a fist of it - AFAIK they have no in house commentary team, any ideas who is going to do it. Anyone says it's going be fronted by Alan Brazil and I'm taking up Rugby League

Are you people high? The BBC is awful. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than listen to Guscott, Inverdale and some incomprehensible Frenchman blabber on about generic garbage. Moreover, if I wanted to stare at the Royal Family all day I'd go and camp outside Buckingham Palace.

Sky are brilliant at broadcasting rugby. Better commentators, better camera positions, better image quality and better analysis. No question on this one.

As long as the BBC and S4C continue to cover Magners rugby I'm happy.

Certainly not ITV, their WC rugby coverage for the last 20 years has been terrible.

As much as in theory I'd love the BBC to show everything, the quality of their current programming isn't as good as pay TV (most notably the production values), and even if they improved that, they wouldn't be able to show a fraction of the European or domestic league games that pay TV are able to, not posessing the airtime or funding to mobilise that many full crews on top of their other sporting commitments (particularly for the European-wide HC). Foreign tours, 3N, Super Rugby, Sevens, Top 14, Amlin, SH domestic leagues, LV, JWC, U20 6N, Women's and other non-prime (though still enjoyable) internationals certainly wouldn't find a home on FTA TV. The money and multiple dedicated sport channel capability of pay TV goes a long way.

My wish would be to see the unlikely situation of multiple hosting, so that those who can't afford or don't want pay TV get to watch as much as FTA TV are able to provide, but my preference would be to turn the channel for the coverage provided by SKY and ESPN (who did pretty well in their first season coverage of the AP). I want most games, more extensive coverage of each game and higher production values. Barnes & Morris are far from top drawer, but the BBC pundits & commentators actually manage to be worse, and SKY's big game team (Lynagh, Fitzpatrick, Greenwood & Quinnell) is very good.

Living on the mainland i dont get ITV, Sky or RTE. I only get the BBC or France tv. Even though its all in French, i much prefer watching their coverage as its always decent. The BBC tend to go for all these weird and wonderfull angles which gives me a headache sometimes. I much prefer the BBC pundits in the lead up, half time and closure though.