Pro 12 New TV Deal

So the Pro 12 is moving to Sky Sports. No surprise really.

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/15180/8684039

Sky Sports will show even more live European club rugby union, thanks to a new four year deal to screen the RaboDirect PRO12, beginning in the 2014/15 season.

For the first time Sky Sports will show 30 live matches, plus the semi-finals and final from the tournament, strengthening its unrivalled rights portfolio across six channels.

The RaboDirect PRO12 features the top teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, including Europe's current number one ranked side Leinster, defending champions Ospreys and current leaders Ulster.

Sky Sports viewers will be able to enjoy weekly coverage on TV, PC and on the move via mobile and tablet devices.

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "We know European rugby is hugely popular with our viewers and this deal provides for even more fantastic action. From next year, the RaboDirect PRO12 will complement our Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cup coverage and provide viewers with an unrivalled diet of rugby union.

"Sky Sports remains the home of televised rugby union, offering an unprecedented schedule from the international, European and domestic game. Our coverage is innovative and our expert analysis respected. This agreement is even more good news for rugby fans with Sky Sports."

John Feehan, Chief Executive of RaboDirect PRO12, said: "We are delighted to welcome Sky Sports to the RaboDirect PRO12 family. Our competition is growing from strength to strength and we feel this partnership with Sky Sports will allow us to extend the reach of the RaboDirect PRO12 in the UK and Ireland."

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This announcement follows a series of major rugby rights deals for Sky Sports, including the exclusive live rights to The British & Irish Lions tour 2013, four-year deals to show Ireland, France and Italy Autumn Internationals from 2014 and a long term European rugby deal with the ERC.

The RaboDirect PRO12 complements the existing schedule of live European rugby union on Sky Sports featuring the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup, plus the domestic offering with the RFU Championship and LV=Cup. Added to that is a strong portfolio of international rugby with the British & Irish Lions tour 2013, QBE Internationals, England women's matches, IRB Sevens World Series, Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship.

Sky Sports viewers can continue to follow the matches whether at home or on the move with Sky Go, available on a range of mobile devices.

The Sky Sports rugby union team includes some of the biggest names in the sport with over 550 caps between them. Expert analysis comes from Will Greenwood, Dewi Morris, Paul Wallace, Ieuan Evans, Scott Quinnell, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh and Scott Hastings. Coverage throughout the season is presented by Alex Payne and James Gemmell, with commentary from Stuart Barnes, Miles Harrison, Mark Robson and Johnnie Hammond.

There is also a comprehensive range of support programming, which includes the Rugby Club, plus the latest rugby union news and results available every day on skysports.com and Sky Sports News HD.


What's people's thoughts on this? Could be good for attendances as I can't see everyone having access to Sky Sports to follow their teams.

Sky have bought the rights to show the Pro 12 live from 2014/15 season. Coverage will include 30 regular season games and all 3 of the playoff matches.

Its a shame that the games probably wont be available on TV for free, but for the League to grow I think one controlling broadcaster will help.

I wonder if this is a "pay off" for the inevitable re-structuring of the HC?

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I'm assuming that this ends the individual TV rights still being sold to BBC and S4C.

One downside is that we may have to listen to Dewi Morris on Celtic Rugby.

Darn it - you beat my post

I make it 135 games in the entire league. Showing 33 is... sh1te.

Mickado wrote:I make it 135 games in the entire league. Showing 33 is... sh1te.

To be fair, I am just assuming its an exclusive deal. It might be the other broadcasters still show games.

Sky share their Scottish Football Coverage with ESPN and BBC Scotland/Alba so they may do the same with the Rugby.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

Mickado wrote:I make it 135 games in the entire league. Showing 33 is... sh1te.

To be fair, I am just assuming its an exclusive deal. It might be the other broadcasters still show games.

Sky share their Scottish Football Coverage with ESPN and BBC Scotland/Alba so they may do the same with the Rugby.

Well then it's just a big pile of mickey, we don't get rid of RTE (who are DIRE) and we have to pay for some games. FFS, if they had all the games, and showed all the games, then fair enough, but this halfway house is just annoying...

Mickado wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

Mickado wrote:I make it 135 games in the entire league. Showing 33 is... sh1te.

To be fair, I am just assuming its an exclusive deal. It might be the other broadcasters still show games.

Sky share their Scottish Football Coverage with ESPN and BBC Scotland/Alba so they may do the same with the Rugby.

Well then it's just a big pile of mickey, we don't get rid of RTE (who are DIRE) and we have to pay for some games. FFS, if they had all the games, and showed all the games, then fair enough, but this halfway house is just annoying...

Tweet from the Glasgow Official account, says discussions are ongoing with other broadcasters and more details will be announced in due course.

The other broadcasters are showing games aswell

The BBC claims 125 of 135 games will now be televised.

For 50% extra TV funding I can put up with Sky broadcasting.

Mickado wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

Mickado wrote:I make it 135 games in the entire league. Showing 33 is... sh1te.

To be fair, I am just assuming its an exclusive deal. It might be the other broadcasters still show games.

Sky share their Scottish Football Coverage with ESPN and BBC Scotland/Alba so they may do the same with the Rugby.

Well then it's just a big pile of mickey, we don't get rid of RTE (who are DIRE) and we have to pay for some games. FFS, if they had all the games, and showed all the games, then fair enough, but this halfway house is just annoying...

On the few occasions i've listened to Irish and Scottish commentary, i've quite enjoyed it and it made a change from Charlo and Jiffy giggling like a pair of school girls.

If the rest of the games can still be shown on Alba/BBC Wales / S4c / BBC NI etc. then I am perfectly happy with this. I’m assuming Sky will shotgun al the big games so, as Edinburgh are crap, all our games will be left to Alba anyway!

I doubt Stuart Barnes will show his face down Rodney Parade either

Great news and the only way for this league to progress.

rodders wrote:Great news and the only way for this league to progress.

I don't buy that, the league will be shown on a sports channel that people need to pay for, so it reduces the amount of people able to view it. Then they are going to show only 30 odd games a season, where as at the moment there are a minium of 4 games shown a weekend. Yes sky can hype stuff up, but they are not going to be able to whip up interest in people who would normal just watch scrum v on a sunday etc.

Welshmushroom wrote:I'm assuming that this ends the individual TV rights still being sold to BBC and S4C.

One downside is that we may have to listen to Dewi Morris on Celtic Rugby.

The BBC, S4C and the Irish one will still be broadcasting games.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

rodders wrote:Great news and the only way for this league to progress.

I don't buy that, the league will be shown on a sports channel that people need to pay for, so it reduces the amount of people able to view it. Then they are going to show only 30 odd games a season, where as at the moment there are a minium of 4 games shown a weekend. Yes sky can hype stuff up, but they are not going to be able to whip up interest in people who would normal just watch scrum v on a sunday etc.

They are still being shown on BBC, sky will take 30 games a season, but the other broadcasters will be showing the other 95 games

125/135 games televised is a lot more than this year

and I imagine Scrum V will still have rights to highlights from the Sky games.

Anyone remember how much the old TV deal was worth? trying to figure out how much more money the regions will be getting - a 50% increase could well secure a few big names.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

rodders wrote:Great news and the only way for this league to progress.

I don't buy that, the league will be shown on a sports channel that people need to pay for, so it reduces the amount of people able to view it. Then they are going to show only 30 odd games a season, where as at the moment there are a minium of 4 games shown a weekend. Yes sky can hype stuff up, but they are not going to be able to whip up interest in people who would normal just watch scrum v on a sunday etc.

Looks as though Sky will be sharing, similar to the champions league if you like;

"The Pro12 currently has agreements with regional broadcasters BBC ALBA, BBC Northern Ireland, RTE, TG4, BBC Wales and S4C, but it is thought that the new Sky deal will be an addition to those contracts and not replace them."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/news/10031777/RaboDirect-Pro12-boosted-with-Sky-Sports-television-deal.html

wales606 wrote:Anyone remember how much the old TV deal was worth? trying to figure out how much more money the regions will be getting - a 50% increase could well secure a few big names.

24 cans of Magners.......per week.

Will the Sky money go directly to the clubs/regions/Provinces?

Am I right in saying at the moment the TV money (for Welsh regions) go to the WRU initially? Who then distribute the money to the regions as part of their funding.

Best news ever!! Can't wait to see a Munster v Leinster game on Sky

The 30 games is just a start. Sky will show more and more as the years go on. Remember sky are showing a lot more premier league games now than they did say 4 or 5 years ago.

How depressing. Don't have sky. Can't afford sky. Local pubs have zero interest in rugby.

I stand corrected about my original objection then. If Sky are only going to be showing just the saturday games, and BBC etc will show the others, then I guess the onlyu draw back is that the big games (most likely derby games and top v top etc) will be those Sky games. But yeah all in all it should help build interst in the league.

I think the regions will get extra revenue from the TV deals, and I suspect shirt sponsorship & pitchside sponsorship will be worth more.

Plenty people on here know where you can watch Sky online – so if anyone needs a link just ask and someone will PM you! For those that do not know we are not allowed to post links on the forum itself.

Not the same as watching it on your big TV but it will do.

I hope Edinburgh games don’t get moved to a Saturday afternoon – Friday evening work so much better.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Plenty people on here know where you can watch Sky online – so if anyone needs a link just ask and someone will PM you! For those that do not know we are not allowed to post links on the forum itself.

Not the same as watching it on your big TV but it will do.

I hope Edinburgh games don’t get moved to a Saturday afternoon – Friday evening work so much better.

In these modern times, a laptop and hmdi lead means you can connect it up to the tv

Will Auntie/SC4 be actually uppng their match coverage albeit frequently in Serbo-Croat?

The TV licence is fixed for the time being so I doubt that any more money - possibly less will be put into the Rabo. It would cause a bit of a stir from the UK general licence payer imo.

It will be interesting to monitor match-day attendances in Wales and Scotland however. I would expect them to rise.

I wonder who their pundits will be. I like Will Greenwood but Barnes just annoys me!

I can't imagine Stuart Barnes and co. actually having to watch Edinburgh play on a regular basis! I'd have thought they'd farm this out to the likes of Quinnell, Howe and Hastings.

As RDW says, I suspect they are really after Ulster, Leinster and Munster games here, Edinburgh probably won't feature much in the schedule.

Concerned- we just got the best thing ever, the Pro12 youtube channel. Free, instant highlights of every game. Can see Sky shutting that down.

Also, always able to watch a game again on iPlayer or RTE player- Sky offer no such facility, even to fully paid-up subscribers. You have to buy an expensive Sky+ box to get what the BBC and RTE offer completely free of charge.

Finally, Sky Go, their official live streaming service- is just plain shoite.

We have been lucky in just how much better coverage is of the Pro12 than the Aviva. You can pretty much see any game for free and see it again, legally, for free.

Notch – I think it depends on how much Sky decide to flex their muscles. They are only showing 30 games so can they really make demands for Rabbo TV to be shut down and that the other broadcasters aren’t allowed to show highlights?

I think we need to see more details before we fully know whether it will be a good thing or not.

30 games works out that most weekends they'll just have one game meaning most weekends we'll still have plenty of free to air rugby on, just so long as they don't move Ulsters home games from Friday nights I can make my peace with it... just about.

Welshmushroom wrote:

This announcement follows a series of major rugby rights deals for Sky Sports, including the exclusive live rights to The British & Irish Lions tour 2013, four-year deals to show Ireland, France and Italy Autumn Internationals from 2014 and a long term European rugby deal with the ERC.

So the autumn internationals wont be on rte?

So sky get to pick the 30 biggest games to broadcast and the others are up for grabs as usual?

This year they will be, maybe not next year.

From a Welsh prospective, I hope BBC Wales keep their Friday night slot, and I think S4C will keep their Saturday night slot. I think Sky may be used as an alternative Engish language service to S4C on a Saturday night, I believe S4C will still broadcast a match, but in Welsh. I hope the BBC and S4C will reveal all soon.

GLove39 wrote:How depressing. Don't have sky. Can't afford sky. Local pubs have zero interest in rugby.

Probably a lot of people in the same boat I would imagine. I agree that rugby will always come behind football but I would imagine Sky will account for that and start moving matches to not clash with them.

I would imagine Sky will eventually try to gain control of all the TV rights even if this is not the case at the beginning. A clear advantage is that it should allow for fans to follow their teams better than under the current format. For example the amount of Televised Home Welsh games through a season is silly. It would make more sense to show away matches so fans who cant travel to Ireland, Italy and Scotland can still watch the game. That way attendances may improve.

Scarlet, I agree with you but on the flip side of your point earlier, it could potentially increase attendance numbers at matches. Sky will cost you around £350 per year if not more. Some of the region season tickets could be grabbed for £150 which is a bargain my contrast. It would put an end to arm chair rugby and force people to leave their homes to watch the game either at a local pub or to go to the game. I think we can all agree that bigger attendances are required in order for the league to prosper.

You can get sky on a rolling monthly contract on your phone or tablet for £5 / €5.95 a month.

Not ideal, but better than forking out for a 12 month contract on your tv!

Mickado wrote:You can get sky on a rolling monthly contract on your phone or tablet for £5 / €5.95 a month.

Not ideal, but better than forking out for a 12 month contract on your tv!

Does that include Sky Sports? Or is this just a standard sky package?

Welshmushroom wrote:

Mickado wrote:You can get sky on a rolling monthly contract on your phone or tablet for £5 / €5.95 a month.

Not ideal, but better than forking out for a 12 month contract on your tv!

Does that include Sky Sports? Or is this just a standard sky package?

That's specifically sky SPORTS! Just found that out today.

Does that include sky sports though ?

Hoepfully it will mean that Sky dictate the match times and we'll have more Saturday games

It's Just for Sky Sports Munk.

Have a look in the app store / google play store / whatever you're having yourself. For Sky Sports TV app. It's free to download, but i presume you pay a subscription with an in-app purchase.

GLove39 wrote:How depressing. Don't have sky. Can't afford sky. Local pubs have zero interest in rugby.

You can find a friend who has sky and a sky go subscription included in their package who doesn't use it and get his password from him. Not legal but possible.

Catch 22. Less people will now look at games (the alternative to Sky is fiddling around with links, and computers sitting on knees is never the same comfort level) So people who now watch,might not watch as much. That might have a fall on effect to some degree as really young kids are the people the sport is looking for to keep rugby alive and vibrant into the future. If their parents were only casual watchers who wouldn't go get a Sky subscription to keep watching, then children who might have got the bug at a young age will now be watching some soaps instead

The other side is that Pro12 needs all the funds it can get to keep it functioning AND to allow its clubs to continue to compete with the rest of money-bags Europe. So it's probably an economic-sense issue that has to be endured.

One thing I will say though - this idea that Sky do everything perfect (commentary and pundit stuff included) whilst poor terrestrial channels are always crap...well, I just don't buy that. Sky can look and sound as wooden, disinterested, going-through-the-motions and cardboard cut-out as any of the alternatives. Waffle, waffle - game on - half time - waffle, waffle - second half - final whistle - waffle, waffle.

Sky would not be able to stop S4C airing games, or BBC2 Wales(I think), but definatley S4C. You see, because the bigwigs in the Weslh assembly see rugby union as our national sport they passed a right in parlement that everybody in Wales should have access to watching it, so S4c will deffo be still airing the games, BBC 2 Wales might just be allowed the highlights show though, I would have thought.

Don't ask me why but for some reasons i love watching games on different channels be it Alba, BBCW, BBC NI, Sportitalia... As long as i understand players' names it's ok for me (and i understand only english!).
Sky ban games on youtube too...

So if this deal is an addition to the current broadcaster and that it brings some extra money it's all good to me.

This should also increase shirt sponsorship, pitchside sponsorship etc... So it should be a good increase in revenue for the teams.

Does this mean BBCNI won't be showing games anymore?