BBC Wales out of running to show Pro 14 next season

First topic message reminder :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43302261

Live coverage of club rugby will not be shown on BBC Two Wales next season after the BBC failed to reach a deal to continue broadcasting the Pro 14 tournament.

Competition organisers are understood to have awarded the UK rights to a pay-TV service, but BBC Wales had hoped to continue broadcasting games in Wales.

It means viewers will no longer be able to watch club games on free-to-air television in English. Negotiations over Welsh language rights are ongoing.

carpet baboon wrote:Quick question.
Reading up about the bids. A couple of sources were quoting the BBC originally payed £4.5 million for the rights for the pro14 for BBC Wales, NI, and Alba.
But I have read on here that the 4.5 million was just from BBC Wales?

Which was it?

4.5 million was just from BBC Wales, so they got priority over all the Welsh regional games.

LordDowlais wrote:It will cost £15 a month to get this new channel. They will not get many customers here in Wales.

Inflation really is taking hold, it was £10 yesterday

You made a decision yesterday ld to.not watch the pro 14 anymore and concentrate on the prem.whoch you prefer anyway. Relax.

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:It will cost £15 a month to get this new channel. They will not get many customers here in Wales.

How did you get to £15?  At the moment it is £9.99 (£11.99 for the ability to stream catch-up TV for more that 7 days), and i haven't seen anything about them upping the price.  They stream their content, so there will be no need to have a Sky package etc in order to view it.  (I have done a little reseasrch on them since this time yesterday)

I checked it last night.

We also cannot get the WIFI package that they have in Ireland with EIR Sports, in Ireland they get it all in, all the BT Sports channels, WIFI, Box Nation, and all the EIR Sports channels for one price a week.

For anybody in the UK, you will have to pay the extra money on top of what ever broadband supplier you have, and any SKY and/or BT channels you have. IF you want to watch any of the regions in Europe or the Pro14 next year, then people in the UK will be paying a lot more than people in Ireland for the privilege.

We will have to fork out for BT sport and Premier sport. For most people that will be one or the other, and seeing as most people in the UK get BT sport along with BT broadband, I wonder which one they would plump for ?

You forgot some people in Ireland

I'm from Ireland AND am part of the UK. I'm just confused now, just as well I don't fork out a penny to watch any of the channels isn't it

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:It will cost £15 a month to get this new channel. They will not get many customers here in Wales.

How did you get to £15?  At the moment it is £9.99 (£11.99 for the ability to stream catch-up TV for more that 7 days), and i haven't seen anything about them upping the price.  They stream their content, so there will be no need to have a Sky package etc in order to view it.  (I have done a little reseasrch on them since this time yesterday)

I checked it last night.

We also cannot get the WIFI package that they have in Ireland with EIR Sports, in Ireland they get it all in, all the BT Sports channels, WIFI, Box Nation, and all the EIR Sports channels for one price a week.

For anybody in the UK, you will have to pay the extra money on top of what ever broadband supplier you have, and any SKY and/or BT channels you have. IF you want to watch any of the regions in Europe or the Pro14 next year, then people in the UK will be paying a lot more than people in Ireland for the privilege.

We will have to fork out for BT sport and Premier sport. For most people that will be one or the other, and seeing as most people in the UK get BT sport along with BT broadband, I wonder which one they would plump for ?

https://www.premierplayer.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&tmpl=component&Itemid=112

£9.99 per month, one a monthly rolling contract. Where did you get £15 from??

Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region. Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:£9.99 per month, one a monthly rolling contract. Where did you get £15 from??

It all depends on what you want.

Anyway, £10/£15 people will not pay that here on top of other channels, not just for the Pro14.

Premier sports will have to offer more than just Ice Hockey and Aussie rules to tempt people to give other channels up for the Pro14. Oh and Belgian league football.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:It will cost £15 a month to get this new channel. They will not get many customers here in Wales.

How did you get to £15?  At the moment it is £9.99 (£11.99 for the ability to stream catch-up TV for more that 7 days), and i haven't seen anything about them upping the price.  They stream their content, so there will be no need to have a Sky package etc in order to view it.  (I have done a little reseasrch on them since this time yesterday)

I checked it last night.

We also cannot get the WIFI package that they have in Ireland with EIR Sports, in Ireland they get it all in, all the BT Sports channels, WIFI, Box Nation, and all the EIR Sports channels for one price a week.

For anybody in the UK, you will have to pay the extra money on top of what ever broadband supplier you have, and any SKY and/or BT channels you have. IF you want to watch any of the regions in Europe or the Pro14 next year, then people in the UK will be paying a lot more than people in Ireland for the privilege.

We will have to fork out for BT sport and Premier sport. For most people that will be one or the other, and seeing as most people in the UK get BT sport along with BT broadband, I wonder which one they would plump for ?

https://www.premierplayer.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&tmpl=component&Itemid=112

£9.99 per month, one a monthly rolling contract.  Where did you get £15 from??

It'll be £20 tomorrow

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Because this season it is Sky AND BT. Premier Sports is cheaper than Dky. Simple maths, sorry

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Except it doesn't matter if they get Premier or not

I'm amazed people are shocked that other countries have different prices for things.

No 7&1/2 wrote:I'm amazed people are shocked that other countries have different prices for things.

I blame Brexit and Trump!

marty2086 wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:I'm amazed people are shocked that other countries have different prices for things.

I blame Brexit and Trump!

.... and Meryl Streep. Why people keep giving a chair to that woman.................. wasted! "Stand up, Meryl one more time and let's have a good look at a legendary Hollywood hypocrite

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Because this season it is Sky AND BT.  Premier Sports is cheaper than Dky.  Simple maths, sorry

But not everybody has SKY and BT.

Some people have one or the other, and then watch the Pro14 on free to air tele.

Also, how many people do you reckon will buy Premier sports ? Unless they are American, Canadian, Belgian or Australian and have vested interests in the sports from their countries.

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Because this season it is Sky AND BT.  Premier Sports is cheaper than Dky.  Simple maths, sorry

But not everybody has SKY and BT.

Some people have on or the other, and then watch the Pro14 on free to air tele.

Also, how many people do you reckon will by Premier sports ? Unless they are American, Canadian, Belgian or Australian and have vested interests in the sports from their countries.

Or Welsh, Irish, Scottish, South African or just a rugby fan?

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Because this season it is Sky AND BT.  Premier Sports is cheaper than Dky.  Simple maths, sorry

But not everybody has SKY and BT.

Some people have on or the other, and then watch the Pro14 on free to air tele.

But if they have BT not Sky now, they are missing out on both Pro14 and RFC as both are shared broadcasts with Sky.

(I have neither and make do with Twitter, the radio, and highlights for games I don’t attend or not on BBC)

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Read up on the facts in the other PRO14 thread on how much the additional cost of EirSport is on top of a Sky subscription.

In UK
If you have a BT broadband subscription, you get BT Sport for free (currently).  If you don't then you have to pay for BT Sport, as an add-on to your Sky or Virgin, etc platform.    PremierSports can also be an add-on to your Sky/Virgin service for €10 a month with no rolling contract i.e. you can pay for Sept-May if you want.   Or you can pay £10 a month for PremierPay, an online service with an app, if you don't have Sky/Virgin.

In Ireland, if you have an Eir broadband subscription, you get EirSport and BT Sport for free.  (BT service licence for Eirsport runs until end of this year.)  If you don't have eir broadband, then you have to pay €27.50 on top of your Sky Subscription to watch EirSport and BT package.    

In short,
In GB - you have to pay £10 for 9 months to watch PRO14 only.
In Irl - you have to pay €27.50 for 12 months minimum to watch PRO14 and BT Sport.

Pot Hale wrote:
In short,
In GB - you have to pay £10 for 9 months to watch PRO14.
In Irl - you have to pay €27.50 for 12 months minimum to watch PRO14 and BT Sport.

Bloody Brits get everything, us poor Ulster fans are just stuck in the middle of it all, unless you're in Donegal, Cavan or Monaghan

I’ve just got rid of Sky Sports as it’s just not worth it for the amount I watch it. Unless you’ve got a particular interest in golf, cricket or English football what you get back does not justify the cost.

That being said I’m one of those that will habitually watch whatever sport happens to be on the telly. Premier Sports seems to show lots of Hockey, rugby league, GAA and other various things that I don’t particularly watch much of, though I’m perfectly happy to do so. I’ll pick up Premier Sports for the Pro14 as between the competition that I want to see combined with the other aforementioned sports it seems like a pretty good deal.

On the pricing, lifted from their website;;

STANDARD PACKAGE: £9.99
Access to Premier Player Live streaming & 7 days of On Demand catch up.
PREMIUM PACKAGE: £11.99
Premier Player Live streaming & plus access to the full back catalogue of previously broadcast events.

Plus free access the Premier Player App for IOS devices (Andoid coming soon) for enjoying Premier Sports on the move!

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also, this season we needed Sky and BT in order to get ALL the games featuring a region.  Next season, as it stands we need BT (sole RCC broadcaster?) and Premier Sports (sole pro14?), so if my maths is up to scratch, isn’t that technically cheaper?

How can paying for BT and Premier sports be cheaper than just paying for BT ?


You do know you will STILL have to pay your licence fee don't you ?

In Ireland they get Premier/EIR sports and all the BT Channels all in one subscription, plus they get their broadband with that. Now if we had the same deal over here, then there would be no complaints. Well except for the people who cannot afford PPV tv anyway.

Because this season it is Sky AND BT.  Premier Sports is cheaper than Dky.  Simple maths, sorry

But not everybody has SKY and BT.

Some people have one or the other, and then watch the Pro14 on free to air tele.

Also, how many people do you reckon will buy Premier sports ? Unless they are American, Canadian, Belgian or Australian and have vested interests in the sports from their countries.

Well for me (Virgin) it will be cheaper overall to watch ECC, Aviva and Pro14
Currently have to pay for the Virgin package that contains BT sport plus Sky.
Next year drop Sky (£33 a month) and add Premier Sports (£8 a month) - that is a saving of £25 a month.
Now to be fair don't have Sky every month because it is too expensive but overall next year will be cheaper than this.

The only things Sky have now are the autumn Internationals and June International for England and Ireland.
No meaningful June internationals 18-19 so a couple of days on Sky Now, in November, but other than that no Sky - and they are the really expensive ones.

One thing we should not forget is that one of the complaints made has been that the TV deal for the Pro14 has been too cheap and specifically that Ireland does not contribute enough.

So we now have a deal that puts considerably more money into the league, thanks to Ireland, and the complaints are still coming from the same quarter, but just with a different argument.

You cant win with some people

geoff999rugby wrote:One thing we should not forget is that one of the complaints made has been that the TV deal for the Pro14 has been too cheap and specifically that Ireland does not contribute enough.

So we now have a deal that puts considerably more money into the league, thanks to Ireland, and the complaints are still coming from the same quarter, but just with a different argument.

You cant win with some people

+1.


Another angle people have not talked about yet is the promotion of the product. People underestimate the power of promotion and the lack of it is a problem the pro14 has at present. If anything it gets negative publicity. So moving to premier sports will mean more positive promotion and less negative promotion because we might get rid of some of the negative Nellies who are less likely to pay to watch the league.


In other words its separating the wheat (positive) from the chat (negative).

Pot Hale wrote:  

In short,
In GB - you have to pay £10 for 9 months to watch PRO14 only.
In Irl - you have to pay €27.50 for 12 months minimum to watch PRO14 and BT Sport.

Thanks for this. So to compare the 2 properly you now need to add the cost of a BT Broadband subscription plus BT sport channels to the GB £10

What does that give us?

And what do the Italians and sa pay?

RugbyFan100 wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:  

In short,
In GB - you have to pay £10 for 9 months to watch PRO14 only.
In Irl - you have to pay €27.50 for 12 months minimum to watch PRO14 and BT Sport.

Thanks for this.  So to compare the 2 properly you now need to add the cost of a BT Broadband subscription plus BT sport channels to the GB £10

What does that give us?

Why don't you add the cost of broadband for Ireland too? What about the cost of electricity? What about if you're not Eir or BT and the cost of broadband then? What about the cost of the tv too? The batteries for the remote?

RugbyFan100 wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:  

In short,
In GB - you have to pay £10 for 9 months to watch PRO14 only.
In Irl - you have to pay €27.50 for 12 months minimum to watch PRO14 and BT Sport.

Thanks for this.  So to compare the 2 properly you now need to add the cost of a BT Broadband subscription plus BT sport channels to the GB £10

What does that give us?

Not sure why you would do that.  You wouldn’t be comparing like with like.  

EirSport and BT Sport is free with Eir broadband (Bear in mind that BT Sport current Ireland rights license that Eir inherited when they bought and renamed Setanta Sports runs until end of 2018).

BTSport is free with BT broadband (for first six months only I just discovered and there’s too many options after that to go into!)  Otherwise, if you don’t have BT broadband, you have to pay to add it on to your digital box e.g. Sky or Virgin.   Looking at BT Sports website, they offer a minimum 12 month contract for an average of £28.14  per month plus a £20 activation fee.  (£357.68 annual) versus EirSport/BTSport (€245 annual or 27.50 monthly minimum 2 months commitment).

On the face of it, PRO14 on its own costs less in UK. Based on current packages, in Ireland you could only access PRO14 on EirSport with buying BT as well. However, if you want to watch PRO14 and European matches, then based on current pricing, it would be cheaper in Ireland.

BUT, BUT, BUT....... before everyone goes rushing in saying I told you so.....

There are still too many variables - known unknowns.  It’s not known how many matches have been won under each bid.  EirSport may have the primary rights for ROI home matches, and may also have a separate deal to re-broadcast matches provided by another broadcaster featuring Irish team away matches.  The same would apply to Premier Sports or any other broadcaster that may be involved in the bidding process.  Obviously, the more matches you get as a broadcaster, the more you pay.  This will have a bearing on the market access price for the customer.  

It’s not clear if only the four participating TV territories were put out to tender as four individual lots or that could be bid on collectively.  Or if other territories, e.g. England, US, Canada, Asia, were up for bidding on as a separate lot for secondary rights that a broadcaster such as Eir or Premier Sports could sell into.

Eir also have a transmission license for NI but it’s not known if they bid successfully for that territory. It’s reported that Eir is going to make its broadcasting content more Irish, so it would make sense if they are focusing on the four provinces.

Finally, you have to bear in mind that we’re working off current prices based on current packages based on current license rights. All of those could change for next season.  For example, I would doubt very much that BTSport - now that they have a monopoly on European games - will sell their Irish license rights to EirSport for the same amount of money at end of 2018.  So EirSport’s current package may not last or they will have to hike their customer prices considerably.

PS - if I’ve bored everyone to tears, apologies. During a previous career, I used to sell TV programmes to other broadcasters. It’s complex and full of fiddly details that used to drive me nuts in pouring through contracts. BBC have good documents on their website that explain primary and secondary broadcasting rights if anyone is interested (unlikely I know).

Ha. Comprehensive. Good post.

A reminder about what Martin Anayi said last August in a media interview about the new TV deal to be struck for the PRO14. The thinking about shifting off FTA to Pay TV and grow attendances has been adopted in a number of sports.


PRO14 could go exclusively to satellite TV next season

The current TV deal is up at the end of this season and the PRO14 boss has revealed there will be changes

Guinness PRO14 chief executive Martin Anayi admits he ‘would never rule out’ a deal that would see games exclusively aired on satellite television when the current contract expires at the end of this season.

Amid what is being viewed as a new dawn for the league, with South African teams Cheetahs and Southern Kings joining the newly-expanded PRO14, Anayi revealed there will be changes to the current TV status quo.

As things stand, games are currently shared across Sky Sports, regional BBC channels, S4C and TG4 in a deal that brought in around £11.6 million last season.

The South African teams coming on board have boosted that to the tune of £6 million but the league still lags significantly behind the Aviva Premiership that has a deal worth in the region of £42 million, and the French Top 14, whose contract with Canal + is worth around £75 million.

But that is set to change, with Anayi suggesting there may be some mileage in the theory that crowd figures would grow if games were not so readily available on TV.

“I already know there is (going to be a radical change to the TV deal),” Anayi said.

“It’s working. What we’ve created is a tournament that has a renewed vigour, has teams from five tier one nations in it to ensure that more international players come through.

“The broadcasters and the sponsors and so on have reacted well to that.

“All options are on the table because the most important thing is that we allow our clubs to be competitive on the pitch and that means you have to generate as much revenue as possible off it.

“That’s both from fans coming through the gate and also from television or sponsorship and all other revenue streams that we are producing centrally for them.

“There’s an argument either way. If you put more games exclusively on paid TV, you might see more fans coming through the gate, arguably.”

Any changes to the current deal would be born out of the never-ending quest to increase the revenue coming into the league and its teams.

More money is always welcome as the PRO14 looks to bridge the financial gap between the cross-border competition and the English – that will broadcast some live games on terrestrial TV for the first time this season – and French leagues.

Anayi added: “There is a tipping point where that makes it easier to watch on TV than to actually go to the game itself.

“There might be a re-balancing of that.

“I would never rule out exclusively going to pay (satellite TV) because it has worked for other sports that are at the point we are in our life cycle.”

As a competition that now encompasses five nations, Anayi also admitted that the approach to a new deal may vary in different territories, pointing out that a blanket approach may not be the best way to go about things.

He used Ulster as an example of the current TV deal working in harmony with other digital output to increase interest in the province, with more people than ever consuming games.

“When I first came in, I thought there has to be something in fully free-to-air and crowds that aren’t growing as fast as I want them to grow.

“But actually, it’s market by market. If you go to Belfast on a Friday night and, you see it from our statistics, there are more people than ever watching on linear TV.

“There are bigger crowds than ever coming through the gate and there’s 39,000 people watching on the iPlayer. It’s growing every week.

“That would suggest it’s got to be market by market, you can’t take one approach for all. That is a situation where the broadcaster, the radio station, the online platform is helping to grow the number of actual people through the turnstiles.

“So you wouldn’t want to do anything centrally, a blanket approach that cuts them off and they suddenly can’t make as much money and revenue as they could have before.

“But it might be different in Wales, so we might have to look at it in a different fashion.

“I think one blanket approach for us, because we’re so varied, we’d have to be really careful about what we do next.”

When pressed on the risk of alienating fans by going exclusively to satellite television, Anayi also revealed plans to invest further in the league’s digital and social media platforms.

The NFL was used as an example of a sport breaking new ground on social media.

As well as a huge TV deal, there was also a multi-million dollar deal in place with Twitter last season, where they broadcast Thursday night games on the social media site for the very first time.

The PGA Tour has also broadcast on the site and Anayi insisted that the league must try something similar in order to reach new fans and continue to engage with existing ones.

“The NFL is a good example,” he said, “they’ve got a multi-billion dollar TV contract but they’ve also done a $10 million deal with Twitter.

“So you’ve got the ability and if the NFL can do it then we can do it. Perhaps not the 10 million but the same principle applies.

“We’re investing more in our digital.

“We’re bringing hawkeye in on medical and judicial but it has a social media aspect to it as well.

“The more we understand what our fans want to see, but also people that aren’t currently fans want to see, there is a multiple of things that somebody who is below 20 can go and do.

“And it just happens that rugby has a much higher demographic age band than, let’s say, Netball or other sports out there that are targeting purely a younger audience and are growing.

“We’re growing but it’s at a single-digit rate, we should be growing at a double-digit rate.

“The best way to do that is to go after a new fan who isn’t currently engaged with your product.

“I very rarely watch a full game from start to finish live on terrestrial TV. I watch it on the iPlayer, I watch the highlights, I watch it on social media.

“I do that for every sport I’m interested in. It’s how I consume Super Rugby. As soon as it comes out, it’s on Facebook. It’s a great way to interact with any audience but also a new audience.

“I read that most people below the age of 20 aren’t even on Facebook and you’ve got to go to Instagram and Snapchat – then that’s where we need to be.”

The move reflects a growing desire by TV networks to find more ways to air content that needs to be seen as it airs, rather than days or weeks later via a DVR or video on demand. Networks like NBC and Fox have turned live broadcasts of favorite Broadway plays into high-rated events, and many broadcast and cable outlets have placed more emphasis on securing rights to top sports events like the Olympics or the NCAA men’s basketball championships.

Viewers who tune in to these live “spectaculars” can’t zap the commercials that support the programs, and marketers seem willing to pay a premium to appear in such stuff. Last season, NBC even ran a live, weekly program in which Neil Patrick Harris attempted zany stunts, did musical numbers and clowned around with celebrity guests.

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/wwe-smackdown-live-usa-1201782569/

With the changing landscape of tv, I thought these quotes from a variety article from 18 months ago were relevant. Should also be noted that NBC Sports in the US are expanding their rugby portfolio and are due to announce some new deals soon and seem to be working to become the home of rugby in the US but what the deals are isn't clear so could be the Pro 14.

I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

munkian wrote:I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

It's not like there aren't also a wide range of apps and services that can get you these things a lot cheaper either

I don't know............... but I find the future frightening rather than exciting. Those quotes - frightening. The quotes of addicts.

Being in this world is like being in one of those houses on those shows that document compulsive hoarders.  
People are addicts and the TV/Broadcasting networks are crazily trying to meet supply and demand targets.  But as with all addicts, you can't meet the demands.

I don't know.  I like to see things 'healthy'.  I'd like to think Pro14 could become a 'healthy' league, with no bickering except for the scoreline of your favourite side.  I'm not sure this Growth, GROWTH, GROWTH model of constantly after the last buck and dime in a person's pocket is either a true reflection of love of sport or a health version of recreation.

Do prem sports have their own presenters then ?

Moving away from free to air channels to a pay per view service will kill the momentum that the Pro 14 are trying to achieve in growing the overall following of the league.

For one thing, it is a complete fallacy to think that moving to pay per view TV increases the numbers attending stadiums. It actually reduces the attendances as you'll get a portion of fans who will pay to watch it on tele, and as they are already paying for this, they will not go to home games as you end up paying again!

Stupid move by the Pro 14 organisers

tigertattie wrote:Moving away from free to air channels to a pay per view service will kill the momentum that the Pro 14 are trying to achieve in growing the overall following of the league.

For one thing, it is a complete fallacy to think that moving to pay per view TV increases the numbers attending stadiums. It actually reduces the attendances as you'll get a portion of fans who will pay to watch it on tele, and as they are already paying for this, they will not go to home games as you end up paying again!

Stupid move by the Pro 14 organisers

And yet the AP has grown it's match day attendances while on pay tv, also speaking from personal experience and not being a season ticket holder I know on a number of occasions I have chosen to stay home on a cold Friday night rather than go to Ravenhill.

Not to mention things will go from nearly every game being live on tv to only a few so fans will have less opportunity to see their team live unless they are at games

munkian wrote:I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

Ditto, to all of that.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

munkian wrote:I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

Ditto, to all of that.

Or my xbox. Or work PC.

Or like, y'know, go to a live game

tigertattie wrote:Moving away from free to air channels to a pay per view service will kill the momentum that the Pro 14 are trying to achieve in growing the overall following of the league.

For one thing, it is a complete fallacy to think that moving to pay per view TV increases the numbers attending stadiums. It actually reduces the attendances as you'll get a portion of fans who will pay to watch it on tele, and as they are already paying for this, they will not go to home games as you end up paying again!

Stupid move by the Pro 14 organisers

Exactly. I am glad others see this as I do.

English Premier League attendance
92/93 Avg-21,131 Total-  9,762,339
16/17 Avg-35,782 Total-13,597,286

Aviva/Zurich Premiership              
98/99 Avg-  6,824 Total-   416,263
16/17 Avg-15,246 Total-1,646,555

Pay tv really has hurt their attendances

You will not be watching your team so often on Pay channels

Ulster for example currently have every game on TV - next year probably be more like 8
If you want to watch your team now you will have to go to the ground.
For your £9.99 or what ever it is you will probably get 1 game a month (occasionally 2),
showing your team, for your money.
You will not get the full set.

LordDowlais wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Moving away from free to air channels to a pay per view service will kill the momentum that the Pro 14 are trying to achieve in growing the overall following of the league.

For one thing, it is a complete fallacy to think that moving to pay per view TV increases the numbers attending stadiums. It actually reduces the attendances as you'll get a portion of fans who will pay to watch it on tele, and as they are already paying for this, they will not go to home games as you end up paying again!

Stupid move by the Pro 14 organisers

Exactly. I am glad others see this as I do.

This is a fallacy as I have said above

Currently you can watch games for free on TV.
If you want to watch your team now you are going to have to go to the ground to watch because the majority of home games will not be on TV.
If you don't go to the ground you will see far less of your team than you currently do **

** caveat we await the exact breakdown of what games will be shown.
It is certain to be less than currently though

geoff999rugby wrote:You will not be watching your team so often on Pay channels

Ulster for example currently have every game on TV - next year probably be more like 8
If you want to watch your team now you will have to go to the ground.
For your £9.99 or what ever it is you will probably get 1 game a month (occasionally 2),
showing your team, for your money.
You will not get the full set.

You mean they aren't guaranteed Friday night KOs anymore ?

munkian wrote:

geoff999rugby wrote:You will not be watching your team so often on Pay channels

Ulster for example currently have every game on TV - next year probably be more like 8
If you want to watch your team now you will have to go to the ground.
For your £9.99 or what ever it is you will probably get 1 game a month (occasionally 2),
showing your team, for your money.
You will not get the full set.

You mean they aren't guaranteed Friday night KOs anymore ?  

No its a level playing field from here on in Munk.  More money for everyone and everyone is gonna be.................. well, pi-ssed off as usual

munkian wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

munkian wrote:I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

Ditto, to all of that.

Or my xbox. Or work PC.

Or like, y'know, go to a live game

Was in total agreement.....until you said Xbox, sorry I can’t respect you opinion anymore, how can you use one of them? PlayStation or nothing

SecretFly wrote:

munkian wrote:

geoff999rugby wrote:You will not be watching your team so often on Pay channels

Ulster for example currently have every game on TV - next year probably be more like 8
If you want to watch your team now you will have to go to the ground.
For your £9.99 or what ever it is you will probably get 1 game a month (occasionally 2),
showing your team, for your money.
You will not get the full set.

You mean they aren't guaranteed Friday night KOs anymore ?  

No its a level playing field from here on in Munk.  More money for everyone and everyone is gonna be.................. well, pi-ssed off as usual

As long as we are all miserable I'm happy

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

munkian wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

munkian wrote:I don't have BT nor Sky.

I'll quite happily pay £9.99 and watch on my TV via my laptop or on my mobile.

Its the 21 Century FFS...

Ditto, to all of that.

Or my xbox. Or work PC.

Or like, y'know, go to a live game

Was in total agreement.....until you said Xbox, sorry I can’t respect you opinion anymore, how can you use one of them?  PlayStation or nothing

Blocked

SecretFly wrote:

munkian wrote:

geoff999rugby wrote:You will not be watching your team so often on Pay channels

Ulster for example currently have every game on TV - next year probably be more like 8
If you want to watch your team now you will have to go to the ground.
For your £9.99 or what ever it is you will probably get 1 game a month (occasionally 2),
showing your team, for your money.
You will not get the full set.

You mean they aren't guaranteed Friday night KOs anymore ?  

No its a level playing field from here on in Munk.  More money for everyone and everyone is gonna be.................. well, pi-ssed off as usual

TV will still dictate kick off times, and days. So yeah the grumbles will continue

TV will indeed dictate.
As the guaranteed Friday night slot for Ulster is a myth anyway (last season 50% of our competitive games were on Saturday)
and given we are bound to be on TV less often this change will probably increase the number of games on Friday night

Happy days