Sky to screen Wales match

For the first time ever Sky will be screening a Wales match which will not be available on any other channell. S4c and BBC were not alllowed to show this apparently due to Englands exclusivity deal with Sky. Does this open the gate for Wales to have more matches shown on Sky? How do the fans feel about it (from the comments on Walesonline, not very happy)?

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2011/06/21/sky-given-exclusive-rights-for-wales-england-match-at-millennium-stadium-91466-28911669/

it's a bit of a slap in the face but fortunately there is the internet....

I wouldnt have been happy about it a few years ago - now I can use a friends SkyOnline and my internet has improved, which is useful - Still, I bet there is a lot of unhappy welsh people around, its inconvieniant to say the least.

ahh, cr4p. looks like i'll have to find a nice pub with sky, twice.

dogtooth

I wish i could watch in a pub. I find myself becoming agrophibic on match days. too many horrible memories of pitiful performances and last minute losses to venture out on a match day...unless I'm actually going to the stadium

It's all part of the same argument, money over support.

Here, as in England money wins.

Roger Lewis, money mad, makes what to me is a poor decision, England has a huge population and can afford the luxury of banishing what to the english is a minority sport to the outer reaches of TV. In England that's not crucial, both because of the education system and the extensive club system. here in wales the affect can be to marginalise the game we all love.

In fairness it's only a warm up. If it was the six nations then it would be a huge deal. If we get the same result as the last time we had world cup warm ups against england then I'll be glad not to watch...

This may be the start of all Wales home games being shown only on Sky so there will be less people watching rugby in Wales. I have no problem with Sky covering away matches in N/Z, SA or Aust but home matches should be available to all for the long term good of the game.

mckay1402 wrote:In fairness it's only a warm up. If it was the six nations then it would be a huge deal.

But it's still a big deal, isn't it? I'm really not happy with this at all. Who owns the rights to Wales's home games?

Well, its only being done because England sold the rights - Wales had little choice.

The other Wales home games are all protected by the BBC and the Welsh Assembly support it, so I dont think the WRU will sell out to sky yet.

But doesn't the WRU hold the rights to Wales's home games? Why didn't they insist that the game was shown on the BBC / S4C?

Wasn't expecting the warm-ups to be on terrestrial TV anyway. Wasn't Wales' last WC warm-up against England (you know the one) also exclusively on Sky?

I can only continue praying that the WRU will not sell out on the 6N or AI's.

How the Flip can England sell the rights to a Wales home game?? That is an absolute fuuuckkking disgrace

The 6N' and to a lesser extent the AI's ARE protected, but the WRu would love to sell out to Murdoch's empire.

This is a try on, get away with it and future games will migrate.

Got nothing to do with England, they control their rights though when playing at Twickenham.

hughie1986 wrote:How the Flip can England sell the rights to a Wales home game?? That is an absolute fuuuckkking disgrace

Sorry, how did you reach that conclusion? England plays Wales at home therefore the rights are with sky. Whoever broadcasts the Welsh home game has nothing to do with the RFU!

Ah, you should have put "home" game in the title. In that case, it is disgraceful that the WRU did not at least fight to secure a more reasonable compromise. We should not have to pay extra to watch a game in our own backyard.

It's a shambles that this wasn't settled back when the fixture was first booked.

Not happy in the slightest...!

What about those who would rather coverage in their native Tongue, welsh?

I don't imagine sky will broadcast a welsh language option on the red button! I also despise the anglocentric commentary on sky sports.

This is the first time in a while that I have been very upset about the WRUs behavior.

This will lessen the viewership, the game, as with all sports should be on terrestrial TV.

"as Sky already has exclusive rights for all England matches other than those featured in the Six Nations tournament"

ospreylian wrote:The 6N' and to a lesser extent the AI's ARE protected, but the WRu would love to sell out to Murdoch's empire.

This is a try on, get away with it and future games will migrate.

Got nothing to do with England, they control their rights though when playing at Twickenham.

Very disturbing thought, hope it isn't made so.

Hope even more that those who do have Sky Sports have the goodwill to fuel the resistance and put up a stream on myp2p

They sold the home game?! that's ridiculous. If it had just been the away fixture I wouldn't have had much of a problem with it. I thought all of our international games were protected from Sky. I am not happy about this at all.

Carpe Diem wrote:

hughie1986 wrote:How the Flip can England sell the rights to a Wales home game?? That is an absolute fuuuckkking disgrace

Sorry, how did you reach that conclusion? England plays Wales at home therefore the rights are with sky. Whoever broadcasts the Welsh home game has nothing to do with the RFU!

Read the OP

S4c and BBC were not alllowed to show this apparently due to Englands exclusivity deal with Sky.

I'm almost certain the England tour of Argentina wasn't televised on sky because they didn't have the rights. If that's true then the idea that sky have the rights to all England games is rubbish.

Especially since the RFU don't have the TV rights to non-home games to sell in the first place.

£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

Hammerofthunor

Are you seriously suggesting that the western mail made something up?

Whilst it doesn't bother me per se as I have Sky, I can't believe that S4C aren't allowed a slice. I can't see Sky offering Welsh commentary, so that's obviously not much good to some people.

I guess after the poor attendance at the Baabaa's game this is a way that the WRU think they can put bums on seats, now the tv option is somewhat limited.

mckay1402 wrote:Hammerofthunor

Are you seriously suggesting that the western mail made something up?

I'd hate to bismirch the good name of an excellent example of written media but...

hughie1986 wrote:

Carpe Diem wrote:

hughie1986 wrote:How the Flip can England sell the rights to a Wales home game?? That is an absolute fuuuckkking disgrace

Sorry, how did you reach that conclusion? England plays Wales at home therefore the rights are with sky. Whoever broadcasts the Welsh home game has nothing to do with the RFU!

Read the OP

S4c and BBC were not alllowed to show this apparently due to Englands exclusivity deal with Sky.

Ooof! Sorry mate! That's bang out of order. Didn't realise that the exclusivity deal would override existing arrangements.

I assumed it only applied to England's home games, was hoping to watch on S4C/BBC Wales. Not happy!

This happened 4 yrs ago too remember. Sky have all the rights to England games home & away bar the 6Nations. Shame really but £££££££ talks fraid..

No bother buddy, like I said its a bloody disgrace and I'm not even Welsh

Breadvan wrote:This happened 4 yrs ago too remember. Sky have all the rights to England games home & away bar the 6Nations. Shame really but £££££££ talks fraid..

Hold on a wee minute, England play Ireland in Dublin, if that's not on rte there will be uproar.

Breadvan wrote:This happened 4 yrs ago too remember. Sky have all the rights to England games home & away bar the 6Nations.

But the WRU hold the rights to Wales's home games and should have fought their corner - assuming they want to keep Wales's home games on free-to-view terrestrial TV, that is.

Anybody know if the Argentina games were televised on Sky? If not that it suggests someone's telling porkies. Either the WRU muddying the waters to excuse selling out or the Western Mail.

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/168211/sky-acquires-rfu-rights

This does suggest sky bought the rights to all England games outside the World Cup and 6 nations. It only specifically mentions the Tri-nations sides, which have deals with Sky themselves, and I'm still pretty sure they couldn't show the Argentina game. So I'm not sure if completely accurate

Don't know about RTE. Maybe it doesn't count or they have no exclusivity because its a 'foriegn' broadcaster?? I don't know.

LP..dunno mate. Who knows what goes in around the meeting table. They certainly don't have the paying publics concern at heart.

While its only a warm up match it is the start of a slippery slope. I wouldn't be suprised if the 6N loses its protected status the next time they are reviewed. As someone said, its a minority sport in England and its probably only been saved for terrestrial tv to date due to 2003.

I dont have Sky and dont want it. To make matters worse a lot of pubs in my area have given up on Sky as well. Hopefully with the Swans in the Premiership at least a couple of pubs will get Sky back. At least in the pub I wont be able to hear the Sky commentators!

Hang on

How van England do a deal with Sky for all their matches home and away?

I understand their home games but how can England sell this game which is a Wales home game?

What if Wales have their own deal with a broadcaster in place??

England can't have the right to sell something that doesn't belong to them surely?

doctornickolas, my guess is that the WRU gave up their rights to the game in return for a cut of the Sky money. They don't mention that in their press statement, of course.

It's not something I'm in favour of and you have to worry that it might be "the thin end of the wedge" as far as welsh coverage is concerned - no pun intended.

the bar stewards, i want to watch the rugby =(
i thought S4c had rights to all the welsh games? even if i cant understand the commentry i want to watch =(

if not time to maybe be a bit "COUGH" illegal "COUGH"

This is a reason for this. The WRU didn't make any money on the Barbarians game, due to the poor attendance, and as they will not have the usual 4 games during the November series this year due to the World Cup.
Their trying to make as much money as possible to cover the costs of running the game.
The BBC only pay a standard amount and to be fair the WRU normally make the effort to sell to the domestic broadcasters (BBC, S4C) for our enjoyment despite Sky normally offering more money for coverage rights.

At the end of the day it's not hard to find a stream to watch the game live, if you need a good rugby site to watch live Union games from drop me a Pm and I will give you a link.

Its not first time, few years back when Engalnds home games were on Sky in 6 Nations we played at Twickers and it wasn't on anywhere else.

Not bothered as got tickets for home game and just means have to go to pub for away game.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:But doesn't the WRU hold the rights to Wales's home games? Why didn't they insist that the game was shown on the BBC / S4C?

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I dont understand why all tv channels cannot show the game to be honest.

Sky broadcast to English fans/BBC/S4C broad cast to all in Wales.

Surely their is plenty of room in the stadium for partys concernd.

majesticimperialman wrote:

luckless_pedestrian wrote:But doesn't the WRU hold the rights to Wales's home games? Why didn't they insist that the game was shown on the BBC / S4C?

......................................................................................................................................................
I dont understand why all tv channels cannot show the game to be honest.

Sky broadcast to English fans/BBC/S4C broad cast to all in Wales.

Surely their is plenty of room in the stadium for partys concernd.

Because ANY English fan with sky can watch BBC wales or S4C just look up the channel. I can watch BBC Northern Ireland if I wish to.
Still you can still watch the match on Stream, so no worries.

Alyn

I have sky through virgin media, but i cannot get s4c or bbc wales either.