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The United Rugby Championship has released all fixtures, kick-off times and broadcasters for next season this morning. It's absolutely fantastic that everyone is aware of all the details a year in advance, bar a few exceptions.
As ever all games on Premier Sports and URC TV, with at least a game every week on RTÈ, TG4, BBC Wales and S4C. BBC NI's games are spaced out well next season, at roughly one a month; that hasn't always been the case, when they have been clumped together at points in the season, so that's a positive for me.
Despite the obvious issues such as travel and the incompetence of Welsh rugby off field affecting the on field performance, this competition on the field is becoming a great and exciting competition to follow. Plus, the off field organisation seems to be functioning well, with this announcement a good example of that, along with a good broadcast mix of FTA/pay TV (Scotland aside).
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RTE and Premier Sports are covering the Republic of Ireland friendlies incidentally. (On RTE, Tuesday’s MNT game v Hungary will be part of a double bill with the WNT game v Sweden).
(This post was last modified: 30-05-2024, 12:18 PM by
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(28-05-2024, 01:44 PM)dvboy Wrote: There has been no world feed commentary used by Eurosport/Discovery so far... they also appear to have ditched the "Extra" stream which really was just a simulcast of Eurosport 2 at the Australian Open anyway. The only English commentaries away from Chatrier and Lenglen have been on matches involving British players.
Just to update on this, there was Discovery+ commentary (not world feed) on the Mathieu match yesterday that has been carried over to today.
There has been so much rain limiting play on outside courts that they will start play at 10:00 CET on Friday, as they will effectively be an whole round behind schedule.
(This post was last modified: 30-05-2024, 01:56 PM by
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(24-05-2024, 09:54 PM)shropshireguy28 Wrote: If this is true its great news
inews.co.uk
Now confirmed, the deal will take effect from January 2025.
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Interesting the deal starts half way through the season - guess Sky want a period of exclusivity but not sure 4-5 months makes much difference.
Also interesting that article does mention a dedicated channel alongside Sky Sports+ - not seen that mentioned before but a Sky Sports EFL channel would make sense.
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(30-05-2024, 05:02 PM)Brekkie Wrote: Interesting the deal starts half way through the season - guess Sky want a period of exclusivity but not sure 4-5 months makes much difference.
Also interesting that article does mention a dedicated channel alongside Sky Sports+ - not seen that mentioned before but a Sky Sports EFL channel would make sense.
I think the original Sky press release on Sky Sports + mentioned something like a 'showcase channel' of Sky Sports +. Not sure what that means really, with the tennis already on Sky Sports Tennis, the rugby league already on Action/Arena and the EFL already on Sky Sports Football, but there will need to be more room for the SPFL (and Bundesliga for the next 12 months) to fit on Football.
It is rather odd that the live games kick in at the semifinals in 24/25, but from the first round in 25/26. I can only concur this is to boost Sky in the first year of the new expanded contract.
Got to say this deal is very great news for the EFL and for FTA fans. I thought the BBC deal around 2010 was the best we ever would have got (with 10 live Championship games and two semifinal legs and the final of the League Cup live) but this surpasses it quite considerably. For the League Cup, this is a much needed injection of interest, especially with matches being played on European weeks in the early rounds now (there will be a tweaking the draw of round three to avoid the newly entered European teams playing each other then, with that round being played over two European midweeks). Since the loss of live coverage in 2012 or so, the Cup does feel the poorer relative of all the other competitions. Also great for ITV and FTA audience as ITV is set to lose all its live domestic football with the change of the FA Cup deal in 12 months time, and likewise for FTA viewers who would receive less live football before this announcement. It must be a long while since the biggest teams like Manchester United and Liverpool got on TV before January, which looks feasible in 2025.
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BBC Radio retains rights to all ICC tournaments for the next 4 years, BBC have home cricket rights as well for that period but no word yet on the free to air TV cricket package although the Telegraph recently reported the BBC are likely to keep the rights
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www.telegraph.co.uk
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Quite the major surprise that RugbyPass TV will be the broadcaster of the Japan v. England men's rugby international in a few weeks. That means that an England rugby international will not be on linear TV, something that hasn't occured in the professional era. Good that there is a legal way to watch the match in the UK, but an alrming sign for the viability and growth of the sport. in a similar vein, there is still no broadcaster(s) for next year's Champions Cup.
To the summer internationals, I forgot to mention that there is no broadcasterin place yet for Scotland's game across the Americas. Scotland's last trip to North America was live on BBC Scotland, but not sure how viable that would be for them with extra resources required for the Euros. Premier Sports seem to be a magnet for all things Scottish, so they could be another bet, though.
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Japan v England has ended up on RugbyPass, of all places:
www.world.rugby .
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LOL at them trying to sell it as World Rugby's attempt to broaden their audience rather than the fact they just couldn't get interest from an actual broadcaster.
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