BT Sport wins exclusive rights to European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup

[twitchy]

http://sport.bt.com/rugby-union/bt-spor ... 4191963884


As some one with out sky this is fantastic news for me.

[fivepointer]

Thats good news. BT's coverage is vastly superior.

[Mellsblue]

Great news.

[Puja]

So basically I can now cancel Sky Sports and then reinstate it in November. Marvellous!

Explains why Sky aren't bothering to set up a specialist rugby channel though. With luck, they'll lose the internationals as well.

Puja

[Greebo]

So basically I can now cancel Sky Sports and then reinstate it in November. Marvellous!

Explains why Sky aren't bothering to set up a specialist rugby channel though. With luck, they'll lose the internationals as well.

Puja

I use Now TV, which is a Sky product, and pay £6.99 per day for the AI's.

[Puja]

So basically I can now cancel Sky Sports and then reinstate it in November. Marvellous!

Explains why Sky aren't bothering to set up a specialist rugby channel though. With luck, they'll lose the internationals as well.

Puja

I use Now TV, which is a Sky product, and pay £6.99 per day for the AI's.

Can you record it on Sky+ with that? I've got two small angry children and I can't always rely on watching live.

Puja

[Lord Llandaff]

So basically I can now cancel Sky Sports and then reinstate it in November. Marvellous!

Explains why Sky aren't bothering to set up a specialist rugby channel though. With luck, they'll lose the internationals as well.

Puja

I use Now TV, which is a Sky product, and pay £6.99 per day for the AI's.

Can you record it on Sky+ with that? I've got two small angry children and I can't always rely on watching live.

Puja

No, it is internet streaming only, so a drawback, although a good service. And of course Sky has re-runs.

[Digby]

Quite a bit of talk that BT aren't happy with the AP rugby sides. Namely that AP rugby hasn't shown the growth they were hoping for, and it's really only the Anglo-Irish games they're that positive about. All of which will cause the ugly head of an Anglo-Irish league or a B&I league to rear up

If the AP sides do lose their BT contract down the line then with decent money for the Euro Cups I'd really hope they'd look again at some serious FTA coverage. The potential for rugby with no FTA sports to compete with other than the odd horse race has to be there, even if it cost some short-term TV cash

[Banquo]

Quite a bit of talk that BT aren't happy with the AP rugby sides. Namely that AP rugby hasn't shown the growth they were hoping for, and it's really only the Anglo-Irish games they're that positive about. All of which will cause the ugly head of an Anglo-Irish league or a B&I league to rear up

If the AP sides do lose their BT contract down the line then with decent money for the Euro Cups I'd really hope they'd look again at some serious FTA coverage. The potential for rugby with no FTA sports to compete with other than the odd horse race has to be there, even if it cost some short-term TV cash

Do you mean the TV audience hasn't grown?

[Greebo]

So basically I can now cancel Sky Sports and then reinstate it in November. Marvellous!

Explains why Sky aren't bothering to set up a specialist rugby channel though. With luck, they'll lose the internationals as well.

Puja

I use Now TV, which is a Sky product, and pay £6.99 per day for the AI's.

Can you record it on Sky+ with that? I've got two small angry children and I can't always rely on watching live.

Puja

No. With the Now TV smart box you can live pause and rewind up to 30mins. I don't use the TV box as I prefer watching on my PC. I know some people burn to a DVD while watching.

[Puja]

Arse. So I'll stick with Sky for November and June each year then.

Puja

[twitchy]

Big irish - anglo clashes are great but doesn't the nature of of the european cup comps make them more special than if we had a league?

There will always be a few each year just because of the way the cup shakes out but they are still rare enough to be exciting. You don't want to over saturate.

[Timbo]

Quite a bit of talk that BT aren't happy with the AP rugby sides. Namely that AP rugby hasn't shown the growth they were hoping for, and it's really only the Anglo-Irish games they're that positive about. All of which will cause the ugly head of an Anglo-Irish league or a B&I league to rear up

If the AP sides do lose their BT contract down the line then with decent money for the Euro Cups I'd really hope they'd look again at some serious FTA coverage. The potential for rugby with no FTA sports to compete with other than the odd horse race has to be there, even if it cost some short-term TV cash

Do you mean the TV audience hasn't grown?

If it's the case that they're not entirely happy I can only imagine they were expecting/hoping for a significant upswing off the back of the World Cup, but Burt went and fudged it all up. Last Prem tv deal was signed just before the 2015 World Cup iirc. From the outside the Prem seems in pretty rude health.

BT are tied in for another 4 years I believe, so no prospect of any imminent changes. The new Prem deal kicks in this season (signed in 2015 but not valid until 17/18)? And the last deal included all English clubs European games, so new Champions Cup deal will be pure extra revenue for our clubs? Just trying to join the dots, could be wrong.

[Numbers]

From 2018 the Champions Cup is going to be free to air by all accounts: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... p-13278252

Not sure if that includes live games, if not then you would think that wouldn't be news (not new for the Western mail) as ITV have the current highlights package.

All not for another season tho, I'm feeling slightly foolish at having just ordered BT sport now.

[Digby]

Quite a bit of talk that BT aren't happy with the AP rugby sides. Namely that AP rugby hasn't shown the growth they were hoping for, and it's really only the Anglo-Irish games they're that positive about. All of which will cause the ugly head of an Anglo-Irish league or a B&I league to rear up

If the AP sides do lose their BT contract down the line then with decent money for the Euro Cups I'd really hope they'd look again at some serious FTA coverage. The potential for rugby with no FTA sports to compete with other than the odd horse race has to be there, even if it cost some short-term TV cash

Do you mean the TV audience hasn't grown?

I don't know tbh. I only know they're not happy, or reported not to be happy and I'd be assuming that's down to the audience size. Based on what I've heard, and this could easily be wrong, or could be right but still only be an idea that was thrown around without any serious intent, is that BT were quite keen on a B&I league so they'd get more fixtures involving the Irish sides, but that fell down with a 2 division structure that didn't see a mix of AP and Pro 12 clubs from the off but saw the AP clubs stating they should all start in the top division and the Rabo clubs should all start in Div 2.

Further things I don't know would be whether the AP clubs came up with that to on purpose sabotage the idea or if they thought it reasonable (if I'm going to carry on reporting unsubstantiated rumour if fell over due to Bruce Craig), and there is that the Pro 12 are being linked to us again with a B&I league, they're being linked the South African sides, they're being linked to North American sides, and there's even a possible link to a German club which would be backed by one of the top investors in the T14

[Mellsblue]

Quite a bit of talk that BT aren't happy with the AP rugby sides. Namely that AP rugby hasn't shown the growth they were hoping for, and it's really only the Anglo-Irish games they're that positive about. All of which will cause the ugly head of an Anglo-Irish league or a B&I league to rear up

If the AP sides do lose their BT contract down the line then with decent money for the Euro Cups I'd really hope they'd look again at some serious FTA coverage. The potential for rugby with no FTA sports to compete with other than the odd horse race has to be there, even if it cost some short-term TV cash

Do you mean the TV audience hasn't grown?

I don't know tbh. I only know they're not happy, or reported not to be happy and I'd be assuming that's down to the audience size. Based on what I've heard, and this could easily be wrong, or could be right but still only be an idea that was thrown around without any serious intent, is that BT were quite keen on a B&I league so they'd get more fixtures involving the Irish sides, but that fell down with a 2 division structure that didn't see a mix of AP and Pro 12 clubs from the off but saw the AP clubs stating they should all start in the top division and the Rabo clubs should all start in Div 2.

Further things I don't know would be whether the AP clubs came up with that to on purpose sabotage the idea or if they thought it reasonable (if I'm going to carry on reporting unsubstantiated rumour if fell over due to Bruce Craig), and there is that the Pro 12 are being linked to us again with a B&I league, they're being linked the South African sides, they're being linked to North American sides, and there's even a possible link to a German club which would be backed by one of the top investors in the T14

Well, that cleared that up.

[Digby]

Do you mean the TV audience hasn't grown?

I don't know tbh. I only know they're not happy, or reported not to be happy and I'd be assuming that's down to the audience size. Based on what I've heard, and this could easily be wrong, or could be right but still only be an idea that was thrown around without any serious intent, is that BT were quite keen on a B&I league so they'd get more fixtures involving the Irish sides, but that fell down with a 2 division structure that didn't see a mix of AP and Pro 12 clubs from the off but saw the AP clubs stating they should all start in the top division and the Rabo clubs should all start in Div 2.

Further things I don't know would be whether the AP clubs came up with that to on purpose sabotage the idea or if they thought it reasonable (if I'm going to carry on reporting unsubstantiated rumour if fell over due to Bruce Craig), and there is that the Pro 12 are being linked to us again with a B&I league, they're being linked the South African sides, they're being linked to North American sides, and there's even a possible link to a German club which would be backed by one of the top investors in the T14

Well, that cleared that up.

What can I say, other than saying it in more words than needed it's what I've heard and it could be true, but it could be bollocks, or it could be chinese whispers at work. I could have said nothing, which might win the popular vote but doesn't look much of a plan to me!

[Mellsblue]

From 2018 the Champions Cup is going to be free to air by all accounts: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... p-13278252

Not sure if that includes live games, if not then you would think that wouldn't be news (not new for the Western mail) as ITV have the current highlights package.

All not for another season tho, I'm feeling slightly foolish at having just ordered BT sport now.

The Times are reporting it is likely to be one live match per round, to include the final.