CVC and future of our game

This article appeared yesterday.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dail ... pital.html

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... n/52763372

This is a lot of money but is it just the start of a game changer, across the world.

It is not a gift to RFU.

Also https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.rugb ... lion-play/

"He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon"

As expected the TV deal for the 6N and the timing is going to be the talking points of the deal.

It went to Sky a few years ago and nobody watched it...BT have a good following resulting from the pandemic and I thought Amazon was very good value. So if it has to go from terrestrial I hope it involves mainly Amazon, BT and last of all Sky.

As for the timing....what is the advantage over moving it away from a) the traditional format and long held rivalry and banter b) the Spring schedule? I can't think of any, unless the motivation is some form of global international league competition competing with the RWC...

As CVC have the ability to squeeze the clubs and the national unions they will all have to fit in with the big scheme...probably on what I will think is a misguided view of what the public/consumer will find attractive . Stand on the touchline of Victory Park, Castlemeads or any club in the country then they might find out.....

The title of this thread is simply wrong...it isn't 'our' game, no matter how much we'd like it to be

CVC got over twice as much money out of F1 than it put in. That's the future.

CVC got over twice as much money out of F1 than it put in. That's the future.

That's not really the full story though is it.

CVC got over twice as much money out of F1 than it put in. That's the future.

That's not really the full story though is it.

To a degree it is. F1 disappeared behind a paywall, losing viewers, regardless of the extra TV cash. If the 6N's goes the same way the Sky / BT viewers will be miniscule, compared to the ITV / BBC ones. That won't encourage Kids to take up the game. In the meantime CVC will rake in extra profits that, in effect, would have gone to the Clubs / Countries.

If the 6N's goes the same way the Sky / BT viewers will be miniscule, compared to the ITV / BBC ones.

I think you’re way off the mark. Miniscule!

This is 2021. A lot of people, especially the younger generation, refuse to pay for a TV license and rely on the likes of Netflix and Amazon. They literally never watch the BBC. SKY has about 13 million subscribers which based on the average size of a UK household (2.3) is an audience of 30 million. Add in all the kids who have access to SKY Go on Mum and Dad’s account etc, and the real audience is probably more like 40 million.

According to BARB, Sky had 8.38M U.K. household subscribers, and slowly falling, as of Q3 2020.

Sky sports are notorious for not releasing viewing figures in a timely manner. From the 2019 figures, they state their biggest audience was 3.36 million for Liverpool v Man City, Nov 2019.

BBC biggest sports audience for 2020 was 5.9 million, for the opening weekend clash in the 6 Nations, France v England. (Feb 2020)

3.9 million people watched Crystal Palace v Bournemouth, June 2020, the BBC first Premier League match in 30 years.