As long as he gets rid of those ridiculous sideys
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Vital that C4 get the presentation of this right.....balls it up with any kind of stereotypes and it will be a golden opportunity missed.......
We also need to get the game played in the right way as well to give the presenters something to promote in this new venture with C4. The usual 5 drives and a kick won't do it, we need fast open rugby, the RFL need to get everyone on board to go in that direction.
A lot more vital for us than for them though, I think. I'm as thrilled to see RL back on FTA tv as anyone, but we need to be realistic. My hunch is that, for now, C4 see it as a toe in the water/schedule filler. I'm sure they will present it decently, but we can't expect them to push the boat out on a top of the range presenter etc until the game has shown it can deliver for them. So I'd say that, at the moment the onus is more on RL than on C4 to make it work. If it's as good as it can be it will sell itself and they will put more into it. But if it's as turgid as it has been for a bit too long now we can't really expect them to polish it up for us. I have endless belief that, when it is allowed to be, RL really is 'the greatest game' but experience has taught me not to expect too much, so I'm content to hold my breath, cross my fingers and hope it shows C4 (and other broadcasters) that it's worth investing in. (Which means I'm agreeing with Stiddy!)
Got to wonder why the BBC didn't go for this. I've just turned the TV on and they're showing Buxton v Morecambe live on BBC 1. Surely RL must be better than that?
You forget that association football is the sport that everyone in the Uk is fanatical about (apparently), we at least it is because the bbc has list all rugby union content.
I can remember watching St Helens Town Play Morcambe in one of the qualifier rounds of the FA cup(think we got a draw and they won the replay, in the days of Phil Layhe and Brian Rigby up front)
But yes rugby league holds much more national relevance that non/lower league football. But I do thjnk channel four will present our game free from stereotypes and in an honest way.
That is just part of their FA Cup contract though, and with it they are committed to showing games from the early rounds. Later in the season they will be showing FA Cup games that pull in 5-6 million viewers, and also the Final. If the deal means they have to include the likes of Buxton v Morecambe in the early rounds they'll take it. I would also guess that this game probably pulled in more viewers than any SL live game they may have ended up getting.
If Shearer, Logan, McManaman, Osman and co. can work for Prime on the PL whilst having full time contracts to work for BBC or BT Sports I see no reason why the likes of Chapman, Woods and Wilkin can’t do 10 days work for C4 and do their games as well.
I loved the cricket on 4 and they do a great job on the Formula 1. The main thing is they promote their sports and have a build up which will attract people who don't usually watch or have sky.
Sky and c4 obviously have some deal going on. Sky have agreed to let c4 show the last race of the F1 season.
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/15...ith-the-nation
Without sounding like a pessimist, maybe the reason c4 got the rights to SL was because a close link with sky and not some amazing behind the scenes work from Davy and co???
If that was the case I think it would have been announced ages ago, when the contract with Sky was signed — we knew at that point that 10 SL games were going to be available to another broadcaster but it was months before C4 were confirmed. Either way, I don't think it matters too much: RL will be getting terrestrial coverage and a new audience, whoever's idea it was.
The fact that Channel Four's Headquarters are now in Leeds has helped, as they have been instructed by the government to be less London centred in their output.Interesting article in last week's League Express about the fact that they will now have second pick of the weekly games, Sky having first and third, and a completely new production team, apologies if it's already been mentioned on this topic, Gary Schofield suggesting in his column, that he should be the sumarisor, god forbid! The boss of Channel Four Sports saying all the right things, let's hope they live up to their promises
They should use one of many of our current ex players as secondary commentator to support the technical side of the plays, the likes of Long, Brown, Briers, McQuire, Scully etc are ideal.
I’ve put the Union on channel 4 to see what their coverage is like. This is the first time I’ve ever watched their coverage of Union but it’s pretty good, to me, someone whose not a Union fan. There’s a couple of presenters and a couple of guests, including Chris Ashton (I’d completely forgotten him) and they’ve just had a feature on a previous Cardiff RU v Toulouse RU game from the 90’s, including Jonathan Davies.
The main presenter is a young looking fella and Ashton and the other presenter both look to be in their thirties and most likely, retired in the past five or so years. I hope we go for this approach and attempt to appeal to a younger market with relevant and young presenters and panelists.
A big thing I’ve noticed is the absolute basic that the presenter and panelist’s aren’t drowned out by pop music, as the Sky RL buffoons usually are.
I read somewhere that the production has been put out to tender by the C4 (I'm not sure if this is normal practice or not) - we could have something completely different, depending on what people bring to their table. I'm hoping that's a good thing though, they should definitely have some new ideas