Great points.
It may be that Sky would want us to sacrifice a little bit of revenue to be able to dictate some terms of broadcast (a nationwide free-to-air highlights package, a say on the match presentation). But you're right that the current arrangement is bloody woeful.
I'm sure we used to get much higher viewing figures than now. There's some factors that can't be controlled (like the emergence of a certain streaming service), but it's my long-held opinion (and I know many share this view) that the game itself an entertainment spectacle of deteriorated hugely for the casual viewer, which brings us to...
The last 2 minutes had immense drama and the sort of twist at the end that a Hollywood script writer would be embarrassed to write for being too cheesy, but the game itself was what could be euphemistically described as 'one for the purists'. Yes, it was brutal, and as hated local rivals both sets of fans would have appreciated this element, and the closeness had me with adrenaline flying round my veins for 80 mins.
But as an entertainment spectacle for the casual viewer, it was lacking in the kind of thing that attracts casual and neutral viewers: plenty of clean breaks, flowing passing moves, a dominance of attack over defence.
And the blame for that can be laid at the door of those who decide the rules, which ultimately is the clubs themselves. We have a product lacking excitement and entertainment value, because the RFL/SL wanted it to be less exciting and entertaining and abandoned the rules that outlawed slowing the PTB and relaxed the enforcement of the 10m offside. I find the game much more boring than it used to be and only my attachment to Saints keeps me watching. I've been watching (and mainly loving) the sport since 1984, and if I'm feeling like this, then you can bet many less committed people have abandoned it as too boring over the past 10+ years.