League to review TV free-to-air deals after World Cup

RUGBY league will complete its realignment process and wait to discover the impact of this year’s World Cup before sitting down with Channel 4 to discuss the long-term future of Super League’s free-to-air deal.

But the broadcaster’s hierarchy are reportedly encouraged about how well the arrangement has begun.

Super League signed a two-year deal with the channel to show 10 games a season.

The first game, between Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves, attracted more viewers than any Grand Final in Super League history, underlining the pulling power of free-to-air TV, leaving competition organisers hugely encouraged.

And that reaction has been mirrored at Channel 4, but Super League’s chief commercial officer Rhodri Jones says talks will wait until after the World Cup, which could yet provide a further spike in interest in the game, before deciding its next steps when it comes to free-to-air.

“I think what we’ve got now in terms of the balance is right,” Jones said.

“Clearly if Sky wanted to buy the whole sport in effect, we’d have to consider that. But we do know that Sky are very pleased with the arrangement of free-to-air and my personal view is that over time, that will increase subscriptions to Sky, so it’s a win-win and we’ll see where we go from here.”

Jones also revealed that Channel 4 bosses had been blown away by the impact of the opening game at Headingley, saying: “It’s been a very good start and we’ll see towards the end of the year how successful it’s been but the hierarchy at Channel 4 are happy.

“For their 16-34 age group, it pulls in huge numbers compared to the normal programming so fingers crossed we can carry on delivering.

“When they walked in there, I think it exceeded their expectations of a live event. Walking into Headingley, they didn’t have a clue what it would be like and how ferocious it would be.

“They were happy when they walked away.”