Channel 5 to show live Premiership matches for first time on terrestrial TV

It requires only a cursory glance at the Six Nations viewing figures to understand why Premiership Rugby’s deal with Channel 5 to broadcast five matches a season on terrestrial TV makes obvious sense.

A combined 11 million tuned in for the two most popular matches on the BBC and ITV and if it is clearly fanciful to suggest similar numbers will do so for club competitions, there is a sizeable potential audience. A certain type of casual rugby fan in need of a little push.

The post-Six Nations drop-off is an annual problem for rugby union and while there are many factors in play – BBC Wales’s promotional anti-English video during this year’s competition was in poor taste but renewing national rivalries on a yearly basis is evidently part of the tournament’s appeal – live English club rugby screened on free-to-air TV for the first time next season is a significant step.

The fact it is Channel 5 which will simulcast the matches – at the same time as BT Sport which only stands to gain from the four-year deal worth more than £1m – is also relevant. Its successful bid, described not so much as an auction but a “beauty contest”, was largely centred around showcasing its cricket coverage, which includes highlights of England’s home matches and, again in conjunction with BT Sport, simulcasting Australia’s Big Bash League.

It is relevant because there is clear overlap between the two sports’ demographic audiences and the removal of cricket from the crown jewels – a list of sporting events ring-fenced for terrestrial TV – has allowed rugby union to prosper, to grab cricket’s land in mainstream media coverage.

BT Sport’s investment and commitment has undoubtedly helped – its chummy punditry is not always for everyone but since it began broadcasting Premiership rugby in 2013, TV audiences have risen by 40% and in its existing deal that runs to 2021 it will show up to 80 matches a season. A free-to-air platform, however, is an altogether different proposition.

The ITV4 highlights show pulls in 500,000 viewers on a good day – BT Sport draws less than that – but insiders forecast that with Channel 5 on board total figures will reach as high as 1.5 million on a given weekend. As the Exeter chairman, Tony Rowe, said: “The reality is that it’s all about exposure. The deal we’ve done with BT Sport is good, it’s going up year on year but you can’t beat terrestrial TV. Instead of talking in the 100,000s, you’re talking in the millions.”

Last year Premiership Rugby announced a deal with NBC to broadcast rights in the United States and from next year onwards matches will be shown live in China on a weekly basis for the first time. Throw in its ham-fisted proposal for a 10-month season and it begins to look like expansionism, but the reasons are obvious – few Premiership clubs make a profit, although Rowe hopes the latest deal will go some way to addressing that.

“To attract more sponsors, you need more viewing figures and it’s a great stepping stone,” hesaid. “Premiership rugby is still in its infancy and trying to compete with other European clubs, we have to up the salaries but there is still not a lot of money in the game. I’m sure it will go a long way to improving the number of sponsors that are interested.”

A number of details of Channel 5’s deal are yet to be ironed out – who will front the coverage is expected to be announced in early summer – but it will not be feeding off scraps. “Games that matter” was how the five matches were described and while BT  Sport ultimately chooses its schedule, Channel 5 will pick premium matches, most likely after the Six Nations Championship, when international players are on show and the end-of-season shake-up is coming into view.

Indeed, the climax to the domestic season is perennially a problem. The Champions Cup semi-finals took place on the same weekend as the last four of the FA Cup and while Premiership Rugby recorded its largest ever weekend attendances in early April, broadcast figures no doubt dipped for half an hour during the Grand National. It is a time of the year when the spotlight is that much harder to earn and while terrestrial coverage is not a silver bullet, it will help.

It remains to be seen whether Channel 5 will broadcast Friday matches, Saturday, Sunday or a mixture but while the former tend to show a marginal drop-off in viewing figures, more relevant is the quality of the fixture. That in turn raises the question of favouritism towards more glamorous clubs. Wasps, for example, with their all-singing, all-dancing attacking style, would perhaps be a greater pull than other clubs without such a stellar cast-list of players and while there will be a limit on how often a certain club will be featured, not all 12 will get their day in the sun every season. The hope, however, is that they would across the four years, and perhaps a touch optimistically, that there will be a willingness to work towards the greater good.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Channel 5 has bid for domestic rugby union. In 2003 it had hoped to show highlights as part of the BBC’s Heineken Cup coverage, which was gazumped by Sky Sports at the 11th hour in October that year. Just weeks later England lifted the World Cup and suddenly there was no live English club rugby on terrestrial TV. That it has taken 14 years to return demonstrates the challenges facing the club game but it is clearly a move in the right direction.

Conor Murray confirms imminent return from shoulder injury

Conor Murray has given the British & Irish Lions a lift by confirming his return from a shoulder-related nerve injury is imminent.

Warren Gatland, the Lions head coach, had said Murray must prove his fitness for Munster before the squad depart for New Zealand on 29 May if he is to participate in the tour and his first-choice scrum-half could be back as early as this weekend. If Saturday’s clash with Connacht proves too early, the Ireland international will make his first appearance since the penultimate round of the Six Nations in the Guinness Pro12 semi-final in a fortnight’s time.

“I’m good, finally. I’ve been training with the lads for the last couple of weeks and trained on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week,” Murray said. “I’ve been doing gradual return-to-play contact, hopefully I’ll be playing soon.”