Exclusive: What Sky Sports’ Barrie McDermott wanted the TV deal to look like

With last week’s fixture announcement it was also confirmed by Sky Sports that they would provide an over the top streaming service, answering the question of just how exactly did they intend to broadcast every game.

One other question that was answered was if games would be staggered and in stand alone time slots, like in the NRL, or if multiple games would be played at once.

Sadly, the decision has been made that it is the latter with Round One fixtures confirming that given that three matches all take place on Friday night with 8pm kick-offs.

When announcing the fixtures Sky Sports released a statement explaining just how games would be broadcast going forward, the broadcaster having previously announced a monumental deal to show every Super League game through till 2026.

Alongside the fixture release, Sky Sports stated: “For the first 15 rounds of the season, with the exception of Rivals Round, Sky Sports subscribers will have exclusive access to two matches per week.

“The remaining four matches of each round will be shown live on Sky Sports and Rugby League’s own streaming platform – with further details to be announced early in the New Year.”

It’s a disappointing update with many fans hopeful that the NRL model of every game featuring in a stand alone time slot would be replicated. It also means fans will have to pick and choose between games that are broadcast at the same time, so whilst technically all games will be broadcast live by Sky, they cannot all be viewed live.

One of the men we can hope to see remaining in the Sky Sports production is Barrie McDermott, his voice and opinions becoming synonymous with the sport over the last few years.

As the season wrapped up Serious About Rugby League spoke exclusively with McDermott, the ex-Leeds Rhinos man giving his opinion on what the new fixture list and broadcast deal could look like.

He explained: “There seems a straight forward format doesn’t there? One Thursday, one Friday, two Saturday, two Sunday, that looks straight forward but as we know it’s getting everybody to have their slot and not conflict with the other.

“That’s what I suspect is what the negotiations are probably taking some time over. As I say I don’t know, I’m very much on my off-season away from the sport now.

“The finite details of that I’ll get to find out in time so I’m not too worried. I agree with everybody wanting that staggered viewing system but I just don’t know what it’ll look like yet.”

Sadly for Barrie and for many fans the staggered system hasn’t been implemented however he had backed the broadcast deal on the whole, claiming it will inevitably create more fans of the sport.

“When you think about the game as a whole, more eyes on the sport, more viewers, more interest, more access can’t be a bad thing,” McDermott explained.

“Obviously though the clubs will have to give up a little bit of that because you’d think that if every game is available on TV that the bums on seats might take a hit for a while, but I’m sure if we do what we’re capable of and we make it seem as attractive as we know it is to the casual viewer, then you’ll get more live followers.”

It will certainly be interesting to see the broadcast figures when the season does tick around, and just how the attendances of Super League matches will be affected in turn.