Originally Posted by SouthCity:
“I have to agree. I'm struggling to work out why talkSPORT purchased non-exclusive rights to these three matches, and only broadcast one of them on AM/DAB (the final will be online only on 26th May).”
Thank you for confirming what I thought I heard last night. At the end of the Leicester v Saracens commentary last night, when the team handed back to Georgie Bingham she mentioned that commentary on the Premiership Grand Final will be "broadcast on the talkSPORT website" - therefore I think it's safe to assume that commentary on the League One Play-Off Final will be being broadcast on AM and DAB.
Like yourself and 4-4-2, especially with this in mind, I'm confused as to why they have even bothered to pick up the rights. I don't blame them for prioritising the Play-Off Finals - they made a commitment to that long before they went in for Premiership rugby commentary rights - but it does make you question the point in going for rugby commentary rights in the first place when only one of the three games was going to make their main platforms.
I realise they have a sponsor for their rugby union coverage in Guinness who will have probably helped fund the rights and cost of the OBs, but they would have sponsored their updates anyway as they did for their regular season coverage. Perhaps they are doing these commentaries to prove to the RFU that they'll make a good platform for online commentaries on an international basis, as they will be doing for Premier League games in markets outside of Europe?
I agree that talkSPORT's commentary with Andrew McKenna - who I personally prefer to Ian Robertson - on the later game made for an enjoyable listen, and what I heard of the earlier match with Russell Hargreaves was very good too, but I listened as someone who likes rugby but isn't a massive fan of the Premiership as a competition and whose default choice of listening is talkSPORT. I can't imagine many people specifically tuning in to hear commentary on these matches as dedicated Premiership fans would have chosen talkSPORT.
To add to SouthCity's point about non-exclusive rights to World Cups and European Championships in football being valuable to talkSPORT; you also have to factor in that talkSPORT can afford to offer far more hours of radio to coverage of that tournament than Radio 5 Live can with their commitments to news coverage and Wimbledon, so it puts them in a stronger position than the BBC in that respect. Similarly with the British & Irish Lions tour (something I've made no secret of hoping talkSPORT win non-exclusive rights to), they can afford to do a big OB in the Southern Hemisphere with lots of related shows as they did in New Zealand last year, plus can put commentaries of the midweek tour matches on AM (something 5 Live probably won't be able to justify, so this would give talkSPORT a USP). But when you've brought a contract for three games and only put three devoted hours of live coverage onto your AM and DAB platforms what's the point?