Originally Posted by Akilduff:
“Would be worth contacting the Magners League directly to see if another station could have access.
BBC Wales don't have the final then?”
The play-off split in the UK saw BBC Wales get the Friday night semi-final between the Ospreys and Glasgow - clearly the better game for a predominantly Welsh audience - while S4C got the Saturday night semi between Leinster and Munster.
It could be that S4C are getting the final to themselves in the UK as a means of balancing things out after BBC Wales were given the first choice semi-final.
That said, I personally feel the Magners League would be wise to allow all of their broadcast partners to show what is the season-deciding game, much like how both BBC Scotland and Sky Sports can both show the Scottish Cup Final in football for example.
You could say that non-rugby fans would be annoyed that both BBC Wales and S4C were broadcasting the same game, but then that happens with most Welsh rugby union internationals and it's not a problem.
The ML must realise that a fair chunk of their TV audience is made up of Freeview viewers based outside of Wales - look at the amount of texts Rick O'Shea's Fanscene gets on a Friday night - so surely it would be in their interest as a competition to allow those viewers a means of watching the play-off final.
Originally Posted by Ian Cleverly:
“S4C do, although I'm sure there'll be people moaning in the papers that (as it stands) there's no 'English' coverage of the game.
Huw Lewellyn Davis and Gwyn Jones did the Leinster V Munster game too”
The thing is, it's not that S4C don't offer English language coverage - viewers with S4C access can hit the red button for an English commentary - my moan is that it's not a channel that can be viewed in England unless you have Sky, Freesat etc.
I've not got a problem with S4C showing the final, I'm sure they'll do a fine job, but I just think it's counterproductive for the Magners League that most of the audience who have followed the league through the only one of their three TV partners that is widely available across the UK won't be able to see the league's first grand final.
You'd think they'd want to reach the largest audience possible for their biggest match of the season and surely BBC Two Wales via channel 301 on Freeview offers them far more exposure than both S4C and Setanta do. I'm sure it would have been a bigger issue if Glasgow had reached the final - in which case the biggest match in their recent history would not be covered live on a channel serving Scotland.
v. Munster (Sat)- Connor Morris & Donal Lenihan. 