Are digital rights behind the NRL's TV ratings drop?

NRL salary cap works against western sydney teams like bulldogs. tigers, eels and panthers. Not fair as teams near beaches and privately owned have an advantage in lifestyle, ( and possibly paying players over the cap if they choose too). WesternSydney teams need to be able to offer more money as a way of making up the difference, but the cowardly, illegal, scumbag NRL salary cap stops that balance from happening. Bulldogs are the richest team in sydney but cant get the big name players they want for love nor money. The top 5 NSW teams in 2013 were all coastal, 4 of which privately owned. It also affects inland teams like canberra, who havnt made the top 4 since the mid 90s despite having huge junior nursery. Roosters seem to be the biggest beneficiary.

It also affects inland teams like canberra, who havnt made the top 4 since the mid 90s

I and a lot of nq cowboys supporters turned off channel nine after the sharks semi final debacle. Cowboys got left out of nrl finals ad was the tip of iceberg of the problems 9 have. Johns also has no fluency in his commentary, just gibberish. Cowboys have potentially the largest fan base when there winning as fans from rocky to weipa to darwin tune in. 2005 nrl grand final is the most succesful of all time and it's not because the tigers were in it, it's because of the cowboys!!

Channel 9 better broadcast the world cup properly! During the grand final one of the try conversions was blacked out! and in Victoria (where I watched it) the trophy ceremony wasn't even shown!

I agree. Its in the same vein as Rice Farmers in China discovering McDonalds

The difference I heard and read Ribot's utterances,that is why I "put pen to paper".Neither you or I heard Lachlan's utterances so cant' make an emphatic statement,that he did. That would be lying. if you believe a poor attempt at point scoring by refering to" my health" is going to help your debate,you are off with the pixies. I followed the SL war closely as my club involved and Ribot was present there.I do not know whether you were around then ,a teenager whatever in 95. I also remember Meninga's comment"what has rugby league done for me" Well reported ,not an assumption. Consequently I dont' make claims nor would even attempt making assumptions,as to what , someone could have said or maybe stated out of school. That is the most wishy washy way to debate,certainly illogical , To put you straight .Danny Weilder is a SM Herald reporter.In his other guise he works for channel 9 on their News with expertise on rugby league.So the story when broken would have been known by both the SMH and ch9,Weidler works for both as does Gus Gould.. He has sniffed around the Sharks re the ASADA issue reporting for Fairfax and Ch9. Of course they are obliged to do stories,but you suggested ch9 or words to the effect would perhaps hide or not follow the issue. In fact one day I was down having coffee in Cronulla mall a few years ago,and Weidler was hanging around like a bad smell.Then I realised he wanted an interview with Lance Thomson who had just been given the flick from the Saints.Thompson was at the lounge with his mgr. The interview with Earl on 9 ,involved the final crossover to Weidler and Danks for comment.It was closely realted. I am not going to pretend I know the motives of Fairfax/News Ltd/ch9,all I know based on first hand experience and my view is hardly isolated with rl supporters,that News Ltd is sticking it in to the NRL,Fairfax is up and down like a yo yo,and ch9 from a NRL marketing perspective and a supposed rl station,are extremely poor marketeers and have a habit of providing negative stories about the code. ch 7 does a far better job with the AFL. More likely the papers thrive on rl controversy.If you believe minor offfield issues blown out of proportion,offield dramas,ref blunders is good publicity (making the game thrive) ,crowds perhaps would be far higher and Tv ratings ditto. I look back to the early 80s when thuggery was rife in the game,and the adverse publicity in the media,did more harm than good.imagine trying to flog the game to children then. The Chariman of the Rabbitohs (Nick Pappas) stated recently,I don't know what is happening with all the negative publicity,I thought the Telegraph loved rugby league. The Herald and Sun Herald readership is pretty solid in terms of loyalty for 7 days.I read both and the Australian now.The telegraph lost me as well as apparently more than a few others.

CC I forgot Melbourne tanking? i'll give you tanking with no investigation http://www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/a-fishy-finale-to-the-roosters-sad-season/2009/09/25/1253813612020.html Regards Gill

With over 120 interchanges per game, no wonder there is a lot of movement. But I prefer perfection ala the Wolfman's try v Souths over too numerous miskicks at goal by so called elite athletes. May be they should forget about pulling up their socks and do the split second things league players excel at :)

I have covered all the other issues before except you cant have (in all seriousness) monitored every lachlan murdoch utterance? I worry about your health if you think you did or you can or why is it so important that only Ribot said it.. They both said it as probably did others in a bold mood.. Channel Nine didnt break the story but the herald did - amazingly it was on the same day as Sandor earl interview (coincidence) - do you think they could ignore it and pretend it didnt happen - RL thrives on controversy..Friday regional Herald editions had details of the Earl interview and those would have been printed before the interview was screened...link perhaps Is Weidler still on Nine or the Sun Herlad for that matter?? Sunday Herald has a different readership from the weekday herald so thats why Weidler only gets a guernsey on Sunday and rarely if ever during week which allows him to bag RL on the weekend..However this has changed in the last 2 weeks and the Swans have got more coverage. The timing of the drugs issue is interesting...It happened months ago. The herald werent sitting on it were they??? Fairfax bagged RL when News owned it but when News bagged RL after the divorce one assumes RL sought solace in the Fairfax bosom. Fairfax certainly needs the money.

Sorry I do have to respond Nomad. Incorrect I monitored your point dated 27th sept @11.27am."At that stage Lachlan M thought RL would take over the world". Ribot made the point and it was well known and reported,I have yet to see where Lachlan M made the point.He Ribot made the point about ET in China.Now you say whatever he (Murdoch)said was irrelevant in a sense,talk about deflecting.Why make such a comment in the first place? If you consider disagreeing with you somehow, as abuse,then I give up. I repeat I attended as a member of the Sharks club ,a meeting when the club went to SL,I did have some insight in a period my team was involved in the debacle.Yet you lecture me about SL. if you have no other explanation re Smith.then using lying as an excuse is a poor alibi,unless you can prove he did so.His ru background and lack of rl knowledge ,in fact would suggest ill preparedness rather than lying was the reason. I don't know the guy personally,but I suggest any CEO caught out lying will have a short tenure,and would be naïve to do so.You say otherwise then can't back it up with evidence.Because he did not repeat the same thing on NRL 360. Logic is not someone making an assumption or guess that Murdoch stated something nor accusing a CEO of lying,without backing it up. .You accused me of lying,is that abuse FHS? No you are not Gil.he didn't know such a thing as tanking existed,but apparently knows about equestrian issues.Please! And he is competent? Yes I heard that conference Gyngell did make that point about the AFL,and guess what he is not the last TV station honcho to have a shot at its competitor nor its sport's content.I guess a team coming into Sydney in a swaggering way,with all the bluster ,one does not sit back and ignore.Vlad was quite happy to bombastically say we are in for the long haul,by committing large sums of money. I also believe the ch9 Tv ratings for Friday night proved Gyngell's comment.as having relevance. Especially as ch10 was offering more FTA . Yet this is the same Tv station( the so called rugby league station) that has its opposition code on the late afternoon news in Sydney as a lead in,has no qualms in putting minor issues involving rl players as some sort of disaster,has reporters like Danny Weilder who look for scandals ,that mentioned high HGH levels in a couple of rooster's players(Gyngell on the board),has complaints from just about every rl fan as to how they treat the code re marketing. So much for fluff pieces and so much for 9 News programs. I just watched the Offsiders today,and as a national broadcaster tax payer owned,all AFL people on the panel,did the usual bowing and genflucting to the G/F and looked for the usual negatives about penalties in the NRl semis. Then of late the Gruen Transfers . Yes the balance in the media is revealing. Hard to know about having a readership of rl people,suggests they are looking at any excuse to throw up a story To sell the papers,reagardless of the hurt.

I will answer your points and then get on with my life Super league - apparently you monitored every Lachlan murdoch conversation for 5 years during SL. What he said was irrelevant in a sense - he wanted RL domestically for Pay TV and the added bonus was that it was content for the world. If you read closely and judging by your responses you didnt I referred to Smiths RU background previously but in the latest I referred to you lack of logic to your previous forward play (I was one myself). " I accused him (Smith of lying)" I have no other explanation. You now acknowledge he misspoke ( at best) but how could a CEO get something so wrong when he goes on to say we have no growth.when the AFR is seeking an interview about how well the NRL is going.. I had 2 sources the print and the TV but if he misspeaks do I need more than 1. Either he is fibbing or is incompetent... "You post a lot like GOGWS,hmmmmm!" Not me I'mm Gill McLachlan "And news ltd increased venom against rugby league would have nothing to do with the fact,they are now not part owners." INDEED "Nothing to do with the fact.the Telegrph had a large rl reader base,according to their own surveys,and throw in any story regardless about the code." HARD TO KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS On AFR NIne this morning, Joe Aston now a Nine employee BTW gave it to Demetriou over the AFL and drugs, drugs, drugs and a possible move to Europe sport. Vlad is not allowed to look elsewhere - isnt that a good thing..Aston looked elsewhere and got a new job (good on him) It will be interesting to see how they handle the NRL GF next week. Will drugs get a mention. Gyngell hired him Aston because he liked his style - now we know why. Gyngell the Nine CEO who openly said at the Nine NRL TV rights deal that the NRL now had money to fight AFL in NSW and Qld. How partisan can you get. and you should take that into account when you watch any Nine News programs......

NomadI will spell out what I know oif the genesis of Super league.Murdoch of course wanted to get the sub Tv market going for his organisation in Australia.At a function in Brisbane 9and L Murdoch is a rl fan),his fatherRupert was discussing with Paul organ a head honcho ATT of the Broncos about the best way to get in.Both Morgan and Ribot mentioned and Rupert knew sport was the driver,that rugby league was made for Tv and extremely popular in this country. You go on about logic,and appear to have done little research on SL. I attended the actual meeting involving Ribot,Quayle,Meninga and Peter Gow at the Sharks's Leagues club,when the decision was made to go to SL.And you are lecturing me LOL. Ribot made the comment about the game being worlwide in china not L Murdoch.the NMurdochs were only concerned about the Oz market then for Pay TV. I cited the source which was the print version,and then the actual interview on NRL 360.You accused him (Smith of lying) prove it.You relied on one source. The only thing you got correct did indeed play in the forwards,but unfortunately it was ru,not rl.I was not good enough .Perhaps you kicked too many behinds rather than goals. You post a lot like GOGWS,hmmmmm! And news ltd increased venom aginst rugby league would have nothing to do with the fact,they are now not part owners.Nothing to do with the fact.the Telegrph had a large rl reader base,accordingto their own surveys,and throw in any story regardless about the code.

Boom Why exactly were the Storm owning/funding/ subsidising a loss making RL team in Melbourne.? Not Pay TV - love of RL was it CC Because Ribot thought RL would take over the world, Murdoch spent $600m on RL - are you serious? Lachlan thought he could generate cheap content to world sports Murdoch TV but he did wrest the rights to RL in Australia..So only Ribot can believe in world domination? The difference is Murdoch had the money. Surely they can both believe in RL world domination and you can get both of them to blog in to prove/disprove it good luck.... Lets recap so you can follow - Smith said on AFR that NRL crowds in 1998 were 16K, I said that was wrong, you said he didnt say that, I provide evidence that he did and now because he corrected it 5 days later I am telling untruths..Logic like this prove you played in the forwards for too long. Why did he say that and we are not growing if he misspoke - he blundered becuase surely those facts and figures are central to selling his growth/hyperbole spiel to advertisers and sponsors You weren't at leichhardt but you know how many were there. You wont have been to Skoda where there are ample bars to watch the game (unlike Leichhardt) and there are no TV cameras on the eastern side of the ground to get the western grandstands unlike RL where an on field camera follows the try scorer back to 1/2 way.. My point is unless you are at the ground you cant make judgements and I was relating that back to comments on GWS crowds. There have been plenty of RL people who have questioned RL crowds, GC, Canberra, Auckland but apparently its oK to count members and ticket holders that dont turn up. My comments on the AFR/Channel 9 (see a link here) cheerleader story were in relation to comments made that they were having a wonderful finals series compared to the AFL, funny the AFL charging premium prices had near sellouts (except Sydney) and the RL struggled to get a crowd (free buses cheaper tickets) They said the NRL were catching up to the AFL fast because the the AFL would only have a surplus of $12m and the NRL $40m - these are not for profit associations and expenses are lumpy. and surpluses vary depending on outlays eg AFL still funding GWS and GC development for the next 3 years and so run a low surplus and a large new media unit which the RL have only just started. The NRL is consolidating and not expanding. The AFR would/should know that the better measure is revenue and AFL revenue is $440m last year - the NRL would be 3/5 of that at best. News is bagging RL ( we at least agree on that) partly because the AFL spends money on marketing in News Lyd papers for GWS/GC expansion (see previous para) The fairfax papers have until now buried anti RL stories - eg the NRL allocated Canberra Stadium for a game when the Brumbies were already playing there - highlighted in News lyd papers and buried in Fairfax (esp the canberra Times where it should have been front page news, The tragic Raudonikus grandkid RL death was written up under a front page headline "RU thinking of introducing weight divisions" where on the front page he was playing "Rugby" THis early in the year when recruiting for the season would have been occurring. Only at the bottom of page 6 would the unknowing reader discover he was playing Rugby league. There have been others. Newdpapers are struggling so if a code offers then dough for coverage then of course editorial policy changes. i work in the media and have seen it for Coles/Woolies/David Jones/qQantas etc. eg A bad story can easily be buried with the offer of advertising in the paper in the future.. If you can bother to reply, answer the qns I have raised rather than resorting to abuse or changing the subject to divert attention from the issue.

You are being precious Nomad.The Smith comment was clarified on NRL 360,which you did not see,so don't twist the truth.,which proved your initial comment as well as Smiths was wrong.What transpired on the AFR earlier was corrected in terms of the1998 crowds.The NRL semis are very profitable,that is fact.In fact I went from the AFR print link,so again the twisting goes on. You got it wrong about L Murdoch,as it was Ribot perhaps you should check facts. You had a dig when Smith indicated the profits from the semi series were well above budget,and you came in with a snide comment, anyone can set a low budget.As explained some of the ticket prices were particularly high,especially for the Storm. Regardless if you have a budget and the profits are well in excess of expectations,that is a plus FHS. Whilst one can argue crowds for the Tigers on a wet night,one can also see on TV (and not be there because it is a 360 game) what crowds are like at GWS.Even AFL fans on Big Footy, question the figures announced there on occasions.Are they all BS? Get used to it,News ltd bags rl crowds at times in Sydney,so GWS should not be immune.Just as the Titans and Suns crowds get queried.In fact Bec Wilson did not hold back bagging NRL crowds,the admin,prasing the AFL,and this from a paper that "loves"rugby league. I think you much prefer one code more than the other two TBH.

"You lied about the coverage starting at 10.30pm (game delay times are very relevant in the 21st Century when we are able to access information 24/7- real time)," I didnt lie, I may be mistaken or you might be ( cant prove either way) but the important point you gloss over is that there were 8 games on Foxtel at reasonable times compared to the past when there were 2 games on next morning and the Storm were rarely on FTA. People would sign up - you overlook the tactical and business strategies of selling the Pay Tv in Victoria where AFL was on FTA a lot... "you insinuate that News Limited actively promote the game south of the border", I had connections in News in Melbourne that actively promoted the game perhaps not as much as to your liking perhaps but why would they not if they were trying to drive pay Tv subs - explain that "you use dodgy statements with respect to crowd numbers" Evidence I quoted clubs in their press statements to the media and I had a RL relative at the game mentioned which is more than i can say about people throwing stuff at GWS who werent there "and continue to hound CC and myself with untruths. " CC accused me of untruths and then I presented transcript evidence on Smith to prove CC was wrong and Smith said what he said The old adage - when struggling people revert to abuse rather than present evidence - I have to go now and watch the ITM Cup and worship at the Channel 9 altar. PS the anti-siphoning and Conroy "best on FTA each week" isnt illegal - the regulations just havent been made yet. Provide some evidence and I will acknowledge but until then Best wishes

Nomad I berate Nine and the system that allows Nine to do the absolute minimum with respect to respectful coverage. No anti siphoning = better coverage and fair market access to our sport. Guess what, Nine puts their woeful coverage on their HD channel in Melbourne, but despite the ads (I can clearly read the fine print in Tom Waterhouse's section) being in HD, the game is provided in barely better than a dodgy internet feed. Colleagues in New Zealand get the same feed in HD and no ads from kick off to the final whistle. Nine could easily show the game in HD but they CHOOSE not to. Why (answer me that)? I have no problem with Nine being a business and making money - good luck to them. What I do not like, is that they obtain privileged access (thanks to us the Australian taxpayer), allowed to purchase the sport at less than favourable terms (they did the dodgy backhander with FOX that saw Ten and Seven back off), and then whilst "in the business", thrash and devalue our sport in the process.. The way you come on here, lie and manipulate the truth (to whatever end) is trolling in my book. You lied about the coverage starting at 10.30pm (game delay times are very relevant in the 21st Century when we are able to access information 24/7- real time), you insinuate that News Limited actively promote the game south of the border, you use dodgy statements with respect to crowd numbers and continue to hound CC and myself with untruths. Honestly, I'm beginning to think you either work for Channel Nine or one of the production companies that hang off it. Nine would be irrelevant without sport. They are dying a slow death and watching them lurch from one cash crisis to the next provides me great entertainment.

CC I was wrong he didnt say they were stagnating just not growing which is slightly different "Average 16,000, 1998 average 16,000 Structurally the game is operating as it has historically. But we need to grow our base and appeal to a wider market.” Smith AFR Channel Nine. last Sunday However CC has gone from it didnt happen to a slip of the tongue. Smith blundered because his whole mantra to sponsors should be well we have grown from here (as he later said incorrectly from 1998 where he didnt mention the fallout and low crowds from the SL fallout) now we look forward to growing the game. Monumental blunder. I can only guess at his motives to get something so wrong. Mind you he said he had been following the game since then and yet couldnt identify his namesake cameron Smith????. Too many Rugby Union scrums?.Reminds me of gallop who used to say something like we have had 8 different premiers in 12 years while conveniently counting the 2 premiers in the 1997 in the 2 different competitions in the total. These guys have to be held to account for their hyerbole just as Demetriou and O'Neill (and gallop in his new role) NRL took till now to have an integrity unit when they could have whitewashed all those nasty events of yesteryear like the ben barba outcome recently although news Ltd investigating salary cap at their club Storm is hard to to in whitewash. BTW Boom berates Nine for no HD NRL but Seven doesnt show the AFL in HD but Fox has a point of difference that it does so Nine is not to blame for everything although its always business (rightly to a point) with them.

Then Smith did it as a deliberate act of deceipt,hang him from the yardarm Nomad. No one is allowed to make a verbal mistake,it's an outrage I tell ya. I do agree when you have record crowds in 2005,and the crowds are down on that figure,it's not a good look. I'll back his efforts so far:strategic plan.contacts with Govt to lobby,buying out of Touch football( part of the rl family) and more in the pipeline,a media unit,an integrity unit.

Boom Good grief - Ribot worked for Murdoch. From no NRL games to 8 in Victoria was a good reason to buy Fox (one game replay time is hardly relevant) but it was on much earlier on Fox IMO but we cant prove history. CC Speaking of evidence, this was hardly a slip of the Smith tongue "16K in 1998 we are stagnating" http://www.afr.com/p/business/sunday/nrl_on_track_for_record_surplus_qvo2vkrLp44Z6Lw7xn9q1O

Just to clarify,when the code plays in Europe such as the European Shield,they are all from local clubs.The RLWC is a different animal which has debatable eligibility requirements. If Serbia plays the Ukraine as they do,then it is in effect an International(two countries playing each other).Just as Russia plays Serbia.