Is it too much to ask of Sky in return for our subscription ?

Liam Byrne

Is it too much to ask of Sky in return for our subscription for their rugby commentary to be neutral ? Or maybe even to have a separate Munster-focussed commentary team for Irish viewers ?

Aside from the stupid pronunciations of player names, their commentary is very definitely focussed for the UK, and it's VERY annoying!

Surely if they're prepared to spend money to buy the rights in order to get our money, the least they could do is either be neutral or have an Irish commentary team ?

tommyboy2222

Did they not say that Munster was the bestest team in the world with the bestest fans in the world enough times tonight?

amacachi

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Is it too much to ask of Sky in return for our subscription for their rugby commentary to be neutral ? Or maybe even to have a separate Munster-focussed commentary team for Irish viewers ?

Aside from the stupid pronunciations of player names, their commentary is very definitely focussed for the UK, and it's VERY annoying!

Surely if they're prepared to spend money to buy the rights in order to get our money, the least they could do is either be neutral or have an Irish commentary team ?

Are you taking the piss or what? Give Irish viewers the same options as the british viewers? So hiring a whole extra team to cover the matches for what I would guess is at most 15% of their viewership? Cop on son.

Liam Byrne

amacachi wrote: »

Are you taking the piss or what? Give Irish viewers the same options as the british viewers? So hiring a whole extra team to cover the matches for what I would guess is at most 15% of their viewership? Cop on son.

No, I'm not taking the piss, and I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from the patronising "cop on son" comments.

It wouldn't be a "whole extra team" - just commentators (and maybe even studio staff, but commentators would do because Sky's studio stuff is woeful by comparison to RTE's anyway). They have the broadcast and camera crew already.

That 15% of their viewership is precisely why they bought the Irish rights to televise the matches live, so it's obviously worth their while in that regard. And we're paying even higher subscriptions than the UK viewers, and as such we're entitled to a proper service. If they're not prepared to provide the service, the ERC should give the matches to back to RTE who would (and did, until outbid). We might only be 15% of their viewers, but those 15% subscriptions should be as valid as the UK ones.

There were plenty of comments like "unfortunately it's too late for Sale to come back", etc, and it's crap.....why the "unfortunately" ?

The only reason Sky take these matches is to get more Irish subscriptions, and it's not too much to ask that they pronounce players' names properly and avoid showing a bias towards the English teams; the fact that the same commentary is being broadcast to the UK means that they don't bother their arse doing this, and are happy to take our cash regardless.

dulpit

I don't care that much that Sky are biased towards the English teams when they are playing the likes of Munster, after all they are based in England. What pisses me off is when all the English teams get knocked out and Munster are left in it, they row in behind them and go on about how great they are (etc.)



Oh, and is it that hard to pronounce O'Callaghan???

amacachi

Liam Byrne wrote: »

No, I'm not taking the piss, and I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from the patronising "cop on son" comments.

It wouldn't be a "whole extra team" - just commentators (and maybe even studio staff, but commentators would do because Sky's studio stuff is woeful by comparison to RTE's anyway). They have the broadcast and camera crew already.

That 15% of their viewership is precisely why they bought the Irish rights to televise the matches live, so it's obviously worth their while in that regard. And we're paying even higher subscriptions than the UK viewers, and as such we're entitled to a proper service. If they're not prepared to provide the service, the ERC should give the matches to back to RTE who would (and did, until outbid). We might only be 15% of their viewers, but those 15% subscriptions should be as valid as the UK ones.

There were plenty of comments like "unfortunately it's too late for Sale to come back", etc, and it's crap.....why the "unfortunately" ?

The only reason Sky take these matches is to get more Irish subscriptions, and it's not too much to ask that they pronounce players' names properly and avoid showing a bias towards the English teams; the fact that the same commentary is being broadcast to the UK means that they don't bother their arse doing this, and are happy to take our cash regardless.

Sorry about that, the "cop on son" was unnecessary.

TBH I've noticed shag all bias, in the Super League commentary, for example, they will almost always talk as if they want the team trailing to make a comeback, which is how that statement up there reads. Am I not right in thinking there was an irishman involved in the commentary for the Munster match and that annoying Norn Ironer was commentating on the Leinster match?

Still though, can't see Sky laying out extra money for something that will make almost no difference to the ratings.

That_Guy

If you want some neutral(ish) commentary then I recommend Setanta for your rugby.

Sky isn't always bias towards English teams.
They also show international qualifiers with Jim Beglin nearly always commentating during the Ireland football matches.

Maybe it's just rugby which is like that.

RONOC08

That_Guy wrote: »

If you want some neutral(ish) commentary then I recommend Setanta for your rugby.

ye but i find ther setanta coverage team to be boring and dull
any1 else wanna kill stuart barnes on sky sometimes?
its so funny because if u listen they all havent a clue about the munster pack they just say o'connell and co all the time:rolleyes:

Liam Byrne

Ah yes - Setanta......the crowd that reckon there's someone called Donnerka O'Caller-gan playing for Munster, and miss trys during their replays..... :P

Deedsie

I do agree with the pronunciation of names. How is it they have no problem with premiership soccer players like Abonglahor but the name Donnacha is to hard to get around?

Tómas - Thomas... etc...