LONG READ Dissenting voices mask the fact rugby fans can watch more live footage than ever

English rugby fans currently enjoying the coverage of the Rugby Championship on Sky Sports had better not allow themselves to become too comfortable in their choice of channel.

Anyone who wants to absorb every last cough and spit of rugby over the coming season will need to hot-foot it from Sky to TNT for the Premiership and autumn Tests then Premier Sports for Europe and BBC and ITV for the Six Nations.  Roll on into next summer it will be back to Sky for the Lions tour to Australia. And that is before we even consider the women’s game.

It will be a test of mental bandwidth as well as wallet depth to keep across it all.

Times have changed since Rugby Special’s jangling theme tune provided a pied piper summons to a convenient BBC-shaped space for the game.

Judging by the knee-jerk reaction to the new Premier Sports deal which has fractured an already splintered viewing landscape still further, there are a proportion of rugby fans – a significant one – who would prefer it if rugby could turn back the clock.

That horse has long since bolted.

The altered reality may be hard for some to handle but in terms of live rugby oval-ball followers have never had it so good.

All 63 Champions Cup ties will be screened live next season as part of the Premier Sports rights arrangement as will all 93 Premiership matches. It wasn’t long ago that armchair Premiership supporters would have been rationed to one match per weekend.

Viewers are drowning in live rugby.

It is true that, in England, Premier Sports are a relatively small player in the market at the moment but the capture of European rugby will see an uplift in their number of subscribers. That is obviously the intention.

And competition is good. It raises standards all round.

Premier Sports are already experienced operators in the rugby market, screening the United Rugby Championship and the Top 14 as well as the Challenge Cup. They know the lie of the land.

Those railing against the migration of European rugby coverage to its new home have short memories.

There was a similar outcry when what was then the Heineken Cup first went from Sky to a shared arrangement with BT Sport before moving lock, stock and barrel to what is now TNT.

The arguments were broadly similar – a reduced reach, concerns over a drop in quality and the need to shell out to another provider.

That change turned out fine and there is no reason why this one won’t either. It is not as if EPCR have handed over the rights to some bloke in the service station car park flogging TVs from a van.

Premier Sports are already experienced operators in the rugby market, screening the United Rugby Championship and the Top 14 as well as the Challenge Cup. They know the lie of the land.

Their challenge is to make their production as slick as we have come to expect from TNT.

Premier Sports can sometimes feel a little bit like a no-frills airline. Having outbid TNT for the rights, they now need to find enough from behind the sofa to make the show a business class experience.

While Premier Sports already have the likes of John Barclay and Tom Shanklin on board their punditry team, they need to add a compelling English voice or two ahead of the first round of European games in December.

If they want to add some gravitas the first call should be to Miles Harrison to lead the commentary team.

The second should be to David Flatman. Insightful as a scrum interpreter, he has a naturally light touch to his co-commentary that sets him apart.

Whatever the team Premier Sports ends up assembling, it will certainly make for a less alien landing zone for rugby fans than Amazon Prime whose three-year stewardship of the autumn Tests ended last November.

Even a streaming service proved OK in the end though. Rugby fans evolved their viewing habits and adapted.

Premier Sports’ commitment to avoid kick-off clashes with top-level English football matches under their stewardship of the kind which saw viewers have to choose between either the Champions Cup final or the FA Cup final last season is welcome.

Change can be unsettling and we all love a moan but this deal really isn’t as bad as has been made out.

The bill for new viewers in England will be £10.99 a month. No one enjoys paying extra but the price – the equivalent of a bad haircut – seems reasonable.

The URC will be included as part of the deal as well as the new 24/7 rugby channel Premier Sports will be creating.

It is not as if viewers are being asked to swim the channel to watch a game. It is literally a case of pressing a different button on the remote.

For Premier Sports this capture represents a smart piece of business. European rugby – well Champions Cup rugby anyway – remains one of the great creations of the professional era.

If the dominance of the French clubs in terms of the Gallic parade of champions is a concern, it remains a highly competitive tournament, one which delivers atmosphere, drama and quality.

Last season’s final between Toulouse and Leinster was in all but name,  an international match of the highest quality.

Premier Sports’ commitment to avoid kick-off clashes with top-level English football matches under their stewardship of the kind which saw viewers have to choose between either the Champions Cup final or the FA Cup final last season is welcome.

There is one other commitment they should make too – to allow some games to be screened terrestrially in England.

There is dispensation for one Welsh game per week to be shown on S4C and one Irish one on RTE in the first year of the deal. If something similar could be negotiated for the English market it would be of mutual benefit.

A handful on ITV, BBC or Channel 4 would give club rugby a bigger shop window and also provide an advertisement for Premier Sports’ offering.

Contrary to some of the hysterical over-reaction, the Champions Cup will not suddenly disappear into some black hole never to escape the event horizon. It will still be out there, it will still be visible and it will still be terrific.

That would be a win-win.

For the moment feathers have been ruffled by the new arrangements but 12 months down the track no-one will be batting an eyelid.

Contrary to some of the hysterical over-reaction, the Champions Cup will not suddenly disappear into some black hole never to escape the event horizon.

It will still be out there, it will still be visible and it will still be terrific.