EUROPEAN CUP: BBC viewers, deprived of replays of Jonny Wilkinson's World-Cup winning drop-kick after the corporation refused to pay the International Board for the pleasure of broadcasting it, look like seeing nothing of Europe's top club competition.
Sky, having outbid the BBC for coverage of the European Cup, have a three-year broadcasting deal with the tournament's organisers European Rugby Cup.
Sky says it intends to screen 37 live games in the European Cup beginning with Llanelli's home game against Northampton this Friday. There will be five games screened live this weekend alone.
But Sky are bullish about taking the cup from the BBC and there looks like being no highlights package on terrestrial television. Vic Wakeling, the managing director of Sky Sports, said yesterday: "There has been no bid for the highlights." And he denied that the armchair rugby-watching public will be deprived of a Pan European competition which Sky is comparing to football's Champions League.
"The BBC broadcast nine live games through the entire season on Grandstand last season, including the final. We are showing five this weekend alone. I understand the concerns but figures show that some 12.5 million homes in the UK and Ireland have multi-channel TV.
"We can't pretend that this weekend's games will attract the 14 million that watched the World Cup final on ITV but we are very committed to rugby union. And we are not newcomers. We showed our first club match, Bath against Bristol, back in Sepember 1994."
But a BBC spokeswoman denied last night the corporation had not competed for a highlights package.
She said: "We have approached Sky several times but they have decided not to sell any of the broadcast rights."
Twickenham will host the European Cup final next year for the first time since 2000 when Northampton beat Munster 9-8. A then record 68,441 watched that match and the organisers would be very happy with a repeat on Sunday, May 23rd.
It will be the first Sunday European Cup final since the inaugural decider in 1996 when Toulouse beat Cardiff after extra time and follows the policy of the last two season of announcing the final venue at the start of the campaign.
Last season the ERC came under criticism, particularly in France, when two French clubs, Perpignan and Toulouse had to travel to Lansdowne Road to play out the final.
Tickets for the final go on sale today, starting at £25 with a top category priced at £45.
An innovation is the introduction of bonus points on the lines of those in the recent World Cup and in the Premiership.
Teams who score four tries or more in a match, or who lose by seven points or less, will receive a bonus point.
Under the new system there will be four points for a win and two for a draw.
