Nick Cain: Toulon are a triumph for French TV as well

The most startling statistic to come out of Round 4 of the Heineken Cup was not so much Toulon's nine try, 62-0 annihilation of Sale, but that 2.5m people in France watched the live broadcast of the match on France 2, the national terrestrial channel that is the equivalent of BBC 2.
The France 2 figure released by European Rugby Cup means that Rugby Union had a 19 percent audience share, with one in five viewers nationwide watching the leaders of the Top 14 inflict their heaviest Heineken Cup defeat on the bottom team in the Premiership. Even more remarkably, the interest in “Stade 2”, the one hour long analysis programme that followed the match, stayed at the same level.
It is a sobering and timely reminder to the suits involved in the ERC deadlock between the English and the French on one side, and the Celts and Italians on the other, over the structure of the European Cup and its broadcast rights post-2014, that you still cannot beat a terrestrial television platform when it comes to reaching the widest possible audience.
The improved production values that Sky have brought to Rugby Union coverage in Britain over the last 12 years have been a huge boon – and, even though The Rugby Club is not the required viewing it once was, Sky have forced BBC and ITV to raise their game.
However, the quality of Sky's coverage should not obscure the core issue that the satellite broadcaster is habitually coy about revealing viewer numbers because they are so small compared to their terrestrial rivals.
The Toulon exposure explains why, if the Heineken Cup is to maximise its potential to turn more people onto Rugby Union in the UK, it is imperative that BT Vision, Premiership Rugby's new broadcast partners, finds a terrestrial partner.
The latest news from the broadcast battleline is that BT Vision will launch two subscription channels, BT Sports1 and BT Sports2, which viewers will be able to sign up to directly in the same way as they currently do for ESPN's Premiership coverage. It is likely that the BT Sports channels will be available for current subscribers to the Sky platform for an additional fee.
It also emerged this week that BT Vision have appointed Sunset+Vine, the independent production company behind Channel 4's London 2012 Paralympics coverage, as well as Channel 4's cricket and racing programming, to produce their recently acquired live Premiership rugby and Premier League football portfolio. The three year Sunset+Vine contract is thought to be worth over £100m.
There is also a potential roll-over in terms of personnel and format from ESPN to BT Sports, mainly because ESPN's Premiership Rugby output is another Sunset+Vine production. That could be good news for current front men Mark Durden-Smith, Nick Mullins, Austin Healey and Ben Kay, although improvements that could be made in the transition would be to boost incisive rugby analysis at the expense of in-jokes, as well as jettisoning the open-air forum – with its regular smattering of the face-pullers and the sozzled among the backdrop of fans – for a studio.
As for a terrestrial partner, although Sunset+ Vine's track-record does not guarantee that it will be Channel 4, the odds on their involvement will have shortened significantly. However, ITV has also been mooted, with its extensive ITV 2, 3 and 4 platform, as has Channel 5.
The amount of live club matches a terrestrial broadcaster is allocated is a critical factor in attracting and building an audience for both domestic and Heineken Cup rugby, as France 2 has shown.
The early indicators are that under the new agreement between Premiership Rugby and BT Vision they will cover 10 matches a season from the 22 regular league matches and 9 Heineken Cup games.
Given that there have been no live club matches on terrestrial television in England for a decade or more, having them screened on 10 weekends out of 31 is not the worst start.
However, if the interest and the audience is to grow, it will have to be an even more regular fixture on terrestrial television.