A message from BBC Radio Berkshire

[ellpryjon]

Tainted by who? A couple of hundred RFC fans on an internet message board? 107 will offer a more attractive proposal for businesses looking to advertise as they would expect more people to switch on and listen and their product would be associated to a higher quality brand in the Premiership. Simple business sense.

It will be more than a few hundred im guessing, word of mouth and all that.

But who would be listening those same RFC fans ?

[Huntley & Palmer]

So you are telling me that people that can't make the home/away game will boycott 107 in their thousands and simply not listen to the commentary? I think not.

[ellpryjon]

So you are telling me that people that can't make the home/away game will boycott 107 in their thousands and simply not listen to the commentary? I think not.

that was not my point.

would those listeners(who used to listen to BBCRB) hold any resentment towards 107 or any of its commercial partners.

too much of a risk i would think

[RoyalBlue]

So you are telling me that people that can't make the home/away game will boycott 107 in their thousands and simply not listen to the commentary? I think not.

Regardless of any potential boycott, and I believe a fair number of supporters will out of principle, surely the point is that the area covered by their transmitter is so small and the potential audience so specialist that there will be precious few listeners. This means that no advertisers in their right mind will pay big bucks for the privilege of advertising on 107 during matches.

Added to that you do have the risk that businesses may be tainted by advertising on a station that is so disliked by the supporters.

[Platypuss]

One thing I still don't get is the exclusivity - 107 "apparently" won the bid for exclusive rights to live commentary by "paying" 100k (say).

Surely now that access would be shared, the value to each party is reduced - so why should Mr Mad be expecting BBCRB to match that figure (or come near to it?).

Correspondingly, shouldn't 107 be asking for a reduction in their fee due to the dilution of its value?

[Huntley & Palmer]

The number of listeners for live commentary would be a valid arguement if 107FM was a publicly funded radio station fighting for the rights, as it stands people will have no choice but to listen to 107 commentary or go without. Therefore the advertising would still flood in to be associated with a Premiership club, nothing to do with the fans.

All JM is doing is increasing another revenue stream for the club to make it even more viable to sell. They are only interested in making money, as we all know from recent seasons.

JM's statement of people having to pay him a pound extra each to have BBCRB have the commentary is testament to this.

[Hoop Blah]

One thing I still don't get is the exclusivity - 107 "apparently" won the bid for exclusive rights to live commentary by "paying" 100k (say).

Surely now that access would be shared, the value to each party is reduced - so why should Mr Mad be expecting BBCRB to match that figure (or come near to it?).

Correspondingly, shouldn't 107 be asking for a reduction in their fee due to the dilution of its value?

One wonders why it had to be exclusive rights? Why not have both 107 and Auntie pay 50 grand each? The club gets their 100k and we get two radio stations providing friendly rivalry with their coverage - wins all round methinks.

By the sounds of things the price 107 have paid isn't for the exclusive rights. If it was then this really would be a dead debate as the BBC wouldn't be able to match the price and gain rights after 107 have agreed the deal for exclusivity.

I'm guessing, but I think they've announced it as exclusive because nobody else was willing to pay the price set by the club for radio coverage and so as a result 107 have ended up with 'exclusive' coverage.

Due to Mr Mad's presence as owner of both RFC and 107, I can think we can assume two things:

1. The "price" 107 paid is meaningless
2. The "contract" 107 signed up to is meaningless.

Hope that helps to answer your own question.

[zac naloen]

So you are telling me that people that can't make the home/away game will boycott 107 in their thousands and simply not listen to the commentary? I think not.

I think your missing the point, I'm a student. I study in southampton and can very rarely get back for matches. In fact this will probably impossible this season without borrowing my dads season ticket which he'll need himself, especially if the Team are doing well. I can get BBC berks in southampton, barely. I have no hope in hell of getting 107. For me its not a case of boycotting, its an impossibility.

Add to that, 107 was absolutely rubbish anyway, where was the post match analysis? Fan phone ins? etc etc. non-existant they just went straight to music.

[Platypuss]

One thing I still don't get is the exclusivity - 107 "apparently" won the bid for exclusive rights to live commentary by "paying" 100k (say).

Surely now that access would be shared, the value to each party is reduced - so why should Mr Mad be expecting BBCRB to match that figure (or come near to it?).

Correspondingly, shouldn't 107 be asking for a reduction in their fee due to the dilution of its value?

One wonders why it had to be exclusive rights? Why not have both 107 and Auntie pay 50 grand each? The club gets their 100k and we get two radio stations providing friendly rivalry with their coverage - wins all round methinks.

By the sounds of things the price 107 have paid isn't for the exclusive rights. If it was then this really would be a dead debate as the BBC wouldn't be able to match the price and gain rights after 107 have agreed the deal for exclusivity.

I'm guessing, but I think they've announced it as exclusive because nobody else was willing to pay the price set by the club for radio coverage and so as a result 107 have ended up with 'exclusive' coverage.

Due to Mr Mad's presence as owner of both RFC and 107, I can think we can assume two things:

1. The "price" 107 paid is meaningless
2. The "contract" 107 signed up to is meaningless.

Hope that helps to answer your own question.

Basic introduction to rhetorical questions 101!

[Gav]

Add to that, 107 was absolutely rubbish anyway, where was the post match analysis? Fan phone ins? etc etc. non-existant they just went straight to music.

At Uni in Cardiff, I used to listen to 107 on Reading World...

Total, total, total crap.

[Fubar]

I've just sent JM a cheque for £1.00 with a note that says, "Here's my pound, you greedy b*st*rd!" !!

idiot.

And here's me thinking that it was just Americans who didn't understand irony..

[Fubar]

I've just sent JM a cheque for £1.00 with a note that says, "Here's my pound, you greedy b*st*rd!" !!

no you haven't...

You're right. I sent him the price of a season ticket.

[RoyalBlue]

The number of listeners for live commentary would be a valid arguement if 107FM was a publicly funded radio station fighting for the rights, as it stands people will have no choice but to listen to 107 commentary or go without. Therefore the advertising would still flood in to be associated with a Premiership club, nothing to do with the fans.

As I said, I believe some may choose to go without on a point of principle. Even if they don't, no-one is going to pay a fortune to advertise on a radio station/during programmes with just a few thousand listeners!

[bigmike]

I dont really understand why this has annoyed me so much I very rarely listen to reading games on the radio unless I am at work and I have reading world for that pupose.

Maybe its because my local team when I was in Scotland when they got in to Europe for one season actually paid some money towards fans who were not as well off to travel to the away fixtures. As it was that was only one game against Monaco but it seems that the board at Reading have forgotten about the loyal fans and thought lets just scrape as much money as possible out of them. All the stuff about the season ticket prices going up by more than 50% new shirts every season since we got to the play off final against Walsall and many other money making scams. Now they are penalising the fans who possibly cannot afford to travel by putting the comentary on a radio station that they cannot hear.

The people who make the decisions need to realise that the fans will be at reading after they move on to something else.

It just seems to me that the club dont really care who supports the team any more as long as they get as much of their money as possible. But hey ho I guess thats the way football is now I blame Jimmy Hill and his campaign for the removal of wage caps It all can be traced back to him

[Custard Cream]

I thing using his own radio station and the fans' moans to try and get a better deal for the Club, and be seen to be appeasing the fans at the same time, is clever work by our Chairman

[Hoop Blah]

Basic introduction to rhetorical questions 101!

Rhetorical questions are those you don't want an answer to, not those you answer yourself.

They also don't work very well on a discussion forum!

[Platypuss]

Basic introduction to rhetorical questions 101!

Rhetorical questions are those you don't want an answer to, not those you answer yourself.

They also don't work very well on a discussion forum!

Rhetorical questions are ones that don't need an answer - they answer themselves or just encourage the reader to think about the situation.

[Wycombe Royal]

Next subject today children is maths where we will be studying quadratic equations.

[Huntley & Palmer]

The number of listeners for live commentary would be a valid arguement if 107FM was a publicly funded radio station fighting for the rights, as it stands people will have no choice but to listen to 107 commentary or go without. Therefore the advertising would still flood in to be associated with a Premiership club, nothing to do with the fans.

As I said, I believe some may choose to go without on a point of principle. Even if they don't, no-one is going to pay a fortune to advertise on a radio station/during programmes with just a few thousand listeners!

They cost to advertise will be considerably higher than it was in the Championship. Hence why BBCRB didn't have a shout, it's money for old rope

[TFF]

The number of listeners for live commentary would be a valid arguement if 107FM was a publicly funded radio station fighting for the rights, as it stands people will have no choice but to listen to 107 commentary or go without. Therefore the advertising would still flood in to be associated with a Premiership club, nothing to do with the fans.

As I said, I believe some may choose to go without on a point of principle. Even if they don't, no-one is going to pay a fortune to advertise on a radio station/during programmes with just a few thousand listeners!

Advertising on 107 makes sense for a lot of Reading businesses. What is the point of, for example, the Sardar Palace advertising on 2-ten and reaching people in Newbury or Basingstoke?

If the target audience, perhaps Reading based lager swilling curry fiends, are likely to tune into the football they will pay a premium for matchday advertising.

EDIT: As unhappy as I am with the situation I won't "go without" for away games on principle. If we're not on Five Live I'll tune in to 107 (I'm just within catchment) for the commentary but pre-match, halftime and post-match will be advert free on BBCRB with Joel and Tim!