Sky Sports continued to cover Engage Super League, Co-operative Championships and Northern Rail Cup matches, with a total of over 100 live games across the season.

Channel programming is essential for success in average audience numbers and the RFL continue to work with Sky Sports for the best broadcast times available for Rugby League. 

The Co-operative Championships’ Rugby League coverage continued to grow on Sky Sports in 2009 with 26 ‘Thursday Night Thrillers’ broadcast live, showing an average increase in viewers of 32.2% over the season. The Engage Super League Grand Final once again grew in broadcast coverage with a record average audience of 355,700. 

Autumn saw the RFL host the first UKbased Four Nations Tournament, with England, Australia, New Zealand and France competing in a round robin tournament over October and November.The tournament was unique in that it was shared by three broadcasters who each took at least one live game. Credit must go to Sky Sports, BBC and Orange France for continually delivering high class pictures with a similar look and feel across the whole tournament.