Satellite broadcasting and match attendance: the case of rugby league

Abstract

A recent development in the UK television industry has been the emergence of satellite and cable broadcasting. We examine the entrance of the BSkyB satellite network into the coverage of the first division of the rugby football league over the 1993–94 season. This paper extends the familiar model of sport attendance to incorporate the live television transmission of games which is found to exert a negative influence on attendance. Our result suggests considerable scope for future research in this neglected aspect of the factors affecting sport attendance.