In terms of Rugby, I think it was a major Factor in the UK Football Division 1 becoming the "Premier League" which has certainly helped them to retain more rights to the name
I have heard though that France was extremely slow to take to the Internet at all for many years, because they had their own previous system which was a bit like our old Ceefax but much better, so they were very late to adopt the Internet at all until it had already become quite well established. It might not be true, but it's interesting to think about!