SOUTH Sydney officials are in negotiations to have their matches televised in the United States this season - but co-owner Russell Crowe wants all clubs to get more exposure and has called on the NRL to put pressure on international rights holder Setanta to broadcast games regularly.

Following the success of last weekend's match against Leeds in Jacksonville, which was given prominence over the build-up to Super Bowl XLII on the cover of Sunday's sport lift-out in the Florida Times-Union newspaper, the Rabbitohs have stepped up discussions with Setanta to televise all their games in the US.

But a frustrated Crowe believes Americans should already be able to watch NRL matches each weekend and wants Setanta to either show the games or allow another broadcaster to.

"Rugby league is not on TV in America, but there is a deal that is already in place that that particular television company is not really taking advantage of," Crowe said as the Rabbitohs departed Jacksonville on their way home. "I think Setanta show one or two games every fortnight. I think Souths got on TV here once last season and that's something the NRL has to examine, because that deal is not good enough.

"There's a thousand TV channels here. You could play it at one o'clock in the morning, who cares? Just get it on TV, get people to see it and get them used to seeing it. That's what happened with AFL, and now they've got quite a fanatical audience."

Souths executive chairman Peter Holmes a Court said talks were ongoing with Setanta and he hoped that the publicity the Australia Day challenge game received in the US - and the 12,000-strong turnout at Hodges Stadium - demonstrated to the pay-television company that the Rabbitohs and rugby league would attract new subscribers.

"Hopefully they will be increasing their broadcasts this year," Holmes a Court said. "Economically, it looks like we've done OK and we will be able to convince people that we should come back. We've helped spread the good word of rugby league all across America. It's been picked up by a whole bunch of media outlets over here."

Coverage of the match featured on television news on Saturday night, while the Times-Union - the state's biggest-selling newspaper - dedicated almost two full broadsheet pages to the match, under the headline: "It's A Crowd Pleaser: Over 12,000 weather rain and gloom to see Rugby League exhibition game."

In the main report, the paper said: "Some crushing hits, a couple of breakaway scores [tries], an on-field skirmish and a second-half rally might have given organisers of Saturday afternoon's Australia Day Challenge exactly what they hoped for - a new crop of rugby league fans."

"We've built a demand and interest in rugby league in Jacksonville," Crowe said. "Hopefully that means that more people jump on the bandwagon for rugby league in this country - and more people jump on the bandwagon of the South Sydney Rabbitohs."

Brad Walter's trip to Florida was funded by South Sydney