The Guinness Premiership is feeling no effects of the slowdown in the economy. Its pre-season launch was held yesterday in the ostentatious splendour of a Park Lane hotel, two new commercial partners have come on board, including the chain that owns the hotel, while a third has renewed its deal for another four years.

In addition, the Premiership has found a terrestrial outlet with ITV4 showing an hour-long highlights programme on the Sunday of every league round, repeated on ITV1 the following Tuesday. Not even the threat of the experimental law variations, designed in part to drag the English game away from a perceived obsession with rolling mauls and penalty kicks at goal, could dampen the upbeat mood in the run-up to the first round of matches on Saturday week.

"These are tough economic times for some, but backers will always relate to quality and success," said Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premier Rugby. "Sponsors have seen the way we have developed as a competition and we are delighted to have found the regular slot on terrestrial television we have long been looking for."

For the first time since he took over in 2005, McCafferty can enjoy the start of the season without being engaged in an arm-wrestle with Twickenham. The clubs and the Rugby Football Union's agreement on the management of elite players came into force last month and a review of its progress will be conducted in December.

"By then, we will have had the November internationals and rounds of the European and Anglo-Welsh competitions," said McCafferty. "What is significant is that the success of the agreement will be measured not by just how England are doing but how the clubs are faring. We only won one out of three cross-border tournaments last season and want to put that right."

That was Bath's success in the European Challenge Cup, a competition that is set for an overhaul with English clubs prevailing in seven of the last eight seasons. "Our view is that Europe needs a second tournament, but a stronger one than we currently have," said McCafferty. "One idea currently being looked at is whether to include some of the early fallers in the Heineken Cup playing in the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup.

"Last season, that would have meant the likes of Wasps, Leicester, Biarritz and Llanelli Scarlets, all big brands, continuing their European campaigns. It is something football does after the group stage of the Champions League with third-placed teams going into the Uefa Cup. It is an idea worth exploring."

The Anglo-Welsh Cup is in its final season in its current form. The agreement with the RFU means the Premiership clubs are looking for a tournament to be played in the months of November, February and March, when players are away on international duty and clubs will take a break from the Premiership campaign.

"The emphasis will be on development, but there are only 32 players in the elite England squad so it will not be a tournament short on quality," added McCafferty. "We are talking with Wales and I think there will be scope for clubs from our first division and the Welsh Premiership to take part as we look to expand the game."

Last season's Premiership was the most notable in terms of attacking play. Ian McGeechan, director of rugby at the Premiership champions, Wasps, is confident the experimental law variations will not lead to a drop in standards despite the generally acknowledged drop in quality in this season's Tri-Nations.

While Saracens' new director of rugby, Eddie Jones, has publicly wondered if the variations had been pulled out of a cereal packet by the International Rugby Board, McGeechan said: "I have been speaking to coaches in South Africa this summer and I do not think the variations will lead to a change in the game's core values."