RTE prevented Snooker being shown in UK

stuartfanning

British Eurosport had intended to show the Irish Masters snooker, but were prevented by the host broadcaster and UK rights holder RTE.

This was Eurosport's reply:
We must apologise for the mis-information about whether or not we were showing snooker at this time. Originally snooker was scheduled to be shown, however on late last week it became apparent that the Irish TV station RTE (who own the UK rights for this competition) would not allow British Eurosport to broadcast the event. Unfortunately by this time all information had been sent to the press and the snooker was listed in all TV guides.

So the UK ended up with no coverage at all of the Citywest Irish Masters. Anyone have an idea on the reason for RTE's decision?

Originally posted by stuartfanning
. Anyone have an idea on the reason for RTE's decision?

Probably because British Eurosport is on the sky digital family pack as is RTÉ.
So they didn't want 300,000 plus homes in the Republic having a choice of where to watch it, and the advertisers complaining.
Seems like a case of RTÉ catching the tv3 disease there ( where the latter don't want utv on sky in the ROI because they show a lot of the same programmes...)

Yerac

There's a decision that made so much sense again, you know considering RTE made such room in their schedule for the snooker too and didn't confine most of it until after News2 (11:30 ish).

Satellite thread moved to broadcasting and merged with existing thread.

John R

It was barely watchable anyway, why RTE cannot properly frame a snooker table is beyond me.

celticfc

RTÉ's coverage was pretty useless alright, ie. very little live snooker, they didn't start their coverage until the wednesday & they only showed part of the 1st session of the final. :mad:

Eurosport's (planned) scheduling was pretty good however, with a lot of it being showed live. Just a pity they didn't get the chance to show it.

GreenHell

RTE should be banned from showing snooker, god I watched in twice on RTE each time falling asleep, at least when BBC show snooker they try and jazz it up a bit.

leeroybrown

RTE's coverage was irritating alright. The angle the camera was mounted at could have been better and also the score display. It's only a small thing but it's very annoying when you change the channel to a match and have to wait what seems like an age for them to display the score.

celticfc

Originally posted by GreenHell
RTE should be banned from showing snooker, god I watched in twice on RTE each time falling asleep, at least when BBC show snooker they try and jazz it up a bit.

If only the BBC would show more live snooker instead of always showing highlights & pre-recorded stuff during the day.

leeroybrown

Ultimately I suppose it's just a case of RTE protecting thier little fiefdom.

Mossy Monk

what a childish thing for RTÉ to do

the UK rights should be stripped from them tbh

celticfc

Well it seems that World Snooker has signed a brand new 3 year deal with Eurosport (See here) which covers 200 hours of coverage. It doesn't however mention anything about the Irish Masters being included in that deal:

SNOOKER TO BE BEAMED TO 95 MILLION HOMES

World Snooker is delighted to announce a new three-year deal with Eurosport which will bring snooker to many millions of fans across Europe and beyond.


The deal covers 200 hours of broadcasting for World Snooker tournaments. The peak figure for viewing snooker on Eurosport is an estimated 15 million.
A spokesman for World Snooker said: “This is excellent news for the sport. The deal will bring us a footprint into 51 different territories, with a reach of 95 million homes across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

“Snooker’s popularity on a global scale is increasingly rapidly and this will assist us in our goal to bring the game to new audiences. Moving into so many territories will also open up new markets for potential sponsors.”

stuartfanning

Re the Eurosport/World Snooker deal. It doesn't say whether it includes British Eurosport. I suspect it doesn't.

watty

Well German Commentary Digital Eurosport is FTA

How much commentary do you need? For me and Snooker, none is fine.