NFL Rights in Ireland

dulpit

Hey, so i was always under the impression that the rights for the NFL were sold on a UK & Ireland basis, which is why i was well pissed off when channel 5 got the terrestrial rights for the NFL... (cos irish people can't get it)

However, i only found out the other day that it's actually sold on a UK & Ireland basis for satellite (i.e. Sky) but on a separate basis for terrestrial rights (i.e. channel 5 has UK rights, nobody has irish rights..)

Sent an email to the Irish Stations (RTÉ, TV3 & TG4) on Monday.

Sent them all this email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As a big American Football fan with no access to Sky Sports, I was very disappointed when i heard that the terrestrial rights for the NFL went to Channel 5 in the UK, as we cannot receive this in Ireland. However, only recently I found out that these rights are UK only terrestrial rights, so that means that the rights to show the NFL in Ireland are still available.

I am just writing to enquire as to whether or not you have ever considered showing the NFL, generally late on a Sunday or Monday night when not much is on TV as it is. I (and I am sure thousands others) would be delighted if the NFL was available on an Irish station. Is this likely?

I sent that yesterday with little hope of a reply or anything, but surprisingly I received an email from TV3 a few minutes ago:

Dear Sir
Funny you should ask - we are actually considering buying the rights for NFL for TV3.
We'll keep you posted.

Short & sweet, but good news if it comes through...

kensutz

Good work, hopefully they'll sort out something.

dc69

how can they afford them,for an american channel to buy premiership rights would probably cost over 300 million,if they were gona show the amount that sky or setanta show?im presuming either their television rights are cheaper or they will only be showing a few games?

JJ

NFL on TV3, I wouldn't mind that.

I remember when I worked for NTL many moons ago I had an irate caller on the line (one of many) and she was furious that a neighbour of hers had Channel 5 but she didn't. I assured her that NTL did not provide Channel 5 in any of its packages and if her neighbour was receiving it, it didn't come from NTL. She wouldn't be convinced no matter what I said.

I've heard some people in Donegal can receive Channel 5 since they're so close to the North.

irishbucsfan

dc69 wrote:

how can they afford them,for an american channel to buy premiership rights would probably cost over 300 million,if they were gona show the amount that sky or setanta show?im presuming either their television rights are cheaper or they will only be showing a few games?

It doesn't work like that at all. I believe they relate licensing to projected viewing figures of the population, and the Irish NFL watching figures are very low. So Irish terrestrial rights would be dirt cheap in comparison to what the CBS or ESPN have to pay, minimal in fact.

All I can say is, with this lineup on sky and TV3, i might not have to buy NFL game pass this season to see the bucs!

dulpit

I wonder if it would help if people would email tv3 enquiring about it? The more the merrier...

(hint hint)

Smellyirishman

dulpit wrote:

I wonder if it would help if people would email tv3 enquiring about it? The more the merrier...

(hint hint)

Only if you do 90% of the work for us; email address? (hint hint)

Vikings

If this ever does come to pass expect a weekly highlights show and the Super Bowl, no regular season games or playoff games more than likely.

I remember when UTV made a huge deal that they got the rights and turned out to be sweet feck all really.

If you are a fan, suck it up and pay for Sky, there will be 6 games on each week, 7 when there is a Thursday or Saturday game, not to mention all the NFLTA shows... oh and get NASN while youre at it!

BizzyC

NASN is no good for NFL really, great for college football though.

dulpit

Mustangs wrote:

If this ever does come to pass expect a weekly highlights show and the Super Bowl, no regular season games or playoff games more than likely.

I remember when UTV made a huge deal that they got the rights and turned out to be sweet feck all really.

If you are a fan, suck it up and pay for Sky, there will be 6 games on each week, 7 when there is a Thursday or Saturday game, not to mention all the NFLTA shows... oh and get NASN while youre at it!

Well if you look at channel 5, they have Sunday Night & Monday Night football... What ITV had was just for the playoffs the last few years...


As it stands we do have NASN, but not Sky Sports, and I can't afford it either (i'm just a poor old student)

I'd love to have it but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon...

By the way, the email address i used to write to tv3 is: info@tv3.ie I dunno whether i should give out the address of the guy who replied though...

Dodge

there's also sport@tv3.ie

Fair play dulpit. Told you they were seperate

If no other Irish company wants the rights, they'll get them for practically nothing. NFL might look kindly on any queries about them with London coming up.

dulpit

Ok, well if people want to write to them, feel free....

I think i'll head on over to nfluk.com, see if people over there will express an interest...

If more people hassle them, the better chance that they'll pursue it...

GK-LUFC

Just read the thread on NFLUK and this would be so awesome.

If people have a few minutes to spare, it'd certainly be worthwhile e-mailing TV3 with your thoughts, the more people who e-mail stating their interest, the far more likelier they are to follow through with this.

Lets have it!!

info@tv3.ie
-or-
sport@tv3.ie

tallaghtoutlaws

NFL will never go terrestrial in Ireland as none of them can afford it. Setanta was partially bought by ESPN and why they could afford the Premiership. Carlton who owned UTV at the time showed the Bowl and infact still do and once tried to get it off the ground but tried at the wrong time and didn't have Sky as competitors for it so thus made it far cheaper.

Setanta = NASN = ESPN hence why Setanta have grown. They do show the NFL just not in Ireland or UK due to SKy.

Sky are the way to go unfortunate for those who cant afford.

Money talks dudes.

Dodge

tallaghtoutlaws wrote:

NFL will never go terrestrial in Ireland as none of them can afford it. Setanta was partially bought by ESPN and why they could afford the Premiership. Carlton who owned UTV at the time showed the Bowl and infact still do and once tried to get it off the ground but tried at the wrong time and didn't have Sky as competitors for it so thus made it far cheaper.

Setanta = NASN = ESPN hence why Setanta have grown. They do show the NFL just not in Ireland or UK due to SKy.

Sky are the way to go unfortunate for those who cant afford.

Money talks dudes.

YOu've completely got the Setanta thing wrong. Setants sold their share of NASN to ESPN, thats it. The UK premiership rights have nothing to do with it, nor indeed has any other sports broadcast by Setanta Ireland or Setanta UK

And currently the NFL are getting nothing from Irish TV stations. So if they could sell a highlights package (or live games) for a reasonable amount they would. The fee would be about 1/20th of the amount payed by UK companies, but still an increase on the nothing they get now.

tallaghtoutlaws

Dodge wrote:

YOu've completely got the Setanta thing wrong. Setants sold their share of NASN to ESPN, thats it. The UK premiership rights have nothing to do with it, nor indeed has any other sports broadcast by Setanta Ireland or Setanta UK

And currently the NFL are getting nothing from Irish TV stations. So if they could sell a highlights package (or live games) for a reasonable amount they would. The fee would be about 1/20th of the amount payed by UK companies, but still an increase on the nothing they get now.

Friend of mine works for ESPN International. They bought NASN yes and also a share in Setanta as Disney were interested in taking the whole package of Setanta originally but failed to get the full lot so they settled for NASN and a small stake in Setanta. This small share I gaurentee helped Setanta fund their bid as they took 90 odd games off Sky. A large amount worth a fair bit of money.

As for the Irish Channels it costs UTV a fair whack to just get the Superbowl as they compete with Sky. As RTE and Sky compete on the same market in Ireland Via Cable/Satellite Rte would have to go through Sky's Exclusive rights. Now if RTE did get any such programming they can only show it terrestrial meaning any NTL or Sky box wouldn't show it during those periods as happens with C4 on the Irish Sky Digi settings due to Rte's TV rights.

Also as RTE would obviously not feel a market for it because they have probably never market researched it they would not see the potential impact it could have. So unless RTE or TV3 know in their heads the money they do pay is worth a large audience for even just 1 game they wont do it. Oh and there is 2 ways they could set the show up and that is to piggy back US brodcast and commentary or go and find a full Irish crew who know the NFL.

AdMMM

Oh and there is 2 ways they could set the show up and that is to piggy back US brodcast and commentary or go and find a full Irish crew who know the NFL.

I'm assuming that they would merely syndicate the NFL Network feed. It would help keep costs down as well which would be vital if it is to take up a late night slot.

Now if RTE did get any such programming they can only show it terrestrial meaning any NTL or Sky box wouldn't show it during those periods

The NTL box doesn't have this capability so it would be viewable on that, also it wouldn't be that big a deal to switch to the old coat hanger for an aerial system should you have Sky.

As for the Irish Channels it costs UTV a fair whack to just get the Superbowl as they compete with Sky.

UTV don't buy it, they are allowed syndicate the ITV programming.

Setants sold their share of NASN to ESPN, thats it. The UK premiership rights have nothing to do with it

Selling off NASN meant they had money to buy the rights to the Premiership. So ESPN weren't directly involved in helping them purchase the rights but they did contribute significantly to the capital required to snag them away from Sky.

I've heard some people in Donegal can receive Channel 5 since they're so close to the North.

Channel 5 have a deflector transmitting their programming in Wales. People with decent aerials on the east coast of Ireland can sometimes pick up the Channel 5 programming.

Bridan

Nice one, it would be great if the NFL was shown on TV3.
fingers crossed.

Dodge

tallaghtoutlaws wrote:

Friend of mine works for ESPN International. They bought NASN yes and also a share in Setanta as Disney were interested in taking the whole package of Setanta originally but failed to get the full lot so they settled for NASN and a small stake in Setanta.

Sigh, hate name dropping but I know a man in a very high position in Setanta and ESPN money had nothing to do with the expansion of Setanta in the UK. Remember that 2 of the Premiership TV packages had to go to someone other than Sky, and Setanta was the only other bidder.

As for the Irish Channels it costs UTV a fair whack to just get the Superbowl as they compete with Sky. As RTE and Sky compete on the same market in Ireland Via Cable/Satellite Rte would have to go through Sky's Exclusive rights. Now if RTE did get any such programming they can only show it terrestrial meaning any NTL or Sky box wouldn't show it during those periods as happens with C4 on the Irish Sky Digi settings due to Rte's TV rights.

Incorrect. This year both Sky and Channel 5 will be showing Sunday and Monday Night football. RTE would not be blocked as they have the Irish rights to these programmes. Channel 4 is blocked because they have the UK rights. Not to mention the fact NTL don't block any of it. The "fair whack" you speak of isn't relevent here. ITV outbid C5 and possibly C4 for the UK terrestial rights, an Irish station wouldn't be outbidding anybody

Also as RTE would obviously not feel a market for it because they have probably never market researched it they would not see the potential impact it could have. So unless RTE or TV3 know in their heads the money they do pay is worth a large audience for even just 1 game they wont do it

making a few assumptions there but it doesn't take market research to know that this is very much a minority sport in Ireland (as it is in the UK). Remember that the NFL want to spread their word and want as much coverage worldwide as possible. With this in mind, and the lack of interest from other stations, its feasible that a station like TV3 (or TG4) could show NFL highlights in a weekly package.

No Irish or Uk station will straight piggyback US coverage as the amount of ad breaks is obscene, and the simply could sell that much airtime

tallaghtoutlaws

Dodge wrote:

Sigh, hate name dropping but I know a man in a very high position in Setanta and ESPN money had nothing to do with the expansion of Setanta in the UK. Remember that 2 of the Premiership TV packages had to go to someone other than Sky, and Setanta was the only other bidder.


Incorrect. This year both Sky and Channel 5 will be showing Sunday and Monday Night football. RTE would not be blocked as they have the Irish rights to these programmes. Channel 4 is blocked because they have the UK rights. Not to mention the fact NTL don't block any of it. The "fair whack" you speak of isn't relevent here. ITV outbid C5 and possibly C4 for the UK terrestial rights, an Irish station wouldn't be outbidding anybody


making a few assumptions there but it doesn't take market research to know that this is very much a minority sport in Ireland (as it is in the UK). Remember that the NFL want to spread their word and want as much coverage worldwide as possible. With this in mind, and the lack of interest from other stations, its feasible that a station like TV3 (or TG4) could show NFL highlights in a weekly package.

No Irish or Uk station will straight piggyback US coverage as the amount of ad breaks is obscene, and the simply could sell that much airtime

Sigh, hate name dropping but I know a man in a very high position in Setanta and ESPN money had nothing to do with the expansion of Setanta in the UK. Remember that 2 of the Premiership TV packages had to go to someone other than Sky, and Setanta was the only other bidder.

Fair enough if he believes the share ESPN contributd didn't help grow Setanta then fair enough. The guy I know and I hate name dropping is on the Board of ESPN International and my current boss.

The piggyback thing this is what they call using other channels feeds. I never said they wouldn't edit the feed to add their own ads you Assumed I meant that. Sky sports dont forget piggy back the 3 US stations that show the NFL but cut to the studio during the US ad breaks or go for their own ad breaks.

As for the other stuff couldnt be arsed answering you back learnt alot today from my boss on how all the rights work between the UK and Ireland and how C5 obtained the rights along side Sky. But too long winded to retype and im sure it would be contradicted.

Dodge

Only if you talk ****e...

tallaghtoutlaws

Dodge wrote:

Only if you talk ****e...

I will tell the multi millionaire business man with his hand in sports, media and various other ventures around the world that he is wrong and he doesn't know what he is talking about.

Dodge

Relax, I meant to put a smillie in there.

But I believe my friend, and everything I've read oin the subject. You believe your friend

Lets leave it at that...

bobby wade

for many years i watched channel 5 in wexford till i moved and never bothered putting up an aerial

bobby wade

havn't read the whole thread tallaght but why say it would never been shown, surely they could do a highlights programme even like they had before & kinda compliment sky's covergage.

tallaghtoutlaws

bobby wade wrote:

havn't read the whole thread tallaght but why say it would never been shown, surely they could do a highlights programme even like they had before & kinda compliment sky's covergage.

Yes surely they could but in the present tense they probably wont and it may be a few years before Irish Channels feel it is worth while showing. Was talking to the Sports division in RTE there a couple of weeks ago and they know the interest is there but its the magnitude of viewers they need to gaurantee. But heres hoping they jump on the band wagon it would also help the sport here in this country. Thats actually why i was talking to them.

Dodge

Good news lads. The NFL is coming to TV3. Its a bit sketchy on the details but still...

"Also TV3 announces the return of NFL to terrestrial TV in Ireland with exclusive Irish rights to NFL coverage for the coming season including live coverage of the Superbowl from Phoenix, Arizona in February 2008."

http://www.tv3.ie/media.php?action=news&id=123

namloc1980

Dodge wrote:

Good news lads. The NFL is coming to TV3. Its a bit sketchy on the details but still...

"Also TV3 announces the return of NFL to terrestrial TV in Ireland with exclusive Irish rights to NFL coverage for the coming season including live coverage of the Superbowl from Phoenix, Arizona in February 2008."

http://www.tv3.ie/media.php?action=news&id=123

very sketchy on the details seeing as how the season starts in 2 days :eek:

doubt there'll be much more than the superbowl and a few wrap up shows in Dec/Jan. still a step in the right direction

Dodge

Just checked and there's nothing scheduled this weekend

dulpit

I'll send them an email... I reckon what it is is the same as ITV had last year (highlights of playoff games & live coverage of Superbowl)

dulpit

Ok, so I sent an email to the guy who replied to my original email, this is what i received:

Nothing is set in stone but we will probably do weekly highlights and the final live.

I like the way he calls it the final...

I wonder if weekly highlights will be a proper program or 10 minutes on Sports Tonight?

Still, at least it's a start, could blossom into something bigger...

odyssey06

I'll be checking the TV3 listings with a microscope from now on...