Letter to IRFU

CatFromHue

I've typed up a template of a letter for anyone who would like to let the IRFU know of their annoyance/anger at the situation arising in Northern Ireland for the Autumn Internationals which will only be available on Sky up there.

Just copy and paste the below and put in your name and province where it says and email it to info@irishrugby.ie

For the email subject use - Autumn Internationals - Television Rights

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Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you to let you know of my anger and annoyance that the IRFU have made the Autumn International games for Ireland no longer free to air in Northern Ireland. As a “insert province” and Ireland fan I find this very unsettling that the IRFU could do this to one section of Ireland's fan base.

One of the great things about Rugby in Ireland is that it represents all of Ireland no matter which side of the border you live in. This has been much to the benefit of our national team but by restricting the fans in Northern Ireland to only watch Ireland play during the Autumn Internationals on Sky Sports does so much damage to something which makes us strong.

You are not only alienating the Northern Irish fan base but the entire fan base.

I hope you will reflect this change in the words of Ireland’s Call by rewording it to:
“Come the day and come the hour
Come the power and the glory
We have come to answer
Our Country’s call
From the four proud provinces of Ireland……except you guys up North, unless you fork out for a Sky Sports subscription”

Regards,

"Name"

thomond2006

Merci beaucoup, I'll send it now.

TheGoldenAges

Needs more "We are the people and we are the power" stuff..

opinionatedfan

sent

CatFromHue

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Needs more "We are the people and we are the power" stuff..

Haven't you heard of foreplay?

Go softly before you go hard!

Irlandczyk

Done

decisions

Sent.

P_1

Sent but reworked the lyrics slightly to

“Come the day and come the hour
Come the power and the glory
We have come to answer
Our Country’s call
From the four proud provinces of Ireland, except the 6 paying counties of Northern Ireland”

ScissorPaperRock

Sent

Peregrine

Sent

It's a disgrace that only 2/3 of the fans will get to see Autumn Internationals on FTA

freyners

great work cat

MolBee

Sent.

Well done to the IRFU for alienating northern rugby fans and potential northern rugby fans. I'm sure turning on the match just to be greeted with a black screen while the rest of the nation watch their team play is really going to aid in loads of people feeling an interest and affinity with the national side.

awec

Landlords up home will love it.

Sent, with a few additions.

Any more e-mail addresses we can send it to as well?

pc7

Done, I've sent it onto friends to spread the word and email in too.

toomevara

Sent. Well done that man.

aquascrotum

Before I send this...as far as I know RTE is now free to air across all of NI through Freeview (assuming you have a box...) - before the full digital switchover only border areas could get analogue RTE.

Will RTE coverage of these matches be blocked through freeview in order to protect Sky rights (similar to Champions League / Premier Soccer Saturday etc)?

EDIT: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0219/1224330209173.html Answers my question.

Sent.

justsomebloke

aquascrotum wrote: »

Before I send this...as far as I know RTE is now free to air across all of NI through Freeview (assuming you have a box...) - before the full digital switchover only border areas could get analogue RTE.

Will RTE coverage of these matches be blocked through freeview in order to protect Sky rights (similar to Champions League / Premier Soccer Saturday etc)?

According to the first post here it seems the rte freeview signal will be cut.

justsomebloke

pc7 wrote: »

I've sent it onto friends to spread the word and email in too.

Ok in all honesty I can't see this letter campaign making a difference. However if people do want to see something come from it, you really need this campaign to go viral.

So if you do want to make a difference make sure you put this on your facebook, twitter and google+ accounts asking for people to email the irfu and to repost on their accounts.

Those with long standing Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Obviously Ulster forum accounts should be posting on those forums and any other forums they post on asking people there to do the same.

There isn't enough people on boards that will send this so you will need to try and target a much bigger audience if you want to make a difference.

SomeFool

Sent/shared/tweeted
Well done OP

jimbomalley

Done

Blured

Sent there - bit of a shambles from the IRFU

First Up

What planet do you folk live on?

Teferi

First Up wrote: »

What planet do you folk live on?

What's your issue? That people are actually being proactive to a terrible mistake by the IRFU?

How very dare they.

dastardly00

Sent.

dregin

In fairness, the IRFU aren't a charity. If anyone's to blame, it's the BBC for not using license payer's money to secure the rights.

Do the laws in the republic regarding FTA broadcasts of internationals not come into this too? It probably made RTE's bid a lot cheaper since Sky couldn't get their hands on the internationals anyway.

So, the BBC and the British government are to blame.

Grand.

dregin

dregin wrote: »

In fairness, the IRFU aren't a charity. If anyone's to blame, it's the BBC for not using license payer's money to secure the rights.

Do the laws in the republic regarding FTA broadcasts of internationals not come into this too? It probably made RTE's bid a lot cheaper since Sky couldn't get their hands on the internationals anyway.

So, the BBC and the British government are to blame.

Grand.

Do you believe, hand on heart, that RTÉ outbid Sky for the ROI rights?

I imagine that they didn't*, and that the IRFU made the concious decision that giving up €X additional for the sake of the viewers in the ROI was worth it.

Not making that exact same decision when it comes to the viewers in the North is horrendous though.


*rest of the post predicated on this assumption

Larbre34

I know the IRFU are being the greedy ones here but it this not a matter for the UK Government/NI Assembly to designate the Internationals as free-to-air.

The only reason IRFU cant sell the rights to Sky in ROI is because the Minister for Communications has designated Irish rugby Internationals as compulsory free-to-air on an Irish based channel.

Does the NI situation mean that if you receive RTE on cable/satellite in NI that it will be blocked for the duration of the Autumn game broadcasts in a similar way to when ITV3 and ITV4 sports broadcasts are often blocked in ROI? Very dodgy territory commercially and legally if they are....

I suggest you send your excellent letter on to the NI minister for Culture, Carál Ní Chuilín, your local MLAs and MPs and the NI Secretary. The more noise and shame is brought upon the problem the better, it worked on the FAI in the Republic some years ago.

Podge_irl

Ireland November internationals aren't protected in Ireland. The 6N isn't even completely protected, only deferred coverage of it is.

I'm sure sky could have outbid RTÉ too, I have a feeling the IRFU wouldn't have tried that though but thought they'dget aaway with this. No harm in sending a letter/email to them to express displeasure.

Larbre34

Larbre34 wrote: »

I know the IRFU are being the greedy ones here but it this not a matter for the UK Government/NI Assembly to designate the Internationals as free-to-air.

The only reason IRFU cant sell the rights to Sky in ROI is because the Minister for Communications has designated Irish rugby Internationals as compulsory free-to-air on an Irish based channel.

Does the NI situation mean that if you receive RTE on cable/satellite in NI that it will be blocked for the duration of the Autumn game broadcasts in a similar way to when ITV3 and ITV4 sports broadcasts are often blocked in ROI? Very dodgy territory commercially and legally if they are....

I suggest you send your excellent letter on to the NI minister for Culture, Carál Ní Chuilín, your local MLAs and MPs and the NI Secretary. The more noise and shame is brought upon the problem the better, it worked on the FAI in the Republic some years ago.

Live Rugby is not protected.

No mention of Autumn Internationals in the protection remit.

Deferred coverage of the 6N is all that is compulsory FTA.

At the moment, the Deferred coverage is actually Live, but that is not protected (though has been said that the minister would look to intervene if there was an issue)

ArmaniJeanss

dregin wrote: »

Do the laws in the republic regarding FTA broadcasts of internationals not come into this too? It probably made RTE's bid a lot cheaper since Sky couldn't get their hands on the internationals anyway.

The Autumn Internationals aren't on the 'list' for live fta (neither is the 6N).

Its plausible that they exist on an unofficial list though, whereby the IRFU is able to max the price from the Irish stations because of the threat of Sky, but ultimately won't go with Sky because they've been warned that this would result in the games going on the list.

First Up

Teferi wrote: »

What's your issue? That people are actually being proactive to a terrible mistake by the IRFU?

How very dare they.

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

.ak

First Up wrote: »

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

That's not the issue. There isn't a huge amount of international games for Ireland on the calendar, and certainly with ticket prices and availability, not many can make it to the games. So for the majority of people, they can only watch these games on terrestrial TV - and are now being told they have to pay to watch these games when the rest of the island the Union covers gets to watch it for free.

Lyaiera

First Up wrote: »

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

Just because something isn't terrestrial doesn't mean it has to be Sky.

You can get all the main British channels for far less than Sky charge. So that's rugby on BBC Wales, Northern Ireland and BBC Alba and S4C for the Rabo. There's also the ITV highlights for the Premiership. Sure T14, full Premiership games and the S15 rugby would be nice, but a good mix of the Rabo is far more than what basic RTE/TG4 offer.

OldRio

First Up wrote: »

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

7 Games on terrestrial TV this weekend. Not so meager IMHO
Not a penny to Sky.

First Up

OldRio wrote: »

7 Games on terrestrial TV this weekend. Not so meager IMHO
Not a penny to Sky.

That's your choice but griping about subscription TV is so 1980's.

Ah for the good old days when you followed Lions Tests on the radio in the middle of the night. That was so free.

I pay Sky a fortune, and will continue to do so. That is a secondary issue.

The main issue is that the IRFU have (willingly or not) managed to divide their members where no division was previous. What's there for one member should be there for another.

Be it Sky-only for All, or FTA for all.

CatFromHue

justsomebloke wrote: »

Ok in all honesty I can't see this letter campaign making a difference. However if people do want to see something come from it, you really need this campaign to go viral.

So if you do want to make a difference make sure you put this on your facebook, twitter and google+ accounts asking for people to email the irfu and to repost on their accounts.

Those with long standing Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Obviously Ulster forum accounts should be posting on those forums and any other forums they post on asking people there to do the same.

There isn't enough people on boards that will send this so you will need to try and target a much bigger audience if you want to make a difference.

I didn't create the letter to make a difference but to convey my anger and annoyance at the situation. What comes of it I don't know but if I don't register my anger than I know nothing will happen.

I'm not on Facebook, Twitter, or Google + nor do I have an account on Leinster/Connacht/Ulster/Munster fans.com. If anyone wants to post the template on to those sites they can work away.

Teferi

First Up wrote: »

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

You have missed the point entirely. Congratulations.

irishbucsfan

First Up wrote: »

Just wondering how much rugby - or any other sport - you folk watch if you depend on the meager diet offered on terrestrial TV.

I have Sky.

However I watch the vast majority of my rugby every weekend on FTA TV.

For example it might be:

Ulster v. Treviso on a Friday night (BBC NI)
Llanelli V. Leinster on a Saturday afternoon (BBC Wales)
Munster v. Edinburgh on a Sunday evening (BBC Alba).

I live in the UK, but all these channels are available in Ireland. And these games are available on RTE or TG4 there as well.

I do also watch Prem rugby on Sky and will probably follow that to BT Vision. But you can get by as a fan of the Pro 12 with FTA

OldRio

First Up wrote: »

That's your choice but griping about subscription TV is so 1980's.

Ah for the good old days when you followed Lions Tests on the radio in the middle of the night. That was so free.

You made a point about a meager diet of Rugby on terrestrial TV.
I refuted that point and gave examples.

Fish elsewhere.

First Up

OldRio wrote: »

You made a point about a meager diet of Rugby on terrestrial TV.
I refuted that point and gave examples.

Fish elsewhere.

I made a point about the meager diet of sport in general available on FTA TV. Rugby is relatively well covered (if you don't mind missing the Heineken Cup) but you won't see much live anything else. If you want to watch sport on TV, you know where to find it. It isn't the IRFU's fault that NI is part of the UK.

thomond2006

First Up wrote: »

I made a point about the meager diet of sport in general available on FTA TV. Rugby is relatively well covered (if you don't mind missing the Heineken Cup) but you won't see much live anything else. If you want to watch sport on TV, you know where to find it. It isn't the IRFU's fault that NI is part of the UK.

No it's not, but it's within the IRFU's power to make sure that NI fans aren't shortchanged. They have ultimately failed the NI fanbase who cannot afford Sky.

I'm sure Sky would have offered more than RTE to make sure that had exclusivity in both ROI & NI, in that vein the IRFU could be accused of favouritism towards ROI fans and not NI fans.

First Up

thomond2006 wrote: »

No it's not, but it's within the IRFU's power to make sure that NI fans aren't shortchanged. They have ultimately failed the NI fanbase who cannot afford Sky.

I'm sure Sky would have offered more than RTE to make sure that had exclusivity in both ROI & NI, in that vein the IRFU could be accused of favouritism towards ROI fans and not NI fans.

Do you reckon there are many rugby fans in NI who miss out on Ulster's Heineken Cup campaign?

Teferi

First Up wrote: »

Do you reckon there are many rugby fans in NI who miss out on Ulster's Heineken Cup campaign?

Stop.

This isn't about who can afford what channels.

This is about the IRFU selling out a large portion of the fanbase of Irish rugby.

The IRFU should be an all-for-one organisation, all fans of Irish rugby should be able to view their team from the same channel. They have failed an entire province.

irishbucsfan

Teferi wrote: »

Stop.

This isn't about who can afford what channels.

This is about the IRFU selling out a large portion of the fanbase of Irish rugby.

The IRFU should be an all-for-one organisation, all fans of Irish rugby should be able to view their team from the same channel. They have failed an entire province.

Not an ENTIRE province. Only the dodgy part.

(runs away)

First Up

Teferi wrote: »

Stop.

This isn't about who can afford what channels.

This is about the IRFU selling out a large portion of the fanbase of Irish rugby.

The IRFU should be an all-for-one organisation, all fans of Irish rugby should be able to view their team from the same channel. They have failed an entire province.

So they should forsake the sale of UK rights in order that the handful (my estimation) of NI rugby fans who don't have (or have access to) Sky can watch for free?

Get real.

thomond2006

First Up wrote: »

So they should forsake the sale of UK rights in order that the handful (my estimation) of NI rugby fans who don't have (or have access to) Sky can watch for free?

Get real.

They don't have to forsake UK rights, just make a proviso in the contract that RTE doesn't have to geoblock in NI. You get less money from Sky but you don't sell out the NI fans who can't afford Sky (it wouldn't be that much less money if this only applies to a 'handful' of people as you claim).

Get real yourself.

Teferi

First Up wrote: »

So they should forsake the sale of UK rights in order that the handful (my estimation) of NI rugby fans who don't have (or have access to) Sky can watch for free?

Get real.

Again, you've missed the point. Congratulations.

I won't be discussing this with you further.

MolBee

First Up wrote: »

So they should forsake the sale of UK rights in order that the handful (my estimation) of NI rugby fans who don't have (or have access to) Sky can watch for free?

Get real.

The majority of Northern Ireland don't have Sky Sports and the majority who watch international test rugby are casual viewers. So no, not it's not a 'handful', it's a large proportion. The point is that a deal which treats northern viewers less favourably to the rest of Ireland, by a union that is supposed to transcend political boundries is highly cynical, creates desparity and is ultimately to the detriment of exposure and promotion of Irish rugby in Ulster.

First Up

thomond2006 wrote: »

They don't have to forsake UK rights, just make a proviso in the contract that RTE doesn't have to geoblock in NI. You get less money from Sky but you don't sell out the NI fans who can't afford Sky (it wouldn't be that much less money if this only applies to a 'handful' of people as you claim).

Get real yourself.

You are familiar with the process of negotiation of TV broadcast rights are you? Just drop in a proviso and bob's your uncle eh?

Sweet.