Why don't TG4 use second audio stream in English ?

Strawberry HillBilly

I know TG4 are the Gaelige champion station but I think they are missing a trick and audiences by not have second audio feed in English for the likes of GAA and Rugbai Beo.

Surely they would get bigger audiences and advertising by giving the choice, even if the default commentary is still as Gaelige.

BQQ

irishgrover

How is this a face palm post? Is it because you believe that having a duel language output would go against the ethos of "learning Irish" or being an Irish channel for the few thousand native Irish speakers...?
Having a duel audio feed could help especially for sport. Whenever their is rugby on and if it's on BBC Wales or Scotland then I'll watch it their through their secondary English audio feed

brick man

I watched the Leinster v Glasgow Warriors game on Friday night on BBC2 Scotland on Freesat simply because of English commentary . I would much prefer to watch on TG4 and support our own station but my Irish is poor . It would be great if they done a second audio but I'd say its like everything it is down to cost. I must email them and see what they say

glic83

I agree with the above posts would be great if they had a second audio option like S4C and bbc alba do also.

Elmo

I disagree. The channel has enough costs without adding dual audio.

TG4 audience for sport are possibly as good as they can be for sporting events even in English (Over 100,000 on most occassions). I'd say TV3 and UTV Ireland are missing a trick by not investing in such sports.

Sport is there to be watched does it really matter what language the commentary is in? Names are the same, you can probably count As Geailge and all of the graphics remain the same no matter the language.

IMO TG4 should move to provide graphics in English that relate to the Irish language commentary e.g. Goal/Cúl no rúd mar sin.

twinklerunner

brick man wrote: »

I watched the Leinster v Glasgow Warriors game on Friday night on BBC2 Scotland on Freesat simply because of English commentary . I would much prefer to watch on TG4 and support our own station but my Irish is poor . It would be great if they done a second audio but I'd say its like everything it is down to cost. I must email them and see what they say

I did the same. Mind you, that Scottish commentator wasn't great .. getting player's names wrong etc. I agree though that it was nice to have the commentary in English.

Sam Russell

I would prefer the second audio stream was without the commentator - just the crowd and referee. I can see for myself what is happening particularly if it is in HD.

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

I disagree. The channel has enough costs without adding dual audio.
.

The costs would be offset by the increase in revenue due to an increase in audience figures.

In the past TG4 have said that it was not technically possible to have dual audio.......

brick man

twinklerunner wrote:

I did the same. Mind you, that Scottish commentator wasn't great .. getting player's names wrong etc. I agree though that it was nice to have the commentary in English.

Yes and he was saying Irish players instead of Leinster and Tg4 would have bigger audience if they had English commentary option.

Elmo

brick man wrote: »

Yes and he was saying Irish players instead of Leinster and Tg4 would have bigger audience if they had English commentary option.

Even when RTÉ2 broadcast the Pro12 League it attained the same amount of viewers as TG4.

glic83

Elmo wrote: »

Even when RTÉ2 broadcast the Pro12 League it attained the same amount of viewers as TG4.

Most people have said in this thread that they watch it elsewhere for English commentary rather than on TG4 where possible if they had the 2 audio option this might not be the case.

Elmo

glic83 wrote: »

Most people have said in this thread that they watch it elsewhere for English commentary rather than on TG4 where possible if they had the 2 audio option this might not be the case.

This is one very short thread, many people watch sports on the UK channels even when broadcast by RTÉ/TV3 this isn't unusual, others will opt for UK broadcasters as they are available on whatever platform in HD. TG4 is only available in HD on UPC.

Indeed perhaps TV3 should have a second audio from ITV for their champion leagues coverage.

dublinman1990

I would like to have a second audio option for rugby match commentary streams on TG4. There is another thing though; the picture quality on BBC 2 Nations and BBC Alba showing the rugby on Free Satellite is also marginally better than TG4 on Saorview.

glic83

Elmo wrote: »

This is one very short thread, many people watch sports on the UK channels even when broadcast by RTÉ/TV3 this isn't unusual, others will opt for UK broadcasters as they are available on whatever platform in HD. TG4 is only available in HD on UPC.

Indeed perhaps TV3 should have a second audio from ITV for their champion leagues coverage.

Fair enough, it is a short thread and I can only speak for myself here when I say that I watch it elsewhere in sd instead of hd on upc for the 2nd audio option, but surely this would be in TG4's favour if they could add this option.

brick man

Elmo wrote:

Even when RTÉ2 broadcast the Pro12 League it attained the same amount of viewers as TG4.

RTE usually had double to treble TG4 viewing figures as I remember

Elmo

brick man wrote: »

RTE usually had double to treble TG4 viewing figures as I remember

I remember them both getting between 150,000 and 250,000 (neither get above 200,000 all that often). The final on both channels, RTÉ2 won - in fairness though.

Brings me back to why TV3 and UTV Ireland seem to take no interest in the sports that TG4 provide!

brick man

Elmo wrote:

Brings me back to why TV3 and UTV Ireland seem to take no interest in the sports that TG4 provide!

The only thing they are interested in is soaps cheap reality tripe and studio based programmes

salmocab

I like watching games on TG4. don't understand a word but sometimes its better to not know what they are saying than to hear and get annoyed at the utter tripe that some commentators spout. I know I could turn the volume down but it seems odd not being able to hear the crowd.

An Ciarraioch

Interestingly, even though Wales only has two major sports, S4C's viewing figures (63k) are still below TG4's, despite the English audio channel. Of course, it's something the station bosses should investigate in terms of feasibility, but given that subtitling documentaries doesn't seem to raise ratings, like Elmo I'm sceptical whether viewership would rise dramatically.

alias no.9

I'd rather listen to the Welsh / Scots Gaelic than the delayed ponderous monotonic English commentary that comes on the second stream, at least then I can be insulated from the cluelessness of it all.

Elmo

The other problem are the platform operators

Soarview & Sky don't even have TG4HD
Sky & UPC AFAIK don't have digital aertel
Only RTÉ is set up for AD is it available on either sky or UPC?

Ger Byrne 1

it would be great to be able to have commentary for these games instead of just watching it

longgonesilver

But some of the live games do have a secondary English audio broadcast. It is on the radio.

twinklerunner

longgonesilver wrote: »

But some of the live games do have a secondary English audio broadcast. It is on the radio.

.. and usually out of sync with tv pictures

Wabbit Ears

Infoanon wrote:

The costs would be offset by the increase in revenue due to an increase in audience figures.

I sincerely doubt it. The cost of implementing this would be huge with additional cost of ongoing supply of the extra audio feed. You also have to factor in the increase cost of bandwidth to carry a second audio feed plus the knock on requirements to carry the feed on sky's sat feeds and upcs mux's.

This isn't something where you can just flip a switch and by free magic it works.

khumbu

A cheap method for TG4 to provide English commentary for live GAA games would be to offer the "premier sport" audio broadcast in UK as alternative sound track. They source their vision feed from TG4!

Tedddy

I think it would be a huge cost for little gain. It may cause a small rise in rugby viewership figures but I think it would have little affect on GAA matches. GAA viewers have grown accustomed to matches in Irish so it would have little effect.

Strawberry HillBilly

@Tedddy don't agree with your point re:GAA viewers are used to it. Case in point last Sunday, struggled to watch the KK v CE match until I synced up Clare FM as the audio but didn't bother to even try the same with the Waterford match afterwards.

I definitely think TG4 would increase audiences and advertising by implementing this option.

As a means to measure the willingness for viewers to select audio as English or Irish where both were available has anyone got any idea on the match viewing figures when TV3/3E simulcasted All Ireland minor final matches in English /Irish ?

Elmo

Strawberry HillBilly wrote: »

As a means to measure the willingness for viewers to select audio as English or Irish where both were available has anyone got any idea on the match viewing figures when TV3/3E simulcasted All Ireland minor final matches in English /Irish ?

No but a few notes on that. TV3 aired the game in English on its main service and 3e isn't as well established or wasn't back then. Again we pointed out that The finals of the Pro-12 did better on RTÉ2 even with the simulcast on TG4 As Geailge.

RTÉ2 have since dropped their pro-12 coverage and neither TV3 or UTV Ireland seem all that interested in any of the sports that TG4 provide, which must mean that they do not believe that they can achieve more than 150,000 viewers that TG4 get for most of their sports. (Excluding Wimbledon, which was dropped from RTÉ because according to them more people watched it on the BBC.). Why didn't they just broadcast BBC coverage?

beauf

Isnt the point to promote Irish?

Is their income related to how much Irish content they broadcast? Grants or licence fee % etc.