FAI do deal with Sky, no Irish footie(live) on terrestrial TV.

Kramer

I think this really makes a joke of the Irish government & RTE.

Sky have come in here, wiped the floor (& continue to do so) with Chorus,NTL etc... & now really highlight what fools we Irish are.

The GAA are not alone in the "money grabbing" club.

How farsical.

An Irish citizen, having to send money overseas to see live IRISH international football (some played right here in Lansdowne Rd.).

We've already got RTE on Sky with no GAA coverage, now, Irish soccer on Sky, with no RTE coverage :mad:

As said B4, Sky are not based here, are not governed by Irish legislation, make little or no contribution to our economy (apart from contributing to rising inflation with ever increasing subs).

So we're told that 20% of households have access to Sky digital.
But of this, what percentage have access to the Sports package?

I'd say maybe half, i.e. 10%.

& the FAI tell us this is for the benefit & progression of the sport - they should be comedians.

This may actually have some benefits:

1. The Government cop on & actually DO something about Sky's shoddy treatment of it's Irish customers.

2. RTE may get some support for a change.

It may all quieten down for a while, until Ireland's first European qualifier - then will the s*it hit the fan.

What's next? The Late Late, 6.1 News?

Interesting that TV3 have the rights to show "delayed" coverage of the games i.e. starting 1 hour after the end of the live match.

So Granada & Sky are the only one's to show ANY Irish soccer on Irish TV.

Now don't get me wrong. I know the FAI sold out to the highest bidder.
I'm a capitalist myself - who isn't? Money talks
, but this is such a hilarious situation.

Also take into account that Sky didn't buy the rights for it's "cherished" 5.5 million UK viewers.

This is clearly aimed at the Irish Sky viewing public (granted lots of Irish in the UK would welcome the live matches).

It makes me wonder just how profitable Sky's Irish operation really is, between subscriptions (again more valuable to them as the €uro strengthens against sterling) & advertising (specifically Irish stuff).

Nuff said.

Forgive the length of the post, as I'm a little bit peeved (not).

I'm f*cking LIVID.

Opinions anyone?

I agree totally.
I think it's disgracefull.
But do people really care enough??
People continue and will continue to snap up Sky subscriptions here at a rate of knotts.

This debacle has the potential to cause problems for Sky's reputation here, ie expose it as money grabbing and with little or no respect for the Irish.

People have to care en masse for something to be done.
Are they going to dump Sky-Nope
Are enough people going to bombard the minister for communications and the Minister for sport and Bertie with complaints?
Some maybe, but not enough, most will lie down as usual in front of the Sky doggie :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad:

Quite frankly if the likes of major RTÉ broadcasters are being given €500,000 per annum each to do a job, that equal talent in local radio could do for less than a €100k -theres little hope of that station being able to match Sky.

Where are their Big star names going to go, if RTÉ offer them a more realistic wage??? surely not tv 3 and Today fm en masse-that would be commercial suicide.
It would be easy enough to come up with the €7.5 million just by reducing the ridiculous salaries.

This government too are only at the start of their 5 year term and as such have no incentive at this early stage to help.
It's blooming typically Irish to lie down and let this happen.

I hope and pray IT's TV get off the ground soon, so as Sky get some decent competition.
At present they are a monopolyesque player being aided and abetted in every way possible by our government.
mm

yankinlk

7.5 million over 4 years...that is pathetic money...how could rte not come up with that? surely an accountant could look at how much ad revenue there is and see that that is a bargain...surely the fai could grant rte a first refusal rather then sending the sport over seas to the highest bidder?

byte

Does anyone know how much RTE offered? It can't have been much. FAI president reckons that RTE just weren't interested.

And like madman, I too would really love to see it's TV get off the ground too.

Tony

Originally posted by irishbyte
Does anyone know how much RTE offered? It can't have been much. FAI president reckons that RTE just weren't interested.

And like madman, I too would really love to see it's TV get off the ground too.

The indo says RTE offered €400K per year which is €100K less than last time. I think their negotiator thought the FAI could not live without RTE and tried to bring the price down on foot of this. I think his bluff was called!! Sounds like amateurs trying to do a professional's job.

Tony

Ozzie

This is all typical of RTE. They are trying to justify a future claim for a hike in the licence fee. Just think... they could have gotten rid of Kenny and Ryan... that would give them €5million or so over the next 5 years.... add that to whatever they did bid for the rights!

€5million is a huge amount of money and we licence payers are spend it on those two planks!

Oz

byte

Originally posted by Tony


The indo says RTE offered €400K per year which is €100K less than last time. I think their negotiator thought the FAI could not live without RTE and tried to bring the price down on foot of this. I think his bluff was called!! Sounds like amateurs trying to do a professional's job.

Tony

RTE only offered €1.6m over 4 years?! Jeez, I'm not surprised FAI took up SKY offer. That's a hell of an amount of dosh. Maybe RTE will learn from this! :rolleyes:

danielle

iT'S LIKE WINNING THE LOTTERY TO SEE sKY TAKE AWAY THIS SILLY GAME OFF OUR TV SCREENS. HOW WANT TO WATCH A GAME WHERE U HAVE TO SCORE EITHER PUT IT IN THE GOAL OR OVER THE BAR.........WHERE IS THE CHALLENGE IN THAT ! WELL DONE SKY AND THANK U.

telecinesk

Sky are a monopoly here and are not regulated as the business is in the uk.They can do what they Fing well like.
Dont know ,but the FAI thing sucks.Hey I dont like sport so much but I know when the piss is being taken. Imagine having to take out a UK sky subscription in order to watch football in Landsdown road> Sorry if its not a great example but you see where Im getting at.
Fcku Sky and the other niggiling thing is,, the EU directive on CI Cams, wasnt NDS supposed to "Have" to make Viideoguard cams available? (off topic)
Lads get on to your minister for P&T or whatever its called these days.And some thicko journalist who will take sky to task over the air, worth a shot.

jez

If we kicked up as much fuss as a nation about the price of everything else like we have over RTE losing the footie we'd be better off.
Anyway,is it really a big deal. Everyone has been watching matches in pubs since Euro '88,drinking 3-4 pints per game instead of watching at home for nothing. People want atmosphere.Most people who don't go to the pub ,have had Skysports at home for years to watch their footie. I bet if Sky sports went off air tomorrow we'd all be in tears...

At least RTE can't justify licence increase now, there's little left to watch!!

DaveH

Being a Football man and knowing some ppl in Irish football, I heard RTE didnt want to show the League Of Ireland, where as the SKY\TV3 bid had 5 Live League of Ireland games a year, plus an irish match of the Day style thing. What did RTE think they were doing anyway, They lost Champions League to TV3 a few back and Sky have being showing the Irish matches for 2 years anyway. They knew there was a bid coming from TV3 and Sky, so they bid less!!!! Im glad to see RTE lose the rights to Irish football, They give decent coverage of the National team, one of there pundits turned around and said he wanted ireland to lose all there World Cup matches, Eamonn Dunphy was sacked\suspend\resigned from RTE on 3 or 4 different occasions, the reason he is back there is because they love is agruments, and hes a great mate of Bill O'Herily. RTE commintment to sport is crap. They no longer show the World\European Athletic Championships, I was at Irish atheltic Champions and asked one of the organisers was it on TV and he said "Yeah TV3, RTE dont care." RTE stopped showing the Dublin City Marathon, about 7 years ago. Last October the FAI went to RTE saying you have to start showing more League of Ireland if you want to have the Ireland matches, they wouldnt move, giving them nearly exact the same coverage as before, except the program was on at 7.30 instead of 11, and still showed horse racing and Gaa, all in a half hour program. Gathal Goan was on the 6.1 yesterday, and his attiude was, were RTE we desvere the football matches. For those of you saying feck the RTE for going to SKY. That sky money like before will go to better League of Ireland grounds, more full time players, better pitches and facilites for young players and junior players all over Ireland, so the FAI were right to ditch RTE.

Elmo

I wonder about this.

1. Did TV3 not bid for the rights to live irish matchs on home ground. I dont think they did, because they would not be able to afford all the cameras etc. for such a production. They were happy just to bid for Away matches. (They then just asked sky for the 1 hour delay as live)

2. €7.5m is a small cash to Sky, they have bought the rights to the Home and Away matches just so that they can get more subscribers in Ireland and more people willing to pay to see the English Soccer, which by the way they spent £24,000,000 on for those rights. Both TV3 and RTE know that Irish soccer is not worth €7.5m (think about it RTE last time round spent £2,000,000 on the rights) and that no TV station in Ireland could afford such a cost and make a profit or just keep the Government happy.

3. The FAI pointed out that TV3 are giving one whole show to Irish Soccer, what about the Soccer Show which they produced with RTE???

4. If the FAI hadnt relised that Irish TV and Soccer are in dire Straights, why would giving rights to Sky make thinks better.

The FAI, RTE and TV3 couldn't organise a F**k with a Prostitute.

Rupert Murdock Rules the World.

mike2084

In my opinion RTÉ needs to dump Formula 1. This would free up some cash. I believe when they first bought F1 it cost them IR£230 million. This price can only have gone up since 1995. RTÉ once gave the reason for cutting the number of Horse Racing fixtures transmitted directly towards financing F1. This must surely be eating into the cash reserves for other sports and leaves them with poor bargaining power. There is a now growing list of sporting events disappearing on RTÉ including the British Open, Wimbledon & the first 2 days of the Grand National meeting. I'm not against Formula 1 on TV, I just think it costs a cash strapped company too much if means losing a load of other stuff.

Kramer

Originally posted by Michael Walsh
I believe when they first bought F1 it cost them IR£230 million. This price can only have gone up since 1995

Surely that's a typo?

£230million in '95?

No way.

Although, having said that, Peter (di*khead) Collins is worth about £200million

medja

Goodbye RTE it's been fun. I blame Joe Duffy, the homecoming was probably the deciding factor, Not the cash.

Seriously, RTE are close to been finished, they are still playing the TV game as if they are the only crowd in town. Just look at the reports on the 9 O clock news last night and Anne Doyle's " What about the children?" Question to the FAI Chairman. Fair enough it's not right that the football has gone to SKY, but news is supposed to be fair and balanced.

Finally It was not all about money, A fair amount such as 3 and a half million and proper coverage of the game in Ireland would have worked. One of the big problems was coverage at home.

robert muldoon

I really dont know what all the fuss is about. People on these threads should know more about what is going on with satellite broadcasting than the average punter out there. This situation was waiting to happen. I am sure RTE warned Silly De Velara about such a potential development. Sky will come in here and take all our major events, and the best of luck to them as long as they are allowed to. There is no point in blaming the FAI, Sky or RTE. The system is there to allow this to happen!!
As for the comment that if RTE got rid of Pat Kenny etc, what the hell do you think would happen their already dwindling advertising revenue?? If these high profile broadcasters were allowed to go elsewhere?- Just remember RTE wont survive in its present forrm with one hand tied behind its back- I say, let RTE put up the license fee to whatever, and let the consumer decide whether they want to stay with them. BUT RTE unions beware,license increases ar'nt meant for them!!

yankinlk

come on sky, buy up the gaa so the public get even more pissed and then it's one less bill every year (the license fee)

tombenjr

Well done Sky!!!!
This will giv people a good reason
to ditch the Crapus Chorus Cable
and the **** aerials and crap RTE.
Well done Murdoch.
Anyway Sky is the best TV service
in the country. I bet you tenner
if TV3 had to win the rights to show
the football live, RTE wouldn't complain
and there are blaming Sky because
the are bad loser and had no excuse
but to bame Sky

Originally posted by tombenjr
Well done Sky!!!!
This will giv people a good reason
to ditch the Crapus Chorus Cable
and the **** aerials and crap RTE.
Well done Murdoch.
Anyway Sky is the best TV service
in the country. I bet you tenner
if TV3 had to win the rights to show
the football live, RTE wouldn't complain
and there are blaming Sky because
the are bad loser and had no excuse
but to bame Sky

It's nice to see some balance in a thread ie not all going the one way on an issue.

I wonder what you mean by Sky being the best television service in Ireland??
I presume , you mean platform as opposed to television channel.

Because quite frankly as television channels go Sky are Total crap in my opinion, consisting of, on Sky one never ending Simpsons(which I like-but once or twice a week will do thanks) and a large amount of US drivel and constant star trek repeats.

Their sports channels are good , but so they should be as you pay extra for them.

Sky news is not a patch on BBC News 24.

But yes at present they are the best digital tv platform in the land.
mm

carrolls

Because quite frankly as television channels go Sky are Total crap in my opinion, consisting of, on Sky one never ending Simpsons(which I like-but once or twice a week will do thanks) and a large amount of US drivel and constant star trek repeats.

And don't forget the 15 minutes of adverts per hour.:o

Originally posted by robert muldoon
I really dont know what all the fuss is about. People on these threads should know more about what is going on with satellite broadcasting than the average punter out there. This situation was waiting to happen. I am sure RTE warned Silly De Velara about such a potential development. Sky will come in here and take all our major events, and the best of luck to them as long as they are allowed to. There is no point in blaming the FAI, Sky or RTE. The system is there to allow this to happen!!
As for the comment that if RTE got rid of Pat Kenny etc, what the hell do you think would happen their already dwindling advertising revenue?? If these high profile broadcasters were allowed to go elsewhere?- Just remember RTE wont survive in its present forrm with one hand tied behind its back- I say, let RTE put up the license fee to whatever, and let the consumer decide whether they want to stay with them. BUT RTE unions beware,license increases ar'nt meant for them!!

I agree with your point regarding , the Govt. and RTÉ should have seen this coming.
Soccer matches being so important to people should have been listed as a terrestrial priority and that was the government being asleep.
It's going to be a huge money spinner for Sky as much as an advertising loss for RTÉ.

Also consider the havoc if these matches were only to be seen on Sky and Ireland were doing well in the tournament.
most businesses will not be able to put in Sky for the matches in as simple a way as they put RTÉ on during the world cup.
Something will have to give in that situation.

My earlier point regarding an RTÉ star getting €500k annual salary from them was simply where would that person go??
Where would the viewers go??
Looking at the pathetic schedules across all channels on a friday night for instance, a daring overhaul might end up making the same money, whilst freeing up funding for soccer.
It's high time that younger fresher talent were given the chance to present primetime chat shows and radio programmes for half that salary.
I also agree with the formula one point-soccer is more important to a public service broadcaster.
Formula one is more up tv3's street.
mm

byte

Can someone please clarify the whole SKY/TV3 situation.

Do Sky have rights to live away games too?

Do TV3 show game one hour after KO or 1 hour after game finishes?

How many FAI League games will TV3 air live? Will it include any D1 games?

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by irishbyte
Can someone please clarify the whole SKY/TV3 situation.

Do Sky have rights to live away games too?

Do TV3 show game one hour after KO or 1 hour after game finishes?

How many FAI League games will TV3 air live? Will it include any D1 games?

home games only come into this deal

TV3 News said 1 hour after the game

if it's anything like RTÉ's coverage it will be a great dissappointment. i think you'll be waiting a long time for Division 1

Tarabuses

I wonder if the FAI have considered the effect on home football of attracting additional viewers into the Sky Sports fold. All that English Premiership football to add to League of Ireland woes.

My other concern is about the commentary/analysis teams. Who will we get? Imagine the situation when Ireland play England at Lansdowne Road and, in the commentators eyes, the Irish team is "them" and England is "us".

Winters

I dont have sky (Thank God) and dont plan to get it. I dont wanna pay over €1500 a year for ****e TV and dont plan to pay another €20 just to watch Ireland play. I would rather buy a ticked to the feckin match... it would be cheaper.

Seeing as though sky now have a monoply on all scoccer games... could you bring them to EU court over being a monopoly? I though the EU didnt want any monopolys in europe?

Kramer

Originally posted by robert muldoon
let RTE put up the license fee to whatever, and let the consumer decide whether they want to stay with them.

&

Originally posted by yankinlk
come on sky, buy up the gaa so the public get even more pissed and then it's one less bill every year (the license fee)

Do you guys realise a licence fee is required to OWN any TV receiving apparatus, & not to just watch RTE.

So if RTE (the government) upped the licence fee to €1000, & you just watched Sky, you'd still have to pay it.

I assumed everyone knew this, obviously I was wrong.

DaveH

hi,
This is a big discussion point everywhere. Being a Sky sports subscribe, via NTL since 1996 and then swicthing to Sky Digital earlier this year, I will be a bit biased because Sky Sports I think is brillant and well worth the money. Anyway Want to clarify a few points and make some more.
1. The irish home matches for until 2006 are on Sky\TV3 now, Not the away matches. This was picked up on RTÉ news on Friday, Their point being that rté paid more for Ireland's away match via Iran, then breaks down for all Irelands that Sky paid. Sounds like a good point, but home much did Dutch and Portuguese TV spend for the Holland and Portugals matches in Dublin in 2001. All that money went to RTE. The fact is the FAI told rte they could have the matches for €1million over a 1/4 of a million less than Sky paid and rte said no.
2. As per earlier and Ireland On-Sunday's back page today The GAA could go Sky. Not Going to happen. When the rights came up earlier this year Sky like all other TV stations in the UK said there not interested in GAA games, why there is a bout a 2% market in the UK for them. I know there ppv games on Digital in UK now, but that costs SKY zero, because its Setanta, and Setanta have had the rights to GAA in Britian for about 10 years, it costs them zero in production value, because it is a RTE feed. The reason SKy are interested in the Irish soccer matches is because all the Irish players play in the premier league, so the British\European soccer public know the major Majority of the players i.e Robbie Keane, Gary Kelly, Ian Harte so in the UK leeds fan can see 3 of their players playing for Ireland. You dont see SKy breaking themselves to get the rights to Wales or Northern Ireland. So why would Sky go for GAA games. No one in the uk wants to watch those matches. Channel 4 showed the All ireland final live once or twice, I dont think they managed 100,000 viewers.
3. I agree with a point before, that if TV3 had of got the rights then rte wouldnt be mouthing off. When TV3 got the rights for the Champions League rté's point was, sure they paid well over the odds and will just make a loss on it. Fact those 350K viewers rte got for a Man Utd match dont watch Man Utd on RTE anymore they watch it on TV3, meaninig TV3 get all the commericals money.
4. Fact rté charged BBC and whoever else wanted to cover the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin last March, IR£350,000.
5. When Rte got the rights for Irelands home matches in the 6 Nations, they said they were delighted because it was an era where sport was on satelliete.
6. In 2000 for the first time RTE 1 r 2 didnt cover the Irish golf open, it was covered by TG4. The then head of Sport, (forget his name) was asked why rte didnt cover the IRISH OPEN, his answer "These sports are there for Sateillete broadcasters to cover."
7. Why do RTE show Formula One when ITV cover it, which is picked up terresatially and on Cable in the Republic, and why also is the Premiership covered when ITV and before that BBC showed it in the Republic. How much of RTE's budget is covered with that?
8. RTE commintment to domestic Sport is a disgrace, The Eircom league got zero cover. I know a lot of people out there will say its crap, but the BBC and UTV give far better coverage to the Irish League, which by UEFA standards is a far worse league.
Sports Staduim gave good blanket coverage of all sports, Atheltics cycling even hockey and Sailing got a look. It was removed from rté schuelde in 1997, and never replaced.
9. I know Im going off topic, but rte decied to axe Glenrore, now I wasnt a fan of Glenrore, but it still pulled in the viewers, they said it was dead, so they replaced with the worset soap I have ever seen. Off Home Ground's script writers should be shot, it is drivell. They look at the popular Dream Team on Sky one about the premiership soccer team. Even thought its very popular, people only watch it, because its bad drama, with good looking women. My mother watches it the odd time, She has no intrest in Sport, but she relates with the actors because they were in Brookside, Cornation Street, etc. Where as she was a big Glenrore fan, She watched Off Home Ground for about 5 minutes and said, why did they make a show about a GAA club.
So as you see I'm varly hot under the collar over this, but the way RTE have been treating their audience over the last few years Im delighted it happened to them.

mike2084

Originally posted by robert muldoon
I say, let RTE put up the license fee to whatever, and let the consumer decide whether they want to stay with them.

Great Idea. I despise the Licence Fee. I would much rather give the money to Sky.

This is a big discussion point everywhere. Being a Sky sports subscribe, via NTL since 1996 and then swicthing to Sky Digital earlier this year, I will be a bit biased because Sky Sports I think is brillant and well worth the money. Anyway Want to clarify a few points and make some more.

A man after my own heart. I went for Sky Sports last August because I was sick of RTÉ losing stuff. Add these events to the list that I began in my earlier post - European & World Athletics Championships, French Open Tennis, Tour de France & ditching Sports Stadium was nothing short of criminal.

icdg

Since this thread is of note to all ICDG readers, not just Satellite TV viewers...

ATTN:
Thread moved to the Broadcasting forum.

catchpole

People can we please get some reality here??

We have been fu***d and we dont even know it .

Rupert must be buisy colouring in another little province on his map of world domination, and its all down to the old saying "nobody ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the public".

And all most contributors here can do is bellyache that RTE are crap and they should have come up with the 7,5m extra, (from where by the way?)

And as for the morons who hate the license fee but think Sky Sports is good value, well I dont suppose the term 'Public Service Broadcasting' or 'Cultural Identity' mean anything to you.

I am contacting every TD ( that would be MP to you in Sky Sport land) to request that none of my tax money be given to a British buisness that wants to screw me.......ie the FAI. Let Murdoc build them a stadium, God knows they wont need a large capacity now.

Elmo

Sky have a plan it is very basic but brilliant

what they do is buy the rights to 4 years of live Irish soccer Home and Away.

While people will be watching the Home live matches on sky they will relly not be bother switching to TV3 for the coverage of their live away matches.(And also the Euro 2004 matches on RTE) Thus Sky increases its veiwership and membership in Ireland. the deal helps Irish soccer and TV hahaha? no it helps a foreign TV service grow and The English Perimereship.

Not only that but they gain viewers for the English Premiereship.

Note Sky paid way over the odd for these games for any no payperview channel.

Will TV3 be going after GAA ever???

230,000,000 is about the size of the RTE budget for one year they didnt spend this on F1, anyway the last four year of Irish soccer only cost them 2,000,000 as did the World cup.

RTE had more viewers for Champions League then TV3.

I assume that Sky bought the rights for the Away matches as well as they had most of the Irish matches on sky sports when it was on RTE.

DMC

I will give my considered responce later....

ixtlan

A very interesting thread indeed... here's my 2 cents worth...

1/ There's a no way RTE could have afforded the 7.5m. For Sky, they believe the increased subscriptions will offset the cost.

2/ Since all parties negotiated as the law allows no other outcome was likely. The question really is whether the government should have declared home soccer matches to be outside normal business dealings... I think EU law allows something like this?

3/ It would be good to get some opinions from people involved on the ground with the FAI. Surely there should be a lot of local sports people delighted with this deal? Is it a godsend for them? Will they really get a significant portion of the money?

...
Ix

DaveH

Hi another point to make.
Brendan Menton was on BBC today and asked why they had shafted RTE, He said we made 3 criteria for the rights,
1. Live Home Internationals
2. Live Eircom League Matches
3. Weekly Eircom Leauge Highlights
He said RTÉ made numerous statements during the negoations, that they Werent interested in covering the eircom league.
So for all of this the FAI sold out and the anti Sky lobby, Its RTE who you should be critising, They were offered the rights for less. then SKY\TV3. There giving this issue biased coverage, just as they did when the licensce fee increase was rejected. It anyone has the cop on out there, its time to weild the AXE in RTE, new blood as to come in. Look at BBC, there 100% government owned, they lost football\boxing to SKY, and said we have to work harder to get this events back, as they did, Live England matches, The Lennox Lewis fight last year. They didnt do it by complaining about how hard they'd been done, they worked at it.. They worked at buying back those rights. They said they have to change parts of the company to get the bigger events back, RTE's attiutde is.....they betrayed us. I'll still say it, blame rte, Its time for the axe to be swung.

DMC

DamoDMC's Two Cents....
Ah, I've been stewing on this all weekend, made a few contributions on other threads, but its only now when I get the chance to fully respond to the FAI's decision to let BSkyB show the Republic of Ireland's home internationals.

As most of you will be aware, one of my deepest interests in TV is in sports rights. I follow this intensely. What we are seeing now is how the BBC and ITV felt in 1992 when Sky got the Premier League rights for £325m stg, when CBS lost the NFC part of the NFL in 1994 to FOX and when the BBC lost cricket to Channel 4 (my biggest shock) But not as big as what Kerry Packer and Channel 9 did to cricket in the 70's.

Big huge TV earthquakes. The newcomers have arrived after years of hovering over their prey.

Now, Sky has been around for a good while, and we have seen them eat into the sporting arenas for the last decade. But this is their first venture into Irish sports, and it is the cream of the crop. Ireland on a high from a decent World Cup, it doesn't get any bigger. Sky have cherry-picked, and they have taken the sweetest one.

Mind you, there is not much else in Irish sporting rights to go for. So who can blame them? Their coffers are well lined, and €7.5m is a drop in the ocean to them. 5,000 more subscriptions in Ireland for the 4 years will write off that lump sum, so the papers have said. No, a master stroke by Sky to get this. They can do it, and so they did.

Who's to blame? The FAI? RTÉ? There is fault with them, but TV3 are not entirely without blame... It's a damning fact that our terrestrial broadcasters were not able to stump up the money. TV3 have cherry-picked before, with the Champions League, so why not again? Why did they go with a Sky-led deal? What value is in rights 1 hour after the final whistle? Curiouser & curiouser

RTÉ have come out bad out of this. The well is dry, they cannot afford to keep the sport that they have covered so well for 40 years. They have said that the FAI have not formally closed negioations with RTÉ, and have complained about the way they found out (Apparently TV3 News at 5:3 on Friday) This doesn't sound fair. RTÉ were probably bidding low to build up each time they met the FAI. I find it hard to believe that less that €1m was their final offer. We have relied on our state broadcaster to show the Irish team at their best. Now we cant see them live. If this only serves one purpose, lets hope RTÉ don't loose any more.

The FAI are the "evil-doers" here. I'd sack their PR agent smartly. How could they get its so wrong? Yep, the money is great, but the repercussions will be felt for years to come. Many folk will not get to see Robbie Keane or Damien Duff live in their own homes. Is a pub the right environment to bring a small child to watch the game, so he can see their heroes? Now I know how folk in Britain felt when their county are in the All-Ireland Final, and their only resort is the pub. That's changed now with Setanta on Sky, thankfully, but it was highly inadequate for years. And if this is such a good deal for the Eircom League, why is it the TV3 are showing the bare minimum of 5 live games, and broadcasting an entire edition of "Sports Tonight" for LoI soccer? At 11:30pm each week? FFS "The Soccer Show" on Network 2 went out prime-time! It is a non-exclusive deal, so RTÉ can come in, but why would they bother?! No, The FAI have fupped it up right royally.

The government in 1999 enacted the protected events list in the Dail, and this would really not have been amongst them. They are only qualifying games to a major tournament after all. Mores the pity. It was only because of the intransigence of the FAI, the IRFU and the GAA that they blocked the list, so they could get the market price. European legislation allows for the select list, for national cultural importance.

Remember English Rugby Union. A couple of years ago they realised that there was a whole generation of rugby fans growing up and not seeing their team play, after they had sold their soul to the Murdoch dollar. Only now, after that deal expired that the RFU will rectify that problem. The English FA have also realised this. The BBC now show the England games live, and the English national team support has undoubtedly undergone a renaissance since.

I hope this will happen to the Irish team after the wilderness years that Sky will give to many.

Bateman

>There's a no way RTE could have afforded the 7.5m

No, not if they are paying the money they are to Kenny, Duffy, Finucane, O Herlihy, Ryan etc. Their own fault.

>Surely there should be a lot of local sports people delighted with this deal? Is it a godsend for them? Will they really get a significant portion of the money?

All we can say is that time will tell. This is too much money for even the FAI to squander. Even after the executive buys themselves new cars, the game at all leves should see decent cash injections because of this AND the WC money.

>BBC lost cricket to Channel 4
Damo, I think the bigger picture here is that they have gone to a SATELLITE channel rather than just another terrestrial rival.

>Mind you, there is not much else in Irish sporting rights to go for
The Premiership was nothing special before Sky came in.

>What value is in rights 1 hour after the final whistle? Curiouser & curiouser
Stubborn people (and there are many of them at the moment) who will not stump up the money for Sky will watch the games on delayed transmission.


>Is a pub the right environment to bring a small child to watch the game, so he can see their heroes?
No, but many of the people complaing have their kids in pubs every week as they cheer on their favourite Premiership team. This is an undeniable fact.


>And if this is such a good deal for the Eircom League, why is it the TV3 are showing the bare minimum of 5 live games
This will grow.


>At 11:30pm each week? FFS "The Soccer Show" on Network 2 went out prime-time!

---

You must not be aware that the games that were being previewed on this (decent) show had been played at 7.45 the night of the programme. We were coming in from the games to watch the previews. Very good RTE. TV3's midweek previews will be far more interesting.

Bateman

The BBC now show the England games live, and the English national team support has undoubtedly undergone a renaissance since.

No they don't. The actual World Cup finals are protected from satellite only deals, but England's qualifiers are on SKY.

DMC

Originally posted by Bateman
>BBC lost cricket to Channel 4
Damo, I think the bigger picture here is that they have gone to a SATELLITE channel rather than just another terrestrial rival.

Yes, but the BBC covered cricket for 60 years, then out of the blue, they were off to Channel 4. Its heritage and history, like the FAI and RTÉ for 40 years. I equate the personal shock of the cricket rights to the present topic. A seismic move.

>Mind you, there is not much else in Irish sporting rights to go for
The Premiership was nothing special before Sky came in.

That's beacuse the fat cat chairmen of the Football League couldn't put a price on it. Sky jazzed it up, as well as the price.

>And if this is such a good deal for the Eircom League, why is it the TV3 are showing the bare minimum of 5 live games
This will grow.

No chance! 5 matches and no more! Remember TV3 have to hire out OB facilities (a first in 4 years)

You must not be aware that the games that were being previewed on this (decent) show had been played at 7.45 the night of the programme. We were coming in from the games to watch the previews. Very good RTE. TV3's midweek previews will be far more interesting.

No viewers at that hour. Sports Tonight's audience share is nothing to write home about. Actually, the Soccer Show was reguarly shown prior to Champion's League games before 1999 at the move to TV3. And maybe you would've missed the Dundalk game on the Thursday nights when the show went out on Friday nights. Sky Sports used to show it quite late too on Friday nights.

medja

Originally posted by catchpole


And as for the morons who hate the license fee but think Sky Sports is good value, well I dont suppose the term 'Public Service Broadcasting' or 'Cultural Identity' mean anything to you.

Catchpole, It's because Cultural Identity and Public service broadcasting matter that the license fee is hated. It is been wasted on UK and USA programmes which are available everywhere else. Where on todays RTE 1 or Network 2 line up (other than the news) is there fresh Irish material. Many of the programmes on Network 2 are from a certain Murdoch owned FOX network.

Plus the wages of RTE staff in some cases is mad. If all their top earners were given a third of their current sums they would still been in the top 1 % of earners in this country and the money would be there for soccer and more things irish.

You're right

We have been fu***d and we dont even know it

But by our own as well as by SKY

DMC

Originally posted by Bateman
No they don't. The actual World Cup finals are protected from satellite only deals, but England's qualifiers are on SKY.

Ah but they do. The BBC has the rights to all competitive England internationals. They will be showing all home games involving England for Euro 2004 qualification. Sky Sports show them too. England friendlies are shown exclusively live on Sky Sports.

Also, today the BBC and RTÉ announced that they will be jointly bidding for Ireland's away games.

mike2084

I also heard this evening that it was highly likely that Sky would be mounting a bid for the away games as well.

robert muldoon

I would have thought, that at this stage the majority of football fans would have already paid their subs to Sky Sports thru NTL. Chorus or Sky itself,those who hav'nt are more than happy to go to the local to view matches, so what the hell is all the fuss about, principals I suppose. We are a great nation for principals, WHAT HYPOCRISY !! - I say, may the best team win

byte

So the Away games are still up for the taking. It's not all bad news then for people who don't have SkySports.

Something just popped into my mind. Although it won't affect me, what if Sky decided to show Ireland games on Sky Sports Extra? This is only available on SKY digital. I doubt if they will though. Would be too much of a backlash from customers, NTL and Chorus.

As for TV3 only showing 5 games? Is this a joke? 5 measly games. Jeez. Hardly surprising really that FAI Leagues don't have big followings. Tis a pity that there isn't some kind of rule to tell broadcasters to give local sport more support.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by irishbyte
So the Away games are still up for the taking. It's not all bad news then for people who don't have SkySports.

Something just popped into my mind. Although it won't affect me, what if Sky decided to show Ireland games on Sky Sports Extra? This is only available on SKY digital. I doubt if they will though. Would be too much of a backlash from customers, NTL and Chorus.

As for TV3 only showing 5 games? Is this a joke? 5 measly games. Jeez. Hardly surprising really that FAI Leagues don't have big followings. Tis a pity that there isn't some kind of rule to tell broadcasters to give local sport more support.

who's to say Sky wont snap up those away games as well as what they have now.

it really would be taking the piss if they did put them on Sky Sports Extra. like yourself it wouldn't affect me but friends of mine without Sky Sports Extra (the majority of them) are fearing this happening more than anything. my house will be busy on match night if this happens

what's the point in showing any games if only 5 are to be shown. it is a joke

mike2084

I would imagine they'll stay as they are with Ireland on Sky Sports 1, England on Sky Sports 2 & Extra & Scotland on Sky Sports 3. I wounder now that interactivity is available on all channels will we see the Ireland games interactive?

ssmith

This is a very interesting thread, personally i can't see the problem with SKY getting the football rights. They bid the most and the bunch of has-beens that make up RTE are as usuall, a generation behind the times. I think that the English audience are also interested in the Irish matches (something we could learn from!) and that this deal is simply good business sense for SKY. We should stop moaning about it. Now if we really want something to moan at, it should be that RTE will still want a large increase in the license fee - based on what i am not sure. I really get sick of people (usually in the media) saying that we should be 'happy' to pay extra money for the good of the national broadcaster. The problem in my opinion is that we have no choice. We have to pay for RTE, wheras we certainly have a choice to pay for SKY.

Elmo

TV3 have the rights to the away games, sky may bid on the sat. rights for away games.

RTE have the rights for Euro 2004.

DMC

And this was confirmed by who now? Cant find it on any news outlet...

Elmo

RTE sport reported
http://wwa.rte.ie/sport/2002/0705/soccer/fai.html

TV3 currently hold the rights to screen the Republic of Ireland's away matches and under this new agreement they have secured the rights to screen a delayed showing of the matches one hour after they end. The agreement comes into effect this September for the start of the Euro 2004 qualifiers

And RTE have begun to advertise for Euro 2004.

byte

Oh, so TV3 will continue to show LIVE away games?

RTE should edit the story as it says the footie will be pay per view when it's subscription access, not PPV.

DMC

No, that is actually incorrect. News since the weekend contadicts this. That doesnt hold much water, as that was written in the thick of the announcement.

Try this one.... http://www.rte.ie/sport/2002/0708/soccer/rte.html

The rights to the away games are still available, no-one has them yet. Sky and a joint bid from the BBC/RTÉ is being tabled at present. These rights are of the domain of the home country, like Russia, so it each match is individual rights issue.