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Pay-per-view
BY Tom Fitzpatrick
 Irish
sports getting more expensive on British TV
FOLLOWING Irish sport in Britain keeps getting more and more complicated.
RTÉ, BBC, Setanta and Sky will all show Irish fixtures this year
so the question is where do you go for the best coverage?
If you’re lucky enough to have RTÉ you can be assured of
certain sports but not very many.
European Law dictates that certain games are protected on terrestrial
television.
This means Irish home international fixtures will be shown on RTÉ
for the World Cup 2010 qualifiers.
However Setanta Sports have snapped up the away fixtures, not including
the Italy game which is still open for bidding.
Setanta are gradually becoming a force to be reckoned with in sports coverage,
not only in Britain but worldwide.
Having recently established Setanta Sports News as a rival to the popular
Sky Sports News, Setanta are attempting to get heavily involved in soccer,
GAA and rugby — the three most popular sports for Irish fans.
However it’s slightly more complicated than that.
Having won the rights to the Rugby World Cup in 2007, Setanta are continuing
to show exclusive coverage of the Magners League.
Sky Sports own the rights to the Heineken Cup and will broadcast Ireland’s
summer tour, while RTÉ will show the Six Nations as well as domestic
rugby this year.
Irish fans can also watch the 2008 Six Nations on BBC.
So rugby fans have all their games stretched over a number of different
channels. And it’s not just rugby fans either.
TV3 have secured 30 hurling and football games from now until 2010 and
Setanta are trying to break into that market, meaning RTÉ could
soon find their extensive GAA coverage dwindling.
RTÉ explained to The Irish Post that there is plenty of coverage
still available to be secured.
A spokesperson said: “The GAA have a number of different TV packages
of which only one has been secured so far. Negotiations are ongoing with
the GAA and the results of those are expected to be released soon.
“As well as securing Ireland’s World Cup 2010 home qualifiers,
we are in talks to secure the away games as part of our soccer package
for next year.”
RTÉ will need to fight tooth and nail to retain the GAA rights
they have, as TV3 and Setanta will be waiting in the wings to try and
persuade GAA fans to switch allegiance to their channel.
The Premiership soccer battle is an intriguing one with Setanta having
just announced their one-millionth subscriber, just four months after
securing rights to Premiership games.
Sky still retains the biggest and best coverage and RTÉ has lost
its 3pm games on Saturdays, meaning armchair fans need Middle Eastern
channels to access Saturday afternoon games.
The domestic game in Ireland is covered by RTÉ and Setanta through
Eircom League and Setanta Cup games respectively.
Sky will continue to screen Irish international games and Champions League
football, however RTÉ have first rights to both in Ireland.
Oh and by the way, if anyone is still interested in Euro 2008, RTÉ
are delighted to announce that they’ll be screening none of Ireland’s
games. Which means they’ve got unrivalled coverage.
Counting the cost of not subscribing in pints at the pub
AS a fanatical Liverpool fan born in Cork and now living in London, it’s
safe to say I don’t get to many games at Anfield, writes Tom Fitzpatrick.
It’s also fair to say it’s been a while since I saw the inside
of Munster’s Thomond Park.
As for a Cork GAA game, hell even a Cork City FC game, the chances of
me seeing them live, any time soon are slim.
So what can be done about it if I don’t want to shell out for the
various TV packages?
Go to the pub for all the games I’m interested in. And that’s
invariably what I do.
Liverpool play 38 Premiership games a year and of those around 20-25 will
be shown live on TV.
They also play Champions League, Carling Cup and FA Cup games. Let’s
say for argument sake this comprises another 15-20 games with 8-10 guaranteed
Champions League games a year plus one decent cup run.
This means I go to the pub to watch Liverpool roughly 35-40 times a year.
I’m not joking (my girlfriend will testify to this — come
to think of it I haven’t heard from her in a while).
Let’s throw in a few Munster games — Magners League on Setanta
and Heineken Cup on Sky. Fortunately I can get Six Nations on BBC. Now
add a dash of GAA action — assuming the Rebels get to the All-Ireland
hurling final (last year doesn’t count) that’s another few
trips to a suitable Irish pub.
Ireland’s international soccer can be found on Sky so we can assume
I’ll go out to watch them at least 10 times a year.
This means I’m in the pub for over two months (70 days/games) of
the year watching all the different action.
This also means I’ll be getting funny looks from my editor.
During one game I will have two to three pints or Cokes. For diplomacy’s
sake I will say at least 20 of my visits are spent enjoying soft drinks
as opposed to beer-related activities.
By my estimation I’m spending approximately £200-£250
a season on going to support various teams in the pub.
This is a very conservative estimate that doesn’t allow for the
fact that if Morecambe are playing Burton Albion on Sky I’m the
kind of idiot that will go and watch it.
Suddenly investing in Sky and Setanta is beginning to look like the
smart move.
The cost…
- Sky Sports: A package can cost anything between £34 and £45
a month. It spans channels Sky Sports 1-3 as well as Sky Sports Xtra and
Sky Sports HD 1 and 2. These channels cover extensive Premiership and
Champions League soccer, Heineken Cup rugby, US PGA golf and a healthy
dose of darts.
- Setanta: Offers coverage on a monthly basis of £9.99 a month
excluding a one-off connection fee of £10. Setanta Sports 1 and
2, Setanta Ireland and Liverpool and Celtic TV are its flagship channels.
Showing live Premiership and Celtic games, Magners League rugby and PGA
Golf.
- RTÉ: Will continue to broadcast live International and Champions
League soccer games as well as Euro 2008. Six Nations and domestic rugby
as well as GAA, horse-racing, boxing and the 2008 Olympics are also part
of RTÉ’s schedule.
- BBC: Coverage of the 2008 Six Nations as well as joint-coverage of
Euro 2008 with ITV. |
