IN ALL FAIRNESS - RTE can’t cope with all the sport they have

There needs to be a mindset shift in terms of how RTE tries to be all things for all sports. Every year when they have rights to show a major soccer tournament, be in the Euro’s or a World Cup, both men and women, there is always a problem with combining it with being the sole rights holder for the inter-county GAA and Camogie championships, but also other sports such as the latter stages of the URC in rugby, Horse Racing, plus other events such as major athletics championships.

For all the criticism they get, RTE show a lot of sports despite being a free-to-air channel, which is impressive, but they are spreading themselves too thin with all the rights they have. For instance, RTE can only facilitate ninety minutes of live coverage of the National Track & Field Championships next weekend, despite the profile of athletics never being as high following the successful European Championships recently. This is because they have to show games in last 16 of the European Soccer Championships, the quarter finals of the All-Ireland Football Championship, plus the Irish Derby at the Curragh.

It only adds to what happened last weekend when the All-Ireland Hurling quarter finals had to be scheduled for early on a Saturday afternoon, solely because of television. GAA people might say they should have been fixed later in the day and force RTE into a corner. However, RTE’s rights deal for the Euro’s is that they are shown on the main channels, with significant financial penalties if they don’t, plus UEFA are a much bigger beast than the GAA.

Virgin Media have never shown any major interest in showing Gaelic Games, since transitioning from TV3. They only show soccer, rugby & horse racing primarily because the production costs are covered via their sister station ITV or UEFA when it comes to club fixtures such as the Champions & Europa Leagues; all they have to do is provide the presenter, analysts and commentators who do it from a studio in Dublin.

However, in an effort to take the pressure off one organisation to show most of the sports, could RTE and Virgin Media do a deal, similar to what they have with the Six Nations in rugby, where they share the rights for the European Championships and World Cups, similar to what the BBC and ITV have done in the UK for decades.

Okay, RTE won’t get all the lucrative financial cake from advertising as they do now, but it certainly would take the pressure off in terms of the valuable time slots during the summer months, particularly at the weekends, and we still haven’t gotten to the Olympic Games yet, which will take over our screens in late July early/August, but by then the GAA championships (bar camogie) and the Euro’s will be over.

Some might ask why can’t this be done also for the GAA as TV3 did when showing championship games from 2008 to 2013. However, that would mean the GAA having to cover the full production costs for both Virgin and RTE, as the latter have covered those costs themselves up to now.

Ireland is a small country and with only four television stations, three of which are under the RTE umbrella, there needs to be an acceptance that as a sports mad nation, coverage needs to be spread around to maximise it and a shared approach would be best for all.

As I finish writing this column, I have learned of the death of legendary RTE Gaelic Games commentator Micheal O Muircheartaigh. For my generation, he was our Micheal O’Hehir, whose voice and passion for the games was such that, despite listening on the radio, you felt you were at the games.May he rest in peace.