A New Government Means What For Irish? - Free To Air Rugby

After a controversial 2010 where Eamon Ryan and the Green Party proposed that major Rugby competitions such as the Heineken cup would be broadcast via free to air digital terrestrial television which resulted in a backlash from both the IRFU and Rugby Fans throughout Ireland; the FTA sporting debate has now hit a standstill as the Greens have pulled out of a Government in turmoil and a General Election date has been set for 25th February this year.

Ryan and the Green Party generated uproar when they brought up the free to air proposal and a committee was formed to investigate the effects that this FTAcoverage would bring to all involved parties. As a result of the committee's findings an independent report was handed to Government last December however no discussion or analysis was made by the Cabinet as the turbulent events that led to Cowen's resignation took precedence in political matters.

To the IRFU, the mismanaged timing was a blessing in disguise as they had previously declared that the plans would result in a loss of ?12mm which would encompass over 18% of their annual revenue. Whilst these figures were publicly challenged it was a widely held view that, with free to air and without the input from the traditional subscription channels for satellite television such as Sky, the IRFU would find it difficult to retain the quality players of the ilk that won them the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009. Sky has held the rights to the Heineken Cup since 2007 and it is available on subscription channel whilst RTE currently hold the rights to the Six Nations up until 2013. So where does this controversial proposal stand now?

Well the Department of Communications maintains that it will bring the free to air proposal to the new Government as quickly as possible yet Fine Gael stand firm in their opinion that they see no reason to alter the current situation and, if elected to Government, would not be proceeding with the FTA Rugby coverage. So, for now, Eamon Ryan's Indecon report is in limbo, there's a new Government to be formed and with the continued role-out of Saorview, the Irish digital terrestrial service, it looks like we have not heard the last of this sports coverage debate.

Long has it been the bain of ordinary sports fans, in particular rugby fans that more and more of their free to air coverage has been slowly eaten away by large Pay per view companies such as Sky and Setanta. One of the better ideas to come from the last government was that any rugby game involving an Irish team should be available on free to air terrestrial TV. We can only hope that will the roll out of Digital TV this year that it will put the FTA Rugby debate back on the table again.

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