RTE to ditch the Premier League

Xavi6

Front page of the morning's Indo, they want to save €1.3 million so will no longer be paying for highlights rights.

Another reason not to pay your tv licence :pac:

Edit: Here's a pic -

GoldFour4

Never really enjoyed the RTE coverage to be honest. Always watched it over on bbc.

Agent Smith

good guy bbc


Sky channel 141
UPC channel 108
available across the country on freesat.

has highlights

ambid

Xavi6 wrote: »

Front page of the morning's Indo, they want to save €1.3 million so will no longer be paying for highlights rights.

Another reason not to pay your tv licence :pac:

Surprised at that. I'd have thought the Premier League at prime time on Saturday would have pulled big audiences and so lots of advertising revenue for them. I guess not as this can only be a commercial decision.

It's a shame as I'd prefer Kenny Cunningham and Richie Sadlier to BBC pundits.

NIMAN

Who hasn't got BBC in Ireland anyway?

ColeTrain

Who cares? Winning Streak is where it's at

keith16

I always found their coverage a bit meh.

Analysis of games went on for far too long, and the music they use is stupid too.

Skid X

Probably a sensible decision. I don't think it gets huge ratings and RTE can use the money saved to preserve their live Football rights.

It will be missed by people who don't have access to BBC or Sky or alternative means, but I would rather see RTE lose Premier League Highlights than their live European and International matches.

heyjude

Xavi6 wrote: »

Another reason not to pay your tv licence :pac:

It was the only programme that I watched regularly/weekly on RTE, so seriously questioning the value of the TV licence now.

I know the argument can be made that the same highlights are on the BBC, but so is Eastenders(which is shown simultaneously on the BBC), so is Wimbledon(which will doubtless be on TG4 shortly), so was the Eurovision song contest and so are many of the childrens programmes shown on RTE jr. Indeed why do we need a dedicated channel for childrens' programmes when there are already several such channels available from Britain.

If you have young children and can avail of hours of kids programming daily on RTE jr, or if you can find several hours of RTE programmes that you enjoy watching daily, then €160 a year seems great value, but otherwise(like me) it means paying for an expensive service that you rarely use and has just become relatively even more expensive.

applehunter

Maybe they can get the unused commentators to do LOI games now instead of voiceover roundups.

It would certainly give MNS a much needed boost.

Corholio

As much flak as they get, their analysis was infinitely better than Match of The Day's. Don't really want to watch MOTD and Lawrenson turning up just so he can make a few crap puns now and again.

applehunter

True, MOTD is very bland.

Thought Trevor Steven & Kenny Cunningham were excellent. Won't miss Ronnie Whelan.

BOHtox

It was pretty poor coverage. Far more talk than action. Always preferred the BBC coverage anyway. Hopefully RTE will invest just some of the money saved into coverage of our national league, national team and other national sports.

Less of this hopefully as well

starviewadams

Waste of money anyway,don't know anybody who watches it over MOTD.

Wonder would TV3 be able to pick it up if they could afford it?

Yakult

I watched it, mainly because it was on nice and early, so it suited me better but I will miss it. About the only decent production RTE made. If they want to save money they should be looking at those Z class celebrities who are being payed A class wages... Thats where money is being flushed down the drain.

Coillte_Bhoy

Dam. Was on at a perfect time for me. Never get to see it on BBC for various reasons.

Lord TSC

Loved watching the highlights on Sunday morning as I woke up. And Kenny Cunningham is one of the critics I rate the highest. Shame.

batistuta9

here's the article http://www.independent.ie/business/media/rte-axes-its-premier-league-show-to-save-station-13m-a-year-29341140.html

it says they were getting around 200k viewers - no idea if that's good or bad, shame it wasn't the 90's could've checked the rte guide :pac:

it also mentions leaving the way open for tv3 & setanta
hopefully setanta don't get it, i must ask in the PL rights thread in broadcasting/terrestrial to see what way it works - highest bidder or have they a minimum price on it

like others said it was on at a better time than MOTD, one of the better things about it

Dozen Wicked Words

Used to be on at a great time for my young son to watch, pity it's going.

Lando Griffin

batistuta9 wrote: »

here's the article http://www.independent.ie/business/media/rte-axes-its-premier-league-show-to-save-station-13m-a-year-29341140.html

it says they were getting around 200k viewers - no idea if that's good or bad, shame it wasn't the 90's could've checked the rte guide

it also mentions leaving the way open for tv3 & setanta
hopefully setanta don't get it, i must ask in the PL rights thread in broadcasting/terrestrial to see what way it works - highest bidder or have they a minimum price on it

like others said it was on at a better time than MOTD, one of the better things about it

Noooooooooooooooo.
Not TV3.

earlytobed

The MOTD coverage is pretty gash. Impossible to get a sense of the game. Goals, a few chances and red cards with no real analysis. A panel who never really say anything and won't criticise anybody.
I will miss the RTE coverage

Darkglasses

Glad to hear it's going. Plenty of other places to watch PL highlights. More focus on our national team and the LOI would be fantastic.

Jax Teller

Shame to see it go . Was at a much handier time than Motd .

That said you can see the goals less than 5 mins after they are scored online if you wanted to .

Amirani

RTÉ are pretty screwed for their Champions League analysis now. They tended to completely rely on their footage from the Premier League show...

NinjaK

Thats shocking, hate having to wait until 1030 for match of the day.

Sin City

Think about how much they would save if they sacked Tubs and got some one cheaper and maybe good on. While they are at it they can sack Brendan O Carroll too.

I liked the RTE coverage much better than the BBC. They are very bland. Id nearly fall asleep listing to Lawro Linekar et al

and that Gob****e from up North who hosts it some days to is terrible

homerjay2005

Darkglasses wrote: »

Glad to hear it's going. Plenty of other places to watch PL highlights. More focus on our national team and the LOI would be fantastic.

just interesting to know, whey are you glad that its gone? surely if you dont like something, you just dont watch it?

or are you hoping now that saturday night tv on RTE is filled with something else?

personally, sport is the only reason i watch RTE and this is yet another reason not to pay my TV licence. its handy to watch on a saturday evening especially when going out later so would miss MOTD.

to think, if they wanted to save 1.3million, they could have just gotten rid of Tubs and Finucane instead.

Rekop dog

I doubt it was getting huge viewer figures in comparison to years ago tbh, so many other weekend round up shows on now be it MOtD 1 or 2, Goals on Sunday or the one I'd watch more than most MNF, not the mind the fact there's so many live games on that many people wouldn't bother watching just to see the couple of crappy games that weren't live. Then there's all the mobile and internet places to see goals/highlights. It's rare you'd have to wait 5 minutes to see a great goal or controversial incident anymore before there's some gif or youtube video up, this takes away from the excitement of waiting for the highlight programmes at night. Also the fact that most young people would be out on a Saturday night so I doubt it's the busiest night for tv viewers in general.

NIMAN

heyjude wrote: »

It was the only programme that I watched regularly/weekly on RTE, so seriously questioning the value of the TV licence now.

I know the argument can be made that the same highlights are on the BBC, but so is Eastenders(which is shown simultaneously on the BBC), so is Wimbledon(which will doubtless be on TG4 shortly), so was the Eurovision song contest and so are many of the childrens programmes shown on RTE jr. Indeed why do we need a dedicated channel for childrens' programmes when there are already several such channels available from Britain.

If you have young children and can avail of hours of kids programming daily on RTE jr, or if you can find several hours of RTE programmes that you enjoy watching daily, then €160 a year seems great value, but otherwise(like me) it means paying for an expensive service that you rarely use and has just become relatively even more expensive.

But don't forget that if you watch Sky, BBC, watch BluRays or DVDs, etc and never watch RTE for one second of the year, you still legally need a TV licence.

Darkglasses

homerjay2005 wrote: »

just interesting to know, whey are you glad that its gone? surely if you dont like something, you just dont watch it?

No, that's not the point at all.

They have limited resources for covering sports. Some of that money can now be spent on better coverage of Irish soccer, which I would be very glad of because there are plenty of other options for watching EPL, but relatively few for LOI (especially when they are playing in Europe).

Thought it was clear enough.

lertsnim

NIMAN wrote: »

Who hasn't got BBC in Ireland anyway?

Me!!! Until tomorrow

Sappy404

Noooo.....

tayto lover

RTE Sports is run by rugby men who have no time for other sports.
How long before we see GAA being downgraded too by these people?

Dymo

Please god don't let TV3 get it and we have to look at and listen to Matt Cooper for the whole season asking his benign questions.

mitosis

Obviously, in spite of the droves of EPL fans in Ireland, the viewing figures didn't justify the spend. I guess if you are a fan of English football you watch it on an English channel. Generally.

NIMAN

Lets be honest, the vast majority of football 'fans' in Ireland care little for the LoI.

As for the Beeb coverage, yes Lawro and Hansen are blander than bland, but I usually record it and watch it shortly after, fast forwarding through their 'analysis', which has been the same for the last decade.

batistuta9

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Noooooooooooooooo.
Not TV3.

it'd still be free to watch though, whatever you think of their crew

ArmaniJeanss

TV3 seem committed to the XFactor/BGT stuff that their parent ITV are carrying in the 7-9 Saturday slot so doubt they'd be interested in EPL highlights at that time as that other stuff appears a ratings winner.

It would defeat the whole purpose to show it much later, it really needs to be shown before MotD.

Could possible show it on their 3e station, though whether they could justify
the spend to put it in such a backwater is doubtful.


Also hopefully RTE use the saved money to get back the Tuesday Champions League contract.

leonidas83

Saving 1.3 million eh??? what about this

Cut
Tubridy's salary 500k to 150k = 350k
Finuncane's salary 300k to 100k = 200k
O'Callaghans salary 210k to 100k = 110k
Kennys salary 630k to 200k = 430k
Duffys salary 300k to 90k = 200k
SAVING 1.3 MILLION

that way we'd still have some decent sports programmes & the above would be getting paid according to their ability.(and the above is being generous). God forbid those at RTE would show some balls

StephenHendry

thats a pity as i thought the premiership on rte was good, i watched it more regularly than MOTD on the saturday on the beeb

heyjude

NIMAN wrote: »

But don't forget that if you watch Sky, BBC, watch BluRays or DVDs, etc and never watch RTE for one second of the year, you still legally need a TV licence.

I said "It was the only programme that I watched regularly/weekly on RTE, so seriously questioning the value of the TV licence now." and I stand by that. I didn't question whether I legally needed a TV licence(even if I don't agree with it), but I questioned the value of a TV licence to me now, when the only programme I watched regularly on RTE is now being cancelled.

I suspect the claimed annual saving of €1.3m from cancelling the Premier League coverage will turn out to be nonsense, since they will have to find 90 minutes of programming for each of the 30+(some of the PL game weeks are played midweek)Saturday evenings starting from August, unless they intend going off-the-air for that time. Also as it is Saturday night they will need to find something different to what is showing on other channels at the same time to gain a decent audience, which hopefully won't mean another RTE chat show.

batistuta9

they show some OK shows quite late on rte 2 they could bump them forward

heyjude

Darkglasses wrote: »

No, that's not the point at all.

They have limited resources for covering sports. Some of that money can now be spent on better coverage of Irish soccer, which I would be very glad of because there are plenty of other options for watching EPL, but relatively few for LOI (especially when they are playing in Europe).

Thought it was clear enough.

Cutting Premier League coverage to save money will not result in more money being diverted into LOI coverage. They said they are looking to save money, not just reallocate resources.

heyjude

batistuta9 wrote: »

they show some OK shows quite late on rte 2 they could bump them forward

But what proportion of the audience for these programmes, that are normally shown late at night, would stay in to watch them at 8pm on a Saturday night ?

Cienciano

heyjude wrote: »

It was the only programme that I watched regularly/weekly on RTE, so seriously questioning the value of the TV licence now.

You're only questioning the value of the TV licence now? :pac:

Corholio wrote: »

As much flak as they get, their analysis was infinitely better than Match of The Day's. Don't really want to watch MOTD and Lawrenson turning up just so he can make a few crap puns now and again.

How Lawrenson has made a career (and seems to be in demand) doing football punditry beggars belief.

darragh16

Can't see TV3 make a bid for the rights. They already have the ****ty Saturday evening programming they bought off ITV and can't see them trying to take on MOTD on a Saturday night.

It'll have to be down to Setanta Ireland to put together a highlight program ...

ThunbergsAreGo

id love to be able to opt out of RTE.

This was the only thing i watched on it.

Was great Saturday night timing

lertsnim

tayto lover wrote: »

RTE Sports is run by rugby men who have no time for other sports.
How long before we see GAA being downgraded too by these people?

Ha, no chance unless the GAA wants to.

batistuta9

heyjude wrote: »

But what proportion of the audience for these programmes, that are normally shown late at night, would stay in to watch them at 8pm on a Saturday night ?

they could rejig their scheduling easy enough i mean, they won't necessarily need to spend to fill it

i don't think anybody stays in on saturday nights to watch TV, unless it's a live event

the popular shows on saturday nights are probably on at that time - could be wrong though - before people go out

they're going to be competing with tv3 who'll be showing reality/light entertainment stuff, showing sport at that time on rte2 is/was probably the best option for them, otherwise i think they'll fill it with another group that aren't interested in the tv3 stuff, documentaries maybe

lertsnim

darragh16 wrote: »

It'll have to be down to Setanta Ireland to put together a highlight program ...

They wouldn't even have to put one together. The Premier League already does one for international markets.

Johnny Utah

Meanwhile, Tubbs is on €500k+; Marian Finucane on €250k for one radio programme; and champagne socialist Joe Duffy is on €400k...