It is a bit sad that the armchair fans won't be able to watch their national team live anymore without subscribing to Sellotanta Sports. Surprisingly i'm sure I seen an ad earlier on in the year that stated that Sellotanta would have exclusivity on all of Ireland's away world cup qualifiers yet RTE showed the Georgia match and will show the Montenegro match on wednesday. Is this because of the government law that was brought in recently that terrestrial channels in Ireland has to have coverage off all important sporting Irish events. How come the UK doesn't have such a law also.
Well can watch it in their friends house. Nuttin wrong with that I used to do it when I was younger because we couldnt afford sky at the time. Thats Tv companies for ya. Plus ya dont have drink alcohol in a pub. You can a coke and a packet of crisps
Think that only applies to international competitive games. Doesn't count for friendlies etc. Do the english not have something like this to cover england international games?
I don't know if the game against Montenegro is on RTE..? The TV rights to away games are sold by the home FA so Irish legislation has no effect.
Montenegro game is definitely on RTE, coverage starting at 5:30pm on Wednesday http://www.rte.ie/sport/sportontv.html
National games should have to be shown on free channels, not a chance that a pay channel would get coverage of Italy or Spain games, if the England fans wana abuse somebody it should be the FA who always go to the highest bidder!
Sure wheres the fun in that? The real fans have far to many other issues to sing about and abuse mostly a bunch of idiots. *bites lip to prevent slanderous statement*
Exactly. Setanta have every right to charge the BBC for highlights as there are no rules preventing it. They are running a business, not a charity. If some really want to watch it, they can go down the pub and drink water. If BBC had really wanted the matches, they should have outbid for them. The were very fond of sending a host of execs and muppets on junkets for Euros and Olimpics at massive expense. Less of those of trips and paying stupid money to the man (Gold Memeber McClaren) who failed get England to the Euros would mean they could bid to show them live.
They lost the contract to ITV and Setanta 18 months ago. Don't forget the FA Cup is part of the deal.
It was actually one of the few good things the Irish Government in recent years have done, was fight sky and the FAI in keeping the qualifiers on terrorestial tv. The FA in England have been getting away with pimping their product for years, for some reason it was acceptable when a company run by an Australian was charging them, but not a so-called Irish company? This argument by the fans is 15years too late.
It wasn't a good thing. It allowed RTE to continue with their tired formula of broadcasting games, with less money available to invest in Irish football. The regulation only applies to Ireland home qualifiers.