Yes. That's the IRFU/Six Nations fear. That's not to say that there couldn't be competition from (in decreasing order of likeliness) TG4, TV3, or UTV.
As it happened Alex White was booked for The Week in Politics and was asked about this. He denied any decision had been made - but did say there was a "strong case".
What rugby needs to acknowledge is that this isn't just about the Six Nations, it's about the sport as a whole. Without the profile FTA coverage gives the sport the recent deals for the English Premiership and European Cup competitions wouldn't have been as significant either.
I just wonder as well if this could put pressure on the UK government to do the same here and keep the 6 nations on FTA. Obviously, there could be more competition, with BBC, ITV, channel 4 and channel 5 in the fray. Let's not forget as well that Discovery, owners of Eurosport, also own Quest, which is on Freeview. Therefore, they could easily bid, and simulcast on Eurosport and Quest, getting round the issue of FTA coverage.
They've managed to miss out quite an important word in that press release...!
"Jacqui, who brings with her a wealth of experience from a career at the top level of sports broadcasting, including being the
first ever commentator
on the BBC’s Match of the Day programme..."
Won't be too much for her to do, so I doubt she'll be finishing up the few things she does for BBC Sport too. She's far better when she covers for Score than Gabby Logan ever was.
Confirmed this evening that the Irish government is considering adding the Six Nations, along with the All-Ireland ladies Gaelic football and camogie (women's hurling) finals, to the "A" list. There was never any possiblity of the latter two ever being sold to a pay-TV broadcaster incidently. A consultation period now begins.
Setanta Ireland screening Italy v England tonight, world feed being used with odd graphics that I've never seen anywhere before. Seem to take some queues from BBC Sport but with a weird 3D effect. Setanta used to screen England games as a result of their old contract with the FA but dropped them - with ITV no longer available to cable homes in the Republic they obviously felt it was worth picking up the rights to this one.
Setanta Ireland screening Italy v England tonight, world feed being used with odd graphics that I've never seen anywhere before. Seem to take some queues from BBC Sport but with a weird 3D effect. Setanta used to screen England games as a result of their old contract with the FA but dropped them - with ITV no longer available to cable homes in the Republic they obviously felt it was worth picking up the rights to this one.
Well it's a wise move by Setanta Ireland as I would assume that 90% of that channels viewers are in UPC homes, the competition has been eliminated.
It would never have been 90% even before the BT deal as Sky dominates commercial premises most of whom would take Setanta via satellite. It might have been in domestic before the BT deal but not now - but probably still a majority.
Major issues for Eurosport 2 this morning with the China Open Snooker, though not Eurosports fault. Basically, when coverage started on Eurosport 2 at 07:30, of the two TV tables, the host broadcaster, CCTV, had just one camera available. This was due to a fire outside the venue, which affected the OB truck, and knocked out all the other cameras. The one camera working was on the Mark Selby match, and that was a camera pointing from the direction of one of the corner pockets. Not ideal, but at least we had coverage.
This lasted until 08:30, when we lost that camera as well, meaning that at the time I write (08:43), Eurosport has had to revert to recorded footage from yesterdays action. Not Eurosport's fault, but at least they did try their best under the circumstances.
It would never have been 90% even before the BT deal as Sky dominates commercial premises most of whom would take Setanta via satellite. It might have been in domestic before the BT deal but not now - but probably still a majority.
I was talking Viewers rather than subscribers and only for this Match. I would assume many people who subscribe to Setanta on Satellite are doing so for the BT package. These are committed Sports viewers of Course, but they have almost no take or leave it causal viewers on Satellite. On the other hand I believe Setanta Ireland is a basic service on UPC and 105 on the EPG. Anyone with Satellite who was interested in the Match would have watched it on ITV HD for free. Thus saying 90% of Setanta audience for this one event was in UPC land is very likely.
I don't know anyone that watches Setanta Coverage of an event when the same event is on BBC or ITV.