Well, from Setanta in this case. RTE only had the games that were A-listed (as did TV3 themselves in 2007), Setanta were the primary rights holders. Ironically enough there's talk that they may still sublicence some games to them (in a reversal of previous years) as TV3 really don't have the resources to cover this tournament on their own.
Well, from Setanta in this case. RTE only had the games that were A-listed (as did TV3 themselves in 2007), Setanta were the primary rights holders. Ironically enough there's talk that they may still sublicence some games to them (in a reversal of previous years) as TV3 really don't have the resources to cover this tournament on their own.
TV3 have confirmed that's not the case... even going as far as putting 'all 48 matches' in bold on their story.
Yeah, Niall Cogley (son of legendary RTÉ rugby commentator Fred and former Setanta Sports chief executive), who's now TV3's Head of Sport, said as much on Newstalk tonight. The talk seems to have stemmed from a fundamental misunderstanding by the Irish Times on Saturday on what exactly the arrangements were for the 2007 RWC between Setanta and TV3 and the very odd wording of the IRB's press release in which they said TV3 would "manage the broadcast" didn't help matters.
At least TV3 is going HD in the middle of next year but the question of which platforms it will go on will be a very important question in the future.
If TV3 HD is not on Saorview by next year, well I would switch over to ITV HD for the tournament instead as I have FTA satellite.
Another thing is not to have Matt Cooper presenting the RWC coverage in Ireland as he was presenting the GAA coverage a few years ago. The fans views was that he was dreadful at it as he didn't have a clue about Gaelic Games. Coupled the with the bad picture for the football & hurling matches it was a no-go area for those fans.
Their Champions League is also dreadful as well with the awful camera feed picture provided on Saorview analysis before and after the match. Don't forget the commentators as well like Trevor Welsh. Dear lord he is god awful at his job.
They certainly used to have their own studios, I don't think it's TV3's - Premier League Central has occasionally gone out on Monday nights at the same time that live programmes have gone out on TV3. They also need to be on air at the same time as TV3 on Champions League Tuesdays and TV3 only had the one studio until comparatively recently when the Sony HD Studio opened.
I wonder what's the policy in relation to watersheds at RTÉ. Case in point most recent episode of Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Towards the end of the program an agent picks up a gun shoots two men in the head and then shoots a woman once in the chest and then again after she falls. On Channel 4's airing last Friday 8pm, this scene is heavily edited to cover the shots impacts and the cold blooded extra shots (4od link, time stamp 39:16 http://www.channel4.com/programmes/marvels-agents-of-shield/4od#3682762) However on RTÉ Twos airing of the scene at 5pm in the early evening the scene was aired in full as it went out in the US (RTE player time stamp 39:30 http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10277353/)
The watershed, as in the UK, is 9pm. However RTÉ has always been extremely reluctant to make actual cuts to films and shows and this may have led to an, er "overlooking" of this scene in Agents of Shield as RTÉ would likely regard/schedule this as a childrens/young adult programme given its superhero universe setting. They'd probably risk it rather than alienate what they perceive to be its core audience by moving it after the watershed.
RTÉ broadcast (either intentionally or unintentionally) a home grown 5 min short film around lunchtime on Christmas Eve/Day a few years ago, featuring a man tied to a chair being beaten by a female mob boss and quite a few bits of choice language came from her mouth, including F's and MF's and him with blood on him, IIRC. Quite surprising to see.
RTÉ have also shown many PG and 12 rated films during the day and not edited them at all (and they rarely do) so there's all sorts of mild swearwords, that would have the BBC and ITV wetting themselves in fear of being heard, going out at all hours of the day. They've also had some 15's during the daytime too, and I do recall Beverly Hills Cop getting a teatime showing on RTÉ ONE many moons ago, uncut. ITV did the same thing, but it was the OTT tame US TV/airline version that was laughably bad.
The only time I think I can remember RTÉ editing a film was when Titanic premiered on Christmas Day one year. They edited out the sole use of the F word, probably because it was Christmas and 5pm, but apart from that, everything else went out as filmed, including Kate's boobage.
