Rugby World Cup 2015

Not at all, There are 30% of households using FTA Sat systems in the republic. They're a mix of SKY boxes without subscription, Freesat Boxes and then Off the shelf FTA Sat Boxes. Almost all of those households would regularly tune into ITV HD rather than TV3 SD or UTV Ireland SD on Saorview. ITV4 HD would never have been available to them as no subscription would have been paid, but the picture on ITV4 SD is substantially better still that TV3 SD on Saorview. Then you have to take into account all those that have SKY boxes with a subscription. I don't think I've ever been in a house where ITV isn't tuned into other channels (and has been for years and years) On top of that those that watch sport tend to look for the best picture available. (In my experience, I might move in the wrong circles )

That's not even taking into account those households that can still get UTV or ITV Wales via Freeview. ITV/UTV Ulster is freely available to about 65% of the population in the Republic. Down from 90% this time last year but still a huge section of the Public.

There are even 4% of the population in the republic with no Irish TV services but have UK services via either Freesat or Freeview.

UK TV stations have a 55-60% Total share of the Irish TV Market depending on the month.

It was interesting to see the collapse of interest in the rugby in Ireland in real terms once Ireland left the stage. When you compare Ireland's Game against France against the Final of the Tournament (Both afternoon kick offs) TV3 lost 2/3's of it's audience.

Have you got the stats to back that up because I think you're giving people more credit than they deserve. Tech minded folk might always tune into ITV HD, but for the wider public we see week in week out in the ratings that despite HD being widely available (think it's 70%+ in the most recent report) the viewership of HD channels in comparison to their SD equivalents is still very much in the minority.

You only have to look at how ratings rise when shows move from BBC2 to BBC1 to see how unadventurous many folk are with their remote controls.

The only time I have ever watched TV3's coverage of the RWC was barely never as I had Saorview along with FTA Satellite channels. The picture quality on TV3 SD is absolutely appalling on Saorview. I will never watch it for sports events ever again because the picture looks very washed out. I could not bear to watch the RWC on TV3 because of the obscene amounts of ads on there.

There are also other reasons that I didn't like the RWC coverage on TV3/3e. The method in which they allowed themselves to split a certain number of matches between two channels is always a turn off when watching sports. To cater for alternative coverage in the loss of the 2nd half of a RWC game. Viewers were subjected to an extra hour's coverage of the Irish Rugby team even when some of those viewers were initially recording the match via their HD/USB stick on Saorview, Sky box or UPC/VM box without being given any prior notice.

I have the access to the FA Cup Final on both BBC One HD and TV3 on Saorview for next year. I will always pick BBC One HD as the picture better on there is miles, miles better than TV3 SD. Not only that the sports coverage on the BBC is also infinitely better than TV3. The presenters and commentators are also much better than TV3 as well. TV3's sports team is always amateurish because it caters for a small market and it currently it does a very bad of job of serving the public in that role.

Even in Ireland RTE beats TV3 sports coverage by a country mile. It is well worth it to watch RTE for their sports line-up.

This is because by and large TV3 in any line of TV sport's coverage is a crippling joke. Their sport's website is the same too.

The Numbers for the FTA sat are from Nielsen at some point and are not exact (but are roughly correct) I'll try to find a link to where I seen them last in the next day or two... The share Irish TV has is about 45% give or take a percentage,

http://www.tamireland.ie/box-clever/tv-basics/share-and-reach

The UK is very different to Ireland when it comes to TV, Many parts of Ireland have had a lot more choice than the UK for decades because of Cable. Some parts had a lot less because they had no cable and were too far from the border. Real efforts have been made in the past in those parts to get TV from the UK to the point a Someone was voted into the Dail (Irish Parliament) on the policy of getting access to BBC, ITV and C4. The Irish public are more likely to go up the EPG (BBC1 is on 141 and BBC2 is on 142)

RTE have a very tough time competing with BBC and ITV with the exception of their sports department. Generally Irish people are happy with RTE coverage of various events in HD. So when TV3 show events in a very Soft SD with more ads than ITV you can see why people would go looking elsewhere. And to be fair lots didn't, TV3 had their best figures ever, However No one I know outside of Dublin that watches sport and Rugby watched the Matches on TV3. They did watch coverage that was on before and after ITV coverage came to a close, but the actual matches themselves where watched on ITV. That's why you could possibly add on a lot more viewers to TV3 figures.

It's also important to point out that Saorviews SD picture is no where as sharp and clear as Freeview SD

TV live has now got its Rugby world cup page up: http://www.tv-live.org.uk/tv-presentation/itv/itv/itv-2013-idents/itv-rugby-world-cup-2015/

All those nice break bumpers.