It must be a pain in the ass being the national broadcaster. Sure, it's a pain in the ass paying the licence fee but there's a lot of pressure on RTÉ over what they do with that money. They were criticised for losing the Six Nations to TV3 but when it's (partly) the public's money being spent, there's an added layer of considerations that private companies don't have to think about.
If RTÉ were to go all out on their sporting coverage at the expense of other areas, they'd be rightly criticised and now that TV3 have the financial backing of the Virgin owned Liberty Global group, we're seeing the knock on effects. The Rugby World Cup rights went by the wayside, the Six Nations are going the same way and now it seems that RTÉ are considering sharing a few more slices of the pie.
The Irish Times are reporting that 2016 is going to be an expensive year for RTÉ in sporting terms and TV3 are only too willing to step up to the plate. The state broadcaster is thought to be exploring the possibility of sharing the rights to its 2016 sports coverage in an effort to help boost the bottom line.
With an Irish Euro 2016 campaign being added to the Olympics and the GAA Championship, it's going to be a costly undertaking for RTÉ and TV3's commercial director, Pat Kiely, has said that the station is ready to share that burden.
It clearly would be a burden for RTÉ to do it all, and they are going to be under pressure to pay for everything. They’re going to have a very tough year.
What that exactly means for the likes of the Euros and the Olympics is, as yet, unclear but the Times are also suggesting that with the GAA rights from 2017 onwards up for tender shortly, it's distinctly possible that TV3 would be in market for a much bigger slice of that action as well.
All in all, if it wasn't already clear with their rugby coverage, TV3 are heading into the sports market in a big way and Irish viewers may have to start getting used to the big occasions with the usual RTÉ accompaniment.
