RTE has no comment for RTE
Mary Minihan
Just a quick one. My colleague Harry McGee has been leading the charge in covering the ongoing story of the IRFU’s public spat with Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan over rugby TV rights, and I bow to his superior knowledge on the topic!
But something I half-heard on radio at the weekend while pottering around at home stuck in my head. I’ve only just got a chance to listen back online to confirm I heard correctly. “RTE declined to comment so we don’t know their view on this.” Grand. Or it would be, if that line hadn’t been broadcast on RTE. (In a package presented by an excellent reporter on the always-interesting This Week programme on Sunday, to be precise.)
The issue is: who has the right to decide whether the rights for matches can be sold to SKY or another subscription channel or to terrestrial broadcasters RTE, TV3 or TG4. It wasn’t quite clear if RTE had no comment in relation to the matter in general, or to a specific issue raised by a TV3 executive.
Either way, RTE has no comment for RTE. So, RTE isn’t speaking to itself?
Did that strike anyone else as strange?
