Live English premiership soccer is to return to RTÉ screens on Saturday afternoons from next August for the first time in more than a decade.
Under the terms of a three-year deal announced yesterday, the station will broadcast 15 Saturday afternoon fixtures during the 2004/2005 season. Live English soccer has not been seen on Irish terrestrial television since 1993/94 when Sky Sports gained exclusive rights for Ireland and Britain.
Those who have digital television will be able to access another 15 games on Setanta's Sports channel, but only on a pay-per-view basis. RTÉ has also retained the rights to show highlights of Premier League matches on Saturday evening in its Premiership programme. This contract also runs for three years.
Setanta and RTÉ beat off competition from other bidders, among them TV3. The value of the three-year deal has not been disclosed. Setanta and RTÉ, who put equal funding into the bid, said games by top teams would be shown, but no single team would dominate the schedule.
The deal allows RTÉ/Setanta to show games which kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturdays. However, neither channel is allowed to broadcast games which start earlier or later in the day. Some of these will be available on Sky.
Traditionally teams with large Irish support bases like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Leeds United, Chelsea and Spurs have brought in the highest ratings, therefore their matches are likely to be shown the most. However, games involving these teams are sometimes shown early on a Saturday, on a Sunday or during the week and may not be available for Saturday.
Nevertheless, the showing of live games is likely to prove popular based on viewing figures for the Champions League. Games involving Manchester United in that tournament have produced audiences in excess of 400,000.