Although negotiations between RTE and Sky Sports will continue throughout the week, it seems extremely unlikely that the domestic network will gain the rights to deferred transmission of Ireland's opening Six Nations match against England on Saturday.
With UTV showing a one-hour highlights package only, Sky would appear to be the only option open to Irish fans not travelling to Twickenham.
"We are still trying to work some sort of negotiation with Sky, but it is not looking good at the moment," admitted Ian Long of RTE.
Since agreeing exclusive broadcast rights with the English RFU three years ago, Sky Sports have been free to demand whatever price they choose from the state networks such as RTE and BBC. While RTE did transmit full, delayed coverage of the corresponding fixture two years ago, Ireland will most probably not feature this weekend.
"It is disappointing, we have always been there for Ireland games and will continue to persevere in making arrangements for this one," Long said. "If it doesn't come to pass, it will be a first for us.
"But we are hopeful that a situation like this will not emerge again. Ireland won't play in Twickenham for another two years, by which time the current Sky contract will have ended."
The RFU's go-it-alone deal with Sky almost led to England's expulsion from the (then) Five Nations tournament, and although the networks which had traditionally covered the event were frozen out, the other home unions are due to receive compensation from the English body.
As reported in The Irish Times on Friday, the Irish, Welsh and Scottish unions are each owed in excess of £2 million from the RFU.
RTE will, of course, broadcast the other Six Nations games on Saturday, with live coverage of Italy versus Scotland at 2.0 p.m. and Wales against France at 4.0 p.m. But the England-Ireland game has always generated intense public interest: the corresponding fixture last year was watched by 280,000 viewers on RTE, some 44 per cent of the daily total.
"We have had a number of inquiries from the public about the game and I expect there will be a lot more later on in the week when people realise it's on Sky," Long added.
"The last time a situation resembling this occurred was in November for the Ireland-Turkey play-off game, which, naturally, was something that appealed to the vast majority of sports fans. Rugby hasn't quite the same appeal as soccer here, but still draws a lot of fans." RTE had originally hoped to begin a full, deferred broadcast of Ireland's inaugural Six Nations clash some 15 minutes before the match was due to end. Unless they manage to secure terms at the 11th hour, it is unlikely that Sky will release any footage of the game, even for edited highlights.
UTV, who had also previously shown deferred coverage, have settled for an hour's highlights package, starting at 4.20 p.m. The home network will, of course, be showing the rest of Ireland's campaign live. Warren Gatland's side are at home to Scotland on February 19th, with kickoff scheduled for 4.0 p.m. They play Italy on March 4th, and then visit Paris on the 19th.
Their programme concludes on April 1st with Wales at Lansdowne Road.
