THE RACE to bring some sort of coverage of the Republic of Ireland’s play-off against France to an Irish audience was still ongoing last night but there were expressions of confidence from some quarters, writes Carl O’Malley.
While the official line from RTE was that negotiations with the French Football Federation (FFF) were still ongoing, their soccer correspondent Tony O'Donoghue reported "significant progress" on Six One News.
The national broadcaster is bidding for television and radio rights but faces competition from TV3, Sky Sports and Newstalk 106-108fm. The latter announced at lunchtime yesterday it had entered negotiations .
Sky Sports are in the running to televise the fixture but refused to comment yesterday, while TV3, like RTE, have bid a six figure sum, with the FFF known to be demanding over €1million.
Both TV3 and RTE have despatched crews to Paris in the hope a deal is secured. RTE has confirmed an average of 858,000 viewers watched the first leg last Saturday.
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