THE IRISH Rugby Football Union and Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan look set for a confrontation over plans to designate the Six Nations championship and Heineken Cup games free-to-air for television.
IRFU chief Philip Browne will call on Mr Ryan to reverse the decision at a press conference in Dublin today which will be attended by the chief executives of the Six Nations championship, the Heineken Cup and the four provinces.
The conference is part of the union’s campaign against the proposals to make all of Ireland’s games in the Six Nations and key games involving Irish provinces in the European Cup available live and for free on terrestrial television.
The IRFU has claimed such a change could lead to losses of €10-12 million and said the Minister’s argument that the shortfall could be made up by increased sponsorship does not stack up. That alternative could only generate some €2-3 million in income, it said.
The loss of income would have a detrimental effect on the game in Ireland, the IRFU has also argued, as provinces would no longer be able to retain star players such as Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell, or afford to pay for such high-profile imports as Munster’s Doug Howlett.
Following a meeting with the IRFU last week, the Minister has extended the deadline for national consultation on his proposal. However, he has said the new events on the list are “part of what we are” and there is a strong argument that they should be available free to viewers.
“We are discussing something very important here – the access and full participation of Irish people, regardless of income or location, to important sporting events. This is about sports for all,” he said.
Under the present classification, the Six Nations is available only as a deferred broadcast. However, as RTÉ has the rights, the matches are shown live and for free. The earliest a pay channel such as Sky could win the rights is 2013.
Sky has held the rights for the Heineken Cup in Ireland since 2007 and live broadcasts are available only to subscribers, including pubs. RTÉ shows deferred highlights.
Sources in RTÉ familiar with buying sports rights said the losses of revenue cited by the IRFU seemed extraordinarily high. According to the IRFU, the figures represent the actual share it receives from the overall television deal brokered by the six rugby unions.
The IRFU campaign has included a banner displayed by former players at half time of the Leinster-Munster Magners League semi-final, which said: “Minister Ryan, Don’t Kill Our Teams”.
Mr Ryan has received irate phone calls and e-mails from rugby supporters, his department said.
One of the issues raised by the Minister when designating the events free-to-air was that the only place children without access to subscriber services at home could view games was in public houses.
According to RTÉ the viewing figure for the 2006 Heineken Cup final involving Munster on RTÉ was 532,000. This fell to 119,000 when the Leinster v Leicester final was available only on Sky. RTÉ has argued the practice of designating major sporting events as free-to-air is overwhelmingly in the public interest and supersedes the rights of sporting organisations to maximise revenues.