RTÉ’S DECISION not to show the Paralympics live has been described as “bitterly disappointing” by Labour’s disability spokeswoman Senator Mary Moran.
Ms Moran, who has a child with an intellectual disability, said she was “absolutely shocked” that Saturday’s athletics, at which Ireland won two gold medals, was not shown live on RTÉ. She also criticised the scheduling of the highlights programmes which are being shown late at night.
“While RTÉ’s live coverage of the Games in London in August, and in particular the attention surrounding Katie Taylor’s outstanding boxing performances gave the country a very welcome boost, I am disappointed that the same cannot be said of the coverage for the Paralympic Games,” she said.
“Indeed, coverage of our national performances in the Games over the weekend, which saw Ireland secure three gold medals in three hours on Saturday, was limited to half an hour’s highlights and was televised late at night.”
The Senator has written to RTÉ director general Noel Curran complaining about the coverage. She has also appealed to RTÉ to revise its schedule for the rest of the week and show live Paralympic action.
Others have complained too on social media blogs and particularly RTÉ Sport’s Facebook page.
Though RTÉ is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which secured the rights to show the Games and would have been able to show them live, it has opted instead to show eight half-hour highlights programmes.
Comprehensive coverage of the Paralympics live is being shown on Setanta, though it is does not have exclusive access to the coverage.
Setanta marketing director Brian Quinn said the rights were secured on a non-exclusive basis and they were showing the Games because they believed they should be shown live.
“We are showing them on a free-to-air basis because we want as many fans as possible to see live Irish coverage. In Beijing there was no live coverage for Irish fans so our 73 live hours plus highlights is a huge step forward.”
A statement from RTÉ defended its coverage. RTÉ said in addition to its television coverage it was screening 450 hours live on RTÉ.ie. The broadcaster pointed out that RTÉ has 15 people in London working across television, radio and news.
It also said much of the action happens late into the evening and the production team needs time to turn the programme around.
RTÉ also said it has been covering the Paralympics since 2000 and its coverage this year is 30 per cent up on Beijing.
Channel 4, which won the exclusive rights to the Paralympics ahead of the BBC, has announced that it is extending its coverage because of strong ratings. Some 4.5 million people watched the T44 (for amputees) 200m men’s final on Sunday night which featured South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius who was controversially beaten by Brazil’s Alan Oliveira.
Channel 4 will now broadcast daily from 7am to 11.15pm with just a half an hour break for the Channel 4 News at 7pm.
