OPINION:Sport on pay TV leaves many fans out in the cold. Let's base views on evidence and have a proper consultation, writes EAMON RYAN
STOP AND think.
That’s what I’m asking of people in this national public consultation on the events we in Ireland decide are of such interest to Irish people that they should be available free to air on television.
Every three years, the Minister for Communications is legally obliged to go through a process where he or she calls for submissions from the general public and any interested parties on what events should be on free-to-air TV.
The Minister then draws up his or her list and presents them for national consultation. Eventually, a final list is presented in Brussels where the minister argues for their designation. Nothing can be done on a “hunch”. All involves careful policy analysis, statutory consultation, discussion, listening and feedback.
I began this process in May of last year. Having gone through Stage One of this process, I recently published my proposed new list. It includes the Six Nations Championship and the European Rugby Cup (the Heineken Cup), as well as GAA Championship matches from provincial finals upwards and the Cheltenham Festival.
Sporting organisations are entitled to enter into any commercial arrangement they wish on the broadcasting of their events, but RTÉ, TV3 and TG4 would have the right to pay normal rights to show the event. Nothing is given away for free.
I am sure many people heard the news that additional sporting events were to be designated free to air and thought “that sounds good”. I am sure just as many recoiled when they heard such a move could “kill” their game and thought to themselves, “Stop, I want things to stay just the way they are.”
For a genuine rugby supporter, that feeling is all the stronger because where we are now is closer to the top of world rugby than we have ever been before. Our teams play with a style and passion that makes us all feel proud.
That success came because the IRFU took on professional rugby in a professional manner. They were right to adapt our historic provincial structure to the new European competitions and to keep our best players at home. They were right to leave no province behind.
We now have a wonderful new stadium for the sport and the game has grown out of its traditional heartlands into new counties which are providing some of our next generation of players.
I hear the initial arguments that the IRFU has made in this consultation process but they should equally understand that a Government has to consider a range of views in this debate, including issues relating to social, regional and broadcasting as well as sporting policy. A knee-jerk response may not have considered all the angles.
The Irish public has also played its part in the success of Irish rugby, not only through ticket sales and supporters’ clubs but also through the massive tax revenues that have been given to the sport. The question we have to now consider is whether that wider viewing public should by right be able to see key games where their national or provincial teams are playing.
The evidence both from home and abroad indicates that when such events are only available on pay TV, the audience typically reduces by some 80 per cent. More specifically, the evidence in Ireland seems to show that the audience of children can be decimated.
For example, in 2006 when Leinster played Toulouse in the Heineken Cup quarter-final, 255,000 people watched the match on RTÉ. The following year, at the same stage of the tournament, with the same team, only 47,000 watched the game on pay TV. The audience of children under 14 watching each game fell from 27,000 to 2,000.
How is it in the interests of any sport to vastly reduce the numbers of children watching the game? Where will the players of the future come from?
Many sporting stars tell of the time they watched their heroes on television as a child and how that was their inspiration. Do we want to make such inspiration a commodity beyond the reach of cash-strapped parents and their children?
Breaking down viewing figures across a range of sports, it is notable that the people most disenfranchised by moving major sporting events to pay TV are the poorer sections of society, the elderly, rural dwellers and children.
The IRFU has raised concerns that the proposed designations could see them losing up to €12 million in broadcasting revenues. The consultation process will allow them explain their case in detail.
However, even a simple analysis shows that the vast majority of its broadcasting revenues come from the Six Nations championship which will be broadcast free to air with guaranteed revenues for the next three years.
Now is the right time for us to ask the question: do we want to continue having those games involving the Irish team available on free-to-air TV?
Now is equally the right time to consider whether the Heineken Cup games have grown in popularity here to meet the criteria of having special resonance for the Irish people, whereby the games can be designated.
To those who fear this will hurt the sport I would cite the example of Australia. There the designation of practically every major Aussie Rules and Rugby League game has seen those sports prosper while, under a pay TV regime, Rugby Union is starting to suffer and is trying to get back onto free-to-air television.
France has designated the Six Nations as free to air and French rugby has not been destroyed. France has designated the final of the Heineken Cup as free to air and French rugby has never been stronger.
Are the Irish provincial teams not now part of what we are? If we do not designate the Six Nations as free to air now, it will be too late in 2013.
Then we would be faced with the appalling prospect of Ireland v England in the Six Nations not being shown on national television. Then there would really be uproar.
I welcome your views.
Eamon Ryan is Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources