Sports at centre of broadcasters’ grudge match

In the battle of the broadcasters both RTÉ and TV3 have come out swinging, announcing details of new content with sport as the centrepiece.

TV3 outlined its new autumn schedule yesterday, with live and exclusive coverage of the Rugby World Cup the jewel in the crown.

All 48 matches will be carried live on the station, with the channel’s management claiming that TV3 had been “reinvigorated”.

In addition to the sporting showpiece, TV3 will broadcast a second season of drama Red Rock, its continued coverage of UK imports such as The X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother, and, returning to sport, Champions League football, now exclusive to the station having been split with RTÉ in recent years.

New programmes include The Great Irish Menu and a documentary series to be broadcast on Monday nights entitled Disclosure. The run-in to the next general election will also feature the final 20 constituencies in the continuing People’s Debate with Vincent Browne series.

TV3 group commercial director Pat Kiely said the station is now the country’s second most popular, after RTÉ One, with its group share now standing at 10.4%.

“TV3 is a more confident broadcaster than ever following a successful transition to originated programming. TV3 now enters autumn knowing it has a successful home-grown soap, the biggest sporting event on Irish television and a very robust schedule, all led by a reinvigorated TV3 brand,” Mr Kiely said.

However, RTÉ Sport said it was already looking forward to next year, revealing that it had secured the rights across all platforms to the Uefa Euro 2016 Championships in France.

Ryle Nugent, head of sport at RTÉ, said: “Next year Irish audiences can look forward to Euro 2016 alongside the GAA championships, the Olympic Games in Rio, the Six Nations, and all of Ireland’s competitive qualifiers for both Euro 2016 and the World Cup in 2018 and much more — all free-to-air on RTÉ across all platforms.”

Euro 2016 will feature more matches due to an expanded format, although whether Ireland are among those competing remain to be seen.