TV3’s English commentary of minor final proves a hit

TV3’s decision to broadcast the All-Ireland minor hurling final with English commentary was a resounding success with viewership peaking at 440,300.

Following the tradition set by RTÉ, their 3e channel televised the game in Irish, which drew a peak figure of 26,000.

However, the call to broadcast the game in English was wholly endorsed by viewers and is sure to give some food for thought to the Ballymount-based station for the remainder of the current rights contract with the GAA.

TV3 will offer both English and Irish commentaries on Sunday week’s All-Ireland minor football final between Dublin and Tipperary.

Meanwhile, RTÉ yesterday revealed Sunday’s senior final attracted the second highest ever viewership for an All-Ireland SHC decider with 1.1 million people tuning in for the final minutes of Kilkenny’s victory.

An average audience of 971,000 watched the coverage of the game on The Sunday Game Live, while a mean of 866,000 did the same for the entire programme, which included analysis and reviews.

RTÉ’s coverage of the final ranks as the highest rating sports event on television this year.

It also attracted the fifth highest audience of any RTÉ programme this year in Ireland.