Soccer: RTE loses Premiership rights

RTE will not be showing Premiership soccer games next season because it cannot afford the buy the rights to the games.

Station officials have said they cannot meet the £2m bill, especially after the Government rejected the station's request for a £50 increase in the licence fee.

The rights to Premiership games would have cost RTE £1m, while production costs and wages for presenters Bill O'Herlihy, John Giles and Eamon Dunphy would have cost another £1m.

The news comes the day that ITV decided to change the timeslot of their soccer programme (also called the Premiership) to 7pm on Saturdays.

The football season kicks off next Sunday with the Charity Shield and the Premiership begins the following Saturday.

Public service broadcaster RTE has lost a number of lucrative sports contracts in recent years, with the cost of rights to sports events spiralling.

It already lost the rights to screen Champions League matches to its rival - TV3.