On the morning of the mens 50 km walk race as Rob was crossing the finishing line in Moscow, RTE were showing Masterchef Australia on RTE 1 and a cartoon called Babes in Toyland on RTE2.
In it's defence, RTE said that they could not have bought the rights to one race on a standalone basis. They would have had to pay for all seven days of the Championships or nothing at all.
A spokesman for RTE said...."Irish athletes' participation in both national and international athletics championships has been carefully considered and prioritised within the portfolio of sports rights we have retained. RTE had acquired rights for the European and World Cross Country Championships as well as the National Indoor and Outdoor Athletics Championships. Unfortunately, we couldn't stretch to acquire the rights to broadcast the WAC also."
It also meant that for the awards ceremony later and the playing of the national anthem, Irish people had to watch the BBC or Eurosport rather than the national broadcaster for the state.
John
ReplyDeleteThanks for your coverage of the race on the blog. I was very disappointed not to see live coverage on tv. Only for the updates on the blog, I would have had no idea of what was happening.
In fairness RTE can't win on this one. If they'd bought the rights to broadcast the whole championships there would be plenty calling it a waste of money. No matter what they do someone isn't happy. It's a pity we didn't get to see Robert's great win but I can see why a business decision had to over ride sentimentality. Am sure RTE would love to show every Irish athlete compete but it's just not affordable.
ReplyDeleteTypical RTE. I had no clue. Got the information from RED FM in cork.DISAPPOINTED that I pay for a TV licence and Irish events are not covered. Thought TG4 would cover it. RTE need to reconsider how they deal with events like this again! I barely watch RTE as I have Sky and Netflix.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cop out ...totally pathetic response....
ReplyDeleteIf RTE stopped paying the likes of Pat Kenny & the like 80,000, they might have money to pay to cover athletics.
ReplyDeleteYou think Pat Kenny is on 80k?? Ah, go again. Closer to 400k.
ReplyDeleteSaw it all on the beeb and congrats again Rob.