Each Wednesday we take a look at the world of the Irish and international sports media, the stories, the numbers and the organisations that are, more than ever before, our window on the world of sport…
VIRGIN AND EIR ON COURT COLLISION PATH
It was confirmed on Monday that Virgin Media’s dispute with eir over sports rights contracts is heading for the commercial court.
A judge will now decide on whether the changes to scheduling and content caused by the Covid-19 disruption around the world was sufficient to impact on the value of a commercial contract signed between the parties.
In August 2019 it was agreed that each party would allow for the carriage of their respective sports rights on the other parties distribution channels.
The paid content to which this applied was primarily related to UEFA Champions and Europa League games from Virgin to eir and Guinness PRO 14 Rugby and other properties in the other direction.
It has been reported that the value of the deal between 2019 and 2021 was €6 million which eir would pay to Virgin Media.
The first payment was made in December for €1 million which would seem to have established that the contract was in place.
The second payment was due to be paid on July 1st 2020 for an amount of €2.5 million.
The concluding stages of the European competitions had clearly not taken place by this stage but were planned for resumption through the late summer months.
Negotiations were understood to be taking place over how the value of the deal might have changed and whether or not there had been any shift in the payments which the media companies were making to the sports rights holders.
When the second payment was not received on time, Virgin suspended the supply of its channels to eir and within weeks the same action was taken in the opposite direction.
Viewers on both channels platforms were the ones to miss out.
The case will now be heard in the New Year unless an out of court settlement is reached. It will have an interest for many broadcasters and sporting bodies around the world who may have largely kept relations in good shape as everyone worked through the pandemic disruption together but who may yet come under their own pressures if the disruption continues around major events into another year.
HURLING FINAL HITS YEAR HIGH
Sunday’s All Ireland Hurling Final between Limerick and Waterford hit a peak audience of 783,000 with a further 78,000 watching via streams on the RTÉ Player.
That compares to the previous weekend peak of 587,000 for the Mayo Tipperary Football Semi-Final.
It does though represent a third consecutive year in which the audience in overall terms has fallen. 854,000 watched Limerick win in 2018 and 829,000 saw Tipperary come out on top in 2019.
It is, of course, impossible to draw a hard and fast conclusion on popularity when it was taking place two weeks before Christmas as opposed to in the height of summer and with no crowds in the stadium.
It is though the case that those 82,000 who would have been there should have been tuning in themselves so the figures, while they will still be one of the most-watched programmes of the year, will still have been on the disappointing side.
It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend with the Football Final shifted to a Saturday early evening under lights.
CAMOGIE FINAL PEAKS HIGH
The Liberty Insurance All Ireland Camogie Final on Saturday night drew a peak audience of 269,000 for RTÉ, at the culmination of its ‘Super Saturday’ coverage devoted to Women’s sport.
That number is down on the record 2019 peak figure of 323,400 though the average figure tuning in is likely to be closer to last year’s average of 254,800 when they emerge.
Again comparison is difficult with the exceptional circumstances of 2020.
Both of the Semi-Finals also drew peak audiences into six figures with 151,000 and 101,000 respectively tuning in two weeks ago.
MEDIA SPORTS ANALYSIS
This week we are tracking the Sports media coverage across the Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, RTE.ie and The 42.ie to determine the respective level given over to each of the ‘main sports’ and to the diversity of coverage including other sports and the percentage devoted to Women’s sport.
We will report our weekly findings on Monday morning of next week.
Join us every Friday morning for our popular and essential guide to everything you can watch each weekend; every Wednesday for our Weekly Media Matters column; and every day for the latest on the commercial world of Irish sport.
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