The United Rugby Championship has been formally launched this week and will hit the stadia and our screens on Friday, September 24th.

The club game is coming back to RTÉ screens as well with a new three-year broadcast deal that gathers up free-to-air and a partnership on streaming between the broadcaster and the rights holder.

We had an opportunity to sit with RTÉ Director-General, Dee Forbes to explore how the world of sports broadcasting was changing…

 

SFB: In the past 24 hours you have formally launched an expansive schedule of free to air games from the United Rugby Championship on RTÉ and a new Streaming Partnership in URC TV. Which of them came first?

DF: The discussion around the broadcast rights was first and foremost about getting the new United Rugby Championship onto our free to air channels.

Sport is such a huge, important part of Irish life and having the big occasions seen by the greatest number of people helps them be part of the national conversation.

We have seen the power of Appointment to view television throughout the summer with the Euro’s the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the All Ireland Championships shown to the widest possible audiences on RTÉ.

Having the opportunity to bring the best of rugby at club level to sit alongside our rights to the Autumn Internationals and the Six Nations in the Men’s, Women’s and U20’s was something we wanted to be part of.

 

SFB: Was sharing the rights with TG4 an issue?

DF: We have a great relationship with TG4 and that is especially evident in relation to sport.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 was a great example of how we can join forces around a single event and both be stronger as a result.  This will provide more of the same.

 

SFB: When did the potential partnership in relation to URC TV come to the fore?

DF: As the discussion developed, the URC’s desire to create and expand a strong streaming service became a part of it.

It is an exciting development.  One that we have experience of, and a real belief in.

To be candid, sports rights are becoming more expensive and look like continuing to move in one direction.

Creating a blended model where we can secure the free to air rights for a key property like the United Rugby Championship, and at the same time develop an audience that will allow us both to build additional subscription revenue is a way to keep us in the game for sport.

 

SFB: You were early to that development with the creation of GAAGo and you have also worked on expanding it during Covid with the FAITV experiment.  What are the most important lessons you have learned from those experiences?

DF: GAAGo has been a great success and is continuing to grow.  Covid and the closure of stadia to fans enabled us to move quickly in offering the service to a domestic as well as an international audience and we continue to adjust in making it a service that people want to use and to pay for.

Communication is a critical part of that.  Helping our audience understand what it is that the service provides, and learning from them in terms of what they want has been made possible by having a one-to-one relationship, in a different way to that which we have as a traditional broadcaster.

The technology that we partner with in delivering the streaming service is constantly evolving and improving and we are learning more almost every day in terms of the subscription model.

Being able to bring that into rugby now is an important part of the overall deal with the rights holder.

 

SFB: A year ago it looked as though Rugby might be heading down an exclusive paywall path.  The change to that has now led to more free to air coverage than has ever been the case.  Is that something which you could see coming?

DF: Traditional TV is far from dead and we continue to see the power of live events.  Money is an issue, of course, but sporting bodies understand the benefits of engagement and appeal to sponsors that come with the mass market audience that only free-to-air broadcast can provide.

It is still very much an experimental period as the broadcast model develops but the freemium approach that we are building here is one that has great potential, allowing us to be relevant and sustainable in terms of our relationship with sport.

Ultimately, the real winner here is the rugby fan, whether they want to dip in and out through knowing that the big games will be available to them where and when they want, or if they want to go deeper by becoming a subscriber.

 

 

 

Read more:

URC TV Bringing Rugby to the World

RTÉ and TG4 UNveil Rugby Line Up of 70+ Games

Vodacom Named as South African Sponsor of United Rugby Championship

 

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