RTÉ Sport has secured extensive broadcast rights to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as well as to events at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
Coverage of Rio 2016 will once again cover exclusive live free-to-air television coverage as well as highlights on TV, radio coverage comprising both live and highlights broadcasts, and comprehensive digital coverage with live, highlights, simulcast and catch-up packages across online and mobile platforms.
Coverage of the Winter games next year in Russia will be mainly on the RTE News Now channel and will include daily highlights as well as opening and closing ceremonies.
Ireland had six competitors at the last Winter games in Canada with Aoife Hoey and Clare Bergin producing the best performance coming 25th in the Women’s Bobsleigh.
The broadcast rights for both of the games were awarded to RTÉ by Sportfive International, a sports marketing agency which acquired the broadcast and exhibition rights to the games in 40 European territories from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is now sublicensing them.
Sportfive are believed to have guaranteed a minimum payment €250 million for the rights in those countries which do not include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey or Spain.
While no figures have been revealed for the Irish deal reports last year suggested there was likely to be a smaller fee than Sportfive had originally projected. They revealed provision had been made for a shortfall of a little over €20 million in the value of rights sold to Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
RTE Sport will now hope to recoup the cost of the rights through advertising and programme sponsorship much as it did with Cadbury around the London 2012 Games. Rio will be the 14th consecutive games that the national broadcaster has covered. It is not believed any other station submitted to the bidding process.
Coverage of the 2016 Paralympic Games in the same city have yet to be agreed for Ireland.
“Building on from the success of RTÉ’s comprehensive coverage of the London 2012 games, we are looking forward to being able to bring the Irish public a wide-ranging level of Olympic coverage across all our platforms once again,” said Ryle Nugent, Group Head of Sport at RTE.
“The London 2012 Olympics really captured the Irish public’s hearts and minds, with hugely successful performances by a number of our athletes. We hope that these achievements will continue to grow as we look forward to Rio 2016. Whilst in line with our commitment to reduce our sports rights budget, this deal represents a significant investment by RTÉ, particularly in the current economic climate.”
“As the national public service broadcaster, we are proud to provide free-to-air coverage of such a major international event, featuring Irish competitors alongside some of the best athletes in the world, and we feel that it is a key part of our public service remit.”
Commenting on the deal, Shaila-Ann Rao, CEO of SPORTFIVE International, said: “We are delighted to sign this deal with RTÉ Sport in Ireland. RTÉ Sport have a strong track record in broadcasting the Games and we are confident that they will use this experience to provide top quality live coverage and enjoyable programming, both at Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.”
Sports Tourism Seminar at Croke Park (September 19th)
Sport for Business 20/20 at Ulster Bank HQ (October 8th)
The Business of Youth Sport Seminar (November 28th)
