RTE has revealed its line up for coverage of next month’s Euro 2012 Championship finals.  The broadcaster will carry over 100 hours of coverage from Poland and the Ukraine, and will show all 31 games over the 24 days of the tournament. 
27 of these will be live and in high definition on RTE2HD.  The other four games are the ones being played simultaneously at the conclusion of the group stage.  They will be shown in full as deferred coverage.
The regular panel of Bill O’Herlihy, John Giles, Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy will be supplemented by Darragh Maloney, Kenny Cunningham and Richard Sadlier in the studio while Ray Houghton, Ronnie Whelan ad Brian Kerr will be with the commentary team at the games.
There will be Apres Match and Craig Doyle Live programmes around the coverage on TV, while Hector O’hEochagain will broadcast his breakfast show live from Poland throughout the tournament as well.  Matches will be streamed live on RTE.ie which will also carry the latest news and information as well as linking in through social media.
Over 3.1 million Irish viewers tuned into some or all of the 2010 World Cup when ireland were not even playing.
The broadcast coverage sponsorship of the finals is tied in to the principal UEFA sponsors Adidas, Canon, Carlsberg, Continental. Castrol, Coca Cola, Kia, McDonalds and Sharp.
Read an interview with RTE Head of Sport Ryle Nugent in this week’s issue of Sport for Business Weekly