TG4 has once again shown a real commitment to Women’s sport in Ireland by stepping up to carry live coverage of the AIBA World Elite Boxing Championships in South Korea from the semi final stage this day next week.
Katie Taylor is bidding for her fifth successive World title and will have to overcome Sofya Ochigave, who she beat to win Olympic Gold in London along the way.
Perhaps Taylor’s greatest gift to sport though has been the fact that she will not be alone on the island of Jeju. She will in fact be one of an Irish team of four that includes Michaela Walsh, Joanne Lambe and Claire Grace (pictured alongside Taylor with their European Championship medals earlier this year).
The tournament will have a total of 337 boxers from 74 nations and will determine World Champions in 10 weight divisions.
Sport for Business caught up with TG4 Head of Sport Rónán O’Coisdealbha to see why Women’s sport was proving such a winner for the broadcaster.
SfB: TG4 has really taken a lead on Women’s sport broadcasting, has that been a conscious decision?
RO’C: “Women’s sport has always been a priority for us and Mná na hÉireann feature strongly in our sports output,” he said.
“2014 has been a bumper year on TG4 in this regard with our successful exclusive live coverage of the Ladies Singles Tennis Championships from Wimbledon, the Women’s Rugby World Cup, year-round coverage of Ladies Gaelic Football at all levels up to the recent All-Ireland Finals and now the World Boxing Championships.”
“We are happy to be making this major international boxing event available on free to view television as Ireland’s most successful and revered female sports star ever once again puts her reputation on the line and goes to do us and herself proud on the world stage.
What can we expect with regard to the production from Korea?
“The world feed is produced by an asian company called Total Sports Asia who have a contract with the AIBA to produce numerous boxing events on their behalf.”
“We are awaiting a final camera positions plan from them but they are a highly experienced company who have produced a substantial amount of live boxing events over the years.”
“TG4 will broadcast live coverage of all the semi-finals on Sunday 23rd November and the Finals on Monday 24th November.”
“Our commentary will be provided by Seán Bán Breathnach and Colman Ó Flatharta.”
How did you go about securing the rights?
“I negotiated the rights directly with the AIBA and the signed contract is between TG4 and the AIBA. It has nothing to do with the European Broadcasting Union as is often the case on big events.”
“This is our first time working with the AIBA so we are excited about the prospect of building a good relationship with them.”
Have you any commercial support around this or your other women’s sport output?
“Every event is different. At the moment there is no broadcast sponsor for the Women’s World Boxing Championships.”
“Post TV in Dublin, who sell our airtime and broadcast sponsorship, are still working on getting a broadcast sponsor. Anything could happen in the next week.”
“I find that a lot of deals happen in the last 48 hours before the broadcast.”
The timing is a challenge but what would you envisage as a good audience?
“It’s really hard to say. We know from research we have done that people will watch this boxing in several different ways.”
“There will be those who will get up at 5am and watch it live; those who will record it and watch it later that morning when they get up; those who will watch it on the TG4 Player, either live or catch-up service; and those who will watch the highlights later on both days.”
“Overall, I would expect a big audience to have watched it overall when we add up all the viewership figures from all platforms.”
The station deserves great credit for spotting such opportunities and having the flexibility to go after them. They were rewarded at the Women’s Rugby World Cup with an audience approaching 500,000 for the semi final against England.
The numbers for Taylor and her teammates may not reach those heights but the fact that their World Championship exploits can be seen live is something we should expect as a nation of sporting fans.
Image Credits: Inpho.ie
