New TV Deal

[ger121]

I downloaded the IOS version and I see the option to cast when you stream a match.

[Shinkicker]

I downloaded the IOS version and I see the option to cast when you stream a match.

When I use the app it says "unexpected error please try later", it's been saying that for five days. I've just tried the computer and it's similar "error redirecting please try again" . Anyone any thoughts?

[nr637]

Any news or links that the FAI have agreed a 3 - year TV deal with Virgin, while talks on the FAI Cup & European games are still up for discussion! ?

[D24Saint]

My LOI TV works on my computer but won't open on my phone app . Anyone else having difficulty with the app.? Mine is on Android and installed from the Google playstore

The iPhone app wont accept my password.

[Dermobohs]

That happened with me too.can only get on it by going online not the app.

[Shearer]

I believe you have to make a new LOITV account, maybe it was just me.

Was able to use same email.

[Shinkicker]

I believe you have to make a new LOITV account, maybe it was just me.

Was able to use same email.
I set up a new account and it didn't work. I emailed them and they got back to me. You must purchase before it will work. As I live over seas I only buy single match access. I will have to wait a few weeks to see if it works

[2 Year Contract]

TV deal has just been confirmed with Virgin for 4 years

https://www.leagueofireland.ie/news/virgin-media-television-announces-landmark-exclusive-four-year-league-ireland-broadcast-agreement/

[nr637]

TV deal has just been confirmed with Virgin for 4 years

https://www.leagueofireland.ie/news/virgin-media-television-announces-landmark-exclusive-four-year-league-ireland-broadcast-agreement/

That's the best news for LOI football in Ireland in a long while. Well done to the FAI for getting this deal done. :confused:

[oriel]

Although good to see, I will again ask the question on financials. Yes its great to see and looks very professional, but are the clubs actually going to be paid for this?

If not its still good to see the deal and clubs will still get their 'product' showcased, sponsors will be happy, but still think its a free broadcasting deal to Virgin unless they compensate clubs properly like most other euro leagues of similar size. I think I remember reading one of the leagues in Estonia / Latvia / Lithuania have a TV deal and clubs getting semi decent money.

[nr637]

Although good to see, I will again ask the question on financials. Yes its great to see and looks very professional, but are the clubs actually going to be paid for this?

If not its still good to see the deal and clubs will still get their 'product' showcased, sponsors will be happy, but still think its a free broadcasting deal to Virgin unless they compensate clubs properly like most other euro leagues of similar size. I think I remember reading one of the leagues in Estonia / Latvia / Lithuania have a TV deal and clubs getting semi decent money.

Let's look on the bright side for once with this TV deal. We have been waiting for so long to get a proper offer. I know the financial side of it is important for the clubs, but if we were sticking to the RTE position, then things would just stay as the status quo.

[Buckett]

Disappointing to read that they'll be showing live matches on Fridays. The live game should be on another night to the rest of the games imo

[nr637]

Disappointing to read that they'll be showing live matches on Fridays. The live game should be on another night to the rest of the games imo

Considering the interest and improvement in clubs average attendances, I don't think it will make an affect. The LOI fan support is very loyal to their own clubs and fans don't travel around to support other clubs, not even in Dublin.

[Glen Of Aherlow]

Considering the interest and improvement in clubs average attendances, I don't think it will make an affect. The LOI fan support is very loyal to their own clubs and fans don't travel around to support other clubs, not even in Dublin.

It'll affect viewing figures though as a lot of the people likely to watch a televised game will be at matches

[outspoken]

Disappointing to read that they'll be showing live matches on Fridays. The live game should be on another night to the rest of the games imo

Can you imagine the crying from fans though if they were constantly having games moved to a thursday for example. Come the business end of the season it's likely to be the same teams on tv.

[Shinkicker]

Although good to see, I will again ask the question on financials. Yes its great to see and looks very professional, but are the clubs actually going to be paid for this?

If not its still good to see the deal and clubs will still get their 'product' showcased, sponsors will be happy, but still think its a free broadcasting deal to Virgin unless they compensate clubs properly like most other euro leagues of similar size. I think I remember reading one of the leagues in Estonia / Latvia / Lithuania have a TV deal and clubs getting semi decent money.
It great to see a long term deal. There may be little or no money to the clubs but they are being televised and advertised. It's up to the clubs to perform and put on a display of good football. If this gets the viewing figures up it will put the league in a better place to negotiate when this contract expires. Let's get it off the ground first. RTE show some absolute sh1t& GAA matches in fairly empty grounds as well as the high profile games in full grounds. This is something VM will have to deal with in the LOI too. Admittedly ground capacities in LOI grounds are lower than most GAA grounds so each game should show a full house which helps viewing. If clubs could move the camera gantry so a full stand is in the frame most of the time it may also help. Let's get it off the ground, make improvements as we go and put ourselves in a better negotiating position. You never know but if viewing numbers are really good RTE may try to get back in and there could be a bit of a bidding war.

[fionnsci]

I think Friday night is better. Avoids competition with English football which is well established on Saturday and Sunday and helps people firmly associate Fridays with LOI. Friday nights are good for atmosphere, which is good for the tv product. Also means that clubs won't have disruption of having games moved from Friday nights every couple of weeks. Virgin wouldn't sign up for 4 years if the match-going population was their target - I'm sure they want their slice of the mainstream Friday night audience.

[bohsmug]

The only reason I'd want TV games to be on a different night than Friday is because I want to watch them. From a business point of view I'm not sure that the loss of viewers who'll go to a game on a Friday is enough to dictate whether the "product" is viable or not. I'd prefer it to be another night but can understand how a consistent slot on a Friday is the decision the clubs/FAI/broadcaster have come to. A few reasons mentioned in posts above - teams who are regularly broadcast having to move games too often etc.

Pity though and still hoping the odd game gets moved for unexpected reasons.

[sbgawa]

The only reason I'd want TV games to be on a different night than Friday is because I want to watch them. From a business point of view I'm not sure that the loss of viewers who'll go to a game on a Friday is enough to dictate whether the "product" is viable or not. I'd prefer it to be another night but can understand how a consistent slot on a Friday is the decision the clubs/FAI/broadcaster have come to. A few reasons mentioned in posts above - teams who are regularly broadcast having to move games too often etc.

Pity though and still hoping the odd game gets moved for unexpected reasons.

Viewing figures also record "recordings" to watch later so if we all record Virgins coverage to watch when we get home its counted in the figures AFAIK.
Ive seen RTE report on viewing figures "including RTE player"

[WeAreRovers]

Viewing figures also record "recordings" to watch later so if we all record Virgins coverage to watch when we get home its counted in the figures AFAIK.
Ive seen RTE report on viewing figures "including RTE player"

For viewing to count in overnight figures it must be what's known as VOSDAL - viewed on same day as live. Player figures are included separately not simply added to VOSDAL TV figures. Consolidated TV figures include everyone who watched live, VOSDAL, or in the 7 days after broadcast.

[EalingGreen]

BBC NI livestreams (for free) an IL game most Friday nights during the season, which obv doesn't clash with regular games on Saturdays. Seems like a good arrangement, with Larne, one of the clubs which features most, seeming to prefer Friday night games anyhow. (Though I suspect players and management of p-t clubs surely dislike playing on Fridays.) While SKY broadcasts the occasional game, when for whatever reason their usual schedule is diminished.

Anyhow, the BBC NI coverage/production isn't bad imo. While it's generally agreed that it's a very good thing for the IL as a whole for the interest/publicity it generates, if not the money.

[yurt]

Having a game a week televised up to 2029 is so far ahead of what my expectations were a month ago. The fact this isn't just a gamble which might be binned by virgin after one season means that this will be given the investment and space the grow that it needs.

Friday nights is a great time to have this on in bars around the country as it competes with very little else, maybe just rugby for a couple of game weeks at the beginning and end of the season.

I'm hoping too that this will just end the perpetual group anger towards RTE and their lack of support for the next few years. It's become exhausting being enraged by the same issues season after season. That said I'm pretty sure we'll be having the same whines when it comes to LOI in Europe coverage over the summer.

[Shinkicker]

Having a game a week televised up to 2029 is so far ahead of what my expectations were a month ago. The fact this isn't just a gamble which might be binned by virgin after one season means that this will be given the investment and space the grow that it needs.

Friday nights is a great time to have this on in bars around the country as it competes with very little else, maybe just rugby for a couple of game weeks at the beginning and end of the season.

I'm hoping too that this will just end the perpetual group anger towards RTE and their lack of support for the next few years. It's become exhausting being enraged by the same issues season after season. That said I'm pretty sure we'll be having the same whines when it comes to LOI in Europe coverage over the summer.
Surely VM have a first dibs clause on European games or is that negotiated with UEFA?

[nigel-harps1954]

By my reading of it, cup games and European games are very much still up for grabs.

[redobit]

Make Friday night the tv game. All other games on the Saturday. Problem solved.

[yurt]

I wonder will this rule Sligo out of the tv game slot when they are at home since they are playing on Saturdays? I would imagine it will and they'll be more likely to be selected on the weekday fixtures to balance it out.

[EalingGreen]

Make Friday night the tv game. All other games on the Saturday. Problem solved.Aside from clashing with Saturday game in England, Scotland etc, don't LOI sides also play on certain Monday nights? (Unsure)

If so, those would then have to be moved to Tuesday nights, which in turn would clash with televised games in GB, or Champions League etc.

[bohsmug]

Aside from clashing with Saturday game in England, Scotland etc, don't LOI sides also play on certain Monday nights? (Unsure)

If so, those would then have to be moved to Tuesday nights, which in turn would clash with televised games in GB, or Champions League etc.

They don't really "have to". I suppose there may be some discussion on which is the preferred option. Unless EPL has dropped it's few Friday night fixtures there'll be the odd clash there too. Very hard not to clash at all with games at the top end of the sport, given their much publicised busy calendar.

[brendy_éire]

Can you imagine the crying from fans though if they were constantly having games moved to a thursday for example. Come the business end of the season it's likely to be the same teams on tv.

I would accept moving a few (maybe four?) home games a season to another night for the added bonus of being able to watch more games on Virgin. As it stands with matches being on Friday night, I doubt I'll get to watch many of them.
Point taken that it may be the same teams being asked to move games though.

[oriel]

John Caulfield when at Cork C made the point that live games should not be on a Fri, pick a night like Thursday, I think a good idea, so all other club fans apart from the two (who would attend) could watch.

Even a Sat early evening might work 5pm or something, but as ever will always be English other big leagues up against it, scheduling.

Plus I know I`m banging the same drum about no monies here, and maybe its a discussion for the next agreement, but this 'deal' is more an 'arrangement' in the absence of any proper financial compensation for clubs, but it is certainly a positive start. Still think next time in discussions, the clubs should be looking to be properly paid.

[nr637]

I wonder what the RTE sports mob thought of the move by Virgin?

Are they bothered really or were their hands tied financially!

Maybe RTE Head of Sport Declan McBennett & RTE Director of Content (Whatever that means?) Jim Jennings were more concerned with their real interest like the Rogby & GAA!

[legendz]

With the broad welcome for the VM announcement, should more clubs possibly show their approval by playing games on a different night where possible? There should be the extra positive return of a highlights programme as part of an agreeable solution.

[Kiki Balboa]

Sligo and Longford play on Saturday nights, so you could use the data from LOI.TV to see if it effects viewership.

I know for myself, if I was at home, I would stick on some Longford games.


....

Friday night is great, but if you set up a game on a Sunday (lets say), you could also have the benefit of making a game a weekend "an event", and promoting it as such. To go beyond that, League and TV could work together to schedule fixtures to have big games spread evenly (Derbys for example).

There is a gap in the calender on Sunday evenings in Ireland, as EPL and GAA are normally finished by early evening. Sporting wise it is currently occupied by the NFL (which is why I think it has grown in popularity here).

....

What I like personally with the Virgin deal is that it is somebody that wants to actually show the league. Compared to Virgin and Setanta Sports before, always felt RTE never captured the spirit or 'the bite' of the league, and made it feel more like a chore to watch, even if the play on the park was good. There was always a 'dragged dad' vibe with RTE.

Not to get too poetic, but LOI was an always excellent watch that has a beauty in its raw-ness, and wishing it was more refined (and corporate friendly) only misses its uniqueness.

Sometimes you just have to accept LOI for what it is, and buy into it.

[Eminence Grise]

Even if the deal brings no money directly to clubs, it still feels like an opportunity for clubs and the FAI to make money by other means. I'm thinking along the lines of a centralised advertising deal to attract big brands – national TV exposure every week is valuable, and, no matter what game is on, there’s their ad on the hoardings. I know local advertisers can be massively supportive of clubs and don’t always do it for the value they get from their spend, but, for example, a multinational car manufacturer would bring in more for redistribution around the league on a multi-season contract than all the local dealerships' advertising combined, even if an FAI ‘administration’ slice came off the top. Digital advertising hoardings in all grounds would go a long way to making it attractive. Back of the envelope calculation - 36 games, 100 minutes screen time (regulation and additional time) is 200 30-second hoarding changes per game, more with replays during analysis. Say six elite level advertisers, that's about 35 changes each per game or about 1,250 per season. Audience size is the issue, but VM being commercial are going to want to maximise it so they can charge more themselves during the ad breaks.

I wonder as well if the deal might tempt more clubs to sell naming rights to grounds, or for more than they’re currently worth.

[nr637]

This TV deal could open up new options for advertisements to all the Premier clubs.
It will create more possibilities for potential sponsors who were undecided on funding a club, but with the exposure now available, it may persuade their decision.
It will compliment all the other social media options for clubs when they are involved in a match coverage.

It can only be a positive deal going forward for the LOI!

[legendz]

This TV deal could open up new options for advertisements to all the Premier clubs.
It will create more possibilities for potential sponsors who were undecided on funding a club, but with the exposure now available, it may persuade their decision.
It will compliment all the other social media options for clubs when they are involved in a match coverage.

It can only be a positive deal going forward for the LOI!
If it opens up options for Premier clubs, they might want to talk about possibly moving the rest of the Premier games to another night where possible. If VM were in favour of the other games on another evening, can VM then also offer a highlights programme on another evening to give all clubs air time?

[sbgawa]

Rovers crowds are on average about 3k less on nights that arent friday.
It would be crazy for us to switch.
At the end of the day if we cant build an audience on a regilar Friday night slot without depending on the 20k+ people attending the other Premier league matches on any particular night it isnt going to work for Virgin.

[nr637]

It's great to be posting about TV deals for the LOI and the possible effect on attendances at other games!

How times have changed with our domestic game!

The Greatest Little League in the World, Id say!

[joey B]

First 5 tv games of the season:

Virgin Media Two:

Shelbourne vs Derry City - Friday, February 14th

Bohemian FC vs Shamrock Rovers – Sunday, February 16th

Galway United vs St Patrick's Athletic - Friday, February 21st

Shelbourne vs Shamrock Rovers - Friday, February 28th

Waterford vs Cork City - Monday, March 3rd

[Burnsie]

great to see they're going with a double-header for the first weekend. They can skip some Monday night in August instead

[nr637]

Looks like Virgin are going to arrange the games to suit. Not all the coverage will be on Friday nights. I reckon some of the games will be moved to other dates to suit, as the season moves on. Looking forward to having an LOI live game on during the Rogby Internationals and the GAA season when RTE would takE a dive as if the soccer was in hibernation during these times! :)

[sbgawa]

Looks like Virgin are going to arrange the games to suit. Not all the coverage will be on Friday nights. I reckon some of the games will be moved to other dates to suit, as the season moves on. Looking forward to having an LOI live game on during the Rogby Internationals and the GAA season when RTE would takE a dive as if the soccer was in hibernation during these times! :)

You could be right but the two games scheduled that arent Fridays were always going to be on the Sunday and Monday..the Rovers game in the Aviva is a standalone fixture and the Waterford v Cork game is on a double header weekednwhen everyone is playing on the monday anyway.
I hope they show a fixture on the Friday of that Waterford game as well (the next Friday) as the certainty of a game every Friday in a regular slot is important to build a viewership imo

[EatYerGreens]

First 5 tv games of the season:

Virgin Media Two:

Shelbourne vs Derry City - Friday, February 14th

Bohemian FC vs Shamrock Rovers – Sunday, February 16th

Galway United vs St Patrick's Athletic - Friday, February 21st

Shelbourne vs Shamrock Rovers - Friday, February 28th

Waterford vs Cork City - Monday, March 3rd

Looks like they're happy to carry a mixture of teams and to move around the country a bit, which is great to see. That was always a valid criticism of RTE.

Will be interesting to see how they present games on the day, and how much pre-game effort they put into promoting the fixtures across their network.

[legendz]

First 5 tv games of the season:

Virgin Media Two:

Shelbourne vs Derry City - Friday, February 14th

Bohemian FC vs Shamrock Rovers – Sunday, February 16th

Galway United vs St Patrick's Athletic - Friday, February 21st

Shelbourne vs Shamrock Rovers - Friday, February 28th

Waterford vs Cork City - Monday, March 3rd
Kerry v Finn Harps - Friday, February 14th

Cobh Ramblers v Kerry - Friday, February 21st

Kerry v Dundalk - Friday, February 28th

Priorities!

[nr637]

Isn't it great that we now have a dedicated thread discussing a proper LOI TV deal!
Just think of all fun it will create for posts & duscussions as it will cover the Premier League 36 game format, no breaks due to RTE's poor coverage and excuses!
?

[2 Year Contract]

New Radio deal!

Off The Ball have signed up to broadcast 30 premier division games on radio

https://x.com/offtheball/status/1888875573163733424?s=46

[Another Bohemia]

New Radio deal!

Off The Ball have signed up to broadcast 30 premier division games on radio

https://x.com/offtheball/status/1888875573163733424?s=46

This is actually great news. Shows how much the interest in the league is growing. I don't think anyone is going to say Radio is the next big thing but there are a lot of places that have radio playing constantly and channels like newstalk, radio 1 are the default because they don't play music and so are deemed inoffensive.

[nr637]

New Radio deal!

Off The Ball have signed up to broadcast 30 premier division games on radio

https://x.com/offtheball/status/1888875573163733424?s=46

What is the frequency for this Radio show for all those who don't know please! :)

[2 Year Contract]

What is the frequency for this Radio show for all those who don't know please! :)

It’s on Newstalk. 106-108

[Shinkicker]

I watched the game om VM 2, and despite Mr negativity Kerr I listened to what he had to say. I was hoping he would be positive about the league, the new season and a record breaking crowd. But no he remembers crowds as big. I'm now of to slit my wrists, he is dreadful, the dullest fckure ever to be on tv and a bad advert for a league on the rise. They need to get someone who is positive and upbeat.