Conan Byrne - Extratime

Sky is the limit

Nice piece. Not that Sky would touch the LoI unless it's a high-profile friendly like Real.

He is right about one thing though: someone, if not Sky, should tap into the kinda football fan that just wants something to watch while the English and Spanish seasons are over.

Also got me thinking: there has to be parents (fathers, if I'm to be stereotypical) who genuinely wouldn't want to bring their children to games, even if their kids wanted to? Surely the devoted barstoolers would actively try to foster a love of Liverpool / United in their kids, and would be slightly ashamed if their kid wanted to support the LoI?

Dunno why that made me think that, but just made me consider that the youth market, even if they're willing, is harder to crack because of their reliance on barstooler parents.

If Sky told a barstooler to watch a LOI game they would watch it

Why would Sky pay Irish clubs to show their games as is envisioned in the article? Only in return for coverage of the national side I'd imagine, and the FAI can't actually sell the competitive home games to Sky. So there's not a lot to offer them really.

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Originally Posted by PartySaint

If Sky told a barstooler to watch a LOI game they would watch it

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.... not too sure about that PS. Most barstoolers (we are generalising) watch the EPL on SKY solely because SKY has access. They are just as likely to watch it on BBC UTV or indeed RTE.

While SKY coverage would heighten the profile of LOI (could hardly lower it) I think it presumptous to say that your average barstooler would become a convert to our beautifull game.

Never had the channel, but I assume that when Setanta covered the league (at the time when they were doing the UK football), they did a bit more hype than "5 minutes before and after" RTE? If it did, I don't recall any boost in attendance.

As well as the fact the FAI can't sell exclusively to sky (thanks to people phoning Joe Duffy from their barstool), we'd be starting just when the English hype is at it's max, and concluding when they're hyping the return of English football, so what's in it for sky? Realistically, they'd be expecting us to conclude in and around charity shield weekend, so that our crucial period is during the UK close season.

Not sure the article adds much that we don't already know. We know it's a chicken and egg situation regarding interest in the league and media coverage. But even if they (the media) did go out of their way tomorrow, it'd be a long term game.

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Originally Posted by ped_ped

Sky is the limit

Nice piece. Not that Sky would touch the LoI unless it's a high-profile friendly like Real.

.

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They might have covered Barcelona at Thomond Park.

Yes, I'd consider Barça to be in the same league as Real, publicity-wise, wouldn't you? :D

Just watched the ExtraTime video Byrne mentions, so a bit behind everyone else. That gentleman in the Spurs shirt should have his testes removed - he won't go to a LOI game because there are no clubs near him, but thinks nothing of travelling to north London a couple of times a year. There I was looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend, and now that mood is gone as I am all cross. Will just have to watch start of vid again for shots of Mz Zayed

Can someone clarify me about the Premier League Rights that Sky have, as far as I know, they payed over a billion pound to broadcast the games but I thought that was for UK TV only, cause Setanta Sports and RTE have the rights for Ireland, so why are Irish viewers allowed to watch the rights that are supposed to be for the British audience only ?

Sky paid for the live rights - I'm not sure whether that entitles them to sell on highlights packages or if the league retains those rights - but RTE doesn't have any. They're sold in, I believe, six packages that are individually auctioned off to the highest bidder. In the last round of sales, Sky bought 4 packages and Setanta 2 for the UK and Irish market. After Setanta went belly-up, Sky bought one of their packages and ESPN the other (as far as I recall), however I believe Setanta negotiated the Irish rights to a number of Saturday 3 o'clock games from one of the companies.

To get Sky on board, they'd need to be offered a fairly substantial carrot, because it costs a lot of money for each game they cover. I think increasinghte exposure would be better done with free-to-air TV. The games could still be given the Sky treatment, and bigged up beforehand. Perhaps the FAI could make it a condition of broadcasting the league that there has to be a certain amount of promotion beforehand. It'd be infinitely better than those crappy "entertainment news" things that get run 20 times a day anyway.