UTV & BBC & RTE & TV3

[AFS]

I just read offthefence in the irish news and a cracking letter about radio ulster. it was about their saturday programme which is available now on their Listen Again feature and it has to be heard to be believed. To save you searching throught he rubbish, ie, the irish league, for 3 and three-quarter hours (honestly), go straight to the last 15 minutes when they interview Martin McHugh. It seems they interview him every Saturday at this time and some irish league type asks him some pre-prepared questions about issues of the week. The first one was priceless - 'so Martin, what about Derry's aidan o'mahony?' the mchugh interview smacks of tokenism, just get wee martin on the phone there and sure that's our wee bit of gaelic. tokenism or what. they would have been better making an effort to get an interview with some other gaa person like jane adams or dessie farrell, I mean we've kind of heard mchugh before, but that would have taken effort, which all went into the rest of the programme. they gave a few mccrory results but didn't explain what they meant and they never mentioned the rannafast final which got the biggest crowd of the day. as for trillick, sorry lads, not a mention on the show, nor anywhere on ceefax, online or even on monday morning. good ole bbc and public SERVICE broadcasting. the fella who wrote in was right - one rule for one (the irish league), another rule for the gaa.

In fairness, I'd prefer 4 hours of Irish League and not to have to listen to thon eejit at all.

[Donagh]

Dear Mr xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your recent letter requesting information about the volume, cost and audience figures for BBCNI television and radio coverage of Gaelic Football, Hurling, Soccer, Rugby and Motorcycling.

The information which you have requested about the volume and cost of specific aspects of BBCNI's sports output is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Schedule 1 of the Act states that the BBC and other designated public service broadcasters are covered by this legislation only in respect of information held for purposes "other than those of journalism, art and literature". Information which is not subject to disclosure because of this derogation may otherwise be exempt from disclosure because of the application of other provisions of the Act.

The BBC receives audience data about television viewing in the UK under an agreement with the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) for which the BBC pays an annual subscription. Under the terms of this agreement, the BBC is entitled to use such information for its own internal purposes and may make this data more widely available in specific circumstances. Although we consider that the Act does not apply to audience data, the BBC does have a working practice (consistent with other broadcasting organisations and the terms
of its contractual agreement with BARB) of releasing some headline performance information. We will not be releasing such information or any accompanying analysis on this occasion.
Audience figures for radio listening across the UK are collated by Rajar and are subject to analogous contractual constraints. We believe that such information is not covered by the Act and will not be making it voluntarily available in response to this request.

Following discussions with colleagues however, and consistent with established practice at local level, BBCNI is prepared to voluntarily release information about the volume and range of its current sports output. The nature, extent and profile of our sports coverage is directly affected by issues relating to rights acquisition, funding constraints, market provision and the BBC's service commitments as a whole. All of our output is delivered within the context of the BBC's Charter and Framework Agreement and also the terms of its Service Licences and
Purpose Remits. Sports programming is an essential and prominent feature of our service offering across radio, television and online and we work hard to ensure that it reflects a broad cross-section of interests and activities.

BBC Radio Ulster broadcasts 41 Saturday Sportsound programmes each year. Much of this output focuses on Irish League soccer and includes full match commentaries from 41 fixtures. In 06/07 the station also provided live coverage of 8 Setanta Cup matches involving Irish League teams and 6 European games featuring local clubs. Its programming additionally included 8 international matches involving the Northern Ireland soccer team. Such output was
complemented by dedicated sports programming on BBC Foyle and its coverage of Derry City's performance in the Eircom League. BBCNI also provided extensive coverage of the Milk Cup in Coleraine and soccer (together with the other sports referred to in your request) featured in news and related programming on local television and radio.

BBC Radio Ulster broadcast live match commentaries form 36 Gaelic Football matches on Sunday Sportsound and dedicated medium wave split programmes. Such programming included inter-county and club games, the National Football League and All-Ireland Club Championships. Our radio coverage was complemented by programming on BBCNI television which included highlights of the Hurling Final and live coverage of the MacRory Cup.
BBC Radio Ulster provided live coverage of Ulster team fixtures as part of the Magners League and Heiniken Cup, together with live match commentaries and analysis of fixtures involving the Ireland rugby team. The latter included 8 matches within the review period.

BBCNI television additionally provided coverage of the Magners League, Schools' Cup and Ireland A v England A matches.
BBCNI television provided a mix of programming about motorcycling which included coverage of the Isle of Man TT, the Ulster Grand Prix and fixtures at Tandragee, Cookstown and Antrim.

Yours sincerely
Mark Adair
Head of Public Policy, Corporate and Community Affairs

That's pretty much the exact same I got from them over a year ago in response to an FOI request - probably posted on this thread somewhere.

[Frankie Boy]

God. Youse do some whinging in this wee bit of the board.lol

[bailestil]

The bbc had to be taking the piss tonight. Missed the ballinderry cross game yday hoping to see at least some decent coverage of the game. More fool me for expecting more. Instead we got a camera behind one of the corner flags. Literally the flag being in the way. Which meant u could just about catch niall mccusker's goal out of the corner of the screen. 

[FermPundit]

The bbc had to be taking the piss tonight. Missed the ballinderry cross game yday hoping to see at least some decent coverage of the game. More fool me for expecting more. Instead we got a camera behind one of the corner flags. Literally the flag being in the way. Which meant u could just about catch niall mccusker's goal out of the corner of the screen. 

UTV had some great coverage tonight of the Ulster final. I may have missed the start of the sport but I'm nearly sure there was no Irish league football covered. Am I right? World cup draw, Ulster rugby and Ulster club final were all covered.

[Oakleafer1993]

bailestil check out the TG4 website - you can watch recorded games online.

[orangeman]

Tyrone PRO slams BBC
09 December 2008


Tyrone PRO Damien Harvey has criticised the BBC over its decision to give preference to coverage of Irish League soccer over last September's All-Ireland minor football final replay.

Tyrone defeated Mayo in the replay at Pearse Park, Longford, but much to Harvey's disgust, it wasn't covered live on BBC radio or television.

"A senior person involved in managing BBC radio sports coverage told me he 'could not justify coverage of the replay, as it would mean that I would have to drop Irish League coverage'," Harvey said.

"The same gentleman had the option to split FM and MW coverage and put the All-Ireland final on live, but he chose not to do so."

Harvey is disappointed that the broadcaster has no plans to increase its GAA coverage next year.

"In 2009, the BBC will provide FM quality broadcasting for soccer and rugby. On Sundays, the (GAA) National League will be broadcast on MW, but no provision is being made (by the BBC) for games on Saturday nights."

[SidelineKick]

Shocked??

[zoyler]

BTW I believe recent staff changes and retirements have further reduced any likelyhood of decent GAA coverage from the BEEP.

[orangeman]

BTW I believe recent staff changes and retirements have further reduced any likelyhood of decent GAA coverage from the BEEP.

Maybe they'll be shamed into showing a bit more GAA

[FermGael]

What's the chance of BBC or UTV showing the crowd trouble from today's match between Linfield and Glentoran on the news?
Can't see it myself
But could you imagine if this happened at a Gaa match

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/7798168.stm

Play was held up for seven minutes as trouble flared between rival fans during the Boxing Day derby between Linfield and Glentoran at Windsor Park.

With 20 minutes remaining, seats were ripped out and used as missiles and fireworks were also hurled between the Kop stand and the south stand.

Linfield were 3-0 up at that stage thanks to two goals from Glenn Ferguson and one from Damien Curran.

However, they finished the match a man down as Robert Garrett was sent-off.

The results moves the champions to within two points of leaders Glentoran and David Jeffrey's men have a game in hand on their east Belfast rivals.

Striker Ferguson pounced on a mistake to drill in the opener in the ninth minute and he made it 2-0 just before half-time with a deflected effort.

Glentoran, who have never won a Christmas derby at Windsor Park, were dead and buried when Damien Curran volleyed in on 61 minutes.

Curran netted with a fine left-foot effort from 25 yards.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

What's the chance of BBC or UTV showing the crowd trouble from today's match between Linfield and Glentoran on the news?
Can't see it myself
But could you imagine if this happened at a Gaa match

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/7798168.stm

Play was held up for seven minutes as trouble flared between rival fans during the Boxing Day derby between Linfield and Glentoran at Windsor Park.

With 20 minutes remaining, seats were ripped out and used as missiles and fireworks were also hurled between the Kop stand and the south stand.

Linfield were 3-0 up at that stage thanks to two goals from Glenn Ferguson and one from Damien Curran.

However, they finished the match a man down as Robert Garrett was sent-off.

The results moves the champions to within two points of leaders Glentoran and David Jeffrey's men have a game in hand on their east Belfast rivals.

Striker Ferguson pounced on a mistake to drill in the opener in the ninth minute and he made it 2-0 just before half-time with a deflected effort.

Glentoran, who have never won a Christmas derby at Windsor Park, were dead and buried when Damien Curran volleyed in on 61 minutes.

Curran netted with a fine left-foot effort from 25 yards.

I'd say they will show it to be honest. Or at least refer to it if they don't have footage.

[Maguire01]

Yeah, i've seen numerous Linfield/Glentoran rows on BBC/UTV over the years. I'd be surprised if it wasn't shown.

[orangeman]

Not much mention of it - it must be commonplace.

[Tony Baloney]

Seen coverage of it on the evening news yesterday and it was a main news headline on bbc ni news on teletext. Do you want them interrupt programming to cut live to Windsor?