RaboDirect confirm the Aironi V Connacht match will be optioned by TG4. Good stuff. Still won't be able to get it online, I bet

www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/11764.php

ummm, wrote: I think we're talking at cross purposes

My point was BBCNI have covered all those Ulster games anyway. By covering the same matches RTE were just doubling up, when they could have been deployed elsewhere. *cough* Galway *cough*

Unless you're saying something else and I'm just not listening. I do that a lot according to my girlfriend. Well, I think that's what she said, wasn't really paying attention.

...

Actually I'd be very surprised if RTE were doing anything more than repackaging the BBC transmission for those games (they get the Ad Revenue that the Beeb doesn't pick up), a lot cheaper than doing a full broadcast from somewhere else. Even it the coverage is provided by a third party it'd still work out a lot cheaper than a solo broadcast I reckon..

RockSalt wrote:

RockSalt wrote:
do it as Gaelgoir

You're going to give those Conemara girls a bad rep :evil:

I think we're talking at cross purposes

My point was BBCNI have covered all those Ulster games anyway. By covering the same matches RTE were just doubling up, when they could have been deployed elsewhere. *cough* Galway *cough*

Unless you're saying something else and I'm just not listening. I do that a lot according to my girlfriend. Well, I think that's what she said, wasn't really paying attention.

ummm, wrote: Even more reason for them not to bother, surely?

Not really, beacause if you're in NI and BBC NI weren't covering thse games then you either had to have a special satellite installed or subscribe to Sky digital to access the channels if you aren't in an area covered by the analogue signal or you won't see RTE (until 2012)...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12048325

Even more reason for them not to bother, surely?

ummm, wrote: BBCNI are in the business of promoting Ulster, fair enough, so they cover all of Ulsters home games. No argument there. They also cover 3 Ulster away matches. But RTE also covered the <em>same</em> three away matches. Are there still people on the island who can get RTE but can't get BBC? What are RTE playing at?

There are people on the island who can get BBC, but don't get RTE as standard.....

ummm,'s been doing some more analysis...

If, like me, you are a fan of the Swedish statistician Hans Rosling (and who isn't?) you'll know that it's not good enough to make statements based on intuition. In fact, it can be downright irresponsible because you could be entirely wrong. The key is to form an idea, then challenge the idea to stand up to scrutiny when faced with facts.

So, where do we actually stand in terms of televised games, compared to both the provinces, and to the league in general?

For a start it's difficult to compare, because there are so many broadcasters with their own priorities. Aironi and Treviso will are now benefiting from a new TV contract with RAI, so their early season lack of TV is balanced by their being on the box much more often as the season progresses. Also, the final TV schedule isn't published. Lets keep those things in mind.

Here's a table of teams, their untelevised games (home, away and total), and games that are televised, but not carried by the national broadcaster of that team (provinces only, I'm not that bored.)

Team	Home	Away	All	Ignored Nationally	Total
Aironi	4	2	6		6
Blues	3	2	5		5
Connacht	3	6	9	1	10
Dragons	1	4	5		5
Edinburgh	6	3	9		9
Glasgow	3	3	6		6
Leinster	2	1	3	4	7
Munster	0	2	2	3	5
Ospreys	1	1	2		2
Scarlets	3	1	4		4
Treviso	5	3	8		8
Ulster	0	3	3	2	5

So, it would seem that the perception that we're hardly ever on television, is absolutely spot on.

9 of our 22 matches are not broadcast at all, with Edinburgh suffering the same fate. (In fact, if you're an Edinburgh fan you're more likely to get to see your team playing away matches than a home game, which is pretty pathetic.)

But back to us. Considering that every province has 6 derbies in a regular season, which are always televised, this really amounts to 9 out of 16 matches are untelevised, compared to Munster's 2 and Leinster and Ulster's 3. That's an absolutely shocking stat.

Of Munster's 8 televised away matches, 5 were covered by our national broadcasters, compared to 3 Connacht away matches (all provincial derbies)

RTE have sent camera crews to Blues, Ospreylia, Treviso, Glasgow and Dragons games that featured Munster, Leinster and Ulster, but they have only covered a single Connacht home match.

TG4 are a bit nicer to us, they cover 5 home games, one more than Leinster and the same number as Munster. So they at least give us a fair crack.

BBCNI are in the business of promoting Ulster, fair enough, so they cover all of Ulsters home games. No argument there. They also cover 3 Ulster away matches. But RTE also covered the same three away matches. Are there still people on the island who can get RTE but can't get BBC? What are RTE playing at?

As I said above, it's about challenging assumptions, and it's clear we're getting a short end of the stick from RTE, but TG4 are giving us a fairer crack. I assumed otherwise and am happy to say I'm wrong. So I take back what I say about TG4's lack of support. They're treating us like equals.

Foreign broadcasters don't treat us like equals, but that's just the way it is. Our away matches against Blues, Edinburgh, Dragons, Ospreys, Scarlets and Treviso are untelevised this season. Next year we can expect the RAI deal to get us on the box against Treviso at least, but we are ignored by the Welsh channels for every one of our trips to Wales. I don't know if the branch can do something about that, but maybe they'll see this and take note.

Actually, just looking at it, Edinburgh are having a tough time as well. They have 6 home games and only 3 will be televised.

It's bad enough we can't get foreign broadcasters to show our games, but they're only managing half of their home games on their own national broadcaster.

Good question, especially seeing as TG4 aren't showing a match at all that weekend.

Poor show.

What I don;t understand is that they are not broadcasting the Connacht V Edinburgh game. That'll be a good one.

Of the upcoming games there are 12 that are not scheduled for broadcast, lets see how we stack up

	Team	Untelevised	Home	Away
1.	Connacht	5	2	3
2.	Edinburgh	4	3	1
3.	Aironi	3*	1	2
4.	Dragons	3*	1	2
5.	Blues	3*	2	1
6.	Ulster	2*	0	2
7.	Ospreys	1*	1	0
8.	Glasgow	1*	1	0
9.	Scarlets	1	1	0
10.	Treviso	1	0	1
11.	Leinster	0	0	0
12.	Munster	0	0	0

*Matches still to be scheduled, may still end up on TV.

There are a number of matches that have still to be finalised, so they might end up on TV after all, so Aironi, Dragons, Blues, Ulster, Ospreys and Glasgow may all end up with a number less than in the table.

That won't affect us, though, so even if the eventual number of unscheduled matches goes down, we'll still be in 5 of them.

A big well done to RTE & TG4 for their continued lack of support, of course, but the fact that three of the five are away matches is indicative of the fact that we're not a big draw for the other national broadcasters. We need to fix that by improving our performances.

Having said that, RTE will be sending away crews to Munster matches (and Leinster's if you count their match in the Sportsground :S )

RockSalt wrote:
"I am also delighted to be able to advise that we have recently secured a TV deal in Italy with RAI and they will be covering live all matches in Italy, some of which will also be shown live in other territories"
..................
<strong>Saturday, January 7 - 4.15pm - Aironi Rugby v Connacht, Stadio Zaffanella (RAI</strong>)

Secondary live TV coverage and any outstanding non-TV games will be confirmed as soon as possible
All fixtures, venues and broadcast schedules are subject to change

As you can see from above, TG4 and RTE have the option to show live games here, televised in Italy.

I think we should all write to TG4 (who, to be fair, are great supporters of Connacht) and ask them to show the Aironi game in January, live. You can go to their website www.tg4.ie and click on the 'Contact' button and ask them to do so. If you could also do it as Gaelgoir (which I can't) we might get a more favourable response!

Saturday, January 7 - 4.15pm - Aironi Rugby v Connacht, Stadio Zaffanella (RAI)
Friday, February 10 - 7.30pm - Cardiff Blues v Connacht, Cardiff City Stadium
Saturday, February 18 - 5.30pm - Connacht v Glasgow Warriors, the Sportsground (TG4)
Friday, February 24 - 7.30pm - Connacht v Edinburgh, the Sportsground
Friday, March 2 - 7.30pm - Scarlets v Connacht, Parc y Scarlets
Saturday, March 24 - 7.45pm - Connacht v Munster, the Sportsground (TG4)
Friday, March 30 - 7.15pm - Newport Gwent Dragons v Connacht, Rodney Parade

3/7
And one is on Italian telly only.

John Feehan, Rabodirect PRO12 Chief Executive, has confirmed the live television fixtures for round 13 (January 6-7) through to the round 19 (March 30-31).

"We are very pleased that rugby fans can continue to see top quality rugby on free-to-air terrestrial TV in both their native language and in English in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.' said John Feehan.
"I am also delighted to be able to advise that we have recently secured a TV deal in Italy with RAI and they will be covering live all matches in Italy, some of which will also be shown live in other territories.

"There are some great games to look forward to in the New Year: big local derbies such as Cardiff Blues v Scarlets will be live on S4C on March 24 and a week later, Munster v Leinster will be shown live on RTÉ.

"In round 22, where all matches are required to be played simultaneously, the kick-off arrangements for these matches are that they will be played on Saturday May 5 at 6.30pm (7.30pm in Italy).

"It should lead to a fitting finale for what is so far proving to be a very successful first season for the RaboDirect PRO12."

Commenting on the support for the first eight rounds, Feehan added: "I am delighted to announce that the TV audiences for the RaboDirect PRO12 to date are up on last season and match tickets sold are on par with like for like games in 2010/11.

"Also I am happy to report that 'traditional' media coverage has been really excellent plus our website hits, Facebook likes and Twitter followers are ahead of target. This is very important considering the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

"I would like to pay tribute to our new sponsors RaboDirect who have strongly supported their sponsorship across all areas, as they promised they would.

"And finally I would like to offer my congratulations to all the RaboDirect PRO12 teams and clubs in their recent European matches and we look forward to many more thrilling games in the RaboDirect PRO12 in the months ahead."

RABODIRECT PRO12 TELEVISED FIXTURES:

ROUND 13 -

Friday, January 6 - Date and time tbc - Cardiff Blues v Leinster, Cardiff City Stadium
Friday, January 6 - 7.30pm - Edinburgh v Ulster, Murrayfield
Friday, January 6 - 7.05pm - Newport Gwent Dragons v Ospreys, Rodney Parade (BBC W)
Saturday, January 7 - 4.15pm - Aironi Rugby v Connacht, Stadio Zaffanella (RAI)
Saturday, January 7 - 8.15pm - Munster v Benetton Treviso, Thomond Park (TG4 or RTÉ)
Saturday, January 7 - 6.15pm - Scarlets v Glasgow Warriors, Parc y Scarlets (S4C)

ROUND 14 -

Thursday, February 9 - 7.05pm - Glasgow Warriors v Scarlets, Firhill Stadium (BBC W)
Thursday, February 9 - 7.05pm - Leinster v Benetton Treviso, the RDS (RTÉ)
Friday, February 10 - 7.30pm - Cardiff Blues v Connacht, Cardiff City Stadium
Friday, February 10 - 7.35pm - Edinburgh v Ospreys, Murrayfield (BBC ALBA)
Friday, February 10 - 7.05pm - Ulster v Newport Gwent Dragons, Ravenhill (BBC NI)
Sunday, February 12 - 3pm - Aironi Rugby v Munster, Stadio Zaffanella (RAI)

ROUND 15 -

Friday, February 17 - Date and time tbc - Cardiff Blues v Ulster, Cardiff City Stadium
Friday, February 17 - 7.35pm - Leinster v Scarlets, the RDS (TG4)
Friday, February 17 - Date and time tbc - Ospreys v Aironi Rugby, Liberty Stadium
Saturday, February 18 - 4.15pm - Benetton Treviso v Munster, Stadio di Monigo (RAI)
Saturday, February 18 - 5.30pm - Connacht v Glasgow Warriors, the Sportsground (TG4)
Saturday, February 18 - 6.30pm - Newport Gwent Dragons v Edinburgh, Rodney Parade (S4C)

ROUND 16 -

Thursday, February 23 - 7.35pm - Scarlets v Benetton Treviso, Parc y Scarlets (S4C)
Friday, February 24 - 7.30pm - Connacht v Edinburgh, the Sportsground
Friday, February 24 - 7.05pm - Munster v Cardiff Blues, Thomond Park (RTÉ)
Friday, February 24 - 7.05pm - Ulster v Ospreys, Ravenhill (BBC NI)
Saturday, February 25 - 6pm - Glasgow Warriors v Leinster, Firhill Stadium (BBC ALBA)
Friday, February 24 - Date and time tbc - Aironi Rugby v Newport Gwent Dragons, Stadio Zaffanella

ROUND 17 -

Friday, March 2 - 7pm - Aironi Rugby v Leinster, Stadio Zaffanella (RAI)
Friday, March 2 - 7.05pm - Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors, Liberty Stadium (BBC W)
Friday, March 2 - 7.30pm - Scarlets v Connacht, Parc y Scarlets
Friday, March 2 - 7.05pm - Ulster v Edinburgh, Ravenhill (BBC NI)
Saturday, March 3 - 4.15pm - Benetton Treviso v Cardiff Blues, Stadio di Monigo (RAI)
Saturday, March 3 - 6.30pm - Newport Gwent Dragons v Munster, Rodney Parade (S4C)

ROUND 18 -

Friday, March 23 - 7.30pm - Edinburgh v Newport Gwent Dragons, Murrayfield
Friday, March 23 - 7.35pm - Glasgow Warriors v Aironi Rugby, Firhill Stadium (BBC ALBA)
Friday, March 23 - 7.05pm - Leinster v Ospreys, the RDS (RTÉ)
Saturday, March 24 - 4.15pm - Benetton Treviso v Ulster, Stadio di Monigo (RAI)
Saturday, March 24 - 6.30pm - Cardiff Blues v Scarlets, Cardiff City Stadium (S4C)
Saturday, March 24 - 7.45pm - Connacht v Munster, the Sportsground (TG4)

ROUND 19 -

Friday, March 30 - 7.35pm - Edinburgh v Scarlets, Murrayfield (BBC ALBA)
Friday, March 30 - Date and time tbc - Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Blues, Firhill Stadium
Friday, March 30 - 7.15pm - Newport Gwent Dragons v Connacht, Rodney Parade
Friday, March 30 - 7.05pm - Ulster v Aironi Rugby, Ravenhill (BBC NI)
Saturday, March 31 - 7.30pm - Munster v Leinster, Thomond Park (RTÉ)
Saturday, March 31 - 6.30pm - Ospreys v Benetton Treviso, Liberty Stadium (S4C)

* All kick-offs are local time

** In round 13 the home match involving Cardiff Blues (Cardiff Blues v Leinster), and in round 15 the home matches involving Cardiff Blues (Cardiff Blues v Ulster) and the Ospreys (Ospreys v Aironi) cannot be confirmed at this stage as venue availability is not yet known due to possible FA Cup involvement by their respective home football teams

*** Secondary live TV coverage and any outstanding non-TV games will be confirmed as soon as possible

**** All fixtures, venues and broadcast schedules are subject to change