Mr. Paul Farrell:

Virgin Media Television operates as a commercial public service broadcaster fully funded by advertising and commercial revenues. All our investment decisions are made based on generating a commercial return to support the sustainability of our business and enable continued investment in our platforms, infrastructure and in the development of our people. The future of sports broadcasting in Ireland is something that will continue to develop and evolve in line with the commercial drivers of rights holders and the changing dynamics of sports consumption and engagement by sports fans. The growth in streaming, both paid for and free, is something we feel will continue to evolve and offers a lot of positive opportunities for sports fans and rights holders to generate incremental revenues while also giving more access for fans of all sports that generally would not be available on free to air or pay or premium sports providers.

The most popular sporting events continue to attract large audiences to free-to-air broadcasting, as evidenced by this year’s huge numbers for the Ireland versus England Six Nations Championship game, which attracted over 1 million viewers. Our current partnership with RTÉ for the Six Nations Championship and the upcoming Rugby World Cup is something I expect to be a sign of how the future of broadcasting will evolve. With increasing volumes of games and events across all major sports, the opportunity for greater collaboration, not just among traditional broadcasters but also with rights holders, streamers and new or existing platforms, seems to be an inevitable part of the future direction of sports broadcasting.

The ongoing review of sporting events designated for free-to-air broadcast will also have to take account of the changes to sporting calendars and competitions. There is also a requirement to understand some of the broader benefits of making sports events available on free-to-air broadcasting. Sporting bodies need to generate revenues to support their leagues, players and administrators. Increasingly, this will mean more pressure to have a pay component within their offering.

In tandem with this, making sports accessible and visible to the broader population is important to ensure the long-term growth of participation within the sports at grassroots levels. There is evidence in some other jurisdictions that certain sports can see a decline in participation levels over prolonged periods when they are not available on any free-to-air platform.

In summary, the future of sports broadcasting in Ireland will be driven by greater collaboration between rights holders, traditional broadcasters and pay and premium sports providers to find a model that works for all stakeholders. The designation of key events for free-to-air broadcasting will ultimately need to evolve to have a broader understanding of how events can be made accessible across free, pay and premium models.