Mr. Mark Scanlon:

A Chathaoirligh, a chairde, agus a bhaill an choiste, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to address the committee on behalf of LOITV and our clubs across the country. I am addressing the committee in my role as League of Ireland director. I am joined by Richard Webb, who is the director of operations of Premier Sports, with which we work in partnership with to deliver the LOITV service. All committee members will have received an information pack from us ahead of the meeting. I am happy to answer any questions they may have.

While we support the concept of the Bill overall and welcome its introduction, we would like to use this opportunity to outline the impact of any potential industry-wide levies on small Irish streaming services and the effect this could have on the future growth of LOITV and the League of Ireland. For those who are not familiar with the service, LOITV is the official streaming platform for the League of Ireland. It streams over 550 games per season across the three League of Ireland men’s and women’s senior divisions, the men’s and women’s FAI Cups and the women’s All-Island Cup, as well as selected LOI academy fixtures. In July 2020, WATCHLOI was launched in partnership with RTÉ to live stream men's Premier Division games during the Covid-19 pandemic. The following season LOITV was established as a joint venture between the League of Ireland and its member clubs to ensure that fans who were still unable to attend games due to the pandemic did not have to miss a minute of the action.

LOITV was originally operated by a small number of staff within our League of Ireland department and by club volunteers. The platform has since evolved and established itself as an essential part of the League of Ireland and has been a significant factor in the League’s well-publicised recent growth.

Ahead of the 2025 season, LOITV entered into a four-year partnership with Premier Sports, an Irish-owned and operated business, to help to elevate the service through its professional expertise and resources. As well as being available via Internet browsers, LOITV is now available on a range of apps on smart televisions, mobile and tablet devices. The production of each stream is done through independent contractors based in Ireland via a UK streaming company, 247.tv, with commentators provided by each of the participating League of Ireland clubs on a largely voluntary basis.

The League of Ireland and Premier Sports would like the committee to consider the following points. All profits from the service are redirected to the participating League of Ireland clubs, and thus directly back into Irish football. Alongside independent contractors who broadcast the fixtures, many of the productions are provided with assistance through volunteers at each club with the majority of commentators, media officers and digital media assistants working free of charge on behalf of their club. LOITV has given aspiring camera operators, commentators, pundits and digital media enthusiasts an opportunity to showcase and develop their talents and provided a platform which has led to future part-time and full-time employment in the industry, thus creating employment and economic benefits. There is a significant public service element to the platform. A total of 63% of the games involve teams from the men’s First Division and women’s Premier Division, but these games only account for 9% of the revenue generated through LOITV. This is part of the League of Ireland’s commitment to growing regional clubs and women’s football in Ireland.

Although it has grown in recent years, the LOITV subscriber base of the service is still significantly lower in comparison with international competitors. LOITV has enabled the League of Ireland to compete for coverage among its peer leagues. Domestically, we operate in a highly competitive sports broadcast market. The League of Ireland has historically struggled to get regular and consistent linear TV coverage. However, LOITV has enabled the League of Ireland to create its own home and ensure that every club has regular and consistent coverage. LOITV has also been a significant enabler in the growth of the League of Ireland through its ability to provide real-time access for supporters to live clips online which promote our clubs, players and coaches and encourage attendance at League of Ireland fixtures, which are experiencing record-high numbers.

When making any future decisions on levies for streaming services, we urge the committee to consider the potential impact on smaller platforms such as LOITV, which is operated through independent Irish providers and club volunteers. They provide an important public service in growing domestic football. We believe any such levies should be benchmarked against areas such as subscriber or income levels, profit levels, number of staff or contractors based in Ireland and the public service impact. We also request that the threshold for any such contributions to be set at a figure that means small indigenous operators are not facing the same levies as large international corporations.

LOITV has proved to be hugely successful since its inception and has been a pivotal part of the growth of the league. For the first time in its long history, every League of Ireland game is now available for supporters to view worldwide, and this has radically changed the trajectory of the league and improved the fan experience exponentially in Ireland. We thank committee again for the opportunity to participate in the committee’s work on the Bill and hope that our points will be considered in any future decisions. Gabhaim míle buíochas le baill an choiste as an deis seo labhairt inniu.