THE Ulster SFC preliminary round game between Fermanagh and Antrim will not be shown live on television, despite there being no other live broadcasts on Sunday.
BBC NI will show full deferred coverage of the game at 7pm but, under the current broadcasting deal, they are prevented from screening the game live. They presently are only able to show games which have been chosen for live coverage by RTÉ: “Due to broadcasting rights, BBC Northern Ireland is only able to show live games from the Ulster Senior Championship which have been selected to be shown live by RTÉ. In all other cases, BBC Northern Ireland broadcast the full game, deferred,” they said.
The GAA confirmed this was because of the current rights deal, which allows RTÉ and Sky Sports to show 45 live Championship games, plus replays if required, over their current three-year deal.
“The GAA has agreed with our primary broadcast partners that there will be 45 senior Championship games broadcast live (plus replays, if required). Fermanagh v Antrim was not one of those chosen,” said a spokesperson for the association.
The Brewster Park clash, which throws in at 4pm, is one of only two football Championship games to be played on Sunday, with Offaly hosting Longford in their Leinster SFC clash at 3.30pm.
Rival broadcasters showing GAA games have not been allowed to show games at the same time as another broadcaster. This was the case for last year’s Ulster semi-final between Monaghan and Fermanagh, which went up against Leinster and Munster hurling semi-finals on the same day. RTÉ2 chose to show the latter two games and it meant the BBC had to wait until later that evening to show deferred coverage of Monaghan's win.
The northern broadcaster will be able to show six of the eight Ulster Championship games live this summer, including the final, after RTÉ announced their 31 live games. Both will show all four quarter-final ties, beginning with the hotly-anticipated derby between Derry and Tyrone in Celtic Park on May 22.
Monaghan v Down will be shown on June 5 as part of a double-header with the Munster hurling clash of Waterford and Clare, which will see the sides clash for the third time in a matter of weeks.
The first semi-final, between the winners of that game and the victors from Cavan v Armagh, will be shown live on Sunday, June 19, with the final to be broadcast at 2pm on July 17 as part of a double-header with the Leinster final.
RTÉ have secured the rights to broadcast all six of the major provincial finals in football and hurling live. Sky Sports will broadcast the other Ulster semi-final, which could see a repeat of the last three finals between Monaghan and Donegal, on Saturday, June 25. The BBC’s deal does not include that fixture, either live or deferred.
Sky will also have exclusive rights to the All-Ireland quarter-final double-header involving the Ulster and Leinster champions on Saturday, August 6. They are set to announce their pick of 14 games later this week in what will be the final year of the current three-year deal, which began with the controversial addition of Sky Sports as a live broadcaster for the 2014 season.
