The FAI have held a press conference in the Davenport Hotel and announced a new television rights deal. A £4.5 million deal with BSkyB has been agreed for the Republic of Ireland home games up to June 2002, including all friendly and competitive games. However it does not affect the deal with RTE which also has a deal with the FAI until June 2002. The new element is that the FAI have given BSkyB exclusive TV rights in the UK. BSkyB will also televise the Nike US cup games in June 2000.
The head of RTE TV sport, Tim O'Connor, said he was delighted to hear that the FAI have concluded such a valuable deal with a broadcaster for exclusive UK Rights. He added that the deal was in harmony with the joint broadcast plans of the FAI and RTE, which date back to the 1996 contract.
The issue of the rights to the Republic's away games has yet to be solved with a contract yet to be sorted out with either RTE, TV3 or BSkyB. RTE have made a major effort to secure the rights to the away games for the World Cup 2002 qualifiers. TV3 won the rights to the away games for the Republic's Euro 2000 group, games that registered the station's biggest audiences since coming on air. This time around, RTE have sent representatives to Tokyo for the World Cup draw whereas their counterparts in TV3 have neglected to attend. It is understood some preliminary discussions between RTE and the relevant bodies in the Irish Group have taken place.
In other international news, the Under-18 side are set to play France in the intermediary round of the European Championships. The winners progress to the finals in Germany. The other ties of the round are Ukraine v Northern Ireland, Spain v Russia, Finland v Slovakia, Czech Republic v Italy, Austria v Croatia and Holland v Norway. In the Under-16 championship eleven of the eventual sixteen finalists are now known. Hosts Israel will be joining Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Spain and Finland.
