The Dublin Co Board are to raise the issue of 'pay per view' television coverage on the part of Setanta Sports at this month’s Central Council meeting.
County chief executive John Costello said he is concerned at the news that Setanta Sports, which holds the rights to Saturday evening National League matches, will be screening three of the county’s four broadcast fixtures on the subscription Setanta Sports One channel, rather than on Setanta Sports Ireland, which is included in the basic cable television packages in most urban areas.
Speaking in the Irish Times, Costolloe said: 'I know that in other parts of the country there is no choice at all, as all of the Setanta channels are only available on subscription, but I’m disappointed that Dublin appears to have been targeted with three of our four live matches being broadcast on Setanta Sports One. I intend to raise this at Central Council.”
Setanta Sports Ireland chief executive Niall Cogley, rejected the suggestion the schedule represented anything other than an expansion of the channel’s coverage.
'We will, as we always have done, be broadcasting a second match as deferred coverage at 9.00pm. The three Dublin matches on Setanta One will be shown in full at that time on the same evening. It’s as simple as this: we asked ourselves was there any reason we shouldn’t show the deferred match live on another channel; would anyone be disadvantaged by it?
'Obviously we asked the GAA’s opinion and they couldn’t see a downside. The matches on Setanta Ireland were picked on their merits as before.
'The only difference is that we are offering the deferred game to anyone who wants to watch it live because we have the facility to offer that choice.'
The four matches being shown on the same night as Dublin’s fixtures are: Cork v Kerry (13 February), the night Dublin play Derry; Cork v Tyrone (13 March) when Dublin face Monaghan; and Dublin against Joe Kernan's Galway (27 March) , the night Kerry play Tyrone.
The good news for Dublin supporters is the away match against Cork will be shown on Setanta Ireland on 20 March, with Down-Armagh as the deferred broadcast.
Setanta has held the rights to floodlit National League matches since 2004.
