Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 28 Nov 1995

Vol. 458 No. 8

Written Answers. - Television Rights.

Edward Nealon

Question:

61 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in view of developments in other countries where exclusive rights to the televising of major national events, mainly sporting, are being bought up by satellite or pay-as-you-view companies and are consequently not available for viewing to the vast majority of people in those countries, if he will take the necessary action, through regulations or qualifications in broadcasting licences, to ensure that there is no repeat of such an undesirable development in this country and that certain listed events will have to be made available to one national television station at a reasonable cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17859/95]

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

The migration of coverage of events of national and international significance from traditional public service television services to satellite delivered subscription and pay per view services is not, in my view, in the public interest.

With the ever increasing number of international satellite delivered television channels, and given the importance of sports events in particular in attracting audiences of sufficient size to interest advertisers, organisations promoting such events now find themselves in the position of being in a seller's market in which public service broadcasters can be regularly outbid for the rights to cover them.

In Ireland I believe that many, if not all, of our sporting organisations continue to recognise that they have a social and cultural role that transcends pure commercial considerations. However, one of the purposes of the Green Paper on the future of broadcasting was to stimulate debate on the development of a legislative regime that ensures that the public interest in broadcasting continues to be served. The question raised by the Deputy is one which I will address as I develop firm proposals for legislative change. However, any changes in legislation which might be contemplated would have to respect the constitutional rights of the organisations concerned.