Irish TV. RTE

[Patrick+OD]

Why can't Irish people in UK get Irish RTE Channels not even News. Sky has African, Mid East, US News Channels .Also Sports involving Ireland which tonight Scotland v Ireland soccer which you have to pay for - yet in Ireland it's free ?

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[caesarome · Accepted solution]

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@Patrick+OD wrote:

Why can't Irish people in UK

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What you get to watch is based on where you are and not your nationally, so if you are in Ireland you get to view the match but rights restrictions outside of Ireland mean you can not without subscribing to Premier Sports.

[nolte]

I think you need to talk to rte. It's up to the broadcaster if they want to be hosted on a system in any region. BAI could also block moves because of rte remit as a national broadcaster

But with a lot of rte 2 content being bought in, that could cause rights issues with the uk owners. 

But with sport and TV rights sold by region, this makes it difficult. For instance, in the uk, channel 4 were showing England game on Friday but in Ireland on sky, it was blocked with "programme not available"

[TimmyBGood]

@Patrick+OD 

I'm not aware of any subscription service globally which is  based on the passport held by the viewer.  As @caesarome indicates, content availability is typically linked to the postal address at which the subscription is taken out, so for Sky it's where the dish or Glass television is installed that counts.

Sky Go 'portability' within the EU applies for Sky subscriptions held at addresses in the Republic of Ireland,  but unfortunately that no longer includes use in the UK (or rather from a UK IP address).

Slightly complicating things, there's also some reciprocity of broadcast channel availability in the Sky EPG  between RoI and Northern Ireland which doesn't happen in mainland UK: that's to do with the unique history of the six counties.

[Anonymous]

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@Patrick+OD wrote:

Why can't Irish people in UK get Irish RTE Channels not even News. Sky has African, Mid East, US News Channels .Also Sports involving Ireland which tonight Scotland v Ireland soccer which you have to pay for - yet in Ireland it's free ?

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It's about regional restrictions. RTÉ and Irish sports (assuming also on RTÉ) are specifically for all people currently in Ireland, whether or not the person is Irish or not. 

RTÉ channels, Vrgin Media channels, TG4, Channel 4 channels are classed as "Bonus channels". Sky doesn't actually charge for these channels for customers in Ireland, but are part of the Sky Signature pack as this is what the the broadcasters and Sky have agreed upon.

[FJRBL]

In The North of Ireland we have RTE1 & 2 on the sky platform as required by the GFA.

HOWEVER, only RTE 2 is available in HD - RTE1 is SD only - and I have never been able to find out why.

Any ideas????

[Patrick+OD]

Sadly no

[Anonymous]

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@FJRBL wrote:

In The North of Ireland we have RTE1 & 2 on the sky platform as required by the GFA.

HOWEVER, only RTE 2 is available in HD - RTE1 is SD only - and I have never been able to find out why.

Any ideas????

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This was asked on Digital Spy back in 2019: https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2326906/why-is-rte-one-hd-on-sky-not-available-to-viewers-i... 

I would like to draw your attention to this particular comment from Rick_:

"I have contacted Sky and RTÉ previously regarding this and each of them said the responsibility for it appearing on the EPG lay with the other company. So take form that what you will."

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