IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tim O’Connor, The Bar of Ireland
for an athletic lifestyle, such as low or zero alco - hol. 2.3 Broadcasting Sports broadcasting revenue by domestic pub - lic-service broadcasters (which includes the Irish language channel) is largely based on advertis - ing sales. There are other players in the market which are subscription channels, with rights- holders often selling rights to these channels instead. The primary domestic rights would be the GAA’s All-Ireland championships in football and hurl - ing. The GAA had entered into mixed rights sales where games are shared between the subscrip - tion-only broadcaster Sky and domestic free-to- air broadcasters, but this was not renewed. The GAA has instead shifted to a streaming service it had set up as a joint venture with the main public service broadcaster, with a subscription element for premium games. This has, however, attracted the attention of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), the Irish competition authority, over a potential less - ening of competition in the broadcast market; the outcome remains to be seen. Rugby is, at professional level, largely part of wider broadcast-rights deals, such as with the URC, European rugby or the sales of Six Nations and other test-rugby rights. These would then be resold on the Irish market. The different elements of the season are often broken up and sold to dif - ferent bidders; for example, the test series usu - ally played in November has recently been sold to TNT, while the rights to live Six Nations games are shared among domestic free-to-air channels. Notably, some of the major professional rugby teams, led by Munster, have started developing their own subscription channel as a means of increasing fan engagement and revenue.
Broadcasting is subject to the same restrictions common in the EU, that is, that certain category- A events must be live on free-to-air channels. There are perennial attempts to expand this list, often under domestic political pressure, and staunchly resisted by the rights-holders. A noticeable development at sub-elite level is how many clubs in different sports have set up streaming services where their matches can now be watched on YouTube or other platforms. Although still in its infancy, this is an area where rapid expansion and commercialisation would seem to be likely, with the difficulties and oppor - tunities that follow. The rights in a sports event are treated as rights in property in the normal manner one would expect in the common law world, and left to the rights-holder to organise on the basis of con - tract with those participating, those attending (as contractual licensees) and those broadcast - ing the events. Consumer protection rights, competition law and general contract law apply as one would expect and in the same manner, but with some special qualifications imposed by EU law, such as in broadcasting. As always, one must note the complexity of Irish sport often operating cross- border with all that that entails. 3.2 Liability Ireland is a common law country, and the law on the duty of care is largely the same as that in England and Wales. 3. Sports Events 3.1 Relationships
114 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook