Following previous announcements that it would not air live news bulletins with Olympics Games footage due to licensing rights, RTÉ is to resume airing news on TV in Northern Ireland, according to the Irish broadcaster. On 14 July, RTÉ’s news television bulletins were geo-blocked on Freeview channel 54, Sky, RTÉ Player and the broadcaster’s news website in Northern Ireland. However, RTÉ explained that it has the rights to broadcast the 2024 Olympics Games “in the Republic of Ireland only”, meaning that all of RTÉ’s Olympic programming is unavailable in Northern Ireland.
A number of people took to social media to complain about the programmes being blocked, with one person calling it “censorship”. Athletes born in Northern Ireland can choose to compete for either Team Ireland or Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Paris 2024 will see the largest-ever Irish contingent at the Olympics, with a total of 133 athletes. RTÉ initially said that the “exclusive free-to-air broadcast rights for Northern Ireland for the 2024 Olympic Games are held by the BBC” and “broadcast rights include use of any footage as part of news coverage”.
Despite this, the entirety of the news programmes containing Olympic footage were geo-blocked in Northern Ireland, rather than the specific segments containing the Olympic coverage. The Broadcasting Act 2009 requires RTÉ to provide a public broadcasting service that “will be made available to the whole community on the island of Ireland”. Dáire Hughes, Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh, described Thursday’s move as “the right and sensible decision by RTÉ to reverse the geo-blocking of news broadcasts”. Whilst Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Brendan Smith also called on RTÉ to “address this issue urgently and to communicate their plans for ensuring full accessibility across all 32 counties”.
RTÉ said it would make an edited bulletin available on the online RTÉ player each night for viewers in Northern Ireland and internationally. However, in a later statement, RTÉ said it will “resume broadcast of its news bulletins in Northern Ireland, including news from the 2024 Olympics Games”. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also wrote to Mr Bakhurst regarding the geo-blocking, stating “Olympic footage is an important part of coverage but it can’t come at the expense of northern audiences who rely on the broadcaster for news content. We are not expendable.”
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