RTÉ news bulletins blocked in Northern Ireland over Olympics footage

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

RTÉ will not broadcast or stream news bulletins in Northern Ireland if they contain footage from the Olympics.

Viewers in Northern Ireland who tuned into the Irish national broadcaster for its main news bulletins on Wednesday were shown a message that the content was blocked in their region.

One message said: “This programme cannot be streamed due to rights restrictions.”

Viewers in Northern Ireland are normally able to watch the full RTÉ news bulletins, but occasionally sporting events which are also broadcast on UK channels are not made available.

On Thursday, RTÉ confirmed that the regional block was due to the bulletins containing footage from the Paris Olympics as the BBC hold the rights to broadcast that material in Northern Ireland.

While the official opening ceremony for the games is on Friday, Ireland competed in Rugby sevens matches on Wednesday and the sport section of the televised bulletins contained reports on the Olympics.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Brendan Smith, called on RTÉ to clarify why its news programming is geo-blocked in Northern Ireland, following numerous complaints from residents in Northern Ireland expressing frustration over their inability to access RTÉ's news programming.

Smith expressed concern over the restricted access, saying it is unacceptable that citizens in Northern Ireland are unable to access RTÉ’s news programming.

"As a public service broadcaster, RTÉ has a duty to provide comprehensive news coverage to all people across Ireland, regardless of geographical location. The current geo-blocking measures undermine this responsibility," he said.

"The people of Northern Ireland have a right to access the same public service broadcasting as their fellow citizens in the Republic. I urge RTÉ to address this issue urgently and to communicate their plans for ensuring full accessibility across all 32 counties. RTÉ must stand by its commitment to serve the entire island of Ireland."

In a statement, the Irish broadcaster said: “RTÉ has rights to broadcast the 2024 Olympic Games in the Republic of Ireland only.

“The exclusive free-to-air broadcast rights for Northern Ireland for the 2024 Olympic Games are held by the BBC, who were licensed those rights in a UK Olympics rights deal agreed between the BBC and the pan-European rights holder, Discovery back in 2016.

“Broadcast rights include use of any footage as part of news coverage and so RTÉ is unfortunately unable to broadcast live or stream any bulletins in Northern Ireland which contain Olympic footage.

“An edited RTÉ News bulletin will be made available for viewers in Northern Ireland and internationally each night on the RTÉ Player.

“While RTÉ has sought permission to make our broadcasts of the 2024 Olympic Games available in Northern Ireland, this has not been possible.”