Television Rights
The television rights for the League of Ireland are negotiated by the FAI with the individual broadcasters RTÉ and Setanta Sports. RTÉ, who also produce a weekly radio show covering the League of Ireland, hold the rights to broadcast a weekly highlights programme, Monday Night Soccer, as well as the rights to live games in the League and FAI Cup, towards the conclusion of the season. The deal, which is part of the broadcaster's wider contract with the FAI for the coverage of Irish football, runs until 2013. Setanta Sports broadcast live games from the League of Ireland and Setanta Sports Cup, in addition to the final of the League of Ireland Cup. From 2001 to 2007, TV3 held the rights to broadcast a weekly highlights programme. In 1998, a League of Ireland game was broadcast live on television for the first time. This year it was announced that the premier league and fai cup games would go up from 17 to 24 live games per season.
League of Ireland clubs are obliged to accept and cooperate with the television rights, negotiated by the FAI, under the terms of the League's participation agreement. This leaves the dates and times of certain fixtures in the hands of the television companies, which can impact on match attendances. The 10 clubs competing in the Premier Division received an equal share payment of €20,000 during the 2009 season, while an additional €35,000 was set aside to compensate clubs with six or more fixtures selected for live television broadcast, or four or more live television fixtures held on nights other than Friday. RTÉ no longer pay any money to clubs for television rights and still control the time and date of fixtures. This season, they failed to show impartiality with their broadcasting, showing Shamrock Rovers almost every week, without visiting Tolka Park once. In Australia, the League of Ireland is broadcast by Setanta Sports.
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