About

Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) is the Irish national public service broadcaster and provides Ireland’s national television and radio services. The company faces numerous legal challenges stemming from their various entities, which includes their flagship free-to-air RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 2 television channels and the radio stations that broadcast across Ireland and worldwide. Various issues related to the broadcasting and media sector rear their heads including navigating the tricky field of regulation in Ireland and abroad. The RTÉ legal team has been busy in recent years negotiating a number of licensing and rights deals, allowing them to broadcast widely demanded sports and TV shows. Earlier in 2016 RTÉ Sport sublicensed the right to broadcast free-to-air TV and radio coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The deal with Discovery Communications allows RTÉ to continue to bring the Olympics to the Irish audience on a free-to-air basis. This year has been a busy one for RTÉ in terms of mega events that it will broadcast; offering coverage of Euro 2016, the Olympics, the Irish general election, 1916 centenary celebrations, GAA league and the Six Nations rugby championship. The legal team will also be part of any discussions on whether RTÉ itself should licence out some of these events for broadcast.