Geo-blocking of Irish sports in Northern Ireland may worsen, Ofcom says

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 27 Oct, 14:44 · Archive

Ofcom says geo-blocking of Irish sporting events in Northern Ireland cannot be stopped and may worsen.

Geo-blocking restricts access to streamed content based on geographical location, meaning sporting events on RTÉ and other Irish channels are frequently unavailable to viewers in Northern Ireland.

Ofcom said it has no power to require rights holders to license content on an all-island basis. The regulator is also not aware of any mechanism to require internet service providers to reserve IP addresses for Northern Ireland. RTÉ and TG4 attempt to buy sports rights on an all-island basis, but this is rarely possible in practice. International sporting organisations and their agents typically sell separate packages for the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with Northern Ireland normally included in the UK package.

Ofcom concluded there are no technical measures offering a complete, low-cost and universally applicable solution to the problem. The regulator warned that as more television output is delivered via streaming services, geo-blocking will impact a growing part of television consumption. Stormont's economy minister Caoimhe Archibald had asked Ofcom to review the issue, which the regulator last examined in 2015.

How it is being reported

• Sinn Féin commissioned report blames TV rights issues for 'geo-blocking' of RTÉ programmesA report commissioned by the Sinn Féin economy minister into the blocking of some Irish television programmes in Northern Ireland has found that technical and broadcast rights issues are the main reasons some events can’t be shown here.News Letter · 27 Oct, 14:01
• Sports 'geo-blocking' can't be stopped, says regulatorThe UK media regulator has said the geo-blocking of Irish sporting events in Northern Ireland could get worse.BBC Northern Ireland · 27 Oct, 06:16

In this story: Ofcom · RTÉ · TG4 · Northern Ireland · Caoimhe Archibald

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