Bri1231 Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 I have always wondered how RTE Ireland ended up being one episode behind the U.K? When I lived there until 2000 Ireland was months ahead of ITV and at one point RTE was an episode AHEAD of Australia. I guess by accident. ITV also caught up to the same week by 1999/2000 So when Channel Five got the rights and got an injunction which blocked RTE from showing episodes before them, how are they now one day behind when they continued to air the show during the U.K break clause put in place for a year by ITV? Maybe an Irish viewer could give answers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 I watched H&A on RTE for much of the 90's. They started about 4 months ahead of ITV, but the gap started to narrow once RTE got close to Australia and needed to drop the series for a while every year. Then there was the time when they aired it at 3 episodes a week for a while, to widen the gap. but all the time ITV were catching up. Then they notoriously overtook Australia at the start of the 2000 season. I recall it went off air over the summer in 2000 on RTE, supposedly for the usual couple of weeks, but if I remember correctly, it stayed off air for a few months, for the reason you said. Somehow or other, and for the only time, the final episode which ever aired on ITV was shown before RTE got to see it. But RTE were able to resume broadcasting and they were again months ahead of the UK, but eventually as both countries caught up again close to Australian broadcasts, and with RTE having to drop episodes to maintain a gap, they levelled out. I'm not sure at what stage RTE eventually fell an episode behind, but I'm sure it wasn't accidental. For a while now RTE have been running one episode behind Channel 5. It must be a legal contractual thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri1231 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 It still does not make sense though as how if it was off for a year on U.K screens but continued to air on RTE it ended up being an episode behind. I did ask RTE about this a long time ago in an email and they said they said that channel five paid to have the European rights to the show and blocked RTE from showing it first. Something im sure will change when the impending Brexit happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul237 Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 As I understand it, Channel 5 covers around half of the production costs of the show, so they get to have the rights to broadcast it first in Europe. I thought RTE showed the same episode the UK does, though? Unless you mean 5 Star being 1 day ahead, but I guess that's kind of different because most people watch it on the main Channel 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri1231 Posted March 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2018 No. I asked Channel Five about it and they stated they have strict European first airing rights so RTE must show it later than 7pm if shown on the same day. So I guess so they could stick to their original airing time of 6.30pm RTE decided to show it a day later than the UK. Plus I have been back home and since Channel Five has aired the show RTE has always been a day behind. I still have no clue how this happened anyways as no one says the show went off air for a year like the UK. Confusing much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted March 18, 2018 Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 On 17/03/2018 at 10:19, Bri1231 said: Plus I have been back home and since Channel Five has aired the show RTE has always been a day behind. I still have no clue how this happened anyways as no one says the show went off air for a year like the UK. Confusing much. There was a point in 2000, around the mudslide I think, when H&A went off air on RTE for several months - it was originally advertised as being off for 2 or 3 weeks - and I recall the reason given was "legal wrangling" with Channel 5, who had the European premiere rights, but obviously no one thought to tell RTE, who always prided themselves in showing H&A, and many other imported series, before they aired on UK TV. Also RTE no doubt dropped some extra episodes around Christmas, and it may well have been off for the Olympics, or other sport, such as horse racing or tennis. RTE used to drop episodes quite frequently. I'm sure a browse through the archives would explain all. I do think it took a while before Ch5 caught up with RTE, but unlike RTE, I don't believe Ch5 dropped any episodes until they had to. When RTE caught up with Australia, they used to be about 2 weeks behind transmission and only really closed the gap (a bit too much!) when ITV caught up too. I'm sure if they were "allowed", they would be broadcasting it as close to the Australian date as they could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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