RTÉ Sport Launches 2014 FIFA World Cup Coverage
Live coverage of all 64 games across RTÉ television, RTÉ Player and RTÉ.ie
Over 180 hours of live coverage
25 highlights shows
New panellists Neil Lennon, Brad Friedel & Paul Clement
RTÉ Sport today (Thursday 5 June) announced details of its 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage across television, radio, online and mobile. RTÉ will provide live coverage of all 64 games across RTÉ television and online and mobile on RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Player. Over 180 hours of television coverage will be broadcast on RTÉ including 56 live games from Brazil with eight end of group games streamed live on RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Player. Tony O’Donoghue will also present a daily highlights show at 3.30pm on RTÉ Two. Fans will also be kept up to date with the latest news and updates from Brazil with live bulletins throughout the day on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ 2fm and the final will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM.
At a launch in RTÉ’s Studio 4 details of the team of panellists, presenters and commentators were announced to the media. Joining stalwart panellists John Giles, Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady are Ronnie Whelan, Didi Hamann, Ossie Ardiles, Kenny Cunningham and Richie Sadlier. Twenty years after his famous goal against Italy in Giants Stadium, Ray Houghton will co-commentate from Brazil.
This year RTÉ Sport is also delighted to announce three new panellists, former Celtic manager Neil Lennon, Spurs goalkeeper and former USA international Brad Freidel and Real Madrid coach and former Republic of Ireland under 21 coach Paul Clement.
RTÉ’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil also sees the curtain fall on one of Ireland’s most illustrious Sports broadcasting careers as Bill O’Herlihy presents for the final time.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup will see the return to our screens of Après Match and, as well as appearing throughout the tournament, the comedy trio will present the 3rd place play-off on Saturday 12 July.
Acting Group Head of RTÉ Sport, Cliona O’Leary, said: ”The whole world comes together to experience the World Cup and we are delighted to bring RTÉ audiences all of the action from Brazil, the very best analysis and a whole lot more, no matter where or how they choose to watch or listen. Whether it’s High Definition games on RTÉ television – with the best team of commentators and analysts in the business – live streaming on RTÉ’s digital platforms, news and updates across RTÉ radio or the antics of the Après Match team, RTÉ will be there for all of the drama and excitement – and the audience won’t miss a kick of a ball.”
Television
RTÉ television will have over 180 hours of coverage from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 74 programmes On RTÉ One and RTÉ Two will encompass 56 live games and 25 highlights programmes as well as the opening ceremony on Thursday 12 June. RTÉ’s unrivalled team of analysts: John Giles, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, Didi Hamann, Ossie Ardiles, Kenny Cunningham and Richie Sadlier will be joined by Neil Lennon, Brad Friedel and Paul Clement. The panellists will be put through their paces by presenters Bill O’Herlihy, Darragh Maloney and Tony O’Donoghue
All of RTÉ television’s comprehensive coverage will be in High Definition.
Radio
RTÉ radio will this summer keep soccer fans fully up-to-date on the daily happenings in Brazil with World Cup News Desks on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime and on RTÉ 2fm’s daily sports programme, Game On with all the breaking news and all the issues that matter. The FIFA 2014 World Cup Final will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM and there will also be extensive analysis and debate on RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport.
Online, Mobile and RTÉ Player
RTÉ Sport’s new mobile-focused World Cup website – RTE.ie/worldcup2014 – will bring you complete coverage of the greatest show on Earth – no matter where you are in the Republic of Ireland, no matter what device you own.
All 64 games will be available to watch live – 8 of which will be exclusive to RTÉ Sport’s digital platforms. As a companion to the TV coverage, continuous live blogs will bring you video highlights of goals and match incidents as they occur, combined with the best analysis from RTÉ Sport’s unrivalled cast of pundits.
FIFA World Cup 2014 games will be available to watch live and on-demand on RTÉ Player in the Republic of Ireland. Games will remain online on RTÉ Player for the duration of the tournament. Live streaming on RTÉ Player desktop, mobile and Samsung connected TV plus on-demand on desktop, mobile, UPC, connected TV and Xbox.
For the first time, RTÉ will be providing live in-game statistics during every single game. A live feed featuring multiple categories of match statistics will run via any mobile device – giving an added dimension to your match-day viewing.
A comprehensive video section will feature highlights from every game, including full matches, video blogs from Brazil; the best of RTÉ’s punditry as well as all Aprés Match clips. You can also sign up to a daily World Cup email, which will keep you up to date on all the action in Brazil and bring together the highlights from games you may have missed.
Match reports, statistical analysis, features and galleries will be uploaded daily from our staff in Dublin and Brazil and there will be live updates via @rtesoccer on Twitter, the best discussion on the RTE Soccer Facebook page as well as the highlights of RTÉ’s post match analysis via the RTÉ Sport YouTube channel.
Hyundai Ireland will sponsor RTÉ’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2014 across RTÉ Television, RTÉ Radio and RTÉ.ie.
Links:
www.rte.ie/worldcup2014
www.twitter.com/rtesoccer
www.facebook.com/rtesoccer
www.youtube.com/rtesport
Contact:
Fergus McCormack, Press Officer, RTÉ Television, Fergus.mccormack@rte.ie 01 2083117, 086 8674751
Sharon Brady, Senior Communications Manager, RTÉ Television & RTÉ Digital. Sharon.brady@rte.ie 087 6858975.
Date: Thursday 05 June 2014
ENDS
Note to Editors:
Images from the launch will be sent to Picture Desks by Inpho on behalf of RTÉ
BILL O’HERLIHY BIOGRAPHY
Born in Cork, Bill O’Herlihy became a journalist at 16, writing for the Cork Examiner. His first broadcast for RTÉ was a piece about the Lusitania for Newsbeat in 1965. He later worked on Seven Days, but moved away from news a year after the programme was brought before the Lending Tribunal. In 1972, he founded the O’Herlihy Communications Group.
He has worked in broadcasting since the 1960s, and has been RTÉ’s chief sports presenter for major events such as Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Football Championships and European and World Track and Field Championships. He has covered 10 World Cups including Brazil 2014 and 10 Olympics. Bill also presented the first Rugby World Cup on RTÉ Television as well as co-presenting the very first Sunday Game with Jim Carney in 1979. He had a heart attack in 1984 and needed a major operation in 2007 because of a colon cancer tumor. He won a Jacob’s award for his presentation of the 1990 World Cup, Irish Sports Journalist of the Year 2003, and in 2007 he was named the Irish Film and Television Academy’s Television Personality of the Year.