I sat down with John Feehan, RBS Six Nations CEO, to have a chat about Six Nations broadcasting and why he views it as vital that Six Nations games are not designated as “Live” listed events.

Published in the Irish Times on Wednesday 11th February, 2015 along with a nice piece of graphics work by Paul Scott.

For many golf fans the British Open will disappear in 2017 when one of the BBC’s crown jewels moves to Sky.

Is the Six Nations next to fall? In these changing sports broadcasting times how long will one of rugby’s great viewing attractions will remain in the hands of an RTÉ or BBC?

In the competing nations, television contracts are currently in place with BBC (UK), France Télévisions (France), RTÉ (Ireland) and Discovery Networks (Italy) until 2017. Six Nations chief executive John Feehan is not impressed by politicians who make public statements in favour of designating the Six Nations as a live Free-To-Air (FTA) event.

Read More: Irish Times – Six Nations broadcasting battleground bound to heat up

Note: Data sourced from the Six Nations, RTE and the UK Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board.