REVENUE STREAMS
Hopes high for online pass to raise funds
FANS have been urged to shun piracy and back the League of Ireland and its clubs by supporting LOITV.
The live-match streaming platform is back and so is the season pass having been controversially axed a year ago.
It will cost €120 – for customers in Ireland and abroad – with 446 league games available in the Men’s Premier, First Division and Women’s Premier Division.
According to the FAI, there were 184,000 registered users of the platform in 2022 and 66,000 purchased a subscription, a 35 per cent increase on 2021.
The 2022 pay-per-game model – which is still available for 2023 – was ultimately profitable with all clubs receiving a dividend, although the amount was not divulged.
RTE will also show a minimum of 18 Premier Division games, as well as the FAI Cup semi-finals, final and women’s FAI Cup final.
Those live RTE league games will not be available on LOITV for customers based in Ireland, but will be for subscribers abroad.
TG4 are set to show
12 live games in the Women’s Premier Division, an increase from 10 matches in the 2022 season.
While figures were not given, revenue generated for clubs from live TV coverage remains a pittance and is incorporated into the league’s annual prize-money.
But League director Mark Scanlon (inset) said: “Right now the main focus is on streaming which we see as a bigger opportunity to increase revenue.”
League of Ireland games are also available on ‘dodgy boxes’ although FAI chiefs admit it’s impossible to quantify how much money is being lost because of piracy.
Quizzed about the illegal streaming of games, Scanlon said: “It’s a difficult one to put into figures because we don’t know.
“We know anecdotally from what we can see from people openly talking about it, be it on social media or at grounds.
It’s a difficult one worldwide, piracy.
“We’re a member of the European League’s Organisation and they have a company called SROC that is dealing with piracy across Europe and lobbying the EU.
“They work from the Premier League to La Liga and the Bundesliga, who have all been massively hit by piracy, so we’re not different from any other league across
Europe.
“It’s just a different scale, but it’s important that we can invest back into the platform.”