RTÉ explained that the Olympics were geoblocked in Northern Ireland because of licensing rights. Initially, they chose not to air live news bulletins featuring Olympic footage in Northern Ireland but resumed broadcasting after receiving complaints and pressure from some politicians.

The 2024 Paralympics in Paris will officially start on Wednesday with an opening ceremony, launching 11 days of competition. However, viewers in Northern Ireland will face restrictions on RTÉ coverage again, also due to rights issues.

An RTÉ spokesperson stated, “RTÉ has the rights to broadcast the 2024 Paralympic Games only within the Republic of Ireland. Channel 4 holds the exclusive free-to-air broadcast rights for the UK, including Northern Ireland. However, news coverage will not be blocked as the Paralympics contract does not include specific restrictions around news.”

Two Northern Ireland athletes, Michael McKillop and Jason Smyth, are part of the coverage lineup. McKillop, from Ballymena, and Smyth, from Londonderry, are former Paralympians in athletics and will join other rotating panellists across TV, sport, and digital platforms for the Games.

RTÉ has announced that this year it will offer its most extensive Paralympics coverage ever, with 104 hours on RTÉ2 and exclusive content on RTÉ Player. The RTÉ Player will stream over 500 hours of live action across four digital channels, ensuring Irish audiences can follow all the action and success of Team Ireland in real-time.

This comes after significant excitement and success for Northern Ireland athletes representing both Team Ireland and Team GB at the recent Olympics, also held in Paris.

Channel 4 has also announced that their coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be the most extensive ever on the network, with over 1,300 hours of live sport across Channel 4, More4, Channel 4 Streaming, and Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube.