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Communications Minister Alex White is to include the Six Nations on a list of sporting events that must be made available for live broadcast on terrestrial television, meaning RTE, TV3, TG4 or UTV Ireland.
The Six Nations is currently only designated 'free-to-air' for deferred coverage, but Minister White will include it on a list to be brought to cabinet shortly, along with the Ladies Football and Camogie finals in GAA.
RTÉ currently pays €4m a year for broadcast rights, an arrangement that's far cheaper than the BBC and French broadcasters' deals, with IRFU getting more than €13.5m in fees.
The IRFU is expected to oppose any move to designate the tournament free-to-air as it feels that Ireland's share of broadcast fees will fall drastically when the current deal with RTÉ and the BBC ends in 2017.
