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<\/p>\n“I think for many people here in the North, there will be a considerable frustration when you switch over to RT\u00c9…and the content is blocked”<\/p>\n
06:30, 21 May 2026<\/p>\n
Economy Minister addresses RT\u00c9 geoblocking<\/p>\n
Stormont Economy Minister, Dr Caoimhe Archibald, has called on RT\u00c9<\/a> to take “all steps” to end geoblocking of content in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n Due to licensing rights, various programmes and sporting fixtures are blocked for viewers from Northern Ireland, a practice that has drawn criticism for many years.<\/p>\n Speaking to Belfast Live<\/a>, the Economy Minister outlined the work that she has been doing to end the practice.<\/p>\n “I think for many people here in the North, there will be a considerable frustration when you switch over to RT\u00c9 to watch a football match or something like that. Actually, sometimes it can be very random programmes that you flick over to watch, and the content is blocked, and that is obviously annoying for viewers.<\/p>\n “So it’s something that we have been raising for a considerable period of time, and it has had a lot of public attention.<\/p>\n “My predecessor, Conor Murphy, had raised it with the British and Irish governments, and I have done likewise. We don’t have the legislative powers to fix this ourselves.”<\/p>\n The Minister acknowledged that a proposed solution would be to create a unique IP address for people living in Northern Ireland, but said that the power to legislate lies with Westminster.<\/a><\/p>\n “Even if there was an Internet Protocol for the North, it’s still a licensing issue, which is why we would need the Irish government engaged.<\/p>\n “I have raised it, as I said, with colleagues in the British and Irish governments<\/a>, and I will be continuing to pursue that to try and find a solution.<\/p>\n “My colleagues in the D\u00e1il have brought a bill forward to try and address the issue and to put the onus on RT\u00c9 to take all steps possible to ensure that content is available across the island, but it is an issue that is annoying for people, and that is something that we would be keen to see addressed.”<\/p>\n Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> MLA Declan Kearney welcomed the Economy Minister’s confirmation that she has engaged with both the Irish and British governments to help bring an end to the unacceptable practice of geoblocking.<\/p>\n The South Antrim<\/a> MLA said: \u201cThe blocking of RT\u00c9 content in the North is unacceptable and must be brought to an end.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Irish government has the ability and responsibility to address this issue and should be engaging further with the British government<\/a>, regulators, broadcasters and internet service providers.<\/p>\n \u201cI welcome the fact that correspondence has already taken place between both governments, and that the Economy Minister<\/a> will continue to raise this matter with both governments in an effort to secure a resolution to this unfair practice.”<\/p>\n Sign up here for our Party Lines newsletter<\/a> and get the latest political analysis and headlines from Belfast Live’s Political Reporter James McCarthy direct to your inbox twice a week.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I think for many people here in the North, there will be a considerable frustration when you switch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":974891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[30996,1144,285,11653,31952,11191,16,15],"class_list":["post-974890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-department-for-the-economy","tag-northern-ireland","tag-politics","tag-premium","tag-rte","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116611061352662957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/974891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_JS343541892-1.jpg\")
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