In a cheeky bit of media buying, NTL is advertising Sky Sports during RTE's sports coverage. The company is spending £250,000 on a TV, radio and press campaign to persuade sports fans to buy the cable channel. Meanwhile, RTE's Premiership soccer coverage is without a sponsor. RTE has been unable to E tried to find a replacement for Mastercard.

RTE is currently trying to sell sponsorship rights for its coverage of the Irish team's World Cup qualifiers, but agencies are nonplussed, even puzzled, at the price, around £375,000 for 10 matches.