THE IRISH diaspora has been cut off from accessing live broadcasts through the RTÉ website for the duration of the Olympic Games in Beijing due to the restrictive terms of its contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
An explanatory note briefly published on the RTÉ website has laid the blame at the door of US broadcaster NBC, which paid $894 million for the exclusive rights to the Beijing Games. The note accused the US broadcaster of "pure greed and hubris".
It also compared the restrictions on internet broadcasting of Olympic content to the censorship of websites by the Chinese authorities.
However, an RTÉ spokeswomen said last night that the article was an "opinion piece" which had appeared "in error" and did not reflect the views of the broadcaster.
The contract that the IOC negotiated with the European Broadcasting Unit (EBU), which represents public service broadcasters in 56 European countries including RTÉ, stipulates that webcasts should only be available in each broadcaster's home country.
An updated notice on the frequently-asked-questions section on RTÉ's Olympics website says the restrictions apply not just to coverage of sporting events but any audio or video from the "accredited" area of the Olympics.
"For instance, if Pat Kenny was to interview an Irish person via a mobile phone and they happened to be in an official Olympic car, we cannot play that interview outside Ireland," RTÉ says on the website.
"Realistically, this means we need to block all live streams, radio and television, because we cannot monitor all of the streams 24 hours."
News and other content that has been cleared as being "Olympics-free" is being made available on demand, some hours after it is broadcast.
NBC has been actively shutting down unofficial websites broadcasting the Olympics as it fears it will eat into viewership of its television coverage. German broadcaster ARD was also censored for not geographically restricting its online coverage of last Friday's opening ceremony.
While the BBC is subject to the same contract, it has been able to continue providing a service to overseas users, blocking only specific Olympic-related content.
Under the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act 2007, RTÉ has a statutory obligation to make television and radio services available to Irish communities overseas as far as it considers that to be "reasonably practicable".
The State broadcaster has published contact details on its site for both the Beijing committee and the IOC should people wish to complain.