Fans have been urged to shun piracy and back the League of Ireland and its clubs by supporting LOITV.
The live-match streaming platform is back and so is the season pass having been controversially axed a year ago.
It will cost €120 - for customers in Ireland and abroad - with 446 league games available in the Men’s Premier, First Division and Women’s Premier Division.
According to the FAI, there were 184,000 registered users of the platform in 2022 and 66,000 purchased a subscription, a 35% increase on 2021.
The 2022 pay-per-game model - which is still available for 2023 - was ultimately profitable with all clubs receiving a dividend, although the amount was not divulged.
RTE are set to show a minimum of 18 Premier Division games, as well as the FAI Cup semi-finals, final and women’s FAI Cup final.
Those live RTE league games will not be available on LOITV for customers based in Ireland, but will be for subscribers abroad.
TG4 are expected to have 12 live games in the Women’s Premier Division, an increase from 10 matches in the 2022 season.
While figures were not given, revenue generated for clubs from live TV coverage remains a pittance and is incorporated into the league’s annual prize-money.
But League director Mark Scanlon said: “Right now the main focus is on streaming which we see as a bigger opportunity to increase revenue.”
League of Ireland games are also available on some ‘dodgy boxes’ although FAI chiefs admit it’s impossible to quantify how much money is being lost because of piracy.
Quizzed about the illegal streaming of games, Scanlon said: “It’s a difficult one to put into figures because we don’t know.
“We know anecdotally from what we can see from people openly talking about it, be it on social media or at grounds. It’s a difficult one worldwide, piracy.
“We’re a member of the European League’s Organisation and they have a company called SROC that is dealing with piracy across Europe and lobbying the EU.
“They work from the Premier League to La Liga and the Bundesliga, who have all been massively hit by piracy, so we’re not different from any other league across Europe.
“It’s just a different scale, but it’s important that we can invest back into the platform.”
Scanlon continued: “For the clubs in the Premier League who have billions, it’s something they have to protect.
“It’s a problem worldwide, a big problem within Europe. It’s one we’re hopeful that with the season pass, clubs will see value from it because it’s really good value.”
“There are 476 games available on the platform before we even add in the President’s Cup and FAI Cup games.
“Fans can pay 120 to support the league and support their clubs.”
The LOITV weekly highlights show that went out on Mondays has been scrapped after just one season.
But the aim is to have highlights of all Premier Division games available online by Friday night or Saturday morning, with a goals package across the other divisions.
Last year, one of the reasons cited for dropping the season pass was that clubs feared their attendances could be hit.
But actually, they increased and Scanlon confirmed that clubs are fully on board with the season pass returning.
He said: “They’ve seen that LOITV has helped the exposure for the league which gives them an opportunity to get more fans.
“With more fans, the atmosphere has been better at the grounds and we can use that on social media to speak to a new audience.
“It was just the price point we discussed and (€120) is where we settled on it.”
