Figures please Setanta and TG4

Both Setanta and TG4 say they are satisfied with the viewing figures for coverage of live National League matches so far this season.

TG4's highest rating for the season was the 196,000 peak that tuned into the infamous Tyrone-Dublin match in Omagh at the beginning of February whereas Setanta's biggest was the 75,000 peak for the Dublin-Offaly match 10 days ago.

Tyrone-Dublin didn't, however, command TG4's biggest average audience. In attracting 108,000, the first broadcast of the season was 4,000 short of the figure that tuned into the Kerry-Fermanagh match the week before last - ironically a late replacement for the postponed Tyrone-Cork match.

The Armagh-Galway match, shown the same afternoon, on deferred broadcast drew exactly the same number of viewers, 112,000, peaking at 163,000 and 142,000 respectively.

According to spokesperson Ronán Ó Coisdealbha, the strength of the deferred coverage has been a surprise. "People seem to be sitting down and watching the afternoon's broadcast straight through. The highest figures are probably for the second half of the first game and we're finding it holds for the second game, particularly if it's good. The weekend's audience was up against the France-England rugby match."

The other deferred matches averaged as follows: Derry-Galway, with 97,000, and Mayo-Fermanagh, 86,000 with peaks of 134,000 and 127,000 respectively.

The second highest peak figure was actually for a deferred hurling broadcast - Cork-Waterford, just over a fortnight ago, which averaged 97,000. Other hurling averages were: Tipperary-Kilkenny at 83,000 and Waterford-Clare at 77,000.

Setanta, the subscription channel that is free for NTL subscribers in Dublin, Waterford, Galway, parts of the midlands and Donegal and which has the rights to floodlit matches, doesn't disclose its average viewing figures, releasing instead the peak figures and audience share for each of their broadcasts.

"We're more concerned with reach," said spokesman Brendan Murphy, "and happy with the numbers. There have also been 1,000 new subscribers in the past fortnight."