Ireland

Telco Virgin Media has said it will launch a new sports channel in Ireland as rebranding plans for commercial broadcaster TV3 were confirmed.

The Premier League’s 20 clubs are unconcerned about the small drop in the value of their domestic live rights in the next cycle, following deals this month with BT and Amazon that brought the protracted sales process to a close.

Internet company Amazon and pay-television broadcaster BT Sport have today (Thursday) acquired the final set of domestic rights to the English Premier League, with the football competition also wrapping up its rights line-up in Ireland.

MUTV, the in-house television channel of English Premier League football club Manchester United, has acquired exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland to the Belgian national team’s three warm-up matches ahead of the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

Strong competition in Ireland has helped Uefa seal a big increase for its club competition rights, as commercial broadcaster TV3 fell just short in its attempt to acquire all the rights on offer.

European football’s governing body Uefa has today (Tuesday) signed rights deals in Ireland for its Champions League and Europa League club competitions with commercial broadcaster TV3 and public-service broadcaster RTÉ.

Sky Sports Racing, which is set to become the new identity for pay-television channel At The Races, has sealed its second major deal this week by securing exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland to the Melbourne Cup.

The Pro14 cross-border rugby union league will almost double the value of its UK and Ireland media rights once it completes its remaining deals for 2018-19 onward.

Eleven Sports’ surprise entrance into the UK sports-rights market will have been welcomed by rights-holders around the world.

Pay-television channel At The Races, which is set to rebrand as Sky Sports Racing, has struck a three-year extension to its rights deal in the UK and Ireland for US horseracing showpiece the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has extended its rights deal with golf’s Ladies European Tour.

Pay-television broadcaster Eir Sport has today (Thursday) become the new home of the Pro14 in Ireland, with the cross-border rugby union league stating the three-season deal represents a “quantum leap” for the competition.

International sports broadcaster Eleven Sports has today (Wednesday) moved into a new market after ousting pay-television broadcaster Sky as the rights-holder to LaLiga, the top division of Spanish club football, in the UK and Ireland.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky will launch a dedicated horse racing channel through an agreement that will result in the rebranding of pay-television channel At The Races.

Cricket Ireland has struck a rights deal with pay-television broadcaster Sky to show live coverage of the national team’s inaugural Test match against Pakistan on May 11-15.

The United States Tennis Association has confirmed a five-year deal with Amazon that grants the internet company exclusive live rights in the UK and Ireland to the US Open grand slam tournament.