Ireland

Rugby Union

The Irish government has today (Friday) stepped up its plans to ring-fence Ireland’s games in the Six Nations rugby union championship for free-to-air television.

Rugby Union

Live television audiences for rugby union’s Six Nations championship in 2015 were up year-on year in the tournament’s largest market, the UK, where public-service broadcaster the BBC recorded an average of …
Rugby Union

Irish Rugby Football Union chief executive Philip Browne has warned against any move to change the listing of Six Nations matches in the country, stating such a decision could have a “significant impact” on the sport.

Rugby Union

UK and Ireland pay-television broadcaster Sky has acquired exclusive live rights to Ireland’s Rugby World Cup warm-up matches against Scotland and Wales, according to multiple reports in the Irish media.

Minor Sports

Online sports and entertainment channel Red Bull TV has agreed a carriage deal with streaming platform Roku.

Irish telecommunications company Eircom has struck a deal with UK pay-television broadcaster Sky to expand its carriage of the Sky Sports channels.

Football

Irish pay-television broadcaster Setanta is thought to be paying less in its deal, agreed last week, for the Uefa Champions League than it does in the current cycle. Overall, however, Uefa has finished with an increase on the current cycle in Ireland thanks to increases in the value of the free-to-air rights.

Multi-sport

Irish pay-television broadcaster Setanta Sports has acquired right to the inaugural edition of the European Games multi-sport event, which takes place in Baku later this year.

UK pay-television broadcaster Premier Sports and Irish pay-television broadcaster Setanta Sports have renewed their rights deals with the Nascar motor-racing series for the top-tier Sprint Cup competition.

Football

Pay-television broadcaster Setanta Sports has acquired live rights for the Uefa Champions League and Europa League European club football tournaments in the Republic of Ireland.

Golf

Irish public-service broadcaster RTÉ has agreed a three-year deal for rights to the Irish Open golf tournament.

American Football

BT Sport and sports broadcaster ESPN have signed a seven-year agreement to expand the range of ESPN content available on the platforms of the UK pay-television broadcaster.

Basketball

UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport has announced a multi-year expansion of its partnership with North American basketball league the NBA.

Wrestling

The WWE wrestling organisation has announced its WWE Network pay-television channel will launch in the UK and Ireland on January 19.

Football

Goal.com, the football news website that is operated by digital sports media company Perform, has acquired live and exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland for the 2014 Fifa Club World Cup football tournament.

Gaelic Sports

Three County Clare clubs have formed motions to their county convention seeking free to air television coverage of Gaelic Athletic Association Championship matches beyond the expiry of the current broadcast deal in 2017, according to the Irish Independent.

Football

Irish public-service broadcaster RTÉ has retained its rights package for the Uefa Champions League football competition until the end of the 2017-18 season.

Gaelic Sports

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish public-service broadcaster RTÉ have said they will more than double the number of games provided through GAAGO in 2015, after a successful debut for the online streaming service this year.