BBC NI pounces for Pro12 rights

The BBC Northern Ireland division of UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has acquired rights for the Ulster province’s games in rugby union’s Pro12 pan-European tournament.

The deal will cover four seasons, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

The BBC Two NI channel will show Ulster’s league-stage games that are not shown by UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB. The channel will also show live coverage of any play-off match featuring Ulster, including possible finals.

All games broadcast live by BBC NI will also be streamed online, with video highlights of the matches available on the BBC Sport NI website.