Pay-television broadcaster Sky has struck an exclusive carriage deal with Premier Sports in Ireland, allowing the former to show every English Premier League game slated for live broadcast from next season.
The deal runs from 2019-20 to 2021-22. Sky has also signed a carriage deal with BT Sport that was announced in October.
Premier Sports has the rights to show 53 EPL games in Ireland overall, including 33 Saturday afternoon games that cannot be shown in the UK due to blackout rules. It also secured a 20-game package in the last EPL tender round. BT has the rights to show 52 games, while Sky has the rights to 128 live games secured in last year’s auction.
The pair of agreements mean BT Sport and Premier Sport channels – previously only available through Irish telco Eir’s bundle in Ireland – will instead now be available to Sky customers.
The deals mean Sky customers in Ireland will have access to 233 Premier League games, the Uefa Champions League and Europa League through BT Sport, as well as Serie A and the Scottish FA and League Cups on Premier Sports.
The exclusive agreement means Eir customers in Ireland will no longer receive the Premier Sport and BT Sport channels through their broadband subscriptions starting this summer should the Irish telco fail to strike an agreement with Sky.
According to a report in the Irish Times, Eir Sport has begun negotiations with Sky Sports over the BT Sport channel, with Sky reportedly interested in talking to Eir and Virgin Media about a wholesale distribution deal for Premier Sports channel as well.