Spanish LaLiga’s dedicated channel, LaLigaTV, will be available on pay-television broadcaster Sky’s platform in Ireland from Wednesday.
It will be distributed, alongside pay-television broadcaster Premier Sports’ two premium channels, as part of Sky’s Sports Extra package.
LaLiga TV, which provides live coverage of matches from the top division of Spanish club football, effectively became Premier Sports’ third premium channel as part of the latter’s acquisition of exclusive linear and digital rights in the UK and Ireland to LaLiga last September for the three seasons from 2019-20 to 2021-22.
Sky customers will be able to access LaLiga TV at no extra cost through the Sports Extra package, which in addition to Premier Sports 1 and 2 also includes BT Sport 1, 2, 3, and ESPN.
Premier Sports does not possess its own linear distribution platform, so requires carriage agreements. In Ireland, Premier is exclusively distributed by Sky. In the UK, it is distributed on the Sky and Virgin Media platforms, with its digital terrestrial channel, FreeSports, additionally carried on Freeview HD and Freesat.
Earlier this month, LaLigaTV launched as a linear channel in the UK on Sky and Virgin Media. Unlike in the UK, Irish Sky viewers will not be able to purchase LaLigaTV as a standalone offer.
Premier Sports also recently agreed a deal with the Stonegate Pub Company to show LaLigaTV at selected venues in the UK.
In addition to a traditional rights fee arrangement, Premier Sports and LaLiga share LaLigaTV subscription revenues in the UK as part of their deal.
With this month’s launch of LaLigaTV as a linear channel, matches are no longer available on Premier Sports’ own channels in either the UK or Ireland.