Irish commercial broadcaster TV3 has acquired rights for rugby union’s Six Nations Championship for four years, from 2018 to 2021.
TV3 outbid public-service broadcaster RTÉ, the national team tournament’s incumbent rights-holder in the Republic of Ireland, with a bid worth more than €22m ($23.7m).
TV3 will show live coverage of every game in the country as well as previews, magazine programmes and highlights plus replays of matches.
Ireland’s national team won the championship in 2014 and 2015, and matches on RTÉ last year attracted an average audience of more than 400,000 viewers.
TV3, which was acquired by media company Liberty Global earlier this year, was the live rights-holder in the country for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
RTÉ has a four-year rights deal for the Six Nations, from 2014 to 2017.