Sports Extra (TNT/Premier)

icdg

Being discussed here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058243579/uefa-european-qualifiers-nations-league-2022-28

Though note the info has been pulled from what I understand to be the ultimate original source.

icdg

Premier Sports retain LaLiga through to 2024-25, somewhat unexpectedly given rumours which had been circulating.

https://www.laliga.com/en-ES/news/laliga-and-premier-sports-renew-uk-and-ireland-rights-deal-until-2025

dovahkiin11

The Premier League fixtures have been released and it seems like most matches this season will be on Saturday at 3.00pm, meaning Sky/BT won't be broadcasting. Do we know if Premier Sports or any other Irish channel is going to be broadcasting the Saturday games?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119209878#Comment_119209878

Don't they usually put them all at 3pm then during the season move them to other timeslots to accommodate the broadcasters?

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119209878#Comment_119209878

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119210088#Comment_119210088

Yes 3pm Saturday is just the initial placeholder until Sky and BT decide what games they are taking.

icdg

One thing that does strike though is that while the U.K. deals were rolled over, it was never confirmed that the ROI deals would follow suit, though you would expect them to be. Equally (and this may not be unrelated to the forgoing) it was never confirmed that the wholesale deals for either Premier Sports or BT Sport with Sky have been renewed for a further three year period.

dovahkiin11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119210088#Comment_119210088

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119210161#Comment_119210161

I didn't know that, makes sense thanks!

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119210779#Comment_119210779

Yes they will divy out the games about 6 weeks at a go, they like to take the important league clashes but they also have a certain minimum number of games for each team they must show.

Where there's home stadium clashes in certain cities like say Manchester (United and City) and Liverpool (Liverpool and Everton) at home the police generally don't allow games involving both teams at home on the same day to avoid any strain on resources which impacts on the schedule too.

Trying to guess what day to book a trip to see a game is not easy 😁

kitsy13

Does anyone know when sky lose exclusivity of selling bt over here..id like to be able to get it on virgin media..now that there is no virgin media sports and a big champions league contract on said channels.. i can't see why they couldn't try to offer it if the sky deal is finished

icdg

At the moment and unless it’s been quietly renewed without public announcement the present deal would expire on 31st July.

fman

Didn't they kinda/sorta vaguely announce the extension of the sky/bt wholesale deal as part of the discovery joint venture?

From memory I don't remember Ireland was singled out on that deal but discovery and sky do seem to be on good terms these days.

icdg

I took that as referring to the separate U.K. deal to be honest. The U.K. deal is on different terms, it is a traditional wholesale deal that applies only to Sky’s owned platforms (Sky satellite, Sky Stream, and Now), whereas the ROI deal gives Sky exclusive control of all BT Sport’s distribution rights in Ireland. So in the U.K. other operators like VM can deal direct with BT whereas in Ireland they have to go through Sky.

While Sky and WBD may be on good terms, it would mean on its present terms WBD would not be able to put BT Sport or it’s successor on even its owned platforms in Ireland (ie Discovery+ or in future HBO Max) without having to pay Sky.Its an arrangement that may have suited BT with no owned consumer platform in Ireland but I can’t think that it will suit WBD. For that reason I can’t think it will last in the long term in its current form though I could see a short term renewal happening.

Stewball

Just noticed La Liga TV dropped off the Sky EPG today.

icdg

Apparently happened in the U.K. too, very quietly given renewal was already announced.

This is the only thing I can find about it. Seemingly will be online only now. Not sure what that means for ROI customers given we don’t have that option. According to the article there will be LaLiga games on Premier Sports own channels.

https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/final-whistle-for-la-liga-tv-on-sky-and-virgin-media

edit: official confirmation from Premier Sports:

https://www.premiersports.com/sports/football/laliga-how-to-watch-2022

forzacalcio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119277726#Comment_119277726

Gutted this has happened. From what I can see there is no way for Irish viewers to watch La Liga TV either.

icdg

It’s actually good news if you’re a Premier Sports subscriber on Now or Vodafone, since you didn’t get LaLiga TV anyway, and now there will be more top LaLiga (for which read RM/FCB) games in the schedule. I just don’t know where Premier can fit any more than maybe one or two games in the schedule per game week as long as they only have two channels. We saw what happened recently when Premier totally ditched the last round and quarter finals of the Top14 because they were stuck for space.

forzacalcio

Keegan Pierce and TSFP have confirmed La Liga TV will not be available in Ireland going forward. Gutted

Digifriendly

Anyone any idea why La Liga channel has been removed from Sky epg?

Very unfair on viewers in ROI.

icdg

Seems to be part of the renewal of the deal with Premier Sports. Don’t know what the underlying reason is though. It doesn’t make sense unless they really need to save money by giving up a Sky EPG slot. Sometimes I wonder about Premier, as an Irish-owned, Dublin-based company you’d think they’d be more sensitive to their ROI audiences but they sometimes act as if we don’t exist (they even started the press release with “London”).

They are trawling out a standard answer to anyone from Ireland that asks that all LaLiga TV live match content will still be available through Premier 1&2 but we know that simply cannot be the case, they are committed to covering 7 URC games most weekends before they even consider any more content. There just isn’t the space in the schedule.

icdg

I should add, the removal isn’t specific to ROI, it was removed from the U.K. EPG too and from VM U.K. (it was never on any platform other than Sky in Ireland). It just affects ROI Sky viewers more because we’ve no other means of accessing it.

roadmaster

Should we be hearing details shortly of whats happening with BT/Discovery/Eurosport ahead of the Soccer season starting in August?

icdg

Maybe but doubt it will close that quickly, more likely Autumn.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119283218#Comment_119283218

And you can be guaranteed that any game on at 3pm on a Saturday wont be shown on Premier Sports.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287408#Comment_119287408

Premier Sports have 2 Channels so I wouldn't say that so quickly

icdg

To be fair to them they did show the 3pm LaLiga games in ROI (even though the EPG stated otherwise).

However now they’ll be up against a 3pm Premier League game every week and the URC now has Saturday afternoon fixtures more regularly (particularly when SA teams are at home).

assuming the PL deal has been renewed, of course.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119289140#Comment_119289140

If they have Premier League I would. They're not going to geoblock both channels at the same time in the UK.

icdg

They have done so in the past - precisely for Premier League, on their “Amazon Round” games where they are required to simulcast multiple matches at once.

What may stop them doing so is that the URC now regularly has Saturday afternoon games as that is the time that suits SuperSport and SA teams playing at home.

Red Silurian

Be interesting to see what happens one way or another

Digifriendly

Last season there was at least one URC game not shown live on either Premier Sports or Freesports (Cardiff vs Scarlets). This game was covered live by BBC Wales so a precedent has been set and it may be that they will simply not cover a URC match live if a clash occurs and show the match later in full.

Digifriendly

Can you watch LaLiga through Amazon Prime in ROI?