Sports Extra (TNT/Premier)

Acosta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467614#Comment_119467614

Yeah, BTs Serie A coverage since they got it back last season has been top notch. They show every game possible.

It never made much sense for Sky to acquire Bundesliga rights as most of the televised matches clash with their Premier League coverage.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467475#Comment_119467475

Serie A is also very popular, from back when it was on channel 4 I think?

icdg

I think maybe it was more popular back then than it is now, and I think the aftermath of Italia 90 may have had a lot to do with that. As you say it was being aired terrestrially by Channel 4 and even RTE2 had at one point a Monday night hour long highlights show. That has all faded, LaLiga really overtook it and was quite big in the 2000s and most of the 2010s but it has never really recovered from that season on Eleven Sports when it literally dropped off the radar completely for twelve months.

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119479847#Comment_119479847

Eleven Sports was a very affordable product for those of us priced out of the traditional Sky Sports model.

It was €69 for the whole year. Before the advent of Now TV to watch Sky Sports required a Basic package which would require that amount alone per month.

Dodge

Eleven was a disaster. It wasn’t even compatible with chromecast on launch

La Liga simply overestimated how popular it was in the UK. People watched it on sky because they already subscribed. While eleven may have offered value to dedicated fans, the vast majority of sports fans are passive watchers of most events

Thats why Italian football was popular in the early 1990s. It was available to everybody. Since going off channel 4 it’s been all over the digital map with even the old Bravo channel showing games at one stage

icdg

It had a lot to do with being the lead out of Super Sunday too, in the days of the old numbered Sky Sports channels. Sky Sports 1 would join a La Liga game usually already in progress after the wrap of Super Sunday and show another one after. A good chunk of that huge audience for the 4pm fixture (particularly those watching in pubs where the staff just didn’t bother to change the channel after) continued to watch because, well, more football!

That was exposure they could only get on Sky. Now the lead out on Main Event is either NFL or golf depending on the time of year, and they are getting that exposure now. To maybe try and get this thread back on topic, I think Premier is a much better place for them to be than Eleven, but they have lost the bonus they got with Sky. The ITV deal is maybe an attempt to try and recapture some of that exposure.

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119480209#Comment_119480209

The first paragraph couldn't be any more truer. If I was in a pub on a Sunday or at home, Sky Sports 1 was left on by default and you'd have look at the Spanish games for the rest of the night in the background. Exposure to a massive audience by sheer placement on the product to an audience already interested in football. Anyway, as you say off topic but you just said something so true at the time.

Delta2113

"I think you’d be hard pushed to find a FTA station that would invest in Bundesliga rights tbh."

VMTV put a bid in on recent rights I'm reliably informed. ok maybe it was for VM More which is not FTA - I honestly don't know about that.

icdg

If they did, it was hardly for VM More given the exclusive Irish rights to the Bundesliga were awarded in 2021 to Sky for a four year period.

https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/sky-sports-announces-exclusive-bundesliga-rights-for-uk-ireland-in-four-season-deal

icdg

To get back on topic, here’s a piece about the Viaplay takeover of Premier. Not much new I’m afraid, and still zero info about what’s happening in Ireland.

https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcasting/premier-sports-ceo-viaplay-takeover-could-take-us-to-the-next-level/5173482.article

awec

Yea Eleven was crap. It has to be said, the sporting rights market is a total mess these days.

I am completely unconvinced that the current market is better compared to what it was when Sky just owned everything. It certainly hasn't got any cheaper for the consumer, there is no competition in the market at all.

icdg

Premier/Viaplay merger notification:

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/mergers-acquisitions/merger-notifications/m-22-043-viaplay-freesports-premier-media/

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119489157#Comment_119489157

I cant see this being rejected.

icdg

No, not at all, they probably won’t even get any objections. I had kinda hoped it might shed some light on what is happening with the Irish operation but it really doesn’t tell us anything tbh.

Manc-Red_

Nice to see a HD feed on the Red Button on Sky Q tonight for Trabzonspor v Copenhagen on BT Sport 5.

Hopefully with Sky Sports HDR4K being put onto BT's own 4K box soon we'll also finally see BT Ultimate on Q via the red button.

bennyx_o

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119517308#Comment_119517308

It's been announced but delayed due to technical issues according to Sky forums

icdg

Merger of BT Sport and Eurosport closed today:

https://newsroom.bt.com/warner-bros-discovery-and-bt-group-close-transaction-to-form-sports-joint-venture/

The new broadcaster still doesn’t have a name, but all may become clear later in the year.

Also (to nobody’s particular surprise) CCPC has cleared the takeover of Premier Sports and FreeSports by Viaplay.

https://www.ccpc.ie/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/08/M.22.043-Merger-Announcement.pdf

mackersdublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119552853#Comment_119552853

And FreeSports HD was removed from the ROI Sky EPG this morning

icdg

That’s odd, wonder what that’s about. Particularly when zombie channel BoxNation is still on the ROI EPG despite being effectively impossible to subscribe to.

Channel is still available through the FreeSports Player app for now.

Dodge

And presumably can be manually tuned as it could be before joining the EPG a little while ago

icdg

Indeed.

This is actually the second time it’s left the EPG, it was removed to make way for LaLiga TV, and then restored when eir Sport closed.

mike2084

Perhaps they are going to use it for URC games this season? Didn't it actually encrypt in Ireland for about two days this summer as well?

lertsnim

It encrypted everywhere. The German Cup final was on and couldn't be seen.

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119490245#Comment_119490245

Still available on Free to Air Satellite

icdg

It looks like at least some Saturday LaLiga games are going over to FreeSports once the URC season starts so a bit of adding insult to injury for ROI viewers to lose that channel now.

forzacalcio

No live La Liga on Irish TV on Saturday 17th. Ffs. (I know Freesports can be tuned in but I don't pay my sub for that)

roadmaster

When the merger is rebranded and when sky/HBO deal runs out will we see a super streaming service with Sport, Entertainment movies etc happening or would they always keep sport separately?

Delta2113

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581451#Comment_119581451

May not keep Sport separate. Apple Tv Plus are going big after Sport.

icdg

All we know at the moment really is this

Over time, the intention is to launch a new sports brand in the market and present this combined sports offering together with an entertainment offering from Warner Bros. Discovery. 

https://newsroom.bt.com/warner-bros-discovery-and-bt-group-close-transaction-to-form-sports-joint-venture/

For Irish viewers, how long it might be before the latter part this launches might depend on how long the outgoing management tied BT Sport into an exclusive distribution arrangement with Sky. Don’t think it’ll be seen here this season at any rate. Also bear in mind the wider situation at WBD where the company is acquiring quite a reputation for taking the hatchet to the acquired WB operation, so what kind of entertainment offering is anyones guess.

roadmaster

I am leaving Sky shortly so I’ll lose Eurosport. I find the WSB and BSB races on Eurosport very good. May consider getting Discovery Plus