Sports Extra (TNT/Premier)

icdg

The conclusion I am drawing is that Setanta have held on to the Irish operation. What that will mean in practice I am not sure. I presume they will retain on an ROI-only basis all the rights that Premier Sports had on a U.K. & Ireland basis prior to the sale completing. I fear that what will happen over the longer term is a repeat of what happened with eir Sport once it was separated from Premier Sports, that we will see no more bidding for the likes of LaLiga, that it will be targeted bidding for ROI-only rights. There is probably a non-compete clause for Viaplay stopping them entering the ROI market and I presume there will be some sort of programme supply agreement for a while.

icdg

As of right on cue Premier Sports pick up archive GAA Championship rights. Welcome back eir Sport Classic, I guess.

Also 3pm announcements:

5th Nov - Man City v Fulham

12th Nov - Spurs v Leeds

[26th/27th Dec Amazon Round]

31st Dec - Man City v Everton.

mike2084

Yes, looks like it is hanging around in Ireland alright, I expect that's why FreeSports is gone off the EPG now. Hopefully they won't encrypt to UK cards only now or something like that.

I'd also wonder if we will lose some of the URC games not involving Irish sides - that often happened in the eir days.

icdg

I fear now that the website, social media channels etc will all now be taken over by Viaplay and it will become even harder to get information about Premier Sports in the Irish market, for a while anyway. Maybe they will eventually all be started up again once the takeover is done and dusted for a while. Possibly.

And FreeSports….it’s meant to be staying FTA for now but how long will that last. First clue: they are taking the word “Free” out of its name. I’m not sure they even mean for it to be a sports channel in the longer run, though it is staying in that area of the (U.K.) EPG for now. Suspect their Nordic Noir (as they call it) stuff will appear there first.

icdg

Amazing that there’s no reference to the Viaplay sale whatsoever in this article:

https://www.breakingnews.ie/amp/business/premier-sports-operator-cuts-pre-tax-losses-by-63-1382067.html

icdg

So this is the Phase I investigation report. Apparently someone is still willing to pay money for BoxNation.

https://assets.gov.ie/238135/0268700d-45b9-4053-ad25-7bddc9da6b41.pdf

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119794141#Comment_119794141

I will I cope without My European Cricket , Ice Hockey and Pool.

They did show La Liga occasionally

forzacalcio

You would imagine if this is the case they will keep Premier until end of season here then shut it down. Cut all links to Irish rights.

icdg

Nobody really seems to know, and no public statement has been made beyond the channels not being rebranded.. I think there are two basic scenarios:

1. Setanta Sports have kept ownership of the Irish operation and it is now being separated from the U.K. operation sold to Viaplay.
2. Viaplay have bought the Irish operation, but knowing that they are effectively stopped from launching the Viaplay app here (because of the Sky exclusive wholesale deal), have decided to keep the Premier Sports brand until such time as they can launch the app here.

I don’t think a shut down is likely at this point. Firstly Viaplay are in expansionary mode. What kind of message would if send to shareholders to get out of a market at this point? Secondly Premier Sports have renewed the FAPL rights for three years and are three months into that three year contract. If they withdraw at this point it’ll be the second time a company associated with Setanta has failed to fulfill an FAPL rights contract. Quite clearly they forgave them the first time but I doubt they’ve forgotten and this will kill credibility with the league if it happens again.

But hey, I know no more than anyone else. One day one of the Sunday newspapers will run a random interview with Mickey O’Rourke in which we’ll learn what actually happened but until then we’re in the dark. One more point: BT/Eurosport are tied to the same exclusive wholesale arrangement with Sky which could lead to similar fun when it comes to launching their combined service here.

mollser

Was it not very clear recently that the delay was receiving Irish competition authority approval? That surely means they're keeping the Irish bit? Silence is strange alright.

icdg

The delay was receiving Ministerial approval, the CCPC approval came through relatively quickly.

Unfortunately there is little in the investigation report to tell us either way but one interesting thing is that they say that the only income they get in the Irish market is from BoxNation and that is implied to be not much (exact amount redacted). That makes me wonder if the Irish operation is a separate company, because I would be very surprised if they had spent money on Irish FAPL rights and not have a plan to make money from them.

icdg

So yeah, Viaplay Sports branding now in place on the channels that were Premier Sports 1 & 2 and we are seeing it in Ireland.

The EPG labels haven’t changed. Now it wouldn’t be atypical for them not to change till after 10am. And note that our friends at Sky Community (who are usually an absolutely definitive source for these things) haven’t included any changes to Premier on their list.

Edit: EPG labels will change in the U.K. only tomorrow. Raises just more questions as to why they’ve brought this odd split personality branding back, it was confusing enough the first time around.

lertsnim

Premier Sports 2 DOG and no studio presentation for the Premier League coverage. It is the international feed now. Starts at 2.50pm instead of 2.30pm.

icdg

I wonder if that’s what we’ll be getting from now on. There was originally scheduled to be pre game coverage but as you say it is the PLP/world feed commentators.

Manc-Red_

Interesting to see if the Spurs v Leeds next Saturday will/won’t have studio analysis.

Acosta

After the match it changed back to Via Play 2 following one last round of slightly irritating Quinn Bet and Breaking News.ie ads.

dublinman1990

WBD have said to the media before the weekend that HBO Max will be offered to subscribers in Europe from 2023. It may signal a big change for us as it was meant to be offered to people who are in the UK and Ireland from 2025. That was the initial timeline between the two parties to allow the current contract to end between WB and Sky.

https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/wbd-plans-to-bring-forward-combined-streaming-service

But as we head into 2023 as the JV between WBD and BT Sport is now in play; what will happen with the current option to live stream UEFA Champions League matches online in Ireland from that point?

We currently have Livescore as a free option to stream those games in Ireland. If HBO Max comes here in 2023; will we have it to complement the free streaming options of Champions League matches on the Livescore app or will the inclusion of HBO Max as a potential option for Ireland from next year get rid of Livescore altogether?

icdg

It likely won’t be called HBO Max and as I said a few pages back they will be also stuck with the Sports Extra deal for as long as it lasts (similar previous deals have run with the FAPL rights cycle, and if this one is the same thay will be until 31st July 2025).

I wouldn’t tie the two of them together; the U.K. rights will be awarded first and have always allowed at least linear coverage to “overspill” into Ireland (and I hate using that term in this context, it’s not overspill when it’s deliberate and can be blocked). What happens with LiveScore will depend on how they’ve managed to monetise those rights, I am not sure how many are actually watching their coverage in preference to RTE/VMTV/BT. Those rights will normally be one of the last UCL rights to be awarded and we probably won’t hear until late spring 2024. I haven’t been watching on LiveScore and I hear very little talk about their coverage.

LoneRanger21

Noticing Eurosport/Discovery ads on bt sport now before the City game, thought I had the wrong channel on initially

lertsnim

Regular Premier League coverage again on Premier Sports. Don't know what happened last week.

dublinman1990

The Times in the UK has reported that Viaplay are considering taking up the UK rights for the EFL from 2024.

However Viaplay's financial situation is currently going through some instability at the moment a result of their recent expansion. The Times noted in their article that Viaplay paid £2 billion to stream the FAPL games in the Nordic countries.

There are questions being asked on whether Viaplay would be able to take on the EFL rights from Sky for 2024 and beyond that.

https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/could-viaplay-snap-up-efl-tv-rights

The problem with the take up of these rights, if they ever get screened in Ireland again of course, is that the EFL is not really an attractive proposition for subscribers here.

A lot of Irish fans who follow football teams in the UK will be following teams who play either in the FA Cup & FAPL. The EFL is a misnomer to them.

I could be right in my assumptions that Premier Sports subscribers here in Ireland could be seeing one set of FACup/FAPL games on Premier Sports Ireland and then the EFL games subsequently been screened on Premier Sports 2 which shows Viaplay Sports 1 from the UK. Am I getting somewhere with this statement?

icdg

No, just to be clear, at the moment both Premier 1 & 2 are exact simulcasts of Viaplay 1 & 2 respectively except during Premier League coverage. What you describe is the old Setanta Ireland / Setanta 1 2014-19 situation where only one channel was simulcast but at the moment both are.

From reading the Times article it seems mostly speculation about a bid rather than any hard news and the EFL would be a hard sell for Viaplay in that it has its dedicated fans but it’s three divisions of varying quality. A lot of the value in the rights lies in the EFL (Carabao) Cup, which Premier League teams compete in, but that competitions future is under threat as something will have to give with the Champions League format changes from 2024 on.

Just to say, it’s not clear that any future acquisitions by Viaplay will be shown in Ireland at all, from what I can see anything they have acquired independently of Premier Sports is U.K. only.

Manc-Red_

Apparently BT Ultimate now on the Sky EPG. Anyone got it opening?

fman

Yes, tried it last night. Just running a demo/promo right now. Reported elsewhere that it will be a part time channel and I think rugby on Friday evening will be the first event.

icdg

Some talk meanwhile that zombie channel BoxNation (which hasn’t aired a live event since April) will finally bite the dust in December, nothing confirmed though.

dublinman1990

A poster from DS Forums had got an email from VM in the UK recently. It said that BoxNation will be closing it's station down on all UK platforms on the 14th of December.

It also mentioned in the email that Viaplay subscribers in the UK and presumably Ireland as well do not need to take any action once Boxnation goes off air from that date.

icdg

It’s not part of the Sports Extra pack in Ireland. They apparently have some stand-alone subscribers here but how you gain access is a bit of mystery.

Manc-Red_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119877146#Comment_119877146

Friend of mine had had that for some time on BT in the UK and that too runs a promo in between events. Live premier league, euro clubs, some boxing & rugby shown in glorious hdr.

Long overdue on sat imho but very welcome none the less.

I’ll resub at Christmas if there’s a deal

icdg

ROI viewers at least need to have UHD entitlement by the way, although I think that probably goes without saying.

icdg

Now pretty certain Premier Sports in Ireland remains part of Setanta and not gone to Viaplay - seems they are advertising to fill a few Dublin based roles mentioning Premier Sports Ireland and Asia but not Viaplay U.K. The stream sharing may be a short term thing in that case.

Also, an eagle eyed spot that rights to the European Challenge Cup have been picked up by Viaplay - not sure of this will extend to Ireland but it is on the linear channels. Not announced yet and they have form for putting up schedule information that then changes later or before things are finalised.

https://www.premiersports.com/sports/lives2