Eir sport.

[Leinster Fan]

Apparently eir sport have bought the Irish rights for the Pro14 next year. It's possible that some of it will still be on TG4 next year but frankly this is fairly s**** news.
Us poor Richard Branson lapdogs/Virgin Media customers don't even have the option to subscribe to this channel whose coverage is by all accounts fairly awful and even had the cheek to a) Buy the rights for the Chigago game and b) Have their coverage subsequently collapse for several during one of the greatest victories in Irish sporting history. When you're better off watching the games on a dodgy YouTube stream like I was than through legitimate pathways something is very wrong. Why we continue to sign off all the rugby in this country to these fools who are owned by the most overpriced broadcast provider in the country is utterly beyond me.

Anyway, rant over.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Apparently eir sport have bought the Irish rights for the Pro14 next year. It's possible that some of it will still be on TG4 next year but frankly this is fairly s**** news.
Us poor Richard Branson lapdogs/Virgin Media customers don't even have the option to subscribe to this channel whose coverage is by all accounts fairly awful and even had the cheek to a) Buy the rights for the Chigago game and b) Have their coverage subsequently collapse for several during one of the greatest victories in Irish sporting history. When you're better off watching the games on a dodgy YouTube stream like I was than through legitimate pathways something is very wrong. Why we continue to sign off all the rugby in this country to these fools who are owned by the most overpriced broadcast provider in the country is utterly beyond me.

Anyway, rant over.

I hate eir sport and BT. Really difficult to get here and it has good awful coverage, good for Irish rugby pulling in more money but **** enough for fans because very few people are going to pay up for Pro 14, at least it coincides with BT getting Europe... Yay.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

When Eir Sport were in their former incarnation as Setanta Sports, their coverage of the Celtic League and 2007 World Cup was outstanding. Far more in depth than anything I've seen before or since in rugby punditry. The likes of Neil Francis (who can be a bit Marmite to people), Matt Williams and Emmet Byrne were excellent and not afraid to give forceful, reasoned opinions.

 

[Groundhog]

Oh Jesus heard Neil Francis on the radio today lambasting and insulting Glasgow for sending a weakened team to Dublin clearly ignorant of their injury list.
I really doubt this will be a good move for us fans. What sports are RTE even ******* carrying anymore by the way?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Oh Jesus heard Neil Francis on the radio today lambasting and insulting Glasgow for sending a weakened team to Dublin clearly ignorant of their injury list.
I really doubt this will be a good move for us fans. What sports are RTE even ******* carrying anymore by the way?

They're taking it from Sky.

 

[Groundhog]

They're taking it from Sky.

Oh I'm fully aware, it was off topic but RTE are losing the six nations too and cutting back funding to seemingly everything.

 

[big ginger 8]

Oh I'm fully aware, it was off topic but RTE are losing the six nations too and cutting back funding to seemingly everything.

Gotta find some way to pay Ray D'arcy's salary...

 

[munstermuffin]

If it costs a cent RTE won't pay a cent then try to use the "public broadcaster for rural person" card to get it. There was uproar when Sky got GAA games yet it's known RTE wanted them for free.
I'm delighted they lost most rights.
On Eir Sports they were ok when under Setanta but fact is now they are a shell of company only there as a bribery factor in the communication battle in Ireland. They've no interest in promoting game or successful broadcast.
Can't see deal last too long either

 

[Amiga500]

So what is RTÉ's budget and where do they spend it if they have virtually no rights to pay for?

It isn't all wasted on a few f**king presenters is it?

 

[Amiga500]

If the Pro14 stuck the matches (in their entirety) on their website the day after they were played, it'd be a great job.

The broadcaster has pretty much got their worth out of it, after that, its just denying access for the (very) few that would like to watch it non-live.

 

[profitius]

BT sport comes with Eir sport and its also free if you have Eir broadband so I'm happy. All rugby on one package is fine by me.

 

[Groundhog]

We get it for free too, but I don't like where it's going.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

From Wales Online:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport...&utm_campaign=google_news&utm_content=sitemap

The combined value of the new deal, plus the separate deals in Ireland (Eir) and South Africa (Super Sport) is understood to be around £30m. This is thought to represent a big increase in revenue from previous years.

I've heard a figure of €18 million being the value of the current deal so a £30 million deal from Premier, Eir and Super Sport is a massive increase.

 

[Amiga500]

From Wales Online:

I've heard a figure of €18 million being the value of the current deal so a £30 million deal from Premier, Eir and Super Sport is a massive increase.

Crazy.

They'll never get the extra subs or advert revenue to cover that.

They'll be bankrupt before that contract will expire.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Crazy.

They'll never get the extra subs or advert revenue to cover that.

They'll be bankrupt before that contract will expire.

30m divided by 120 (Yearly Subscription Price) is 250,000 yearly subs.

The average weekly attendance of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh sides added up is 103,000, at a guess 75% of those will drop Sky and/or pick up the cheaper subscription to be able to watch their teams away games so you have 76,000, on a three year deal they have to pick up an added 25,000 subs to break even. Plenty of fans in England and Scotland who don't go to the games will pick those up. I think they've priced it well.

 

[profitius]

I'd say they've done their sums at premier sports. Take rugby only fans. Very few rugby fans would fork out for sky sports to watch one or two games per week when there are matches on FTA TV. Premier sports is way cheaper, they've a lot more games, analysis and a highlights package and at the same time the games on FTA are going to be limited. So for a rugby fan you're getting about (guessing) 8 times rugby content for about a third or quarter the price. That's over 20 times value for money before taking the lack of FTA matches into account. You can probably see now why sky couldn't compete.


The £30m figure might be including the South African money if I got that correct?


I predicted "£26m or more" a few months back from the new UK and Ireland deal. It might be over that or a little under depending on what's taking into account but it's a big boost and should at least cover wage inflation.

 

[Amiga500]

The average weekly attendance of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh sides added up is 103,000, at a guess 75% of those will drop Sky and/or pick up the cheaper subscription to be able to watch their teams away games

I very much doubt it - that is wishful thinking in the extreme. The figure will be more like 7.5%. Of three Ulster ST holders "polled" so far, 0 have said they'll be subscribing.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I very much doubt it - that is wishful thinking in the extreme. The figure will be more like 7.5%. Of three Ulster ST holders "polled" so far, 0 have said they'll be subscribing.

I imagine it'll change from the immediate response of ''No McNeilly, No Party". People are going to want to watch rugby, this offers 153 rugby games for 120 euro, 21 of those games involve the team you support, fans are going to buy it.

 

[munstermuffin]

For what it's worth to Irish lads. Eir want to take over AIL coverage and want to show a game weekly

 

[Leinster Fan]

Reviving an old thread because they've agreed a deal with Virgin Media to more or less swap their sports channels, which means that Virgin subscribers get free access to Eir Sport and vice versa. From a rugby perspective this means nothing unless like me you have Virgin broadband which means you now have access to every RWC and Pro14 game which is pretty great news, especially given that until now there was no actual way for me to watch these games on my through conventional avenues (obviously there are other ways). I'm guessing there are also Eir subscribers who are now delighted by their access to every single champions league game and a whole host of meaningless soccer friendlies (Virgin Media Sport has pulled off the impressive trick of showing literally every international football game EXCEPT for the very small number I actually have an interest in watching, namely the ones featuring Ireland's terrible team and the major international tournaments) but obviously for me the rugby is the big deal here.