Premier Sports has secured a deal to broadcast live coverage of all Republic of Ireland home friendlies to its UK audience until 2018.
The Football Association of Ireland’s new TV agreement with the channel’s sister station Setanta Sports in Ireland means its UK affiliate, branded as Premier Sports since 2010, will now screen every home Republic of Ireland friendly international for the next four years.
Premier Sports has previously broadcast Republic of Ireland’s home friendlies on a game-by-game basis, including recent matches against Portugal and Italy, which acted as their guests’ warm-up matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, but this is the first long term deal for Premier to show home friendlies featuring one of the home nations.
Coverage under the new contract starts on Wednesday, September 3, as Martin O’Neill’s side take on Oman, followed by a friendly fixture against USA in November, with both being played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
In a major coup for the channel, Premier Sports will also screen live coverage of an England match for the first time when the Three Lions travel over to play an historic friendly match against the Irish at the Aviva Stadium in June 2015.
The fixture represents the first meeting of the two sides in Ireland since the infamous abandoned match in February 1995, held at the former Lansdowne Road, when the game was stopped after half an hour following rioting from a section of the England supporters.
Premier Sports’ live rights to Ireland’s home friendlies involving the home nations are non-exclusive, meaning ITV will also air the England fixture as part of their deal for live friendly internationals with the FA.
The Setanta/Premier Sports deal does not include rights to broadcast the Republic of Ireland’s qualifying matches for Euro 2016, with these instead being shown by Sky Sports under a new centralised UEFA TV deal for qualifying matches for major tournaments, in a similar system to that used for the Champions League.
This resulted in European football’s governing body taking control of selling TV rights to qualifying matches, rather than individual national associations.
Welcoming the news of the Setanta/Premier Sports deal, FAI chief executive John Delaney said: “This is a wide ranging agreement that demonstrates a real commitment from Setanta Sports to Irish football.
“Covering all home friendly matches, alongside existing commitments to the SSE Airtricity League, Setanta Sports will provide an excellent platform for the promotion of the game.
“I would like to thank Setanta Sports for their investment which will be used to develop Irish football throughout the country.”
Premier Sports has been running since 2010 and offers fans in the UK an opportunity to receive wall-to-wall coverage of variety of major sporting events.
Its current portfolio is made up of over 1,000 live events per year and includes NRL and Four Nations rugby league, as well as regular ice hockey, motorsport, GAA and South American football.
For further information on how to subscribe to Premier Sports, visit premiersports.tv.
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