Virgin Media and eir Sport join forces to combine sports offering for Irish viewers

icdg

Yes, if you are a satellite only customer (who lets not forget, pay a cool €30 pm, the highest cost of any eir Sport subscribers!) If you have Eir Broadband you can still watch eir Sport 2 via the app, but it won’t be on the Sky EPG.

Riskymove

awec wrote: »

So basically, Sky-based Eir Sport subscribers are losing a channel completely (Eir Sport 2), and all coverage of sport on that channel will be completely unavailable via any medium.

Right?

TBH if that is the case, I do not see how they could continue to offer the eirsport pack to sky customers

Tigerandahalf

awec wrote: »

So basically, Sky-based Eir Sport subscribers are losing a channel completely (Eir Sport 2), and all coverage of sport on that channel will be completely unavailable via any medium.

Right?

It looks like a deliberate attempt to pull people away from the Sky platform and towards their broadband product. Or perhaps they cannot justify paying Sky the carriage costs for 2 channels (eir sport 2 and VM Sport) given that they have very little content on that 2nd channel.

Anyone in rural Ireland with poor broadband but plenty of cash still won't get everything they might want.

awec

icdg wrote: »

Yes, if you are a satellite only customer (who lets not forget, pay a cool €30 pm, the highest cost of any eir Sport subscribers!) If you have Eir Broadband you can still watch eir Sport 2 via the app, but it won’t be on the Sky EPG.

Yea, so it's 30 quid a month, for one channel, and there is no clarity whatsoever what content will be on that channel.

The sooner Eir feck off the better.

Riskymove

awec wrote: »

Yea, so it's 30 quid a month, for one channel, and there is no clarity whatsoever what content will be on that channel.

The sooner Eir feck off the better.

and even at that one channel, TG4 will show a certain amount of Pro14 and RTE have Irish and knock out RWC games

if this is what remains the pricing will have to considerably drop to keep any sky subscribers

awec

And the inverse, Eir vision and virgin media customers have no way of watching the Heineken cup, bar the game available free to air.

Riskymove

awec wrote: »

And the inverse, Eir vision and virgin media customers have no way of watching the Heineken cup, bar the game available free to air.

there is a BT add on available to them

PMC83

Riskymove wrote: »

there is a BT add on available to them

If you are a Virgin media customer (have a Virgin box) you can't add BT unfortunately, you can only add sky.

If you have a sky box you can add Bt.

Riskymove

PMC83 wrote: »

If you are a Virgin media customer (have a Virgin box) you can't add BT unfortunately, you can only add sky.

If you have a sky box you can add Bt.

sorry I was talking about Eir

you can add Sky Sports and/or BT to Eirvision

Former Former

awec wrote: »

Yea, so it's 30 quid a month, for one channel, and there is no clarity whatsoever what content will be on that channel.

The sooner Eir feck off the better.

You would get Virgin Media Sport instead of Eir Sport 2 though. Depending on what sports you watch, that is a big step up.

But realistically, selling Eir Sport as a standalone product is a legacy thing that Eir have zero interest in maintaining.

Riskymove

Former Former wrote: »

You would get Virgin Media Sport instead of Eir Sport 2 though. Depending on what sports you watch, that is a big step up. .

only if an Eir broadband subscriber (according to blurb)

Former Former

Riskymove wrote: »

only if an Eir broadband subscriber (according to blurb)

Blurb is pretty contradictory but I saw this:

https://www.eirsport.ie/new-content-update-to-the-eir-sport-pack

eir broadband, eir TV and selected eir mobile customers will now be able to watch LIVE UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League at no additional charge as part of the eir sport pack. The content will also be available to those paying for the eir sport pack on Sky.

Dave_The_Sheep

You know it's a bit of a joke when the people using illegal setups like iptv or other dodgy boxes are getting a far better service than any of the legit subscribers. I mean, so I'm told. Not that I'd be into any of that stuff myself.

Riskymove

thanks

there is no mention of that on the page here

https://www.eir.ie/sport/updates/

it says

This change is great news for Irish Sport fans and you do not need to do anything, Virgin Media Sport will be added to the eir Sport pack and you can watch so much more great content for no extra charge as an eir broadband or bill pay mobile customer.

pc7

With Smart TVs and people streaming online, the leagues themselves should just set up a subscription service directly. You want HC pay ERC, Pro14 etc. All this chopping and changing is a pain and as mentioned above no wonder people look to 'other' means to see the games.

Tigerandahalf

That won't happen. Who would refuse 3 years worth of subscriptions upfront and guaranteed versus possible subscribers on a monthly/yearly base. It would also kill ad revenue.

pc7

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

That won't happen. Who would refuse 3 years worth of subscriptions upfront and guaranteed versus possible subscribers on a monthly/yearly base. It would also kill ad revenue.

Probably, but would make my life easier!

mfceiling

So basically the viewing figures this year are not going to be great. Who other than the real hard core fans will sign up for a heap of different channels just to watch some league matches on a Friday night.
I'd hate for someone to install of those dodgy boxes in my living room to avoid this scenario.

Tigerandahalf

I was just replying on another thread there. I wonder is it possible that the games that were on eir sport 2 will now be on virgin media sport on satellite.

Why would you launch a channel with carriage fees to only show Champions League/Europa Cup games. Would it not make sense to put the extra pro14 game on the channel as well.

Perhaps there would be issues with the DOG (e.g. eir sport in the top right corner of the screen on a Virgin Sport labelled channel).
I wonder who is paying for the carriage charges on satellite? It would be surprising if Virgin were as they are a cable company. Could eir sport be covering the carriage charge?

Wikidy

I like to record the games and watch when the little one is in bed, rather than wait for the game to be over and then catch up. Not having all games recordable via EPG is a pain.

Former Former

mfceiling wrote: »

So basically the viewing figures this year are not going to be great. Who other than the real hard core fans will sign up for a heap of different channels just to watch some league matches on a Friday night.
I'd hate for someone to install of those dodgy boxes in my living room to avoid this scenario.

Why would the figures be any worse than last year? If anything, they should be increased if 300,000 more houses can now get Eir Sport

Zzippy

FFS. Can't get Virgin. Can't get Eir bb, too far from the exchange. Dropping eir sport pack the day the RWC pool stages are over. The knockout stages are all on FTA, right?

The Lost Sheep

Zzippy wrote: »

FFS. Can't get Virgin. Can't get Eir bb, too far from the exchange. Dropping eir sport pack the day the RWC pool stages are over. The knockout stages are all on FTA, right?

all knockout on rte

Cookiemunster

Zzippy wrote: »

FFS. Can't get Virgin. Can't get Eir bb, too far from the exchange. Dropping eir sport pack the day the RWC pool stages are over. The knockout stages are all on FTA, right?

You need to give a months notice, so if you ring them the day of the last group game you'll have it for another month after that.

Quin_Dub

Zzippy wrote: »

FFS. Can't get Virgin. Can't get Eir bb, too far from the exchange. Dropping eir sport pack the day the RWC pool stages are over. The knockout stages are all on FTA, right?

Cookiemunster wrote: »

You need to give a months notice, so if you ring them the day of the last group game you'll have it for another month after that.

Yup..

Count back the days and call them 31 days before the final group stage game.

An Tarbh

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I was just replying on another thread there. I wonder is it possible that the games that were on eir sport 2 will now be on virgin media sport on satellite.

Why would you launch a channel with carriage fees to only show Champions League/Europa Cup games. Would it not make sense to put the extra pro14 game on the channel as well.

Perhaps there would be issues with the DOG (e.g. eir sport in the top right corner of the screen on a Virgin Sport labelled channel).
I wonder who is paying for the carriage charges on satellite? It would be surprising if Virgin were as they are a cable company. Could eir sport be covering the carriage charge?

No they won't, Virgin don't have the rights to those games so they won't be on the Virgin channels, this deal is only about making the channels available on each others platforms, there's no change in where the content will be broadcast

conf101

As a Virgin TV customer, I'm pretty happy with this. It makes their terrible tv offering a bit more palatable.

But in general, this constant channel chopping and changing is so annoying for rugby followers and does nothing for helping attract new fans.

kub

Ok, I am confused by all this channel business.

Can someone please help me.

I have Sky with the sports package and Eir sports as well, I was able to view all Champions Cup and Pro 14 games last season.

What do I have to do now in order to see them all this next season and also the World Cup ?

Thank you all.

Cookiemunster

kub wrote: »

Ok, I am confused by all this channel business.

Can someone please help me.

I have Sky with the sports package and Eir sports as well, I was able to view all Champions Cup and Pro 14 games last season.

What do I have to do now in order to see them all this next season and also the World Cup ?

Thank you all.

To see the Champions Cup you will need to add 'Sky Sports Extra' to your Sky package to access BT. You already have the Pro14 and world cup through your Eir Sports subscription.

How about as a Virgin customer, do I just get Eir sport now or do I need to subscribe to something?