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Champions League on pay TV only?

The Cush

An article in the Sunday Business Post today speculates that the Irish Champions League TV rights from the 2015/16 season onward could end up exclusively on BT Sport or Sky.

The invitation-to-tender for the British rights closed last Friday with BT Sports and Sky Sports expected to be the main bidders and a potential £1 billion bid.

The Irish right haven't been opened for tender yet but UEFA said a British bidder could win the rights exclusively. A precedent has been set with the Scandinavian European Championship and World Cup qualifiers going to the SBS Group.

Setanta, BT Sport and Sky did not comment

Also - ITV's Champions League bid fears as UEFA set precedent in France

BT Sport spends £1bn and now eyes a shot at the Champions League
High stakes game for TV rights will keep UEFA's club giants content

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irishfeen

WeHaveToGoBack wrote: »

If Setanta have all the rights to the CL and EL, will they actually show ALL matches? Say, if in the EL, if two English teams and Celtic were playing, will we have the choice of all three, or stuck with one or two of what Setanta chooses?

All matches will be available on the "Setanta Pack" - Setanta Ireland, Setanta Sports 1, BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, ESPN and almost certainly a red button service.

icdg

With the Europa League your likely looking at four live "front channel" games on BT Sport 1 & ESPN (BT Sport 2 needs to be kept clear because there are overlaps with the European Challenge Cup which airs on some Europa League gameweeks). It's possible BT Sport Extra (the red button) could be pulled in, in the event every UK team cannot get front channel coverage. If it were Celtic, and in the event BT opted not to show, Setanta would no doubt run their own show.

irishfeen

lertsnim wrote: »

How will Setanta show the extra games? On a red button service or online streams. The latter would be a backwards step.

Almost certainly they will be shown via a red button service like sky and if PL rights go right for BT I wouldn't be surprised to see a BT Sport 3 launch.

WeHaveToGoBack

If Setanta have all the rights to the CL and EL, will they actually show ALL matches? Say, if in the EL, if two English teams and Celtic were playing, will we have the choice of all three, or stuck with one or two of what Setanta chooses?

icdg

Nope.

Elmo wrote: »

You think that RTÉ and TV3 would look to block there games from BT sports. In an era where they are continuing to lose so many sports.

Apparently the deal allows Setanta to broadcast the games that RTE and TV3 are showing also.

The phraseology "the Setanta Sports pack" instead of just "Setanta Sports" is usually a sign that coverage is on BT/ESPN rather than Setanta Ireland/1 but we'll see what happens.

alwald

steveon wrote: »

You can get setanta on satellite by using a sky box and can then subscribe directly to them for 21.99 a month. Setanta will send you a card directly. No need to subscribe to sky.

Can any other box be used?

steveon

alwald wrote: »

The issue with Setanta is that it's impossible to get them without going through UPC, Eircom or Magnet, which is a pain really, I much prefer to get Setanta by itself without any 3rd party company even if it's only online/Phone and tablet.

You can get setanta on satellite by using a sky box and can then subscribe directly to them for 21.99 a month. Setanta will send you a card directly. No need to subscribe to sky.

alwald

The issue with Setanta is that it's impossible to get them without going through UPC, Eircom or Magnet, which is a pain really, I much prefer to get Setanta by itself without any 3rd party company even if it's only online/Phone and tablet.

ftakeith

red button is already available on bt sport's channels in ireland on satellite, so no panic

I have enjoyed BT Sport's live european football games and setanta ireland's coverage of live champions league games is better than rte/tv3 this season

Elmo

You think that RTÉ and TV3 would look to block there games from BT sports. In an era where they are continuing to lose so many sports.

icdg

The press release has been corrected to "live" and omitting mention of the Super Cup.

icdg

Both, possibly. Cable viewers would be out in the cold on both counts, but no change from the Sky era there.

lertsnim

How will Setanta show the extra games? On a red button service or online streams. The latter would be a backwards step.

icdg

They're also claiming exclusivity over the Super Cup, but I understood TV3 had got rights to that as part of their package.

irishfeen

icdg wrote: »

The headlines inaccurate of course, as they don't have exclusive rights to the Champions League but rather second and subsequent pick rights. They do have exclusive Europa League though, which is a blow to TV3.

I wonder whether they will continue to do their own shows though or whether they'll now be content to let BT Sport away now. remember they only get the advertising revenue from Setanta Ireland and Setanta 1, not the BT Sport channels.

Well I suppose "exclusive rights to all CL matches" is how they get away with that.

icdg

The headlines inaccurate of course, as they don't have exclusive rights to the Champions League but rather second and subsequent pick rights. They do have exclusive Europa League though, which is a blow to TV3.

I wonder whether they will continue to do their own shows though or whether they'll now be content to let BT Sport away now. remember they only get the advertising revenue from Setanta Ireland and Setanta 1, not the BT Sport channels.

irishfeen

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

Will be interesting to see what happens vis a vis rights next time round when their 3 year agreement is up. Will BT be happy at the amount of promotion that Setanta are giving themselves. Notice the way they are now putting the BT sport logos smaller than the big Setanta logo.

I don't think BT are anyway interested in Ireland - we are too small and they have ended any interest in the broadband/phone market... being honest BT Sports main purpose is to lure customers into phone/broadband/TV packages. Setanta are an easy way to distribute their content in Ireland.

channelsurfer2

irishfeen wrote: »

Just about to post it -

https://twitter.com/SetantaSports/status/564789758447341570

Will be interesting to see what happens vis a vis rights next time round when their 3 year agreement is up. Will BT be happy at the amount of promotion that Setanta are giving themselves. Notice the way they are now putting the BT sport logos smaller than the big Setanta logo.

irishfeen

Just about to post it -

https://twitter.com/SetantaSports/status/564789758447341570

Its basically BT/Setanta replacing Sky with RTÉ and TV3 retaining one game Tue and Wen nights - TV3 also lose Europa League!

D2D

Setanta confirms exclusively live rights for the Champions League and Europa League for three years from the 2015-16 season in Republic of Ireland.

http://www.setanta.com/ie/setanta-secures-champions-league-and-europa-league/

icdg

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

I presume it's their ongoing "second game" deal for both nights.

All ongoing deals end in May, these are new deals. But like the OP I can't find any indication as to what.

The lack of anyone else listed would seem to indicate that Setanta have won, if not exclusive rights, certainly first choice rights to the Europa League. This would give them the final for the first time. Given UEFA would probably have preferred FTA coverage for the final it would seem to indicate that TV3 didn't bid.

Another interesting thing is that Setanta being named rather than BT means they have won the rights in their own right, and would keep them if the BT deal were not to continue after the 2015-16 season.

An Ciarraioch

redabbey wrote: »

Further updates on the tendering documents on Uefa's website.

Setanta is mentioned as well as RTE & TV3 as having Champions League rights for Ireland and is mentioned solely for The Europa League.

Wonder are these just highlights packages? I can't find any press release.

I presume it's their ongoing "second game" deal for both nights.

redabbey

Further updates on the tendering documents on Uefa's website.

Setanta is mentioned as well as RTE & TV3 as having Champions League rights for Ireland and is mentioned solely for The Europa League.

Wonder are these just highlights packages? I can't find any press release.

lertsnim

I wonder how much extra BT will charge for their Champions League coverage. It will have to be on TV for most I would think and not streams online.

icdg

there will be a ban for the next person that attempts to start discussing that

ziggyman17 wrote: »

Will the BT red button be available on upc ?

Think I might have to get rid of sky sports, if sky don't reduce their fee, losing the champions lesgue is a big blow to them

You don't really need to pay for football anymore. There are a number of sites that you can watch the games for free on HD and just hook up a HDMI cable into your TV and away you go.

irishfeen

redabbey wrote: »

Itv have highlights only, News Corp media clips

http://www.uefa.org/about-uefa/news/newsid=2025645.html

Ah ok thanks.

redabbey

irishfeen wrote: »

Interestingly under the UK -

ITV RIGHTS LIMITED
NEWS CORP UK & IRELAND LIMITED

What have ITV/News Corp got? - highlights?

Itv have highlights only, News Corp media clips

http://www.uefa.org/about-uefa/news/newsid=2025645.html

irishfeen

Interestingly under the UK -

ITV RIGHTS LIMITED
NEWS CORP UK & IRELAND LIMITED

What have ITV/News Corp got? - highlights?

redabbey

UEFA tendering process documents updated. No announcement of any Irish rights holders for the EL. Does that mean exclusivity for BT Sport? Or has a decision still got to be made, some of the other European countries whose time-scales wwre similar to the one for Ireland have also not got contract details mentioned either. No mention of BT Sport having any CL rights for Ireland, same as in the present tender where Sky is never mentioned for Ireland.

Champions League
http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/Publications/uefaorg/Marketing/01/96/76/90/1967690_DOWNLOAD.pdf

Europa League
http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/Publications/uefaorg/Marketing/01/96/76/92/1967692_DOWNLOAD.pdf