Eir and Virgin Media Sport - cross supply deal

Infoanon · 15-08-2020 4:06pm

Did Eir Sports pause payment for subscribers during the postponement of Sports events similar to Sky ?.

Their package at €30 per month is very poor value especially now with the loss of VMS.

The truce didn't last long and VM are imho abusing their market dominance - BT Sports are not on the VM platform - and now putting Eirs sports channel in a perilous position with the added bonus of effecting Eirs BB take up.

iseegirls · 15-08-2020 4:21pm

Inter Milan's Europa League semi final is on Virgin Media Two on Monday.

racso1975 · 15-08-2020 4:25pm

Infoanon wrote: »

Did Eir Sports pause payment for subscribers during the postponement of Sports events similar to Sky ?.

Their package at €30 per month is very poor value especially now with the loss of VMS.

The truce didn't last long and VM are imho abusing their market dominance - BT Sports are not on the VM platform - and now putting Eirs sports channel in a perilous position with the added bonus of effecting Eirs BB take up.

Trust me EIR are doing a good enough job to put their BB in a perilous position

Scoondal · 15-08-2020 7:17pm

Why is anyone paying either of these companies money ?
There are much cheaper options.
I'm on €620 per annum for broadband and television showing all the sport that I want.

lertsnim · 15-08-2020 8:19pm

Scoondal wrote: »

Why is anyone paying either of these companies money ?
There are much cheaper options.
I'm on €620 per annum for broadband and television showing all the sport that I want.

Who is providing you with broadband and television with all the sport you want for that price?

Scoondal · 15-08-2020 10:10pm

lertsnim wrote: »

Who is providing you with broadband and television with all the sport you want for that price?

My own satellite dish + Puretelecom + Eurosport Player = €620 per year

15-08-2020 10:13pm

Scoondal wrote: »

My own satellite dish + Puretelecom + Eurosport Player = €620 per year

That’s a hooky setup though surely?

Scoondal · 15-08-2020 11:29pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

That’s a hooky setup though surely?

No, not at all. I unsubscribed from Sky. They allowed me to keep the dish and the box. There are lots of free to air channels out there, even without reprogramming the box (beyond my intelligence).
I can mirror my laptop to my tv to watch lots of tv, dramas and movies. I can rent or buy movies from Youtube if I wish. I might do a few per year, so maybe €20 extra.
I'm not a techno head at all, but I think I have a satisfactory set-up for the family.
Nothing hooky as far as I know.

mikeym · 15-08-2020 11:33pm

Will Virgin Media Sport be back?

If Eir dont pay up I cant see the channel coming back.

icdg · 18-08-2020 11:52am

Interesting I got a DM from Virgin Media today promoting their broadband (still tied into a contract with eir, so I won’t be taking them up) but it interestingly answered a question I had for a while - yes VM new broadband subs do get eir Sport 1 and VM Sport included. App access only, of course, if you’re not also a cable TV customer, and subject to change given the circumstances described in this thread. Given eir Sport’s continued presence on VM’s EPG and the app I’d be still hopeful of some resolution. Interestingly as well VM Sport’s Sky EPG entry remains with that channels programmes listed, even though the channel actually shows eir Sport 2.

JDxtra · 18-08-2020 12:49pm

icdg wrote: »

Interestingly as well VM Sport’s Sky EPG entry remains with that channels programmes listed, even though the channel actually shows eir Sport 2.

Yes, spotted that too. What a mess.

lertsnim · 18-08-2020 1:00pm

icdg wrote: »

Interesting I got a DM from Virgin Media today promoting their broadband (still tied into a contract with eir, so I won’t be taking them up) but it interestingly answered a question I had for a while - yes VM new broadband subs do get eir Sport 1 and VM Sport included. App access only, of course, if you’re not also a cable TV customer, and subject to change given the circumstances described in this thread. Given eir Sport’s continued presence on VM’s EPG and the app I’d be still hopeful of some resolution. Interestingly as well VM Sport’s Sky EPG entry remains with that channels programmes listed, even though the channel actually shows eir Sport 2.

I always thought it odd how Eir Sport 2 wasn't on the Virgin Media service

Sheep Shagger · 18-08-2020 1:04pm

just as long as Eir Sports 1 is not cut off the Virgin TV platform before the Leinster v Munster game in Saturday.

Used to have the eir sport app which was very handy as could project to TV but lost that when I jumped to Gomo (the cheap arm of eir mobile).

Delta2113 · 18-08-2020 1:24pm

Virgin Media should have insisted on getting Eir Sport 2 at the start. One or two Rugby World Cup matches only shown LIVE on Eir Sport 2.

I think you will be ok for this Saturday because unlike Eir, Virgin Media have paid Eir it's bill for Eir Sport 1.

18-08-2020 1:58pm

I am giving this suggestion for both Eir and Virgin Media corporates:

About 35 years ago, Apple published a full page advert in an American broadsheet, against their industry peer IBM.
It began in large type:

Seriously.

Of course nobody in Eir and Virgin Media will do that:
The "product" in question is only "Entertainment" To be regarded in the same vein as Steve Jobs thought about Pepsi Cola as a beverage: "Sugar Water"

mikeym · 20-08-2020 5:16pm

One week later and Eir has not paid up.

The Europa League Final and Champions League Final are FTA this weekend on VM1.

Thelonious Monk · 21-08-2020 5:33pm

mikeym wrote: »

One week later and Eir has not paid up.

The Europa League Final and Champions League Final are FTA this weekend on VM1.

Oh thank f*ck. I have Eir and thought I wouldn't be able to watch tonight's game. If I understand correctly I should still have Virgin 1. Will check soon, thanks.

wonski · 21-08-2020 5:45pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Oh thank f*ck. I have Eir and thought I wouldn't be able to watch tonight's game. If I understand correctly I should still have Virgin 1. Will check soon, thanks.

You can watch virgin channel on their own app, not on the eir tv app.

Elmo · 23-08-2020 12:27pm

wonski wrote: »

You can watch virgin channel on their own app, not on the eir tv app.

All VM channels removed from eir app?

wonski · 23-08-2020 3:39pm

Elmo wrote: »

All VM channels removed from eir app?

VM 1/2/3 were never available on the eir app. Only sports channel.

I installed virgin app and sorted for tonight.

icdg · 23-08-2020 11:39pm

Not sure if there’s some confusion here - eir TV customers should have the other VMTV channels, certainly that was the position when it launched. Indeed there is no Virgin Media Player app for Apple TV.

Eir Broadband customers who don’t take TV only get the eir Sport pack (right now eir Sport 1&2, FreeSports and TG4).

Delta2113 · 25-08-2020 6:34pm

Eir are pulling Eir Sport1 from Virgin Media shortly.

25-08-2020 6:40pm

Was expecting that. Though if Virgin are paid up then it'll be far from the end of it.

Delta2113 · 25-08-2020 6:48pm

Probably won't happen but Virgin could decide not to show any UEFA Nations League on Virgin Media Two as minor retaliation.

lertsnim · 25-08-2020 7:00pm

Delta2113 wrote: »

Probably won't happen but Virgin could decide not to show any UEFA Nations League on Virgin Media Two as minor retaliation.

They're be cutting their nose off to spite their face as they'd lose viewers from every platform.

icdg · 25-08-2020 7:39pm

Here’s the statement:

https://twitter.com/eirsport/status/1298308567783571457?s=21

Was bound to happen really, this was after all meant to be a mutual agreement - both deals were done simultaneously and announced together.

So, after almost a year of peace, back to war. This market just isn’t big enough for two premium sports providers - three if you count Premier Sports who are also Irish (even if they pretend not be a chunk of the time) - so it is mutually assured destruction and Virgin have the weaker rights portfolio (essentially dependant on the UEFA deal).

Delta2113 · 25-08-2020 8:26pm

I'm not sure I would agree with Virgin having the weaker portfolio. Every single Champions League and Europa league game.
Eir have more variety but nothing is bigger than Champions league and of course the premier league which neither have.

25-08-2020 8:29pm

I'd like Eir for some LOI and club GAA but in reality there's been nothing but rubbish on 90% of the time for ages.

AJB39 · 25-08-2020 9:09pm

I’m a Virgin TV customer and I still have Eir Sport as of now. I’m assuming it’ll be removed later tonight? It’s such a petty dispute and will cost both companies financially.

icdg · 25-08-2020 9:44pm

Delta2113 wrote: »

I'm not sure I would agree with Virgin having the weaker portfolio. Every single Champions League and Europa league game.
Eir have more variety but nothing is bigger than Champions league and of course the premier league which neither have.

Lack of diversity, and lack of exclusivity. That one deal is essentially their entire rights portofolio and it’s virtually all non exclusive - if you have Sky and BT already you have no need for Virgin Media Sport. And if they lost those rights next time around it is game over. Eir have the Pro14, GAA Allianz Leagues, the FA Cup, League of Ireland, the Masters, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Incidentally- not sure if there’s anything to read into this - but the statement on eir Sport’s website has a distinctly more hopeful wording than the twitter post - it maybe that they have yet to update it though.

Infoanon · 25-08-2020 10:13pm

I agree with ICDG but one issue now is that Eirsports now only has carriage on Sky and the Eir network and at €30 per month it effectively takes itself out of the pay tv market unless you are only interested in Pro14 ,GAA league games and LOI.

VM Sport isn't dependent on Eir Sports for survival but I don't think the opposite is true - though I don't know the uptake of Eir on Sky after the VM Sport deal

mikeym · 25-08-2020 11:05pm

Infoanon wrote: »

I agree with ICDG but one issue now is that Eirsports now only has carriage on Sky and the Eir network and at €30 per month it effectively takes itself out of the pay tv market unless you are only interested in Pro14 ,GAA league games and LOI.

VM Sport isn't dependent on Eir Sports for survival but I don't think the opposite is true - though I don't know the uptake of Eir on Sky after the VM Sport deal

Imo It should only cost €10 a month for just Eir Sport.

icdg · 25-08-2020 11:12pm

Infoanon wrote: »

I agree with ICDG but one issue now is that Eirsports now only has carriage on Sky and the Eir network and at €30 per month it effectively takes itself out of the pay tv market unless you are only interested in Pro14 ,GAA league games and LOI.
l

It is on Vodafone too (though I have to admit I’ve never met anyone with Vodafone TV) and neither eir nor Vodafone customers are paying that €30pm (not were VM customers for that matter) It is an astronomical price for eir Sport alone but they were in the past known to do deals at the drop of a hat.

And the breakdown of this deal effectively takes VM Sport off Sky, the biggest pay TV platform in the country (even though Sky and VM Sport had absolutely no relationship - VM dealt with eir and eir deals with Sky but only for an EPG listing and CA services).

lowbatt07 · 26-08-2020 12:01am

Worth noting that the 20/21 season is the final season of the Eir Pro14 deal

With the announcement today that the SA teams are effectively out of the upcoming season it leaves the pro14 (12/16??) in a pretty perilous position

Not sure who would be bothered buying the rights

Acosta · 26-08-2020 1:45am

icdg wrote: »

Lack of diversity, and lack of exclusivity. That one deal is essentially their entire rights portofolio and it’s virtually all non exclusive - if you have Sky and BT already you have no need for Virgin Media Sport. And if they lost those rights next time around it is game over. Eir have the Pro14, GAA Allianz Leagues, the FA Cup, League of Ireland, the Masters, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Incidentally- not sure if there’s anything to read into this - but the statement on eir Sport’s website has a distinctly more hopeful wording than the twitter post - it maybe that they have yet to update it though.

VMS was handy for the HD if like me you're not paying the extra bobs to Sky for something that should be part of the standard subscription. The punditry is also a lot better than BT which is woeful.
SD VM channels are almost unwatchable though, so I was watching the recent matches on BT then switching over for the analysis.

Scoondal · 26-08-2020 1:52am

I have an annual subscription to Eurosport for €20.
Soccer fans are discriminated against in Ireland. Other sports fans can watch their sport very cheaply.

icdg · 26-08-2020 8:40am

lowbatt07 wrote: »

Worth noting that the 20/21 season is the final season of the Eir Pro14 deal

With the announcement today that the SA teams are effectively out of the upcoming season it leaves the pro14 (12/16??) in a pretty perilous position

Not sure who would be bothered buying the rights

Be interesting to see what happens there. The multinational nature of the League makes the “domestic” rights sale difficult and the lack of English teams makes it unattractive to national U.K. broadcasters (where club rugby was always a difficult sell anyway). BT has extensive commitments with Premiership Rugby and the conventional wisdom is that they aren’t interested in the Pro14. Sky would be interested but only in a U.K. & Ireland deal. Premier may want out; it is easily their biggest (most expensive) commitment weekly as a host broadcaster and they just pulled out of a deal with Sunset and Vine to bring it back in house. At the time the deal was done eir Sport and Premier were still allied with each other and eir getting the Irish rights somewhat facilitated Premier with the UK rights as it effectively put Sky out of the running and they shared the production costs that first season (they basically had access to each other’s full productions but they have since gone their separate ways and now only “world feed” access is provided). So a lot at play; and that’s not to mention what’s going on with SA participation up in the air.

schmoo2k · 26-08-2020 1:51pm

Doesn't this mean it will break all existing contracts?

salmocab · 26-08-2020 1:57pm

icdg wrote: »

It is on Vodafone too (though I have to admit I’ve never met anyone with Vodafone TV) and neither eir nor Vodafone customers are paying that €30pm (not were VM customers for that matter) It is an astronomical price for eir Sport alone but they were in the past known to do deals at the drop of a hat.

And the breakdown of this deal effectively takes VM Sport off Sky, the biggest pay TV platform in the country (even though Sky and VM Sport had absolutely no relationship - VM dealt with eir and eir deals with Sky but only for an EPG listing and CA services).

I’ve Vodafone and whilst Eir is grand for pro 14 rugby I watch pretty much nothing else on it and wouldn’t pay much extra just for effectively the Leinster away games that aren’t on tg4.

wonski · 26-08-2020 2:40pm

Scoondal wrote: »

I have an annual subscription to Eurosport for €20.
Soccer fans are discriminated against in Ireland. Other sports fans can watch their sport very cheaply.

Since when Eurosport has CL /Europa league matches on?

They might even have different rights on different markets.

What exactly do you get?

icdg · 26-08-2020 2:51pm

schmoo2k wrote: »

Doesn't this mean it will break all existing contracts?

This comes up the whole time and it is standard practice for every pay tv service to include a “channel line up is subject to change” clause. Sure a barely a week goes by that there isn’t a channel either opening or closing on Sky, so if a line up change did affect a contract it would be unworkable.

Delta2113 · 26-08-2020 5:21pm

AJB39 wrote: »

I’m a Virgin TV customer and I still have Eir Sport as of now. I’m assuming it’ll be removed later tonight? It’s such a petty dispute and will cost both companies financially.

- Got removed aprox. 9AM this morning. EPG still showing schedules, replay tv working, recordings working for now.

AJB39 · 26-08-2020 6:19pm

Delta2113 wrote: »

- Got removed aprox. 9AM this morning. EPG still showing schedules, replay tv working, recordings working for now.

Yes there is just a black screen now. I’m surprised that Virgin Media haven’t put a message up on the channel to explain it’s absence.

AJB39 · 26-08-2020 11:01pm

There is now a message on the Eir Sport Channel on Virgin TV explaining the channels absence.

Delta2113 · 27-08-2020 9:15am

Slightly misleading statement as they never carried the Eir Sport 2 channel.

lertsnim · 27-08-2020 10:23am

What does the caption say?

Delta2113 · 27-08-2020 4:50pm

"eir sports is no longer available due to an eir decision.

What remains is a sporting schedule across Virgin media channels which includes the Heineken Champions Cup, The Six Nations, the UEFA Nations League as well as the return of next seasons Champions League and Europa League coverage."

mikeym · 27-08-2020 11:33pm

Looks like the cross supply deal is not going to be reinstated.

icdg · 28-08-2020 12:00am

Delta2113 wrote: »

"eir sports is no longer available due to an eir decision.

What remains is a sporting schedule across Virgin media channels which includes the Heineken Champions Cup, The Six Nations, the UEFA Nations League as well as the return of next seasons Champions League and Europa League coverage."

I love the way the first two tournaments they mention are the Heineken Cup, which they are required to broadcast on their free to air channels, and the Six Nations, which they are not required to do so but do anyway. The VM Sport channel only simulcasts free to air coverage (from VM One/Two/Three) of these. The general trouble with the channel is that nothing on it is exclusive to it.

I agree that this is the end of the deal; and it’s a pity; the vast majority of Irish broadband customers are with one of these two providers and it gave both sets of customers access to a common set of sports channels, allowing competition on what is supposed to be their main produce, broadband. Alas we are back to a position where your sports interests may play a part in determining your broadband selection.

Delta2113 · 28-08-2020 12:17am

I know maybe it's minor but they never had Eir Sport 2. I'm guessing Eir would not budge and give it to them at start off the contract.

I've often thought maybe Eir Sport and Virgin Sport should merge and maybe then really give some real competition to Sky but that will never happen now.

Personally I think Providers should never be allowed to own and operate channels. Virgin should go back and talk with BT Sport. Amazon are now also on Virgin on 360 box as an app so Amazon will be worth watching in years to come what they buy up.

Eir and Virgin Media Sport - cross supply deal

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