European Champions Cup set to return to Irish terrestrial TV

First topic message reminder :

Oh dear. Not working out as planned then! Just going after the money doesn't always work out.

Also interesting is that Racing v Munster is on Free to Air in France (Round 1).


European Champions Cup set to return to Irish terrestrial TV
Organisers will treat Ireland differently with more free-to-air coverage but not before 2019

The organisers of the European Champions Cup will look to bring their flagship tournament back to terrestrial television in Ireland, albeit only from the 2019-20 season onwards and in a limited capacity, while selling rights to one pay-per-view broadcasting company rather than two.

This season’s tournament will be the third of the compromise five-year deal for broadcasting rights in Ireland and the UK, in which the ten pool games across each weekend are split between Sky Sports and BT Sport. The Director General of EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby) Vincent Gaillard accepts that this is an unsatisfactory arrangement.

This is particularly so in Ireland, where not only are viewers obliged to subscribe to both Sky Sports and BT Sports (via eirSport) but in many instances, such as those who subscribe to Virgin, no longer receive the former Setanta or BT channels that are now part of the eir Sport package.

“The tenders will be launched during the course of 2017, so I’m hoping that by the end of next year we will have new contracts in place and therefore effective as of 2019 onwards.”

“I think we will treat Ireland separately in what we’re going to do, but more free to air coverage in Ireland is where we would start. Early days again but that would certainly be an objective.”

The last ‘live’ game on Irish terrestrial television was RTE’s coverage of the 2006 final between Munster and Biarritz, after which they had rights to highlights until 2009.

Nor, he maintained, will there be a split pay per view deal. “It could be a free-to-air broadcaster, and a pay-per-view broadcaster, as we have in France for instance. But not two pay-per-view broadcasters. It is not working very well for us at the moment.”

However the current deal in France has further marginalised the European Champions Cup, as all ten games each weekend are on beIN Sports, whereas Canal+ has retained the rights to the Top 14, with just one Champions Cup and one Challenge Cup game free to air on France Television each weekend.
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After last season’s final in Lyon for the final, this season’s finals will be held in Murrayfield. Expressions of interest in hosting the 2018 final have been received from both traditional and non-traditional rugby venues, with Gaillard revealing that EPCR are looking more toward the latter; specifically Italy and Spain.

“Italy is a place to start. Spain would be another one and there’s a couple more as well that could be of interest but it would be fair to say we’ll focus on those two first.”

The objective of five commercial partners has yet to happen, and entering the third season under EPCR, only former title sponsors Heineken (and for a much reduced level) and Turkish Airlines remain official partners.

Gaillard maintained that a third partner will be announced shortly, adding: “I’m pretty certain that within a year or possibly two we will have completed all five (partners), maybe six.”

As for last season’s Anglo-French carve-up of the knock-out stags in the Champions Cup, Gaillard said: “I certainly hope it will be broken. We definitely want to see the Irish provinces coming back strong. We want a truly European tournament. It’s in absolutely no-one’s interest for the competition to end up as a French or English (tournament).”

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/european-cup/european-champions-cup-set-to-return-to-irish-terrestrial-tv-1.2818440

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:All spectacularly missing the point on here. As always. If the Irish broadcasters  are going to be paying for the CC, where is the money going to come from ?

Still havnt read the article have you lord.
Irish tv hasn't bid offered or said it's going to pay for anything.
The fella help a press conference and said they would explore some ideas.

Also I have pointed you in the direction of information that could show you where money may come from if ever a deal was to be made.

OK, if this DOES happen, where is the money going to come from ?

We don't know,how could we possibly know?If it happens,we don't know which station will show it,so we obviously don't know where the money would come from.

We do. We've just gone through all the options.

Actually I'm planning on winning the Euro millions tonight, then I will buy the rights and only show matches free to air in one small town in the south of Spain. As I'm all about growing the game. Small acorns mighty oaks and all that