21-07-2022, 08:47 AM
Here’s the press release.
https://www.viaplaygroup.com/sites/defau...9645-1.pdf
A few questions arise, and the big one is whether the Irish operation (totally integrated with the U.K. one - in fact the U.K. operation is based in Ireland!) is also included. Previously it was thought Viaplay didn’t intend to launch in Ireland at this point. Possible that, if O’Rourke is hanging onto the Irish operation, we get a situation similar to what happened between 2016-2019 where eir Sport effectively acted as an Irish affiliate to Premier Sports even though they were no longer under common ownership (in fact eir Sport 2 was during that period an exact simulcast of Premier Sports 1).
Secondly, the U.K. GAA rights; will Viaplay have the same interest in broadcasting the GAA to Britain as Premier Sports as an Irish company did?
Thirdly there is the mystery, just two weeks out, of what has happened to the Premier League rights for Ireland, no mention by the FAPL of any renewal or auction of the rights for 2022-2025 and allied to this, Premier Sports has not published the usual list of 3pm fixtures (though the FAPL is at least listing Sky and BT games on its broadcast schedule for Ireland).
https://www.viaplaygroup.com/sites/defau...9645-1.pdf
A few questions arise, and the big one is whether the Irish operation (totally integrated with the U.K. one - in fact the U.K. operation is based in Ireland!) is also included. Previously it was thought Viaplay didn’t intend to launch in Ireland at this point. Possible that, if O’Rourke is hanging onto the Irish operation, we get a situation similar to what happened between 2016-2019 where eir Sport effectively acted as an Irish affiliate to Premier Sports even though they were no longer under common ownership (in fact eir Sport 2 was during that period an exact simulcast of Premier Sports 1).
Secondly, the U.K. GAA rights; will Viaplay have the same interest in broadcasting the GAA to Britain as Premier Sports as an Irish company did?
Thirdly there is the mystery, just two weeks out, of what has happened to the Premier League rights for Ireland, no mention by the FAPL of any renewal or auction of the rights for 2022-2025 and allied to this, Premier Sports has not published the usual list of 3pm fixtures (though the FAPL is at least listing Sky and BT games on its broadcast schedule for Ireland).