League of Ireland
The week kicked off with confirmation that Virgin media had signed a four year deal for exclusive weekly live and free to air coverage of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division in the League of Ireland.
Women’s Football
This was followed by TG4 and the League announcing 24 hours later that there would be a further extension of their coverage of the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division.
Streaming Schools Rugby
This week was the first in which Leinster Rugby and Wiistream’s new partnership came to screens with coverage of all the matches in the Bank of Ireland Senior Cup not being covered by Premier Sports.
The partnership titled Leinster Rugby + will continue throughout the season with game by game and bundled packages available.
American Football
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills made history last weekend when becoming the most watched AFC Championship game in history.
57.6 million tuned into the game on CBS on Sunday night, beating the previous record, also involving the Chiefs from the previous year when 55.4 million tuned in to watch them beat the Baltimore Ravens.
The team are bidding to become the first in history to win three consecutive Super Bowls when they are favoured to beat the Philadelphia Eagles next weekend.
Philadelphia is one of the biggest sports TV markets in the US which makes it not surprising at all that…
Super Bowl Advertising
The going rate for a 30 second commercial in Fox Sports coverage of the Super Bowl has risen to an eye watering $8 million. And that’s without the cost of producing it with celebrities et al.
The Chiefs bidding for history, the Eagles with the most fervent fan base in the country and Tom Brady in the commentary booth have led to a perfect storm with prices riding high and demand outstripping the number of slots available, even across what will be a four hour plu broadcast.
We will be watching on the NFL Game Pass which gives full access to the Fox Sports coverage as well as on the always excellent Sky Sports Coverage.
We’ll bring you a selection of the ads to air next week.
DP World Tour Goes Live Streaming
We carried the news this morning that the DP World Tour has established its own live streaming network, promising live coverage of feature groups at some of the tour’s premium events including possibly the Amgen Irish Open, part of the Rolex Series.
It is unclear yet what impact the news might have on the Tour’s partnership wit Sky Sports or the secondary coverage in individual markets that allows RTÉ to televise the Irish Open in September.
Guinness Six Nations
We also carried an opinion piece this week looking at the reasons why a move behind a paywall for the Guinness Six nations was unlikely, even as rumours swirl.
Virgin Media, Guinness and Accessibility
On the eve of the Six nations we carried the story of Virgin media, Guinness and other advertisers coming together to provide Irish Sign Language and accessible coverage of Ireland’s games in this year’s tournament.
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