Sky Sports will broadcast live coverage of 3pm Premier League kick-offs on Saturdays from next season exclusively to Irish customers.
The move is a significant one for Sky as blackout laws in the UK mean that no live football can be shown between 2.45 and 5.15 on Saturday afternoons. However, those laws do not apply to Ireland.
A total of 33 Saturday matches will be covered live by the satellite broadcaster, bringing their to 159 Premier League games in all. Sky will now also broadcast matches live on Friday nights.
A possibility is that a specific Sky Sports Ireland channel will be set up.
Setanta Sports currently show a number of live 3pm kick-offs during the season and RTÉ have done in the past.
The move will see Sky broadcast live coverage of every Premier League club up to 26 times a season and will come as a major coup for the broadcaster after losing a number of rights packages to BT Sports.
Last year BT shelled out to take the rights to the Champions League from Sky and now show every game live. They also own the rights to the Saturday lunchtime kick-offs in the Premier League.
But from the beginning of next season Sky will now show live games on Friday nights, Saturday afternoons and evenings, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.
Commenting on the deal, Barney Francis – managing director of Sky Sports – said: “These rights mean that Sky Sports remains the home of sport in Ireland. From the 2016-17 season, our viewers in Ireland will be able to enjoy even more of the best Premier League matches across more days of the week than ever before. By securing rights to live matches on Friday evenings for the first time, Sky Sports will bring Premier League fans an entirely new way to start the weekend.”
