Launched August 2004 Owned by eir | Founded 2006 | |
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Audience share 0.4% (31 December 2010, ) Broadcast area IrelandNorthern Ireland Formerly called Setanta Sports IrelandSetanta Ireland | ||
eir Sport 1 (formerly Setanta Ireland) is a subscription based Irish sports channel featuring local and international sporting events. The channel is available on some basic cable packages in Ireland, while it is available upon direct subscription to the Eir Sport package on other networks across Ireland. Its sister channel is the subscription based network Eir Sport 2.
Contents
In June 2013, Setanta Sports signed a long-term agreement with BT Sport to distribute these channels within the Republic of Ireland. In November 2015, Irish telecommunications company Eir acquired Setanta Sports. On 5 July 2016, Setanta Ireland was renamed Eir Sport 1.
History
Programming
In Ireland, Eir Sport 1 broadcasts League of Ireland, Setanta Sports Cup, Premier League (ROI only), Allianz Leagues GAA, F1, The Masters, The Open Championship, Europa League, Champions League, Roland Garros, Live Horseracing and Golf Channel programming.
For a brief period from June 2011, Setanta Ireland experimented with music programming and Irish films as part of its line-up.
In 2012 Setanta had the Irish rights to cover all of Liverpool's home games live in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage.
In August 2013, Setanta Ireland started showing Premier League Highlights for the first time. The new show Premier League Central took over from RTÉ who had previously held the rights. The show goes out on Saturday and Sunday nights and is hosted by Connor Morris.
In June 2013, Setanta Ireland added the newly formed UK sports broadcaster BT Sport to its platform for Republic of Ireland sports fans. This resulted in the Setanta Sports pack in the ROI containing six channels; Setanta Ireland, Setanta 1, BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport Europe & ESPN. All programming available on the Eir Sport pack can found below.
Ownership
see Eir Sport.
Eir Sport HD
Eir Sport HD is a high definition simulcast of Eir Sport 1. The channel was the first ever Irish owned HD channel in the Republic of Ireland. It launched on 23 November 2010 then known as Setanta HD.
The former company Setanta had previously hoped to have a high-definition channel launched by August 2008, in time for the 2008–09 Premier League season.
Availability
As of 5 July 2016 in the Republic of Ireland, the Eir Sport Package is available for free to any Eir broadband customer. This includes the BT Sport package. Additionally, since 1 August 2016, the Eir Sport Package is available on Eir TV, Sky Ireland and Vodafone TV. Eir Sport offers commercial venues in Ireland programming of sports such as football (soccer), Gaelic football, hurling, golf, cricket, rugby union and rugby league and boxing
BT Sport deal
on 24 June 2013, Eir Sport (previously Setanta Sports) announced that it has struck a 3-year deal with BT Sport to carry the BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN channels as part of the Setanta pack in the Republic of Ireland. The HD feeds of these channels are also available at no extra cost. In September 2015, BT Sport Europe was added to the pack. BT Sport Europe was introduced to broadcast the BT Sport's live UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.