Digitaltveurope.com

Liberty Media-owned Virgin Media and its Irish commercial broadcaster TV3 have secured rights in Ireland to UEFA Champions League and Europa League football for the next three seasons.

The deal will give Virgin Media and TV3 exclusive rights to 327 European matches per season in Ireland across both competitions, along with shared rights along with public broadcaster RTÉ to 16 Tuesday night UEFA Champion League matches.

The deal, which comes into effect in August this year, also includes exclusive rights to all UEFA Champions League final round qualifiers, the Super Cup and all highlights rights  to both UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for the next three years.

TVÉ previously held the rights to the Tuesday night matches and TV3 held the rights to Wednesday games. Virgin Media rival Eir had the rights to Europa League matches.

Pat Kiely, Managing Director of TV3 said: “The UEFA Champions League is the biggest and most prestigious club competition in the world and we are delighted to extend our partnership with UEFA for both the Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. This landmark deal confirms Virgin Media as Ireland’s leading connected entertainment business and is great news for TV3 viewers and Virgin Media Customers.   Our award winning Sports Broadcasting team look forward to bringing the biggest clubs and the best players to our viewers and customers in new and exciting ways over the coming European football seasons.”