Virgin Media Ireland has signed a "new long-term agreement with Sky for the continued carriage of its premium and basic pay channels," according to Julian Clover of BROADBAND TV NEWS. While Sky Sports will cover 159 Premier League matches, the cablenet is dropping the Eir Sports pack, "arguing the price levied by the telco was excessive." Virgin’s agreement "renews carriage of Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Arts and Sky News, as well as Sky Sports 1-5, Sky Sports News HQ and the newly rebranded Sky Cinema (formerly Sky Movies)." New basic channel Sky Sports Mix "will also be available." The channel said that "it would drop the eir sports pack" on July 31. Virgin Media Ireland TV Content Head Bill Blake said, "The significant reduction in content by over 40% within the eir Sports pack made the economics of offering the pack to our customers unsustainable. We have made every effort to agree commercial terms with eir Sport that reflect the reduced value within their sports pack however their pricing was excessive and simply wasn’t realistic relative to their content offering which has essentially been halved" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 7/19).
