Ireland's Eir Sport To Broadcast Allianz Leagues Football, Hurling

Eir Sport announced details of "expanded coverage for the upcoming Allianz Leagues in football and hurling -- which includes three games being shown at the same time on Saturday nights," according to Patrick Madden of the IRISH TIMES. The league "makes its bow on Eir Sport" on Feb. 4, and the broadcaster has access to 23 fixtures across the football and hurling competitions. And for the first time, Eir Sport will be offering viewers a choice of games, as it broadcasts five "triple-headers" across the league calendar. This comes after Virgin Media, which has more than 300,000 urban subscribers, dropped the Eir Sport package -- which includes BT Sport -- at the end of July last year after "failing to agree commercial terms on a wholesale arrangement for the six channels." The package of 23 live games represents "an increase of six from the 17 shown live by Setanta last year" (IRISH TIMES, 1/25).