TV3 wins Six Nations Championship rights from 2018

TV3 GROUP RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday 11th November, 2015.

 

 

TV3 wins Six Nations Championship rights from 2018

Four seasons from 2018-2021

All matches and all broadcast rights to ‘Rugby’s Greatest Championship’

 

TV3 along with The Six Nations Council today announced that it has secured the rights to the Six Nations Championship for a period of 4 years from 2018 until 2021, following the conclusion of a competitive tender process.

TV3 will broadcast every game live and free-to-air for viewers in the Republic of Ireland from 2018 onwards. TV3’s coverage will also include previews, magazine programmes and highlight shows as well as delayed match replays of all matches to complement live coverage and give maximum exposure to ‘Rugby’s Greatest Championship’.

The Six Nations Championship is the premier rugby competition in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the last two years viewership in Ireland has averaged over 400,000 per match. Ireland has enjoyed back-to-back title success in the Six Nations Championship in 2014 and 2015.

Commenting on the agreement, John Feehan, CEO of Six Nations Rugby said: “We are delighted to be working with TV3 on developing the interest in the Championship and to ultimately grow this wonderful competition in Ireland. TV3’s coverage of Rugby World Cup was very successful and we believe that they will inject new and exciting ideas in the broadcasting of the Six Nations Championship.”

Niall Cogley, TV3 Group Director of Broadcasting said: “In the last two months, TV3 has been able to demonstrate its credentials as Ireland’s National Commercial Broadcaster with a refreshing and comprehensive presentation of all 48 games of Rugby World Cup 2015.  We are grateful that the Six Nations Unions, the Federations and their Executive team were sufficiently impressed by our recent work.  We very much look forward to presenting Rugby’s Greatest Championship into the foreseeable future and making TV3 the home of rugby in Ireland.”

TV3 Group CEO, David McRedmond, said: “In recent years we have had to endure extraordinary challenges in the most intense of commercial environments. I am delighted we can back up our success with Rugby World Cup 2015 coverage by winning these rights. We are committed to providing Irish audiences with the best home production in sport, in drama with the award-winning ‘Red Rock’, in documentaries like ‘The Joy’, in News and in entertainment shows such as ‘The Great Irish Bake-Off’.”

 

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More about TV3 in Notes to Editor

 

ENDS

 

 

For further information

Sharon McHugh – Head of Press & Publicity – 087 922 4143

publicity@tv3.ie                        
www.tv3.ie

 

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NOTES TO EDITOR

In July 2015, TV3 Group announced its sale to Virgin Media, a Liberty Global company. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

TV3 employs over 250 people fulltime and a further 130 people on its new soap drama ‘Red Rock’ which was launched in January 2015.