Eir Sport secures rights to 2019 rugby world cup – Irish Times

New sports channel Eir Sport has acquired the exclusive Irish rights to the 2019 rugby world cup. Eir Sport is Eir’s new sports channel.

The announcement was made on Tuesday by Eir Sport chief executive and Setanta founder Mickey O’Rourke.

Eir has made its first major broadcasting move since its acquisition of Setanta Sports Ireland by rebranding the channel as Eir Sport.

The telco this morning launched a new sports package of six channels, comprising the two former Setanta channels and four BT Sports channels.

The pack will be available free to all its broadband customers or over its Eir TV platform.

Richard Moat, Eir chief executive, helped launch the rebrand at the telco’s Dublin headquarters this morning, with guests including former rugby international Brian O’Driscoll.

He reiterated that the company is targeting “passing” 1.6 million homes with its high-speed fibre network by the end of the year.