Sports TV subscriptions: What’s the best value among the dizzying options?

Sports TV subscription services: How to navigate the maze and get the best value

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There was a time when sport on Irish television was a simple affair.

There was the Six Nations – or Five Nations as it was then and the odd Irish soccer match which would as often as not end in a moral victory but an actual loss. We had the Aga Khan Cup, and Wimbledon, big race meetings from Ireland and the UK, the FA Cup Final and the occasional snooker tournament.

On Saturday afternoons there was an omnibus called Sports Stadium which carried a pretty eclectic mix of random sports and a whole lot of horse racing. It always climaxed with the results from the English and Scottish leagues.

Then there was the Olympics, the World Cup and the European Championships. And that was pretty much that at least for those in one and two channel land.

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People with access to the British channels could add Match of the Day on Saturday nights and the Big Match on Sunday afternoons, snooker in the form of Pot Black and some pretty unattractive wrestling to the mix while as the 1980s drew to a close American Football started appearing on Channel Four of all places.

That was around the time ITV started showing real life top flight games from England live on Sunday afternoons.

Then Sky came along and everything changed. And the world of sport on the telly has kept changing with the speed of Manchester United back line moving forward.

Ah no, only joking, the changes have been much faster than that.

The changes have, in fact, been dizzying and sometimes incomprehensible and often very, very expensive.

Early this week we got a mail from a reader that highlights just some of the challenges facing Irish sports lovers these days.

“Ireland is playing the West Indies today at Clontarf in a three-game ODI cricket series,” said Damien. “The first two games were on TNT Sports 1 and 2, but today’s game is hidden from Irish viewers on Sky and Now TV. It is available in the UK on Discovery+. You expect a broadcaster to show a full series of games. I’ve to pay a NOW subscription for this.”

It wasn’t the first time in recent weeks the same correspondent – a self-described “middle-aged disgruntled multi-sports fan” – was in touch.

“Last year, Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) had Eurosport broadcasts and streams available on its streaming and on-demand service, Discovery+. Since last summer, WBD has removed sports content from Irish subscribers of the service, while continuing to provide such content elsewhere in the EU (either on Discovery+ or Max) “.

He pointed out that a “notable impact this year is that the French Open is not available to stream in Ireland, because WBD is currently restricting their broadcasts of the tournament to subscribers of its linear TNT Sports channels.”

Damien subscribes to TNT Sports via NOW TV but “won’t be able to choose a match of my choice like I used to. WBD have the rights to show the tournament from Roland Garros across the EU (except France), and streams all courts and content via Discovery+ or Max.”

He also bemoaned the absence of cycling and winter sports such as downhill skiing “which are freely available to other EU citizens”.

Sport dominates TV watching

So, where do we stand when it comes to sport on the telly. The first thing to say is it is pretty popular.

Last year it dominated the list of most-watched programmes in Ireland with 10 rugby matches in the top 50 including all of Ireland’s Six Nations games featuring in the top 10

The All-Ireland Hurling final was in third place while the football final was in sixth. All told 10 Euro 2024 soccer matches made the top 50, along with two Nations League marches, while the Olympics also did well.

RTÉ remains the go to station for free-to-air sport although Virgin Media has been nipping at its heels for quite some time and is a serious rival in that space.

It is the home of rugby and Gaelic games as well as fair amount of soccer and some of the biggest sporting showpieces on the planet from the Olympics to the World Athletics Championships and a whole lot more besides.

But Virgin Media hasn’t been found wanting when it comes to live sport and its made a real declaration of intent earlier this year when it announced a four-year deal with the League of Ireland to show dozens of live premier league games on Friday nights throughout the summer and into the autumn.

Football joins Rugby with Virgin sharing the Six Nations with RTÉ for the next four years at least.

GAA+ formerly known as GAA-Go is a somewhat controversial package having taken ownership of some of the most high profile hurling and football matches that would otherwise have been free to view on terrestrial TV. The cost of a single match comes in at a fairly eye watering €12 while a season ticket to all the matches on the platform costs €79 while a midseason pass is currently available for €49.

Sky Sports subscriptions

Sky Sports is the big kahuna of subscription sports and its eight channels covers all manner of sports including top flight football from England, the best of golf, racing; tennis, Formula 1, cricket and more besides with prices starting from €20 for new customers. Sky also has the exclusive rights to the British and Irish Lions 9 match tour of Australia this summer.

If you get your TV package from Virgin Media you can get a Sky Sports sub for €20 a month with rising to €40 after the first year. Access to Sky Sports, TNT and Premier sports on the same platform meanwhile costs €30 for the first 12 months rising to €79 after that. Premier sports and TNT on their own cost €35 a month. Racing TV is €26 a month while access to MUTV – if that is something you’d fancy – is €9 a month.

A less committed way to watch what Sky has through a Now TV pass. A 12 month contract costs €27 for the first month while the sports bundle offering 18 channels including all the Sky options as well as TNT and Premier Sports is €30 a month – more expensive for sure but you can cancel whenever you fancy it. It also has day passes for €14.99.

Eurosport as Damien mentioned – is gone – or at least free Eurosport is gone – but much of the sports it specialised in including cycling, tennis, snooker, the Olympic Winter Games in Milan and lots of football, rugby boxing, Moto and more are on TNT.

Then there is Danz which streams a dizzying array of sports with the new look Football Club World Cup tournament likely to be a big(ish) draw this summer. Flexible monthly access is €19.99 while a year long contract costs €9.99 per month or one up front payment of €83.99.

And finally, there is The Clubber which streams Club GAA at an annual cost of €149.99 or a weekly fee of €29.99. Access to an individual game is around €12.99.

What about dodgy boxes?

It would be remiss to not at least refer to the tens of thousands of dodgy boxes in homes all over the country.

They are in a legally grey area. The boxes themselves are not illegal – and can be bought online for no more than €50 – streaming sport and knowingly circumventing properly applied restrictions to access copyrighted content could technically leave people exposed.

It is worth noting, however, that those targeting illegal streaming, including the Garda, are focused on people who are suspected of being involved in providing illegal access to premium TV content and not – as yet – the end users.

Garda sources have even expressed doubt that the force would have any jurisdiction when it comes to the use of such boxes, suggesting it would be a civil rather than a criminal matter.

Access to a legally dubious streaming service is around €150 a year but we would caution against such a step and it is worth bearing in mind that once the money is paid there is no guarantee the service won’t be shut down and if it does you have no comeback as consumer rights don’t tend to protect legally questionable activity.

You can contact us at OnTheMoney@irishtimes.com with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week’s newsletter by Dominic Coyle on the options for releasing wealth tied up in your home, you can read it here.

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