Virgin Media Television announces landmark exclusive four-year League of Ireland broadcast agreement
- Virgin Media Television secures exclusive rights for SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division
- Every round of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division to be covered from 2025 for first time
Date: 27 January 2025: Virgin Media Television has today announced a new four-year landmark broadcast agreement with the League of Ireland.
The agreement will see Virgin Media Television become the sole and exclusive free to air broadcaster of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.
Virgin Media Television will broadcast 36 matches with a live fixture each round of the season.
After a thrilling 2024 SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division which saw Shelbourne secure a first title in 18 years, the 2025 season will see more live coverage of League of Ireland than ever before.
The first broadcast selections will be announced on Wednesday with the new season starting on the 14th of February.
Virgin Media Television, Director of News and Sport, Mick McCaffrey, said: “We are delighted to be the exclusive broadcaster of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division for the next four years. Virgin Media Television is committed to the League and to delivering on the fans’ ask for more live matches. For the first time ever, supporters will have free to air coverage of the biggest and best game each Friday of the season along with the goals from every other game. We are excited to bring greater exposure to the league and play our part in increasing grassroots participation in communities throughout the country.
FAI Commercial Director, Sean Kavanagh, said: “We’re delighted to announce this landmark broadcast agreement for the League of Ireland with Virgin Media Television. Since our initial agreement in 2023, the partnership has grown along with the interest in the League and this new announcement will be able to help take the League of Ireland to another level. Having the consistency of live broadcasts for every round will be crucial in building the level of coverage needed for the League of Ireland and we are excited to continue working with the team at Virgin Media Television who have been brilliant partners since we have started working together. Along with recent partnership announcements for the League of Ireland, this new agreement shows the level of interest and excitement in the League are increasing year-on-year and we’re excited to see what we can achieve together.”
League of Ireland, Director, Mark Scanlon, said: “This agreement represents a historic moment for the League of Ireland as Virgin Media Television’s exclusive coverage of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division will see every round of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division covered for the first time. Consistency of coverage in order to follow the stories throughout the season is something that we have always wanted in the League of Ireland and we are delighted that this partnership will ensure that the League has a presence on free to air television all year round. We have been delighted to work with Virgin Media Television since they began their partnership with us in 2023 and their enthusiasm and excellent coverage has been extremely encouraging bringing new audiences to the League of Ireland. We look forward to the next stage of this partnership which will help propel the League to the next level.”
Ends
Note to editor: Virgin Media Television will be announcing its opening live fixtures and hosting a media event on Wednesday, 29th January, with League of Ireland players available for interview. Full details to follow. RSVP to [email protected]
About Virgin Media
Virgin Media Ireland is the leading connected entertainment and broadcast business in Ireland. Every day, we deliver millions of connections for people across Ireland, with multi award-winning services including superfast broadband, TV, mobile and home phone. Our Virgin Media Business division provides the fastest broadband speeds and connectivity solutions for entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector.
Virgin Media Television, our broadcast division, is Ireland’s number one commercial public service broadcaster, offering four free-to-air channels: Virgin Media One, Virgin Media Two, Virgin Media Three, Virgin Media Four, as well as Virgin Media Play, our state-of-the-art streaming service. We are committed to offering programming that truly reflects the diversity and creativity of Irish society, and invest significantly in home-produced content, including news, current affairs and drama, as well as offering the best in international programming. Virgin Media More, a platform exclusive channel for Virgin TV customers, offers the very best of first look premium content, including ground-breaking Irish and international drama, documentaries and sport. Our advertising sales agency, Virgin Media Solutions, creates unique and innovative campaigns for our business and for third party clients across the UK and Ireland.
Virgin Media Ireland is part of Liberty Global, one of the world’s leading converged video, broadband and communications companies with operations in seven European countries. Liberty Global is a founding member of the European Green Digital Coalition and is included in the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Our inclusion in these prestigious indices for the ninth year running attests to our long-standing commitment to the importance of sustainability and ensuring that we are Straight Up corporate citizens as well as responsible stewards of the environment across the markets in which we operate.
The power of connectivity to deliver positive, meaningful change to people’s lives through delivering on our purpose of building connections that really matter has never been more important, and we are proud to play our part in bringing our customers, clients, viewers and colleagues Together.
For further information please visit: www.virginmedia.ie
About League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the top tier of Irish football and dates back to the foundation of the Football Association of Ireland in 1921.
Originally established as just one division, the League of Ireland is made up of three senior competitions - the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division, the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division and the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division and the EA SPORTS League of Ireland Academy for MU14, MU15, MU17, WU17, MU19 and WU19 competitions.
The League of Ireland has been administered within the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) since 2006. As such, the League benefits from the wide range of departments that exist within the FAI, including Commercial, Communications, Club Licensing, Legal, Finance, and IT.
The League is run on an operational level by the FAI's League of Ireland Department.
The National League Committee (NLC) is the governing body of the League of Ireland and consists of an Independent Chairperson appointed by the FAI Board, an FAI Board Member and ten League of Ireland Club representatives.
The League of Ireland is governed by the Participation Agreement which the League Department, the NLC and the Clubs review and amend on an annual basis. Clubs are also required to obtain licences to participate in either the Men’s and Women’s Premier Divisions or Men’s First Divisions.
