09-05-2024, 11:20 AM
Yeah it’s pretty much a throwaway line in an article otherwise about the launch of Amazon.ie (finally!) and it some ways it isn’t really news, the UK rights holders for the Champions League have always had non-exclusive rights in Ireland. (The Europa League was different for a while, when ESPN and Channel 5 had the rights, but that’s a good while ago now, and BT/TNT has no issues). I suppose it was being questioned in the case of Amazon though because they don’t have any other sports rights in Ireland at the moment (since the loss of the tennis, rugby, and NFL they did have) and because they’ve a history of treating Ireland quite differently from the UK (the Prime Video catalogues still aren’t the same, whereas the Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount+ catalogues are either completely or almost identical).