THE 2019 RUGBY World Cup will be broadcast in Ireland by both eir Sport and RTÉ, with the two broadcasters today announcing that they had reached a sub-licencing agreement.

Ireland celebrate beating the All Blacks on Saturday. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

As confirmed in July 2016 when they won the bid, eir Sport are the primary rights holders. They’ll broadcast all 48 games live, including all of Ireland’s matches, and a daily highlights show.

Off the back of today’s news, RTÉ have secured the TV rights to broadcast 14 live matches — this includes all of Ireland’s games, all knockout stages, the final and 16 nights of highlights.

RTÉ’s 14 live games and highlight programmes will all be free-to-air on RTÉ2 and on RTÉ Player live and on-demand.

“There has never been such an exciting time in Irish rugby and, following the recent win against the All Blacks, we’re heading to Japan with a real chance of lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy,” Susan Brady, Managing Director of eir Sport said.

“eir Sport will be there every step of the way with all 48 games live including every Ireland game and the knock out stages.”

“We are delighted to have come to this agreement with RTÉ which again shows the changing nature of the sports broadcasting landscape in Ireland where we’re happy to work together to give Irish sports fans the best possible choice and content.”

Declan McBennett, Group Head of RTÉ Sport added:

“The Rugby World Cup looks set to be a very exciting tournament next autumn and we are delighted to come to this agreement with eir sport to ensure that Irish audiences have a free-to-air front row seat to such significant games including all of Ireland’s games, the knockout stages and the final, on TV and online.”

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