| Country | Ireland |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Ireland Northern Ireland |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled to16:9576i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Eir |
| Sister channels | Eir Sport 1, Eir Sport X1, Eir Sport X2, Eir Sport UHD |
| History | |
| Launched | 2004 (as Setanta Sports 1) |
| Closed | 20 July 2021; 3 years ago (2021-07-20) |
| Replaced by | FreeSports HD(Sky Ireland only) |
| Former names | Setanta Sports 1(2004–2016) |
| Links | |
| Website | www.Eirsport.ie |
Eir Sport 2 (stylised aseir Sport 2, formerlySetanta Sports 1) was anIrishpay television channel owned by Setanta Sports Channel Ireland.[1]
The channel carried coverage ofassociation football (including top-flight European leagues andUEFA Europa League), boxing, golf, motorsport, and coverage of the SSE Airtricity League.
On 16 December 2013 Setanta Sports launched a high-definition of Setanta Sports 1. Setanta Sports 1 HD was first exclusively available throughVirgin Media Ireland, but later launched on Sky on 20 July 2015, along with Premier Sports HD.[2]
On 15 August 2019, Eir Sport andVirgin Media Sport contracted a deal to showVirgin Media Sport onEir Vision and Eir Sport 1 onVirgin Media Ireland.[3]
As per eir's announcement on 19 May 2021, Eir Sport 2 closed on 20 July 2021. Eir also announced thatEir Sport 1 will also close before the end of 2021.[4]
Most of these aired on bothSetanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1 and were shared between the two channels. In some instances (largelyfootball coverage) Setanta only possessedRepublic of Ireland rights, during such programming the channel is unavailable inNorthern Ireland. Conversely, live coverage of GAA Championship matches was available only in Northern Ireland and not the Republic.
Setanta's major in-house programme wasThe Sports Show (formerlyThe Hub) which aired daily. It also simulcasted the radio show Off The Ball fromNewstalk.
Setanta was the sponsor of theSetanta Sports Cup, an annual soccer tournament which featured teams from theLeague of Ireland andIrish Football League.
As of July 2016 in theRepublic of Ireland, the Eir Sport Package was available for free to any Eir broadband customer. This included theBT Sport package. Additionally the Eir Sport Package was available onEir TV,Virgin Media Ireland,Sky Ireland andVodafone TV.[5][6] Eir Sport offered commercial venues in Ireland programming of sports[citation needed] such asfootball (soccer),Gaelic football,hurling,golf,cricket,rugby union andrugby league andboxing.[citation needed]
On 12 September 2019, Eir Sport 2 was removed from Sky in Ireland and was replaced byVirgin Media Sport.[citation needed] On 13 August 2020, Virgin Media Sport's feeds onEir andSky Ireland that were provided by Eir were replaced by Eir Sport 2 on those platforms, as Eir refused to pay the contracted distribution license fee.[7]