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Sky Sports and Premier Sports overlap in one big way: both show live Premier League football in Ireland. Sky Sports has most of the games, and Premier Sports has an exclusive Saturday 3pm match every round. Outside the Premier League, they split neatly. Sky Sports is the home of Formula 1, most big golf and the PDC World Darts Championship. Premier Sports is the channel for Irish provincial rugby in the Champions Cup and the URC, and it has first pick of Tuesday night Champions League games.
What Sky Sports Covers
Sky Sports is 12 channels plus extra Sky Sports+ streams. For Irish viewers, the main draws are:
- Premier League: most of the live games, under a deal that runs to 2030/31.
- Formula 1: every live session, exclusively, until 2034.
- Golf: most of the big events, including the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor live (RTÉ has the highlights).
- Darts: the PDC World Darts Championship, which Sky Sports has shown for many years.
From the 2027/28 season, Sky Sports also gets the Champions League games that RTÉ and Premier Sports don’t pick, plus the Europa League and Conference League.
What Premier Sports Covers
Premier Sports has two channels, Premier Sports 1 and 2. For Irish viewers, the main draws are:
- Premier League: an exclusive Saturday 3pm game every round, which is only shown in Ireland.
- Champions League: first pick of Tuesday night games, until 2031. RTÉ has first pick of Wednesday games, free.
- Champions Cup rugby: all 63 matches this season, under a deal that runs to the end of 2026/27. There’s no free TV coverage.
- URC: every Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht game. TG4 also shows at least 26 URC games a season free, in Irish.
- Scottish football: 22 Scottish Premiership games a season, plus the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup, which are both exclusive to Premier Sports in Ireland.
- LaLiga: over 340 live games a season, such as Barcelona v Real Madrid.
- Other rugby: French Top 14 and Challenge Cup games.
How to Get Each One
If you don’t want a contract, NOW streams both:
- Sky Sports is in NOW’s Sports membership: €38.99 a month, or €14.99 for a day pass.
- Premier Sports is in NOW’s Sports Extra membership, along with TNT Sports 1 to 4: €33.99 a month, or €14.99 for a day pass.
- Both together are €27 a month on NOW’s Sports Saver bundle, which has a 12-month minimum term.
These are the prices on NOW’s Irish site on 28 October 2026. NOW often has limited-time offers below the monthly prices, so check its own pages before you sign up. Our streaming prices tracker shows when each price was last checked.
If you’d rather have a TV package, Sky, Virgin Media and Vodafone carry Sky Sports, Premier Sports and TNT Sports, so the cost depends on the package you’re on. See our NOW and Sky guides for more.
Which One Do You Need?
- Every live Premier League game: you need both, plus TNT Sports, which has a smaller package of games. NOW’s Sports Extra includes TNT Sports and Premier Sports together.
- Formula 1, golf or darts: Sky Sports.
- Scottish football or LaLiga: mostly Premier Sports, though Sky Sports also shows some Scottish Premiership games and Disney+ has LaLiga’s Saturday evening kick-offs.
- Champions Cup or URC rugby: Premier Sports. The Six Nations is free on RTÉ and Virgin Media, and Ireland’s November Tests are free on Virgin Media.
- Champions League: Premier Sports for Tuesday’s first pick. Wednesday’s first pick is free on RTÉ, and Virgin Media shows most of the other games free until the end of the 2026/27 season.
If you only follow one or two of these, pick the service that carries them. If you follow several, compare the cost of both memberships with the Sports Saver bundle, and review your subscriptions every few months so you’re not paying for one you’ve stopped using.
Making Sure Your Setup Can Handle Both
If you’re planning to run both services, perhaps through a mix of a smart TV app, a streaming stick and a set-top box, it helps to have your hardware sorted rather than juggling inputs mid-match. A 3-in-1 HDMI switch can let you connect multiple streaming devices to a single HDMI port on an older TV without constantly swapping cables, which is handy if your sports setup has grown over the years.
Free-to-air TV still matters for sport too: RTÉ, Virgin Media and TG4 all show big games free on Saorview. If your household relies on those channels, a reliable outdoor digital TV aerial keeps that side of your setup solid, separate from whatever subscriptions you pay for.
Checking Regional Availability Properly
If an app says content isn’t available in your region, it usually comes down to account settings. Make sure your Sky, NOW or TV provider account address and billing details show that you’re in Ireland, and that you’ve downloaded the app from the correct regional app store listing for your device. If a mismatch persists, contacting the provider’s support team directly is the quickest way to get it corrected, since they can see account-level details you can’t adjust yourself.
Recommended for This Guide
Outdoor Digital TV Aerial
A proper outdoor aerial gives the most reliable free-to-air reception for big match days on RTÉ or TG4, when every stream is under strain.
3-in-1 HDMI Switch
Useful if your streaming box, games console, and set-top box are all fighting over one HDMI port on match day.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do Sky Sports and Premier Sports both show the Premier League?
Can I get Sky Sports without a full Sky TV package?
Can I watch Sky Sports and Premier Sports on the same TV?
Which one shows the Champions Cup and the URC?
What should I do if an app says content isn't available in my region?
Related
- Where to watch the Premier League in Ireland
- Where to watch the Champions League in Ireland
- Where to watch the Champions Cup in Ireland
- Rugby on TV in Ireland
- Full guide to legal streaming services in Ireland
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