Virgin Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Global that owns TV3 and the UPC cable service has entered into an agreement with ITV to acquire UTV Ireland, the nation’s newest free-to-air commercial broadcaster for a sum of €10 million.
UTV Ireland is a general entertainment free-to-air channel which is available on Virgin Media, eir Vision, Vodafone, Sky and Saorview.
The agreement also includes a comprehensive 10 year output deal for Ireland for ITV produced programming. The deal follows the successful acquisition of TV3 Group last year and is a further testament to the confidence Virgin Media has in the Irish TV programming and production sectors. On completion of the acquisition, UTV Ireland will become part of Virgin Media which will be an essential step to securing the channel’s long term future.
UTV Ireland is a general entertainment free-to-air channel which is available on Virgin Media, eir Vision, Vodafone, Sky and Saorview. It offers compelling content such as Emmerdale and Coronation Street as well as live streaming and catch-up services and its UTV Player is available across a variety of devices.
Tony Hanway, CEO of Virgin Media Ireland
We are delighted to welcome UTV Ireland to the Virgin Media family. This investment demonstrates our commitment to provide great entertainment for Irish viewers and adds Ireland's newest TV channel to our existing portfolio which includes TV3 and 3e.
David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media
The acquisition of UTV Ireland gives us leadership in commercial broadcasting in Ireland and extends our platform to showcase the best Irish, UK and international programming. It also gives us exciting opportunities to buy and make exclusive programmes for our Virgin Media customers in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK.
