IRISH football fans hoping to catch the final rounds of the Champions League over the coming days have been dealt a blow after Virgin Media Sports announced they would be suspending all of their channels to eir Sports.
Virgin supposedly made the decision due to a pay dispute with the Irish television group.
The timing couldn't be worse as over the coming days both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League will be decided via a sequence of knockout matches.
Virgin allege that eir Sports have failed "to pay the contracted distributed license fee".
In a statement on Twitter, Virgin announced: "We have suspended our supply of Virgin Media Sport and Virgin Media Sports Extra to eir Sport because eir has failed to pay the contracted distributed license fee.
"Please refer to eir's technical support line: 1890 260 260, or contact @eircare."
Statement:
We have suspended our supply of Virgin Media Sport and Virgin Media Sport Extra to eir Sport because, eir has failed to pay the contracted distribution licence fee.
Please refer to eir's technical support line: 1890 260 260, or contact @eircare.— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) August 13, 2020
The Covid-19 crisis has wreaked havoc with sports stations and television providers given the subsequent suspension of sport back in March.
Many TV companies felt they shouldn't have to pay for matches and events that were no longer taking place, and that they wouldn't be able to supply their viewers with.
Eir Sports responded to the suspension via the42.ie, outlining their stance that they "can only pay for the sports events that actually take place," and that they offered "fair terms" to Virgin which were not accepted.
"In common with other live entertainment businesses operating through this pandemic, eir Sports can only pay for the sports events that actually take place.
"We have consistently offered fair terms to each of our live sports content providers to reflect the reduced timetable, however Virgin Media has not agreed to updated terms and has taken the unreasonable step of unilaterally withholding their feed from Virgin Media Sports viewers on the eir network.
"eir Sports remains committed to offering the best in available live sports entertainment and we are working towards a swift resolution to this issue."
See More: Champions League, Eir Sports, Football, Virgin Media
