AERTV.IE, THE online television streaming service launched by Magnet Networks, has introduced Aertv Sports, a specialist channel that promises to showcase “under-represented niche sports” to viewers worldwide.
The channel will initially show recorded features from Red Bull TV and sports news packages from multimedia agency Ballywire, but is hoping to add live sports content from the summer, says Philippe Brodeur, director of Aertv.ieat Magnet.
“We’re not talking about the big ones obviously. We’re not going to be showing Premiership football or its equivalents in rugby and GAA,” says the former TV3 executive.
An "unbelievable" number of sporting events around the country are already being filmed without being broadcast, he adds. Aertv.iecurrently streams 16 channels online, including all Irish terrestrial channels. It has added to its portfolio in recent months, launching channels Aertv Music, Aertv Movies, Unravel Travel and Dublin Community TV.
Brodeur says Aertv.ie, given it is accessible to anyone with a broadband connection or internet-enabled device, can "provide fantastic exposure and promotion" for niche sports.
A quarter of the site’s traffic comes through mobile phones, suggesting it is live events that fit its model best.
On a daily basis, the programmes most commonly watched through Aertv.ieare news programmes, which don't naturally lend themselves to time-shifting via personal video recorders and are, as a result, more likely to be watched on the move.
