Irish Rugby : Provincial Rugby : News : ERC Statement On Proposed TV Deal

Four Ireland players - Brian O'Driscoll, Jonathan Sexton, Paul O'Connell and Jamie Heaslip - have been included in the British & Irish Lions team for Saturday's first Test against Australia in Brisbane.

The Ireland Under-20s were runners-up in a tough pool and despite losing to hosts France last night, Mike Ruddock's charges could still finish the IRB Junior World Championship on a high by beating Australia in Sunday's 7th-8th place play-off.

The waiting is almost over as the British & Irish Lions prepare to get the Test series against Australia underway in Brisbane on Saturday. The Lions team for the first Test will be announced in the early hours of Thursday morning (3am Irish time/12pm local time).

While awaiting further information regarding Premiership Rugby's proposed agreement with BT, the ERC Board, which met in Dublin today, believes that any such agreement would be in breach both of IRB regulations and of a mandate from the ERC Board itself.

European club rugby's six participant Unions have granted the authority to sell broadcast rights to its tournaments solely to ERC.

It was unanimously agreed at an ERC Board meeting on June 6, 2012 that ERC would conclude a new four-year agreement with Sky Sports for the UK and Ireland exclusive live broadcast rights to the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup until 2018. Premiership Rugby was party to that decision.

ERC remains determined to honour its own commercial commitments and to continue its work to further develop the European club game.

All ERC stakeholders are scheduled to convene in Dublin on Tuesday, September 18 to begin the formulation of a new Shareholder Agreement for the 2014/15 season and beyond.

ERC Board of Directors -

Independent Chairman: Jean-Pierre Lux

England: Rob Andrew (RFU), Peter Wheeler (Premiership Rugby)

France: Michel Palmié (FFR), René Bouscatel (LNR)

Ireland: Philip Browne (IRFU), Peter Boyle (IRFU)

Italy: Fabrizio Gaetaniello (FIR), Orazio Arancio (FIR)

Scotland: Ian McLauchlan (SRU), Mark Dodson (SRU)

Wales: Roger Lewis (WRU), Stuart Gallacher (RRW)