By Jonathan Easton

The United Rugby Championship (URC) has announced a partnership with RTÉ to launch a new global streaming service.

URC TV will provide fans with access to all 151 URC matches live and on-demand.

URC is annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales, with teams from the two hemispheres taking on one another in a unique contest.

The streaming service will be available across multiple devices with mobile apps launching soon after the tournament starts.

A free service showing a range of highlights, archive matches and short videos, will be available in all countries including the UK and South Africa (fans in these countries can watch all games live on Premier Sports and Super Sport respectively).

The platform will also offer a range of subscription packages including a Season Pass (all games), Ireland Pass (all games featuring Irish Clubs), Weekend Passes (all games within a round) and individual game passes.

Chief executive of URC, Martin Anayi said: “In addition to RTÉ strength in TV it has experience of streaming big sporting events globally and is evidence of a broadcaster that can adapt to market demands and provide a very creative offering for rights holders.”

Dee Forbes, RTÉ Director-General said: “We are delighted to collaborate with URC on the launch of this innovative new global OTT service to ensure fans across the world don’t miss a moment of URC action”.