BSkyB last Friday signed a Pounds 4.5m agreement to show Republic of Ireland home games up to June 2002, over the BSkyB satellite system. The Sky agreement does not affect the deal with RTE which also has a deal with the Football Association Ireland until June 2002. The new element is that the FAI have given BSkyB exclusive TV rights in the UK. BSkyB will also televise the Nike US cup games in June 2000. Irish soccer’s rights to away games is a problem yet to be solved. Irish state broadcaster RTE have made efforts to secure the rights to the away games for the World Cup 2002 qualifiers. TV3 won the rights to the away games for the Republic’s Euro 2000 group, gaining the station’s biggest audiences since coming on air.