CELTIC and Linfield fans unable to secure a ticket for the sides' Champions League clash at Windsor Park on Friday will need access to a relatively obscure sports channel to watch the game.
It comes as Celtic also said it is "not planning" at present to organise TV rights for the second leg in Glasgow next week.
Premier Sports, an add-on channel for Sky and Virgin customers at a cost of £9.99 per month, has won the UK television rights for the first leg of the tie, meaning fans in the north will need two separate subscriptions to watch the action live from Belfast.
Viewers can alternatively subscribe to Premier Sports' 'Premium Player' to watch the game online.
Eir Sport, previously known as Setanta and part of the BT Sport package, will screen the match in the Republic, but it is expected that the feed will be 'geo-blocked' to viewers in the north.
In March, BT Sport signed a £1.2 billion deal to show all Europa League and Champions League games until 2021.
However, at present it only covers matches from the group stage onwards, allowing clubs to negotiate their own TV rights for qualifying games.
It is left to the club that is playing at home to arrange television coverage.
A Linfield spokesman told The Irish News that the match had been put out to tender and that the "best offer" had come from Premier, which has also screened Europa League qualifying ties involving Rangers in recent weeks.
Premier Sports could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Celtic has decided not to take up its ticket allocation for the game and Linfield chairman Roy McGivern said earlier this week that any Celtic fans who "turn up and are identified will not be admitted to the ground".
The Glasgow club is offering live audio commentary of the match to subscribers of its own subscription TV channel, with full delayed television coverage at midnight.
Those living outside Britain and Ireland can also watch the game live on Celtic TV from 5pm.
But Celtic has said that it is "not planning" to organise live TV rights for the second leg in Glasgow, due to take place on Wednesday July 19.
Moves to arrange coverage may be made depending on whether the tie remains up for grabs following Friday's game.
