Setanta seals Premiership deal
Friday, 4 August 17:27 ET
Setanta Sports is pleased to announce that it has signed a deal to broadcast the English Premier League in North America.
More than 90 matches in the Barclays English Premier League, the world's most distinguished soccer enterprise with a combined television audience base of more than 570 million across 160 countries, will be telecast LIVE on Setanta Sports, starting Saturday, August 19.
Setanta Sports' extensive line up will include LIVE rights to an estimated 62 Saturday games, including first choice of the Saturday 10:00 AM ET matches, approximately 28 Sunday games and a selection of mid-week matches, many of which will be announced shortly.
All games will be available to residential Setanta customers as well as viewers visiting any of the nearly 1,000 pubs and bars nationwide which feature Setanta Sports programming on DirecTV.
In the first two days of the season, Setanta Sports will telecast matches featuring three of the most popular clubs in the League -- Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United:
Saturday August 19, 7.45am ET Sheffield United v LiverpoolSaturday, August 19, 10.00am ET Arsenal v Aston Villa (First Premier league match at new Arsenal stadium)
Sunday, August 20, 8.30am EST Manchester United v Fulham
Says Simon Green, Chief Executive of Setanta Sports North America: "We are very excited to bring the much-anticipated English Premier League to our current audience of expatriate soccer fans, and to drive consumer awareness among a broader US audience. "Our fan base expanded considerably this year with the LIVE telecast of the World Cup. Now our fans will see some of the best matches in this, the most exciting league of them all, LIVE and with original English commentary."
For additional programming information for the Barclays English Premier League games and other top soccer and rugby airing live on Setanta Sports, visit
www.setanta.com.
Setanta Sports is a 24-hour, digital pay TV network dedicated primarily to European and international soccer and world-class rugby.
It launched in the United States in April 2005 and is available on DIRECTV (Channel 615) and GlobeCast WorldTV. This year, the network will broadcast over 1,000 LIVE and delayed exclusive events from the world of soccer and rugby. This includes matches from the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, The Carling Cup, Coca Cola Championship as well as Scottish, French and Dutch Leagues.
Setanta also provides exclusive North American distribution of programming from Manchester United TV (MUTV) and Chelsea TV.
The international rugby featured is from the Six Nations, Tri-Nations, The Heineken European Cup, Guinness English Premiership, Powergen Cup, Super 14 and Celtic League. Setanta Broadband launched in February 2006 and features LIVE soccer, rugby and GAA. Setanta Premium operates the residential pay-per-view business and the commercial business which consists of special event, LIVE programming in pubs and other venues in the US and Canada.
Setanta Sports North America is owned by Dublin-based Setanta Sports, which operates pay television networks in the UK, Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, and Australia.
http://www.setanta.com/portal/article/football::england?open&articleid=66adadb97f99928f802571c00060ffd4So basically if you don't get or have Setanta..you're screwed19 Aug, 2006 Sheffield United Barclays Premiership A 12:45 --Setanta
26 Aug, 2006 West Ham United Barclays Premiership H 12:45 --Setanta
09 Sep, 2006 Everton Barclays Premiership A 12:45 --Setanta
17 Sep, 2006 Chelsea Barclays Premiership A 13:30 --Setanta
20 Sep, 2006 Newcastle United Barclays Premiership H 20:00 --Setanta
23 Sep, 2006 Tottenham Hotspur Barclays Premiership H 12:45 --Setanta
30 Sep, 2006 Bolton Wanderers Barclays Premiership A 12:45 --Setanta
14 Oct, 2006 Blackburn Rovers Barclays Premiership H 15:00 --
First match that may or may not be on Setanta.22 Oct, 2006 Manchester United Barclays Premiership A 13:00 --Setanta