Setanta Sports USA
 | This article contains promotional content. |
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Ireland Setanta Sports Group |
Setanta Sports North America is a television channel launched in 2005 by the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to offer live and tape-delayed events.
On August 4, 2006 Setanta announced it would be showing more than 90 live Barclay's Premiership matches during the 2006/2007 season and raised its monthly fee to $14.99(USD). Currently, it is available via DirectTV,[1] DISH Network,[2] and GlobeCast World TV[3] satellite providers, as well as Verizon FIOS and some Cox Cable providers.
The channel has exclusive North American rights to delayed Manchester United and Chelsea matches on MUTV and Chelsea TV, which are shown in segments within the channel. Any given broadcaster can only gain access to a maximum of 2 club channels under the current Premier League international TV rights.
Programming
Setanta Sports Channel
Soccer
- Shared live rights with Fox Soccer Channel of the Barclays Premier League. Matches are currently Saturdays at 7:30am and 10am ET (a second live match airs on Setanta Xtra and is rebroadcast on the main channel later that day), Sundays at 8:30am, Mondays at 3:00pm and first-choice of any mid-week matches.
- Exclusive live Carling Cup football.
- Shared live rights with ESPN of the UEFA Champions League (Setanta also has some matches delayed to later that night or the following day).
- Shared live rights with Fox Soccer Channel of the UEFA Cup, which becomes the UEFA Europa League in 2009-10.
- Exclusive live Coca-Cola Championship, League One and League Two matches, including play-offs.
- Live Euro 2008 qualifiers. Others air on tape delay either later on in the day, or a few days later if the live broadcast was on pay-per-view.
- Live French Ligue 1 football.
- Scottish Cup football.
- Delayed Scottish Premier League matches. The delayed matches consist of Old Firm matches which air live at designated bars/restaurants on Setanta Premium.
- Live Asian Cup football.
- Live international football, including friendlies and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.
- Highlights shows for most of the leagues Setanta broadcasts.
Rugby League and Rugby Union
- Rugby World Cup.
- Live Guinness Premiership, rugby union club competition of England.
- Live Magners League, rugby union clubs of Ireland,Scotland, & Wales.
- Live Heineken Cup, rugby union club cup competition for 6 top European nations.
- Live Super League, rugby league clubs of England, Wales & France.
- Live Super 14, rugby union clubs of Australia, New Zealand, & South Africa.
- Live NRL, rugby league clubs of Australia & New Zealand.
- Live IRB U-19 World Cup.
- Live Currie Cup, rugby union club cup competition for South Africa.
Other Events
- Live Australian Rules Football - Australian Football League premiership matches.
- Selected live Gaelic Athletic Association events; delayed GAA Championship matches.
- Tape delayed A1GP - Auto racing; "world cup of motorsport"
Setanta Premium
This is available only to commercial subscribers for Pay-Per-View events while some content shown delayed on Domestic System.
- Gaelic Athletic Association Championship and League events.
- Scottish Premier League.
- FA Cup.
- Six Nations Championship in rugby union.
- Euro 2008 qualifiers, international soccer friendlies.
- UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches
This service charges fans a cover charge of $10-$20 per head, depending on the match.
Setanta Sports Xtra
Since buying Barclays Premier League rights, Setanta has offered the Setanta Sports Xtra Channel at no extra charge to DirecTV customers. This channel only broadcasts extra BPL matches that otherwise would not be shown at all. Because of space constraints on other platforms, DIRECTV is the only provider that currently has this channel.
Platforms
Broadband
Setanta also offers a broadband subscription service, Setanta Broadband, allowing customers with a high speed internet connection to view some of the Setanta Sports channel content on their computers and includes access to pay-per-view events. Portuguese League soccer is available and English Premier League matches are also broadcast starting the 2007-08 season on Setanta Broadband. Broadband customers do not receive Australian Football League matches as of July 2008, due to the AFL's new distribution deal with aussiesport.tv.