GOODBYE SETANTA RUGBY HELLO FOX SC?
SETANTA SPORTS USA AGREES TO TERMS WITH FOX SOCCER CHANNEL
SELECT PROGRAMMING RIGHTS TO BE TRANSFERRED
New York, NY, January 27th, 2010 –Setanta Sports has today announced that it has reached an agreementwith Fox Soccer Channel to transfer select programming rights,including many premium soccer and rugby events. Fox Soccer Channelwill acquire these rights effective March 1, 2010.
Setanta Sports also announced that it will cease broadcasting itschannel in the United States and the Caribbean on February 28th 2010.
For the remainder of January and throughout February, Setanta willcontinue to broadcast normally and will feature its usual line up oftop games from the Barclays Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA ChampionsLeague, Heineken Cup, Magners League and Guinness Premiership.
Commenting on the transaction, Leonard Ryan, Co-Founder of SetantaSports said “This is a significant milestone in the re-organisation ofSetanta Sports, following the acquisition of Setanta’s businesses inIreland, the US, Canada and Australia in July 2009. Having examinedseveral options for our US business, we concluded that the best courseof action for the Group is to exit the US market and to concentrate onother markets where we can be a more substantial player in sportstelevision. This transaction enables us to achieve that objective andto explore new opportunities in other markets.”
Since acquiring the non UK businesses of the Setanta Group in July2009, several key goals aimed at re-building Setanta into a strongplayer in the worldwide sports broadcasting business have beenachieved, including;
