Setanta Sports have announced a new deal with BT to add their sport channels, including ESPN, to the Setanta Sports pack – meaning that subscribers in Ireland will receive BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN from 1st August.
The deal brings an additional 38 Barclays Premier League games to Setanta’s existing 33 games, along with other live sporting events including the FA Cup, Scottish Premier League, Bundesliga, Aviva Premiership and UFC.
BT Sport acquired the UK and Ireland rights to 38 Barclays Premier League games including 28 Saturday games - with 18 of these being top pick games which, for the first time, will not be on Sky Sports.
Brian Quinn, Marketing Operations Director of Setanta Sports, said: ‘This content is a real game changer for Setanta. It’s not just going from 33 to 71 Premier League games that’s exciting, it’s the massive step-up in the quality of games that will really make the difference for our customers. The new games from BT include 18 top pick matches meaning that we will have top of the table clashes between the leading teams. Also, having the channels available to our customers in HD is a great addition.’
Earlier this year BT also acquired the rights to the ESPN channel in the UK and Ireland, meaning that Setanta Sports subscribers will receive all BT Sport and ESPN’s live premium content.
This programming will sit alongside Setanta’s existing portfolio of sport including 33 Live Barclays Premier League games at 3pm on Saturdays, Live Allianz Leagues GAA, Formula 1, Champions League, Europa League, NHL, NASCAR, League of Ireland and live horseracing.
Marc Watson, CEO of TV for BT, added: ‘We are delighted that Setanta Sports will be distributing BT Sport in the Republic of Ireland. Ireland is a very important market for us and we are confident that Setanta can do a great job establishing the BT Sport brand with Irish sports fans. BT Sport offers some of the very best live football and rugby action. We’ve signed up some of the world’s biggest football stars, like Gareth Bale and Rio Ferdinand, as well as top presenters, such as Jake Humphrey, Lawrence Dallaglio and Clare Balding, to make BT Sport unmissable for sports fans. With Setanta’s existing content, we think BT Sport and Setanta sports will be a winning combination.’
The new channels launch on Sky on August 1st.
Further information on subscribing to Setanta Sports can be found here.
