Setanta set to pay €230m for live soccer rights

Irish pay television broadcaster Setanta Sports is set to pay approximately €230 million as its part of the successful joint bid with ITV for live and exclusive rights to the FA Cup and England home internationals from 2008.

Setanta, which was founded by Irishmen Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke, and ITV are paying €650 million between them to secure the rights in a four-year deal. These were previously jointly held by the BBC and Sky, who paid about €450 million last time out.

This means that Setanta, which has about 250,000 subscribers, will show more live English football from 2008 than any other broadcaster, including Sky, which broke the mould in sports broadcasting in the UK.

The deal, which surprised analysts in the UK, underlines Setanta's credentials as a top-flight player in the market for sports broadcasting rights. The company last year paid €150 million to secure live rights to United States PGA golf for Britain and Ireland, which had been held by Sky since 1993.

Setanta will show 16 live FA Cup matches each year, including the final; the annual Community Shield game; and three live England internationals. In addition, it will cover England's women's internationals and U21 and B games. The company will also broadcast live games from the FA Trophy - a non-league competition - and the FA Youth Cup.

Setanta last year won rights for two packages of live Premiership games, giving it access to 79 live league matches from August. The Irish company also has the rights to show 33 live Premiership games in Ireland on Saturday afternoons, the Champions League here, and to Conference football in the UK.

Mark O'Meara, Setanta's chief operating officer, said the deal was a "great coup" for the company.

"This represents a big step up for us," he said. Setanta has raised about €400 million in the past two years with Goldman Sachs, Benchmark Capital and Doughty Hanson, the private equity group that owns TV3, backing the venture. Mr O'Meara said Setanta did not envisage, at this stage, having to raise additional funds from new or existing shareholders to fund its deal with the Football Association in England. Any potential fundraising would be for a "very modest" sum, he added.

"Our existing shareholders are standing behind us on this and will support us if necessary. But we are fully funded."

The rights cover the UK and Ireland and all of the matches will be broadcast on Setanta Sports 1.