Setanta Sports to take on BT Sports coverage in Ireland

Setanta Sports has announced that from this coming August 1st, the BT Sports channels, including ESPN, will join the Setanta Sports pack. Meaning if you're subscribed to Setanta you'll pick up the new heavily pushed stations...  Setanta already have the rights to broadcast Premier League games for the next couple of years in reland; the majority of these games kicking off at 3pm on packed Saturdays of footballing action. By subscribing to BT Sports viewers will also get the following... 38 Barclays Premier League games (with a lot of these being the 12.45 game on the Saturday) French Ligue 1 25 FA Cup games Italian Serie A 30 Scottish Premier League games 10 Scottish Football League games 69 Aviva Premiership Rugby games Brasileiro Série A Bundesliga Moto GP Major League Soccer 21 Live WTA tennis events 30 Live UFC events French Top 14 Rugby Irish sports fans had seemed a little worried as to how they'd be able to view the BT Sports content; those shiny ads featuring a bevy of big names seemingly teasing us with the tip before declaring themselves unavailable. This now isn't the case. This coverage will sit alongside "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" that the Irish broadcaster already shows in a remarkable turnaround for company. A couple of years ago the future of Setanta Sports looked decidedly bleak as the majority of their staff were made redundant with only a small crew kept on to work in the Dublin City centre HQ. But having picked up the rights to the aforementioned Saturday games, things are looking extremely positive for the Quays based operation. “This content is a real game changer for Setanta,” Setanta Sports’ Marketing Operations  Director, Brian Quinn said. “It’s not just going from 33 to 71 Premier League games that is exciting, it is the massive step-up in the quality of games that will really make the difference for our customers." 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." What this means for Irish fans is quite probably a fee that is seemingly still being discussed; but BT Sports was never going to be free given the content and how much they paid for it. This is also good news for Irish fans of Mixed Martial Arts and indeed the UFC, as Setanta had already been a home for the organisation and there is a barrage of UK and Irish exclusive content promised.