Setanta To Split Champions League Rights With Fox Sports
Setanta Sports yesterday announced that it has inked a new three-year deal to continue to telecast UEFA Champions League matches in the U.S through the '11-12 season. The rights will be split with Fox Sports, which recently won a bidding war against ESPN. The combined rights packages will comprise all 146 Champions League matches each season, with Setanta and Fox sharing the rights to ancillary programming. Setanta also has the rights to stream all matches live on its broadband subscription service (Setanta). In N.Y., Jack Bell noted Fox plans to broadcast games on Fox Soccer Channel (FSC), Fox Sports en Español, FX and FSN. The '10 championship match at Madrid's Santiago Bernabeau Stadium "will be shown on FX." Fox Sports Int'l Exec VP & GM David Sternberg said that the new deal "will 'accelerate' HD plans." He added that 16 FSN Champions League matches and the '10 finals will be in HD. FSC "plans to begin offering HD by the end of 2009." Bell noted FSC has done a "credible job satisfying the cravings of soccer fans across North America." But the channel "does little beyond showing games and highlights on its nightly wrap-up show," which is produced in Winnipeg. For its MLS games, FSC "only recently started sending its own announcing and production crews on location." But perhaps "most vexing, especially those of us more prone to speaking American English, FSC is obsessed with speaking in British English." However, FSC is "uniquely positioned to be the destination for soccer in North America" (NYTIMES.com, 4/6).
NEXT MOVE: The FINANCIAL TIMES' Salamander Davoudi reports Setanta has held a "fresh round of talks with private equity firms" in an effort to raise up to US$146.4M following the company's "failure to retain both its [EPL] rights packages beyond 2010" in the U.K. The "attempted fundraising may be greeted with scepticism as it comes amid questions over how the TV company will reach break-even on its subscriber model." Setanta has "considered handing back some of its portfolio of sports rights and is looking closely at the value of all its assets." The net owns rights to the Scottish Premier League and "shows some England international matches and FA Cup ties" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 4/7).
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