August kickoff for sports channel

Ireland’s first dedicated television sports channel will begin broadcasting later this summer, cable company NTL revealed yesterday.

Setanta Sports will offer live coverage of the English Premiership and Scottish Premier League to some 340,000 NTL customers as part of a basic package.

Setanta will also have exclusive live rights to rugby’s Celtic League, with more sports content to be added ahead of the August launch.

Setanta Sports chief executive Niall Cogley described it as a significant step in state broadcasting.

“In a relatively short-time Setanta has acquired the rights to top-class sports programming, which has a direct relevance and appeal to a wide audience in Ireland,” he said.

“Setanta has built up a significant broadcasting business over the last 14 years and looks forward to building on that with the launch of Setanta Sports.”

Setanta Sports will be the fifth national and the first indigenous channel to enter the Irish market since TV3 began in September 1998.

The sales and marketing director of NTL Ireland, Mark Mohan, said, “We are certain that Setanta Sports will be essential viewing for Irish sporting fans.”

The company said Setanta Sports will begin broadcasting at weekends in August. From next January broadcasts will be extended to weekday programmes.