Setanta wins 2011 World Cup rights

RTÉ’s traditional grip on key global sports events took another hit yesterday as Setanta Sports inked a contract extension with the International Rugby Board for live coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Setanta had already secured rights to this year’s tournament in France and yesterday’s announcement means they will now be the only channel on which Irish viewers can see all 48 games from both tournaments.

However, some of this year’s World Cup will still be available to Irish terrestrial viewers with TV3 holding rights to the opening match, the four Irish pool games, two quarter-finals (including any Irish match) two semi-finals and the decider.