Setanta Sports has confirmed the signing of a set of major new rights deals for the Irish TV sports market that will see some of the world’s sporting summer highlights broadcast exclusively through its channels.
A 3 year deal has been agreed with the All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon to show the Championships live starting from 2015. In a further boost to their tennis coverage Setanta also confirmed an extension to their deal with Roland Garros meaning that the grand slam event remains live on Setanta Ireland until 2019.
Coverage from Wimbledon will be taken from the World Feed broadcast from London and include all the main action from the show courts as Tennis takes centre stage through June and early July.
Across the same period, and picking up when the tennis closes down for the night, the skills of Lionel Messi, Neymar and South America’s finest footballers will also be exclusively live with all 26 game from the Copa America in Chile.
Setanta Sports will also bring viewers live coverage of the inaugural European Games from June 12th to 28th. Baku 2015 will see a host of Irish athletes battle it out against Europe’s finest in 17 sports and the coverage will include all of our medal prospect boxers including Katie Taylor.
The Broadcaster has also extended its deal with the R&A to cover The Open Championship live for the next two years. Along with all 4 days live this summer Setanta will also be showing The Champions Challenge live from St Andrews on the Wednesday.
These newly announced rights are in addition to previously announced highlights on Setanta this summer starting with Republic of Ireland v England live from the Aviva on Sunday June 7th and rolling through to the fight that has the whole world talking. Conor McGregor against Jose Aldo in the UFC on July 11th on BT Sport 1.
“Great live content leads to good subscriber numbers and good viewing numbers, both of which have been strong in the early part of this year,” said Brian Quinn, Marketing Operations Director at Setanta Sports speaking to Sport for Business yesterday.
“It’s great to be able to announce such a wide range of new rights deals all of which bring more live sport to our customers this summer. Our football fans will be delighted to be able to see Messi and Neymar in action in the Copa America.”
“It’s also wonderful to be able to bring new content to our customers so we are excited about showing such a historic Championship as Wimbledon which was first held in 1877. There will also be plenty of history on show at St. Andrews in July at the 144th Open including our coverage of the Champions Challenge on the Wednesday.”
“A lot of attention will be focused on Conor McGregor’s title fight in July but it’s also great to be able to show some of Ireland’s finest amateur boxers in the European Games from Baku.”
“We will also have live coverage of the World Rugby U20 Championships in Italy this June, through our strong relationship with BT Sport and the whole collection of great sport will make for a summer to remember.”
Image Credits: Inpho.ie and Getty Images
