BSkyB and Setanta agree deal for commercial customers

BSkyB and Setanta Sports Holdings have reached an agreement that will allow pubs, clubs, sports centres and other commercial premises to receive as part of their Sky subscription Setanta's live coverage of FA Premier League football from August 2007.
The announcement follows on from the FA Premier League deal reached by Sky for the three-year period starting in 2007/08.
Working together, Sky and Setanta will ensure that all of Sky's commercial customers will be able to receive all 138 live Premiership matches without the need for separate subscriptions. The new agreement builds on the existing agreement between Sky and Setanta under which commercial customers receive Setanta's live coverage of the Scottish Premier League as part of their Sky subscription.
In addition, Sky and Setanta have reached an agreement in principle under which Setanta's Premiership coverage will also be available to residential customers on the digital satellite platform. All residential digital satellite viewers will be able to subscribe to Setanta's package of channels as a standalone subscription service, following the agreement for Sky to continue to provide a range of Conditional Access services to Setanta.
Richard Freudenstein, Sky's Chief Operating Officer, said: "This is good news for Sky customers - both commercial and residential. We're pleased to have been able to reach agreement with Setanta to ensure that Setanta's Premiership coverage will be available on the satellite platform."
Trevor East, Setanta's Director of Sports, said: "Setanta's strategy is to make our programming services available on all platforms. We're delighted to have agreed a deal with Sky that will give us access to all Sky homes, as well as distribution to their pubs and clubs, for both the FA Premier League and the Scottish Premier League."
Continued investment in live sport by Sky has helped to achieve a bigger audience for live sport in pubs and clubs than ever before. In the 2005/06 season, fans made an average of 6.1 million visits per week to watch Sky Sports in pubs or clubs, up from 5.4 million per week the previous season.
(SP)