ITV Strikes England Deal With Setanta
Setanta Sports has finally reached an agreement to sub-licence the highlights coverage of England’s World Cup qualifiers with ITV agreeing a deal for the remaining three away games.
In a controversial move, Setanta had failed to strike a deal with the BBC or ITV to show footage from the England’s victories over Andorra and Croatia, sparking fury among the section of fans without access to the satellite channel.
The dispute was caused by both broadcasters refusal to meet Setanta’s asking price for access to the highlights after the pay-TV broadcaster purchased the live rights to the games over the summer.
Setanta was believed to be asking in the region of £1m for the highlights rights to the games – a figure that no terrestrial broadcaster was able to match.
ITV eventually struck a one-off deal to replay England’s victory against Croatia last week but only 24 hours after the match had taken place.
However, the side’s fixtures against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will now be broadcast live on Setanta, with the highlights being shown on ITV Sport shortly after.
