According to SportBusiness.com, Setanta Sports is considering bidding on the rights to the FA Cup and England internationals which will become available next month.
The FA is hoping the TV rights will sell for approximately $800 million. Currently Sky Sports and the BBC share the rights package, but in addition to Setanta Sports, NTL, Channel Five and ITV are also interested.
If Setanta was to win the TV rights to the FA Cup and England internationals, this would be a huge blow to the BBC and Sky especially. In the United States, it would mean that starting next season, Fox Soccer Channel would probably not be carrying these matches but Setanta Sports in North America would.
And with Sentanta’s penetration into U.S. households nowhere near Fox Soccer Channel’s, how can this be anything but bad?
The FA Cup last 16 draw just took place, not a particularly inspiring set of matches AGAIN!
Aye, the blues get lucky again…
Chelsea vs. Blackpool / Norwich
Watford vs. Ipswich
Preston vs. Man City
Plymouth vs. Derby
Man Utd vs. Reading
Arsenal / Bolton vs. Blackburn
Bristol City / M’brough vs. West Brom
Fulham vs. Tottenham
given the relatively poor quality of fsc’s presentation of the epl when compared to sentanta the switch can only be considered great news! now if we can only get some interesting matches
One interesting note: the last time these rights went for sale, they actually went for cheaper than the previous contract (by about 28%). This time, the FA is shooting for a 25% increase at least. Interesting how fortunes change sometimes. With them seeking an increase, I have a feeling the BBC will be hard pressed to keep up.
I’ll also note that nothing changes really soon on this, as this contract would not start until after the European Championships in 2008.
Gaffer:
International video rights are sold separately from UK domestic rights.
Under NewsCorp’s current deal with the English FA, NewsCorp-managed units FOX Sports International (FSI) in the U.S. and Canada and ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) in Asia (except Japan) have the TV rights to the English FA Cup through 2008.
FSI is expected to keep the English FA Cup on a combination of FOX Soccer Channel/FOX Sports en Espanol and pay-per-view/Setanta Premium in 2008.
Oliver,
Thanks for correcting me on that. I appreciate it. Keeping track of the confusing TV rights deals is a tough job, but your site does a fantastic job of doing so (at http://www.soccertv.com).
Cheers,
The Gaffer