Setanta Sports facts for kids
 |
|
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Sports broadcasting |
| Founded | 1990, in Dublin, Ireland |
| Founder | Michael O'Rourke |
| Defunct | 23 June 2009 (UK only) 29 January 2020 (except post-Soviet states) |
| Headquarters | M. Kostava 14, Tbilisi, Georgia |
|
Area served
|
Current: select Eurasian countries (except Belarus and Russia) Philippines Formerly: United Kingdom Ireland Northern Ireland Asia Africa |
| Owner | Adjara Group |
Setanta Sports Media is a company that shows sports on television. It started in Dublin, Ireland, in 1990. The main idea was to show Irish sports to people around the world.
The company grew and used to have TV channels in many countries, including Ireland, the UK, Australia, and the United States. Today, it is owned by a media group from the country of Georgia called Adjara Group. Setanta Sports now focuses on broadcasting in several countries in Europe and Asia.
Contents
Where Setanta Sports Operates Today
Eurasia
Setanta Sports sold many of its channels over the years. However, it still runs its own channels in several countries in Europe and Asia. These countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
The Philippines
In late 2022, Setanta Sports launched in the Philippines. It is available as a regular TV channel and as a streaming service online. This happened after Setanta and Adjara Group worked together to get the rights to show Premier League soccer games in the country.
Besides the Premier League, the channel in the Philippines also shows games from La Liga (Spain's top soccer league), some NBA basketball games, and the NBL Australia.
Former Setanta Channels Around the World
Setanta Sports used to be a much bigger company with channels in many different parts of the world. Here is what happened to some of them.
Republic of Ireland
In 2015, an Irish company called Eir bought Setanta Sports Ireland. A year later, in 2016, the channels were renamed Eir Sport.
Africa
Setanta used to run two sports channels in Africa. In 2013, the company 21st Century Fox bought them. The channels were renamed Fox Sports. Later, when Disney bought 21st Century Fox, the channels were changed again to ESPN Africa in 2019.
Australia
In 2014, the Setanta Sports channels in Australia were sold to the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channels were renamed BeIN Sports Australia.
Canada
Setanta had a channel in Canada that it ran with a Canadian company called Rogers Communications. In 2011, Rogers bought Setanta's part of the business. The channel became part of the Sportsnet family of channels and was renamed Sportsnet World.
United Kingdom
Setanta's time in the United Kingdom was very eventful. It grew quickly but also faced major problems.
The Rise of Setanta in the UK
Setanta first launched in the UK in 2002. It started as a pay-per-view service, where you had to pay for each event you wanted to watch. The company quickly grew. It made deals to show events from WWE, Scottish soccer, and even the American PGA Tour for golf.
The company launched special channels for famous soccer clubs like Celtic F.C., Rangers F.C., Liverpool FC, and Arsenal F.C.. It also started a channel called Setanta Sports News to compete with Sky Sports News. By 2007, Setanta was a major sports broadcaster in the UK.
Financial Problems and Closure
By 2009, Setanta was in serious financial trouble. The company owed a lot of money to sports leagues for the rights to show their games, but it was struggling to pay its bills. This caused problems for some soccer clubs that were counting on that money.
In June 2009, Setanta failed to make a £30 million payment to the English Premier League. Because of this, the Premier League took back the rights to show 46 games for the next season. Soon after, Setanta also lost its rights to show Scottish soccer.
On June 23, 2009, the UK part of Setanta went into "administration." This is what happens when a company runs out of money and can't pay its debts. Experts from a company called Deloitte were brought in to manage the shutdown. At 6:00 PM that day, most of Setanta's channels in Great Britain stopped broadcasting, and many people lost their jobs.
Why Were Some Fans Unhappy?
When Setanta got the exclusive rights to show away games for the England soccer team, some fans were upset. Before, highlights of these games were often shown for free on channels like BBC or ITV.
Setanta wanted more money for the highlights than these channels were willing to pay. This meant that for one big game against Croatia, there were no highlights on free TV right away. Only people who paid for Setanta could watch the game live. This even led to the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, saying it was "unfortunate" that so many fans couldn't see the match for free.
See also
In Spanish: Setanta Sports para niños
