Setanta Sports facts for kids
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Sports broadcasting |
| Founded | Dublin, Ireland (1990) |
| Founder | Michael O'Rourke |
| Defunct | 23 June 2009 (UK only) 29 January 2020 (except post-Soviet states) |
| Headquarters | P. Kakabadze 7A, Tbilisi, Georgia |
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Area served
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Current: select Eurasian countries (except Russia) Philippines Formerly: United Kingdom Ireland Northern Ireland Asia Central Asia Africa |
| Owner | Adjara Group |
Setanta Sports Media is a company that broadcasts sports channels. It started in Dublin, Ireland, in 1990. The company's main goal was to show Irish sports events to people around the world.
Today, Setanta Sports Media broadcasts in some countries in Eurasia and in the Philippines. It used to have channels in many other places, like the UK, Ireland, Asia, Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada. The company is now owned by Adjara Group, which is based in Georgia.
Contents
What Setanta Sports Does
Current Channels
Eurasia
Setanta Sports sold most of its channels. However, it still owns and runs channels in several countries. These include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Philippines
A new version of Setanta Sports started in the Philippines in late 2022. It offers both a regular TV channel and an online streaming service. This happened after the original founders of Setanta and Adjara Group bought the rights to show the Premier League in the Philippines.
This channel shows popular sports like the Premier League (soccer), La Liga (soccer), and some matches from the NBA (basketball). It also broadcasts games from the NBL Australia (basketball).
Past Channels
Republic of Ireland
In 2015, a company called Eir bought Setanta Sports Ireland. The next year, in 2016, Setanta Sports was renamed Eir Sport.
Africa
Setanta Sports used to have channels called Setanta Sports and Setanta Action in Africa. In 2013, another company bought these channels. They were later renamed Fox Sports. In 2019, they became ESPN Africa.
Australia
In 2014, Setanta Sports Australia and Setanta Sports Plus were sold. They were bought by Al Jazeera Media Network. The channels then became BeIN Sports Australia later that year.
Canada
Setanta Sports also had a channel in Canada. It was a partnership with a Canadian company called Rogers Communications. In 2011, Rogers bought Setanta's share of the channel. The channel then became Sportsnet World.
United Kingdom
Setanta Sport started its own channels in the United Kingdom in 2002. They launched Setanta Sport 1 and Setanta Sport 2. Over the years, Setanta gained rights to show many different sports. These included football, golf, and horse racing. They also launched channels for specific football clubs like Celtic TV, Rangers TV, LFC TV, and Arsenal TV.
Money Problems and Closure
In 2009, Setanta Sports started having serious money problems. They could not pay for the rights to show some sports events. This caused problems for many football clubs that were waiting for payments.
On June 19, 2009, Setanta Sports failed to pay a large amount of money to the English Premier League. Because of this, the Premier League ended its agreement with Setanta. They had to sell the rights to the football matches to another company.
On June 23, 2009, Setanta GB (the UK part of the company) had to close down. This meant that most of its channels in Great Britain stopped broadcasting. About 430 jobs were lost because of the closure.
Some of the club channels, like Arsenal TV and LFC TV, tried to continue. Arsenal TV closed later, but Liverpool FC took over LFC TV and kept it running.
Setanta GB also had problems with customer service. Many customers found it very hard to cancel their subscriptions. They had to send a letter to cancel, and the notice period was sometimes changed without telling customers.
Southeast Asia
Setanta Sports also had a channel in Asia. In 2015, a company called Discovery International bought this channel. It was still called Setanta Sports for a while. In 2020, Setanta Sports Asia was replaced by a new channel called Rugby Pass TV. Later, Premier Sports Asia took over the subscribers from Rugby Pass.
United States
Setanta Sports used to broadcast in the United States with Setanta Sports USA from 2005 to 2010. When Setanta Sports USA faced financial difficulties, Fox Sports bought the rights to its programs. These programs were then added to Fox Soccer Channel and a new channel called Fox Soccer Plus.
Other Activities
- In 2009, Setanta Sports had a share in a company called OneVision. This company was going to develop a digital TV network in Ireland, but the plans did not work out.
- From 2010, Setanta Sports partnered with Jennings Bet to offer an online gaming service called setantabet.com for customers in Ireland.
- In 2010, Setanta Sports launched apps for iPhones and a Setanta Goals service for other mobile phones.
See also
In Spanish: Setanta Sports para niños
- Special 1 TV: a funny TV show on Setanta Sports that used puppets to make fun of football personalities.
- Premier Sports and FreeSports: TV channels in the United Kingdom started by the same people who managed Setanta Sports.
