Setanta Signs Icon To Offer Sponsorship Packages

Sports broadcaster, Setanta Sports, has appointed Media Icon to handle TV sales for its Setanta Sports channel in the UK, including its live coverage of Scottish Premier League football.

Setanta won the rights to broadcast Scottish Premier League games from the 2004/5 season and has already built a subscriber base of over 100,000 residential customers in Scotland with its live game coverage of all 38 weekends of the season.

The Setanta Sports channel is also available in all Sky Sports pubs, allowing the channel to deliver an in-home and out of home combined audience of up to 515,000, according to research from Sports Marketing Surveys.

Explaining the appointment of Media Icon, Roger Hall, managing director of Setanta Sports GB and Ireland, said: “Having established a subscriber audience of over 100,000 and with huge audiences in pubs and clubs we feel we have now reached the critical mass needed by advertisers and that’s why we have appointed Media Icon as exclusive representatives of the sale of advertising and sponsorship packages for our UK business.”

Media Icon will market the channel on a category exclusive advertiser basis, with season-long deals available for around £100,000. The company’s sales director, Mike Gull, said: “The SPL is of consuming interest to a huge number of people in Scotland where they are avid viewers at home as well as in pubs and clubs. This is the first time advertisers have had the opportunity to benefit from one of the best media opportunities in Scotland.”

John d’Arcy, who will handle the Setanta Sports account with Mike Gull, added: “The way forward for Setanta Sports is through long-term partnerships with advertisers and sponsors. We want our customers to grow with us and share in the rewards of our rapidly-growing audience and that’s why we will be marketing Setanta Sports to a select group of advertisers whose products and services fit the profile of the station.”

Setanta: 0207 930 8926 www.setanta.com