Setanta Sports News Channel Faces Delay
The launch of the Setanta Sports News service on the Virgin Media platform has been delayed after TWI pulled out of the project.
TWI, the sports-content production arm of IMG Media which produces Sky’s cricket coverage and the BBC’s snooker and darts, said yesterday that it was unable to agree terms with Virgin Media.
The channel was supposed to be launched on September 29, however that has now been ruled out, with Setanta entering discussions with other potential partners.
Setanta now hopes that the channel will be launched some time before the end of this year.
At the start of July, Setanta unveiled the initial 19 fixtures of its 46 live Barclays Premier League games for the 2007/08 season (see Setanta Unveils Premier League Football Schedule).
Last May, Setanta paid around £392 million to secure the rights to screen the 46 matches for the next three years (see Sky And Setanta Share Remaining Premiership Rights).
Virgin Media is keen to go ahead with the channel having lost Sky Sports News in the ongoing carriage dispute with Sky earlier this year (see Sky Anytime? Not For Virgin Media Cable Homes).
The legal fight between Virgin Media and Sky is to continue for some time yet, as both parties recently agreed on a timetable where a trial will not commence until the middle of next year.
Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com