ITV, Setanta Bag FA Cup Rights

LONDON, March 30: The FA
has confirmed that ITV and Setanta will be its exclusive U.K. broadcast
partners for The FA Cup and England national soccer matches for a four-year
period starting from August 2008 through July 2012.

The new deal will generate
£425 million for The FA over the four-year term—a 42 percent increase on
the current £300 million agreement with BBC and Sky, which expires on July 31,
2008. The increased revenue will allow The FA to re-invest more funding back
into the game at all levels.

Under the new arrangement
with ITV and Setanta, The FA Cup and England matches will continue to be shown
on a mixture of free-to-air and subscription access, with the principal games
remaining on free-to-air TV. There will also be more airtime for other FA
competitions and teams, such as The FA Community Shield, The FA Trophy, FA Vase
and FA Youth Cup, all of which will now be covered in greater depth by Setanta
Sports. The women’s game will also benefit from enhanced programming including
live ITV1 coverage of the Women’s FA Cup Final.

For the first time, The FA
Cup will be available on a near-live basis on Setanta Sports, allowing fans the
chance to see a selection of matches in full between the final whistle on
Saturday and the evening highlights program on ITV1. Also available for the
first time via Setanta Sports will be an extended highlights VOD service for
The FA Cup and England matches. In addition, through the agreement with ITV,
fans will be able to access goal clips from England and FA Cup matches via
their mobile and Internet connections.

Brian Barwick, the FA
chief executive who led The FA’s negotiating team, said: "We are delighted
with this new deal and are looking forward to our partnership with ITV and
Setanta. It is very good news for football as the increased revenue will allow
The FA to channel more funds back into the game.”