BSkyB and Setanta agree TV pact

The rights to show the Premiership were hard fought for

BSkyB and Setanta have joined forces to ensure all televised Premiership matches can be shown in pubs and clubs through a single subscription.

The rivals were successful bidders in an auction to show top-flight games, beginning in the 2007/8 season.

Setanta, which has rights to 46 live matches, will have its coverage carried on the Sky platform.

However, residential viewers will have to subscribe to each service separately for access to all televised live games.

They will be able to access the coverage through a subscription to Sky or NTL. Setanta has also not ruled out allowing users of Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial service, to pay for live games.

'Good news'

BSKYB PREMIERSHIP PACKAGES Package A: 23 matches shown at 1600 on Sunday Package B: 23 matches shown at 1330 on Sunday Package E: 23 matches shown at 1245 on Saturday Package F: seven to 13 matches on midweek evenings/bank holidays, 10 to 16 at 1245 on Saturday and 1600 on Sunday

BSkyB's chief operating officer, Richard Freudenstein, said "This is good news for Sky customers - both commercial and residential."

Setanta's director of sports, Trevor East, said: "Setanta's strategy is to make our programming available on all platforms.

"We're delighted to have agreed a deal with Sky that will give us access to all Sky homes, as well as distribution to their pubs and clubs, for both the FA Premier League and the Scottish Premier League."

Exane BNP Paribas analyst Philip Guest said Setanta would pay Sky a monthly fee for hosting its coverage, which was likely to offset the lost revenues from the closure of its pay-per-view service, Premiership Plus.

SETANTA PREMIERSHIP PACKAGES Package C: minimum of 12 matches at 2000 on Monday, the rest either at 1330 on Sunday or 1715 on Saturday or other times Package D: minimum of 18 matches at 1715 on Saturday, the rest either at 1330 on Sunday, 2000 on Monday or other times

The TV rights auction generated £1.7bn ($3.1bn) for the Premier League, with BSkyB paying £1.3bn for its four packages and Setanta £392m for its two.

BSkyB will show 96 matches including the sought-after "A" package of games, played on late Sunday afternoons.

Most of Setanta's matches are scheduled for late on Saturday afternoon and on Monday evenings.

An existing tie-up allows commercial customers to watch Scottish Premier League games as part of their Sky subscription.