Setanta Sports Acquires Secondary-Language TV Rights In US for 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM)

Setanta Sports Acquires Secondary-Language TV Rights In US for 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM)

- The World's Most-Popular Single Sport Event will be Telecast to Expatriate Fans in Native Languages -

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Setanta Sports has acquired a package of secondary-language TV rights in the US for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM) starting in June this year, it was announced jointly today by Swiss-based Infront Sports & Media and Setanta Sports. Infront handles the global sales of all broadcast rights for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM) worldwide.

Among the foreign-language rights awarded to Setanta Sports are European languages such as German, Italian, Polish and French as well as languages from the Far and Middle East.

Setanta Sports, the pay TV network dedicated to European soccer and rugby, will air all 64 matches from the tournament starting with the LIVE kick off on June 9 in Munich with the game between the host country, Germany, and Costa Rica. Additional scheduling of World Cup games, and the network's "Road to the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM)" programming line-up, will be announced shortly.

"We are extremely excited to be able to bring these games LIVE to the millions of fans of European extraction living in the US," says Simon Green, Chief Executive, Setanta Sports North America. "Around the world, the World Cup is the most prestigious and most-watched single sports event in the world. Our thanks go to Infront for offering our expatriate viewers this exciting opportunity."

Oliver Seibert, an Executive Director of Infront added: "The agreement with Setanta enables a huge number of expatriates and ethnic groups in the United States to enjoy the FIFA World Cup in their native language and it reflects perfectly our idea of an open market distribution policy."

Setanta Sports is a 24-hour, digital pay TV network dedicated to European and international soccer and world-class rugby. It launched in the United States on April 26, 2005, and is available on DIRECTV (Channel 615) and GlobeCast WorldTV. This year, the network will telecast over 500 LIVE and exclusive events from the world of soccer and rugby. This includes matches from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, The Carling Cup, Coca Cola Championship and German Bundesliga. It also provides exclusive North American distribution of programming from Manchester United TV (MUTV) and Chelsea TV. The international rugby featured includes the Six Nations, The Heineken European Cup, Guinness English Premiership, Super 14 and Celtic League.

Setanta Sports North America is owned by Dublin-based Setanta Sports, which operates pay television networks in the UK, Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, and Australia.

Contacts:
Gillian Renault
Gillian@renaultpr.com, 404-378-7259, OR
Becky Peterson, bpetepr@bellsouth.net, 678-566-3135 (for Setanta) OR
Joerg Polzer, joerg.polzer@infrontsports.com, 011-41-41-7231705
(for Infront Sports & Media)

Source: Setanta Sports

CONTACT: Gillian Renault, Gillian@renaultpr.com, of Renault
Communications for Setanta Sports, +1-404-378-7259; Becky Peterson of Setanta
Sports, bpetepr@bellsouth.net, +1-678-566-3135; Joerg Polzer of Infront Sports
& Media, joerg.polzer@infrontsports.com, +41-41-7231705

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