ESPN, Setanta Ink Deal for Live US Broadband Coverage of The Football League and Carling Cup Soccer

ESPN and Setanta Sports have agreed a new deal to bring US soccer fans extensive live broadband coverage of England’s Football League and Carling Cup tournaments, featuring many top English soccer teams including Leeds United, Wolves and Sheffield United.  The Football League consists of competitions from The Coca-Cola Championships, League One, League Two and the Carling Cup, which is the annual tournament that matches Football League and Barclays Premier League teams.

The deal will bring live coverage (and replay availability) of nearly 100 English soccer matches on ESPN360.com, the company’s signature broadband sports television network.  ESPN360.com’s schedule will include up to two Football League matches per week (totaling up to 84 matches this season), Football League playoff and final matches, and will feature five matches from rounds 1-5, four semi-final matches and the finals from Carling Cup competition.

“We have established ESPN360.com as one of the leading destinations for U.S. fans of global soccer. Adding matches from the Football League and Carling Cup to our lineup further adds to that leadership,” said Damon Phillips, vice president, ESPN360.com. “These competitions feature some of the highest-level clubs and players in the world, which have an enormous, passionate base of fans around the globe and in the US.”

Shane O’Rourke, president of North American and Australia Operations, added, “Setanta is committed to increasing the exposure of the Football League and the Carling Cup alongside our other key properties and working with ESPN360.com is a great way to achieve this.”

Setanta viewers can see the matches on Setanta’s 24/7 residential channel and their premium service for businesses.

About ESPN360
In the US, ESPN360.com is a 24/7 broadband sports television network that delivers more than 3,000 live global sports events annually. ESPN360.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated Internet service provider.  It is available free to approximately 18 million students and military personnel via any computer on a US campus or military base computer network.  Additionally, it is available in 24 million households nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers around the country including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more.

The Football League and Carling Cup join a growing lineup of the world’s top International soccer competitions on ESPN360.com, including:

- UEFA Champions League - UEFA Cup                      - UEFA Euro
- FIFA World Cup                - FIFA Women’s World Cup        - Serie A
- Portuguese Liga Sagres        - Australian A League           - Italian Cup (Coppa Italia)
- CONCACAF                      - MLS                           - USA National Team
- World Cup qualifiers           - Russian Premier League        - Chinese Super League
- J League (Japan)              - FIFA U-20 World Cup           - FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
- FIFA Futsal World Cup         - UEFA U-19 Championships        - U-17 Championships