Sports broadcaster Setanta is set to add 1.4 million new subscribers through a deal with Richard Branson's Virgin Media in the UK.

Setanta will provide six sports channels to new and existing Virgin customers who take its XL basic TV package. Virgin Media has about three million subscribers, and it is understood that 1.4 million of them are on the XL package.

Setanta, an Irish-based specialist sports broadcaster, operates 10 channels in Ireland, Europe, North America and Australia. It says its content is available in 50 million homes worldwide.

The sports it covers include Gaelic games, rugby, horse racing, soccer and golf. It provides its coverage through partners who operate cable and digital services.

From next month, it will have the rights to broadcast 46 live English premiership football games in Britain and Northern Ireland and 79 games in the Republic. The premiership is likely to be a key selling point for Virgin subscribers, who will also get horse racing through Setanta's deal with specialist channel Racing UK, European league soccer, rugby and golf.

The service will be available to subscribers of other Virgin Media services for £8 sterling (€12).

Virgin is claiming that soccer fans who want to watch televised premier league games will pay more than £110 less than they would on Sky. "Following changes in the ownership of broadcast rights, the deal also means that, from the start of the new football season, Virgin Media will be the only provider to offer all these matches under a single contract," it said yesterday.