DUBLIN-BASED pay television operator Setanta Sports has agreed to pay a record £125 million (€158 million) to extend its exclusive deal to show live Scottish Premier League (SPL) football until 2014.
This is more than double what the Irish broadcaster paid for its current four-year rights package, which expires at the end of the 2009/10 season.
Setanta paid £54.5 million last time out to win the rights from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Sports.
It is not known how many companies pitched for the SPL rights on this occasion but Sky is believed to have lodged a bid.
Under the terms of the deal, Setanta can show 60 live SPL games a season across Britain and Ireland. That includes the four Old Firm derbies between Celtic and Rangers, which draw the highest audience ratings.
Rights to radio, online and highlights packages have yet to be determined. All of these are currently held by the BBC.
This is the latest major football broadcast deal for Setanta, which scored a major victory last year by scooping rights to the FA Cup and England internationals in a joint bid with ITV.
It also just recently completed its first season of live rights to the Premier League in England, having paid £395 million to cover games over a three-year period. In addition, Setanta has rights to the Uefa Champions League and a number of domestic leagues across Europe.
Mark O'Meara, chief executive of Setanta UK, said the new SPL rights deal would be funded from its cash flow.
"We're very happy with the deal, it gives us a nice long runway on this," Mr O'Meara told The Irish Times. "We are fully funded and in good shape."
Accounts for Setanta Sports Scotland Ltd show that the company had accumulated losses of £2.1 million at the end of 2006, the latest year when results are available. The business is believed to have gained momentum in the meantime.
Setanta does not publish subscriber numbers for Scotland but the company is thought to have about 200,000 customers there.
In total, Setanta has about 1.2 million premium subscribers, who pay up to £12.99 a month for its package of 10 sports channels. In addition, its services are carried by about 1.6 million customers through Virgin's cable network in Britain and 585,000 UPC homes in Ireland.
Mr O'Meara said only a single-digit percentage of customers had cancelled the service since the close of the English Premier League season. Subscribers do not sign an annual contract and can cancel the service at any time without paying a financial penalty.
"We'd expect most of those to come back for the new season, particularly as we'll have England games," Mr O'Meara said.
Commenting on the rights deal, Lex Gold, executive chairman of the SPL, said: "An investment on this scale marks the biggest ever TV deal in Scottish football history. This is a step change for our clubs and will allow them to reinvest to make the Scottish game even stronger."
Setanta was founded in 1990 by Irishmen Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke.
