Setanta Gets Comcast Launch
Soccer Network Comes to Operator's Boston Market
By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 11/19/2008 10:35:00 AM
Soccer-focused Setanta Sports has gained a berth on top U.S. cable provider Comcast, launching in several Boston-area communities last week.
The network noted on its Web site that Comcast now carries Setanta Sports in Allston, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Brighton, Brookline, Charlestown, Downtown Financial, East Boston, Fenway, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Hyde Park, Dorchester, North End, Roslindale, Roxbury, South Boston, South End, and West Roxbury, Mass. It’s a $14.95 premium channel and launched Nov. 13.
In October, the channel, whose mainstay programming is international soccer and rugby matches, gained its first U.S. cable launch as a premium service on Cox Communications in Northern Virginia.
It was already carried as a premium channel by DirecTV and Verizon’s FiOS TV and recently joined AT&T’s U-verse TV lineup. It also is available in many bars.
The international soccer programming field already has some established U.S. cable presences in Fox Soccer Channel, Gol TV and Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, which often appear on digital or sports tiers, and increasingly the beautiful game is seen on basic channels ESPN and ESPN2.
