LONDON: The UK's largest commercial broadcaster ITV with Irish pay-TV company Setanta have scored a major coup by out-bidding the BBC and satellite giant BSkyB for the rights to show live matches from the FA Cup soccer tournament and the England team's home games.
The broadcasters are thought to have offered more than £400 million ($783m; €588m) for the rights to a four-year deal beginning August 2008.
The win will be a boost for ITV which has struggled to stem ratings falls and resulting advertising revenue slides. Setanta, which specialises in sports broadcasting, already owns rights to some Premiership soccer events and US golf.
Data sourced from Financial Times online; additional content by WARC staff
