An impressive kick-off in the sports arena

MEDIA: SETANTA SPORTS Aston Villa's home Premier League game against Liverpool on August 11th won't live long in the memories of the 364,000 people who watched the live television coverage, but for Irish pay TV broadcaster Setanta Sports it was a milestone that its founders Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke will never forget.

The game was the first of 46 live English Premier League matches that Setanta has the right to show this season as part of a £392 million (€543 million), three-year deal with the Football Association.

In the process, Setanta has broken the 15-year stranglehold of Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB on live coverage of the English game and won more than a few admirers along the way.

Recent figures from the company suggest that their bold gamble might pay a handsome dividend.

In early December, Setanta said it had more than one million premium subscribers in the UK and Ireland. Its customer base is now five times what it was before the Premier League kicked off in August.

"The company has reached this milestone, months ahead of schedule," Setanta proudly boasted.

Add in its partnerships with NTL and Chorus in Ireland and Virgin Media in the UK, and the number of homes that have access to Setanta rises to more than three million.

Setanta is now a serious player in the lucrative world of sports broadcasting.

Ryan and O'Rourke have hired wisely. Trevor East, a former BSkyB senior executive, was brought in to lend his considerable expertise to the launch of its Premier League coverage.

Des Lynam, Paul Dempsey and James Richardson have added a bit of polish to the product.

Acknowledging the need to put bums on seats, Ryan and O'Rourke cleverly packaged their product.

For just £10 or €18 a month, sports fans here and in the UK can have access to a bundle of 12 Setanta channels, providing not just soccer, but live coverage of rugby, boxing, US golf and other sports.

Crucially, there's no contract involved, so you're not obliged to take the service for a minimum period and Setanta is available across all satellite and digital platforms, including its rival Sky. It is even carried via Eircom Broadband.

O'Rourke has rightly described it as a "transformational year" for Setanta. Ryan has said it is now "on track to deliver the financial results to justify the confidence of our backers".

Those investors - Balderton Capital, Goldman Sachs and TV3 owner Doughty Hanson - coughed up another €100 million this year to help Setanta, in partnership with ITV, secure live rights to the FA Cup and to England's home friendly internationals from next August.

Setanta has also secured the rights to the away qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup involving the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

As if that weren't enough, it recently launched a channel in sports-mad Australia.

All of this has been masterminded from modest offices and studios on the south bank of the River Liffey in Dublin.

"We have made a great start," O'Rourke said following the release of subscriber numbers. Indeed it has, and the likelihood is that there's much more to come.