Setanta in hunt for Scottish agency to push SPL
Setanta Sport, the Irish-based pay-per-view television broadcaster, is said to be hunting for a Scottish advertising agency to promote its coverage of the Scottish Premier League.
It is said that the company is in the stages of looking for an agency to create a series of direct response adverts for Scottish Premier League matches, with several Scottish agencies reportedly in the running for the substantial account.
Nobody at Setanta was available for comment on the review, however, as The Drum went to press.
Setanta won the rights to broadcast the Scottish Premier League matches last month after out-bidding the BBC for the contract. It is believed the winning bid was worth £45m. Match coverage for Setanta will now be produced by Glasgow-based production house Wark Clements, and will begin with the 2004/2005 season and last for four years.
The loss of the broadcasting deal by the BBC was tempered slightly, however, when the company secured the rights to broadcast the matches live on radio.
In a deal estimated at £8m the BBC will have exclusive radio rights for live Scottish Premier League matches for the next four years, which has come as a blow for rival Scottish-based stations. It is believed that Scottish Radio Holdings, in particular, will be hit by the loss of the coverage. SRH holds the radio rights until the close of the 2003/04 season and has a reputation for strong football coverage on the company’s Superscoreboard show.