International sports channel Setanta Sports is to launch via digital terrestrial on March 1, making it the only premium sports channel available on the platform.

For an "introductory offer" of £10.99 a month, viewers can watch live coverage of several major international sporting events. A one-off £10 connection charge is also being levied on the service.

Football fans are well served with 46 Barclays Premiership matches being shown over the next three seasons. These will be Monday 8pm and Saturday 5.15pm matches that will not appear live on Sky Sports, with 40 of the games featuring the top four teams.

Viewers will also see live coverage of the Bank of Scotland Premier League, including the March 11 'Old Firm' match and all next seasons games, live Nationwide Conference Football from May 2007 including this season’s play-offs, and live coverage of top European football from Italy, Germany, France, Holland and Portugal.

There will be live Rugby coverage from the Magners League and the French Top 14, and golf action from the US PGA Tour.

Michael O’Rourke, co-founder and joint chief executive of Setanta, said: “This is an unbeatable proposition. Setanta gives you premium sports for just over a tenner, a fraction of the price of other sports subscriptions. And you don’t need to subscribe to any other services: Freeview homes can simply add Setanta Sports to their Freeview channels."

Sports fans with Top Up TV boxes, Freeview boxes with a viewing card or conditional access-enabled Freeview boxes will have the option to subscribe to the channel which will broadcast on channel 34.