Setanta: More football will bring subs

Setanta has insisted it can meet ambitious growth targets, despite pessimistic forecasts, thanks to its coverage of upcoming football events.

An Enders Analysis report this week said the firm would be vulnerable to a takeover if it could not break even, which requires several hundred thousand new subscribers to join.

Report author Toby Syfret said: "Setanta is an auxiliary package rather than a core TV operator, and for consumers, it is an easy £12 a month to put back in their pocket if they cancel the subscription. In the current economic downturn, it is much more dispensable than Sky."

However, Setanta executives said they could meet or pass revenue targets with a planned marketing campaign and a busy football programme from August.

UK chief executive Mark O'Meara said: "The Premier League is great, but it is not enough on its own. You have to have trigger events. That is why in the coming season we will have the Community Shield, live FA Cup games, England's home friendlies and away World Cup qualifiers.

"There will be weekends in January when Sky will have nothing in the way of live football and we will be the only place to be."

Richard Brooke, director of corporate development, said the company aimed to have 4m subscribers by April - 1.5m on its direct DTT service and the rest via Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision and others. At present it has about 1.1m direct customers and 2m taking the package on other services.