As the Virgin Media and Setanta joint venture channel nears its first birthday, it has toned down its previous "busy" look
Setanta Sports News has unveiled an on-screen revamp as it approaches its first birthday in a bid to create a simpler look and provide greater contrast with its rival, Sky Sports News.
The channel, which launched in November last year, has seen its audience grow steadily, hitting a record reach of 784,000 viewers on Monday.
This week's on-screen revamp has seen its branding brought more into line with Setanta Sports 1 as well as the toning down of its previous "busy" look with the ditching of one of the two news tickers at the bottom of the screen.
Setanta Sports News editor-in-chief Geoff Hill said he expected the channel's ratings to continue to grow as it geared up for its busiest season ever after Setanta Sports became the FA's broadcast partner, picking up rights to England internationals and FA Cup games in addition to its existing live Premier League coverage.
A spike in viewers is expected tomorrow when England's World Cup qualifying campaign kicks-off, with live coverage of the game on Setanta Sports.
Hill said:
We are a television medium and if we have rights it makes our coverage better. The World Cup qualifying matches on Saturday will be the biggest story in town.
The sports news channel, a joint venture between Virgin Media and Setanta, with its output produced by ITN under a three-year contract, was created after Sky Sports News was withdrawn from the Virgin Media cable TV network following the row with BSkyB over carriage fees.
Setanta Sports News now has a staff of more than 60 based at ITN's central London headquarters, although it is still about a third of the size of Sky Sports News' team.
Sky Sports News, which has been on air for a decade and continues to be the channel of choice for other news organisations, had an average daily reach of 1.6 million viewers for the week ending Sunday August 24. In the same week Setanta Sports News had an average reach of 317,000 viewers.
Hill said he didn't expect Setanta Sports News to overtake its rival but instead wanted it to be a contrast and praised the fact that the total audience for sports news was growing.
He added:
I don't know if overtaking Sky is possible. What we need to do is compete with them and offer viewers more. We try and offer something different. We have 12 appointment to view shows in our schedule.
We are also a bit less formal than Sky Sports News. We try not to be too serious in terms of interacting with our viewers. Sport is very important but it can be fun too.
There are three million people out there who want to watch sports news and there is evidence there is a growing number of people watching both channels.
With Setanta Sports News having a monopoly on viewers on the Virgin Media cable network, Hill said the battle with Sky Sports News was now on its rival's home ground - Sky's own digital satellite TV service.
He added:
Every increase in viewing we get will come from the digital satelitte platform. That is the battleground. Sky Sports News will be a hard habit for people to give up but we have something different for them.
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