Breaking news. Setanta Sports has won the last remaining package of TV rights to show the Premier League in the Republic of Ireland.

The company, whose U.K. unit shut down after losing rights to show EPL matches in England, Scotland and Wales, will show 33 games on Saturday afternoons, the league said today in an e- mailed statement.

“Setanta Ireland was allowed into the sales process as a newly formed company and after having met certain criteria,” the league said in the statement.

Last week, ESPN had won the bidding to the 46 Premier League games to be shown on Irish TV. Now football supporters in Ireland will be able to watch Premier League football on both ESPN (46 games) and Setanta Ireland (33 games).

The news is good news for football fans for two main reasons:

  1. Having Setanta Ireland continue to operate will increase the likelihood that Setanta US will be able to televise the Setanta Ireland feed featuring pre-match, half-time, and post-match analysis from Paul Dempsey and Pat Dolan, and
  2. It increases the likelihood that Special1 TV will remain on Setanta Ireland (and available to Setanta customers around the world via the regional Setanta channels and via YouTube.