NEWS FROM SETANTA SPORTS

June 4th, 2009

At the end of the day, it’s the worst football cliché ever
It’s a funny old game as Setanta declares Kazakhstan-England commentary a ‘cliché-free zone’

“At the end of the day”, a staple phrase employed by broadcasters during a match commentary, has been named by football fans as the most irritating football cliché ever in a survey for Setanta Sports. Closely followed by “On paper…” and “A game of two halves” in second and third places respectively, “At the end of the day” achieved nearly a fifth (18%) of the votes in the poll. In fourth position, “This game needs a goal” was deemed only slightly more annoying than “There are no easy games in international football”, which completed the top five phrases that drive fans crazy.

As a result of the survey, Setanta has declared that this Saturday’s group six World Cup qualifier broadcast, when England take on Kazakhstan in Almaty, will be a ‘cliché-free zone’. The channel will instruct its match commentary team of Jon Champion and Chris Waddle to refrain from using the clichés that fans hate, with the initiative all in aid of a good cause.

Setanta will make a donation to the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK, the level of which will be dependent on how often Champion and Waddle slip up. Starting at a donation of £5000, every cliché that is uttered by the commentators will see £100 come off the total, meaning Champion and Waddle will be under pressure to help keep the donation as high as possible.

The most irritating football clichés ever, as voted by football fans* are:

1. “At the end of the day” (18%)
2. “On paper…” (16%)
3. “A game of two halves” (14%)
4. “This game needs a goal” (12%)
5. “There are no easy games in international football” (10%)
6. “For a big lad, he’s good with his feet” (9%)
7. “A funny old game” (8%)
8. “This free-kick is in Beckham-range” (7%)
9. “Setting out their stall” (4%)
10. “End-to-end stuff” (2%)

To help spot any cliché-dropping, Setanta will be running a ‘cliché counter’ on setanta.com, which will also play host to a ‘cliché bingo’ card for fans to download and play-a-long at home with during the game.

Chris Waddle, Setanta’s co-commentator for the match, said: “I’m as ‘sick as a parrot’ about this, particularly as there are ‘no easy games in International football’! Seriously though, it’s a bit of fun to see if Jon and I can get through the match without using any football clichés and the better we do, the more money Setanta will donate to the Bobby Moore Fund. It’s all in a good cause and hopefully the viewers will enjoy the match and see that we are giving it 110%. And I promise that’s it on the clichés from me from now on!”

Timothy Ryan, Setanta GB Marketing Director, said: “We know how annoying it can be when commentators wheel out the same tired, hackneyed clichés and we thought we’d challenge our commentary team to go the whole 90 minutes on Saturday without uttering any. Hopefully it’s not too much of ‘banana skin’ for them and it won’t have them at ‘sixes and sevens’ whilst on the mic. As experienced broadcasters, we’re sure Jon and Chris will be ‘over the moon’ at the challenge we’ve set them and will be able to get through the match without uttering a single cliché - Unlike me...!”

The cliché-free zone, along with cliché counter and ‘play-along’ bingo card is available at www.setanta.com

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*poll conducted on setanta.com between 29th May and 3rd June 2009, surveying 826 football fans

For further information, please contact:
Frank PR
Tel: 020 7693 6999

Notes to editors:

Setanta Sports, the platform-neutral premium sports channel business, is a leading international pay-TV sports broadcaster operating channels in the UK, Ireland, North America and Australia. Founded in 1992, its premium sports content is available to tens of millions of digital homes worldwide.

Setanta operates more sports channels than any other broadcaster in the UK and Ireland. Setanta Sports is the most widely-available premium sports broadcaster in the UK and is available to all digital homes: on satellite, via Freeview, Virgin Media, Tiscali, BT Vision and by broadband, ensuring the widest possible distribution to all sports fans.

Setanta Sports is the only broadcaster of premium sports on digital terrestrial television (Freeview). The Setanta Sports 1 channel, featuring the best of Setanta¹s premium live content, is available on Freeview boxes with viewing card slots and integrated TVs with a common interface (CI slot).

Setanta customers can now receive Setanta-i (www.setanta.com/i), an online video service that allows you to watch Setanta Sports both live and on demand. This new service replaces Setanta by Broadband.

The Setanta Sports Pack is available to satellite and cable customers and is made up of the following channels:

Setanta Sports 1

Setanta Sports 2

Setanta Golf

Racing UK

ESPN America*

Celtic TV

Rangers TV

LFC TV

Arsenal TV

For a full list of Setanta Sports¹ exclusively live sporting content and fixture details, please visit www.setanta.com .

Content includes Barclays Premier League football, FA Cup, England international friendlies, 2010 World Cup qualifiers involving England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, UEFA Europa League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Blue Square Premier, US PGA Golf, Indian Premier League cricket, live Magners League rugby, top-flight boxing, Ultimate Fighting Championship and action from some of Europe¹s best football leagues.

Guinness Premiership rugby will also be available for 2010/11 season, with Setanta showing 43 games exclusively live.

Setanta Sports is available with no annual contract required. For the latest pricing offers on any platform, please visit www.setanta.com or call 08712
007 494

Setanta Sports is also joint owner with Virgin Media of Setanta Sports News, the 24-hour sports news channel, available free-to-air on the Virgin Media platform, and also on satellite, covering all the top sports news stories from the UK and abroad.

*not available to Virgin Media customers