South African pay-television operator TopTV has agreed a deal to carry Setanta Action, a new action sports channel operated by pay-television broadcaster Setanta.
TopTV said that Setanta Action is “a new 24-seven sports action channel with a particular focus on combat sports.” Programming on the channel will include wrestling and magazine shows on fitness and exercise, judo, taekwondo, karate and other sports activities.
According to Channel 24 News, TopTV has recently struggled to add subscribers due to a lack of sports content.
“While our sports offering is limited in terms of mainstream sports, we have targeted various niche channels with a specific audience in mind, and these are performing very well for TopTV,” TopTV vice-president of channels Ian Woodrow said. “As such, we are delighted to welcome the Setanta Action channel to our sports mix that includes Setanta Africa, Fuel TV, Eurosport News and MUTV. We are confident that its focus on mixed martial arts, kickboxing and boxing will attract a new audience of viewers to TopTV.”
Kelly Butler, chief executive of the Setanta Africa pay-television channel, said: “The decision to launch a channel dedicated to action sports has resulted from the enthusiastic response to the mixed martial arts and kickboxing content that has been screened on the Setanta Africa channel, which is also available on the TopTV platform.”