SETANTA Sports' US division is launching a new online service that will carry live and delayed football and rugby matches.

The first online pay-perview events will be the Six Nations rugby matches.

Anyone with a decent broadband connection in the US or Canada will be able to watch all the matches for $99, or just under $10 per game. An annual subscription to Setanta Broadband, as it is being marketed, will cost $119. Setanta will be hoping that the new online presence will substantially boost its viewing figures, and while broadband speeds are generally higher in the US, it will certainly not be a format that will appeal to some. Last October venture capital firm Benchmark acquired a 32% stake in Setanta for more than 30m.

Benchmark had previously paid Setanta roughly 20m to acquire a 50% stake in the sports channel NASN (North American Sports Channel).

DIAGEO PUMPS 4M INTO UK GUINNESS ADS

Diageo is going for an allout assault to promote Guinness in Britain prior to St Patrick's Day. The company said it will be kicking off a near 4m spending campaign to capitalise on both rugby internationals and the Irish national holiday. The marketing spend will be split amongst television, radio, point-of-sale and special rugby branded Guinness packs. St Patrick's Day is the biggest selling day of the year in Britain for Guinness draught. In the week of March 17th last year, approximately 1.8m cans were sold, 36% more than in a normal week. Diageo is hoping for an even greater uptick this year, as St Patrick's Day falls on a Friday and the date coincides with a weekend that includes the Cheltenham Gold Cup, of which Guinness is a major sponsor, and the IrelandEngland rugby international. Last year Diageo closed its Park Royal brewery in London and transferred all production to Dublin and the fact that British Guinness is now brewed in Dublin is being heavily promoted.

CHANNEL 6 SIGNS DEAL WITH CBS PARAMOUNT

Channel 6, due to begin broadcasting next month, has confirmed its programming deal with CBS Paramount. Channel 6's co-founder, Michael Murphy, said last week that the new company has acquired several titles from the the US firm, including Sex and the City. It has also secured first-run rights for Numbers, a crime series based in Los Angeles where police boffins use mathematics to solve cases.

Time to brush up on differentiation and integration. And speaking of differentiation, it is going to be interesting to see how the new channel intends to stand apart from TV3 and Sky One. The deal with CBS Paramount gives Channel 6 access to a back catalogue that includes Charmed, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and other programmes that are staples of stations already available to cable viewers.

KNOCK'S REBRANDING LOSES ITS APPEAL

Knock Airport's rebranding seems to have lost its momentum, at least temporarily. A perplexed Mayo News claimed last week that management's decision to rename the airport IWAK (Ireland West Airport Knock) is wasted on locals. He pointed out that, during approach on a recent Ryanair flight, the captain described it as 'Horan International'. Managing director of Knock Airport (or IWAK, if you prefer), Liam Scollon, conceded that management had been "slow to follow up" the rebranding. However, he said that the new look and name will be rolled out in its entirety by April.

"Changing the name of a company is something that one would do very reluctantly, because it's costly, " said Scollan. "But we found that it was necessary to do it in this case. It was necessary to keep the name Knock, because that has a lot of respect in the region and we would treasure that a lot." The airport is currently spending 1m to upgrade parking and other facilities. Over the next five years an estimated 40m will be spent upgrading the facility.