Friday - Sunday preview

Friday 29 August
Karlsruhe play FC Cologne in a basement battle in the Bundesliga on Setanta, while the main match of the day is the European Supercup of Zenit St Petersburg vs Manchester United on ITV. Zenit won the UEFA Cup in Manchester, and Man Utd won the Champions League in Russia, and now they both play off against each other in Monaco, as the pinnacle of a couple of days which also sees the Champions League and UEFA Cup draws, and gives journalists around Europe the chance of a jolly in the sun. It's not much more than a glorified friendly, but Man Utd will expect to win, although both teams haven't been in great form, Man Utd should to to strong for their Russian counterparts.

Saturday 30 August
No stand-out matches in the Bundesliga, but expect Digitalb to screen Schalke vs Bochum. Southampton vs Blackpool and Watford vs Ipswich are Sky's live uninspiring Championship features, while Arsenal host Newcastle in Setanta's evening Premier League match. With Arsenal struggling in the league, and Newcastle showing early promise, it could be a closer encounter than in previous seasons. Serie A gets underway as Sampdoria host Jose Mourinho's Inter (as they seem to have been re-christened, much like Roy Keane's Sunderland or Nigel Clough's Burton Albion). Setanta may have this match if news of their Serie A deal is sorted in time, otherwise I'll be watching on Setanta. Also worth a look is an early season clash between Porto and Benfica in Portugal - you'll need to go to Bet365 for that.

Sunday 31 August
Big match of the day is the first Old Firm match of the season, on Setanta. Rangers have made the stronger start of the two in the SPL, although neither have really to impress, and the match may give an indication if Rangers can re-capture the title again this season. In the Premier League, Chelsea host Tottenham, with Tottenham looking to get some points on the board - Stamford Bridge may not be the ideal place to start getting any. Aston Villa take on Liverpool in the late fixture, expect no references at all to Gareth Barry's tedious transfer "saga".

Stand-out Serie A fixture is a toss up between AC Milan and Bologna, with Ronaldinho making his Serie A debut, or Roma taking on Napoli. Fiorentina play Juventus in the evening match, which has the makings of a good match bewteen two teams who will see Champions League qualification as the minimum for the season. Bayern Munich take on HerthaBerlin in the Bundesliga, and La Liga gets underway (as far as Sky are concerned) with Barcelona and Real Madrid's first matches of the season.

What's on this season?

Just thought I'd compile a list of what we know is going to be available in the UK this season on various TV and internet channels. Please send me anything that I've missed: email thefootballwatcher@gmail.com with anything that is inaccurate or missing.

England
Premier League
Live matches on Sky and Setanta, highlights on BBC.
Delayed full matches shown on BT Vision, extended highlights on Sky Sports.

The FA Cup
Live matches on ITV and Setanta

The League Cup
Live matches on Sky, highlights on ITV

The Football League
Live matches on Sky, highlights on ITV

Johnstones Paint Trophy
Live matches on Sky

Blue Square Premier
Live matches on Setanta

Scotland

Premier League
Live matches on Setanta, highlights on BBC. Delayed matches shown on BT Vision and BBC Gaelic

FA Cup
Live matches on Sky and BBC

League Cup
Live matches on BBC

Other Leagues
League of Wales
Live matches on S4C

Carnegie Irish Premier League (Northern Ireland)
Live matches on Sky

Eircom Premier League (Republic of Ireland)
Live matches on Setanta

La Liga (Spain)
Live matches on Sky

Bundesliga (Germany)
Live matches on Setanta

Ligue 1 (France)
Live matches on Setanta

Eredivise (Holland)
Live matches on Setanta

Serie A (Brazil)
Live matches on SportsXchange

J-League (Japan)
Live matches on Eurosport 2 (streaming also on bet365)

Chinese Super League
Live matches streamed on bet365

Russian Premier League
Live matches streamed on bet365

Finnish League
Live matches streamed on bet365

European Competitions
Champions League
Live matches on ITV and Sky

UEFA Cup
Home rights sold by individual clubs - expect matches on ITV4, Setanta and Five for English clubs. ITV have rights to Manchester City matches.
BBC Scotland usually broadcast Scottish matches. Matches not involving British Teams tend to be streamed on bet365.
Quarter finals onwards broadcast only on ITV.

UEFA Super Cup
Live on ITV

Worldwide competitions
World Club Cup Championship
Expected to be on BBC, as it features Manchester United

Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana
Live matches on Setanta

Internationals
England
Home: World Cup qualifiers on ITV, Friendlies on Setanta (Highlights on ITV), some on ITV
Away: Sky/Setanta

Scotland
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC Scotland
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Scotland

Wales
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC Wales
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Wales

N. Ireland
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC N Ireland
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC N Ireland

Rep. Ireland
Live home matches on Sky
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Scotland

As part of Setanta's deal to broadcast home nations away matches, they have secured rights to the home matches of various European national teams. It is belived they will screen some of these other matches which take place in home nations groups as time allows.

So, looking at that list, it would appear that the Italian Serie A will not be broadcast this season (at time of writing), and the Portuguese BWin League has also disappeared from Setanta's portfolio.