Virgin Media has announced the arrival of Setanta Replay on its cable service, allowing people to watch Barclays Premiership matches, many of England's matches and the FA Cup up to seven days after they happen.
Viewers will have to wait 48 hours from the live event for Premiership matches and 12 hours for England home friendlies, World Cup qualifiers and the FA Cup - but will then get a seven day window.
This hasn't stopped Virgin Media's CEO of Content, Malcolm Wall, suggesting that Setanta Replay is a 'great way to watch the game when you want.' Apart from live or on the same day, he doesn't add.
In VOD we trust
But the arrival does bring yet more VOD functionality to Virgin Media's increasingly competitive offering – with XL TV Package subscribers receiving Setanta Replay free and the other packages able to get hold of it, and an impressive range of other programmes, for £7 a month.
Replays of football matches may not seem particularly appealing to many, but Sky's Football First programmes – which are available much sooner after kick off – have done well for the satellite broadcaster.
Whether people will still watch after two days have passed remains to be seen.
Virgin's on-demand service is growing fast in 2009. The latest announcement will see Setanta Replay added straight away, and although a firm arrival date has not been announced, Virgin Media has told TechRadar that the well-publicised arrival of ITV on-demand is 'coming very soon'.
