Setanta Sports North America Selects Level 3’s Servecast to Deliver Rugby World Cup 2007 Live Online

Company to Provide International Sports Broadcaster with Online Streaming Services for Exclusive Live North American Delivery of Rugby World Cup

Servecast, a Level 3 company, today announced that it has been selected by Setanta Sports to stream live coverage of Rugby World Cup 2007 games to Internet viewers across North America. Setanta Broadband will be the exclusive live online broadcaster of Rugby World Cup 2007 in North America, with Level 3 Servecast’s streaming services enabling the delivery of live online coverage of all 48 games, original commentary, pre and post-match analysis and half time programming.

“When it came time to choose a business partner to support the delivery of our Rugby World Cup content online, we obviously took our past successes collaborating with Servecast into heavy consideration,” said Roger Hall Setanta’s CEO North America. “Level 3’s Servecast has a strong heritage in providing the underlying technology which enables the streaming of such large-scale events. The Rugby World Cup is the most important event on the rugby calendar, and with an increasing number of fans in North America it is important that we work with a company that can deliver a robust service to provide the best possible online user experience. We are also delighted to be working with Level 3, as they have a great reputation in supporting sports broadcasting through its Level 3® Vyvx Services.”

Setanta Sports (www.Setanta.com) operates the only dedicated European sports and rugby TV channel in North America. When broadcasting of the Rugby World Cup 2007 commences on 7 September, North American rugby fans will be able to log on to the Setanta Sports North America Web site and view coverage and match play as it happens via either a Setanta pay-per-view subscription or season ticket pass. The services provided by Level 3’s Servecast deliver this content to subscribers anywhere they have a broadband connection in North America.

“It is a great privilege for Level 3 to be able to provide the service that enables the only real-time delivery of the Rugby World Cup 2007 over the Internet to rugby fans in North America,” said Kevin Quinn, vice president of Strategy and Business Development at Level 3.

“Our expanding rich media service offerings, strengthened by the recent acquisition of Servecast, enable us to maximize the potential of the Internet to deliver desirable high-quality content like the Rugby world cup,” said Brady Rafuse, president and chief executive officer of Level 3 European Markets and president of Level 3’s Content Markets Group. “Level 3’s content delivery services combined with the Level 3 network, one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, delivers a unique proposition to serve our customers’ needs.”