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103-581: Formerly operated by Setanta Sports with backing from Benchmark Capital Europe , it was acquired by the American sports media company ESPN in March 2007. It was subsequently re-branded as ESPN America on 1 February 2009 before closing on 1 August 2013. Programming on ESPN America varied from country to country. The channel operated three feeds throughout Europe , the Middle East and North Africa . In

206-620: A 57-game package of regular season and post-season games. Stations were not allowed to stream the broadcast on their web sites. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason called the game for the network. The teams' flagship stations also carried the game with their respective local announcers: WDVE-FM and WBGG-AM in Pittsburgh (with Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin announcing), and KTAR-AM / FM in Phoenix (with Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley announcing). Univision Radio / United Stations carried

309-564: A European edition of SportsCenter , anchored by Michael Kim . The 30-minute programme broadcast five days a week at 6am UK/7am CET with three repeat showings following immediately after, with an updated show at 10.30pm UK/11.30pm CET. The show was filmed at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut , USA. Up until the 2011–12 NHL season , ESPN America held the rights to live and delayed NHL matches as well as round-up programming such as NHL On The Fly, however these rights were not renewed for

412-445: A Spanish-language feed for Hispanophone American listeners (with Clemson Smith-Muñiz and David Crommett announcing). Sirius XM Satellite Radio carried 13 game feeds in ten languages to Sirius subscribers, as well as to XM subscribers with the "Best of Sirius" package. In addition to the four US feeds mentioned above, Sirius carried the following international feeds: FieldPass , the subscription Internet radio service provided by

515-650: A division winner and a No. 4 seed. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens were the last No. 4 seed to advance to a Super Bowl before this game, as they were the No. 4 seed in the AFC when they went on to win Super Bowl XXXV , but were a wild-card team before the 2002 realignment gave each conference four divisions. The AFC champion Steelers stayed at the InterContinental Tampa and held their pre-game practices at

618-443: A few days later. Setanta's GB subscriber numbers were lower than those of Sky Sports, and the number of households watching the match live was estimated at 1.5 million. Because of the availability of Setanta on both digital satellite and digital terrestrial television , the theoretical possible subscriber base surpassed that of Sky Sports (not available via DTT at the time) but fans who were unwilling to subscribe could not see

721-740: A number of sporting organisations. 430 jobs, 200 of which were in Ireland, were expected to be lost as a result of its going into administration. The administration was handled by Deloitte . At 18:00 that day, most of its channels ceased operations within Great Britain. According to the final report published by Setanta's administrator Deloitte, released in July 2010, the broadcaster had outstanding bank loans of £261m STG and unsecured debt of £288m STG. Deloitte said that unsecured lenders received just 2p for every pound that they have claimed back from

824-417: A result of it having obtained the same contract. Whereas Sky often sold on a highlights package to a terrestrial broadcaster ( BBC ), Setanta indicated that the sums offered by terrestrial broadcasters, reported to be £100,000 to £200,000, were five to ten times lower than their perceived market value; Setanta paid £5 million to screen England's away qualifier with Croatia on 10 September 2008 and believed

927-432: A sensible highlights package should attract a fee of £1 million. Thus, no highlights package was agreed, and Setanta themselves showed highlights of both England and Scotland qualifiers free-to-air after the live games had concluded. This was announced at 18:00 on the day the matches took place, and received 220,000 viewers. Setanta then accepted "a low, six-figure deal" with ITV to show delayed "extended highlights"

1030-618: A six-figure deal with Arsenal F.C. to launch Arsenal TV in December. The channel was however delayed, and instead launched in January 2008. In March and May 2008, Setanta launched Arsenal Replay and AH.TV on Sky, timeshift services of Arsenal TV which operated late-at-night and were used as filler networks in case Setanta needed the slots. In May, the company purchased the Sky EPG slot formerly belonging to Racing World after Racing UK axed

1133-585: A solid replacement, rushing for 588 yards and catching 40 passes for 320 yards. For their efforts, Tomlin won the 2008 Motorola Coach of the Year Award and Harrison was named the 2008 GMC Sierra Defensive Player of the Year. The Steelers rolled into the post-season as the AFC's second seed, behind only the Tennessee Titans , who would finish 13–3 but lose in their divisional playoff game against

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1236-705: A spot in the playoffs with the aid of head coach Ken Whisenhunt , who was the Steelers' offensive coordinator in Super Bowl XL, and the re-emergence of quarterback Kurt Warner , who was the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XXXIV with his former team, the St. Louis Rams . Pittsburgh jumped to a 17–7 halftime lead, aided by linebacker James Harrison 's Super Bowl-record 100-yard interception return for

1339-492: A total of 661 yards and eight touchdowns, with only two interceptions, giving him a rating of 112.1. The Cardinals also got a big performance out of Larry Fitzgerald , who caught 23 passes for a postseason record 419 yards and five touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' 28th-ranked defense showed major improvement in the postseason, forcing twelve turnovers in their three games. This included five interceptions and one fumble from

1442-412: A touchdown, including four receptions for 73 yards on that final game-winning drive, was named Super Bowl MVP . He became the sixth wide receiver to win the award, half of whom at the time were Steelers players ( Lynn Swann and Hines Ward ). The NBC television network broadcast attracted an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history at that time and

1545-439: A touchdown. Trailing 20–7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Arizona scored 16 consecutive points, including a safety that led to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald 's 64-yard touchdown reception, to take their first lead of the game with 2:37 remaining. But the Steelers marched 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes ' 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. Holmes, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and

1648-653: A two-hour special edition of Today hosted by the regular weekday team live from Tampa and the NFL Films —produced Road to the Super Bowl . Matt Millen was part of the coverage as a studio analyst. The Today contribution included portions of a taped interview with President Barack Obama and pictures of troops viewing the proceedings in Iraq. The Super Bowl was one of two major professional sports championship series NBC broadcast in 2009, as they would also broadcast

1751-578: A version of the channel in Canada as a joint venture with Canadian media company Rogers Communications (Setanta itself owned 20% of the network). However, its minority stake was acquired by Rogers in July 2011 and the channel was re-aligned as part of its Sportsnet networks, and become Sportsnet World on 3 October 2011. The relaunch took place as part of an overall rebranding of the Sportsnet networks. Setanta Sport began operating their own channels in

1854-468: A week with a new start time of 8am UK/9am CET. At this point, ESPN stopped producing a local version of SportsCenter, opting instead to broadcast an edited version of the 2am ET show from Los Angeles , cut to fit 45 minutes through removing commercial breaks and stories on European sports such as soccer. This show is then repeated at 8.45am, 4pm & 4.45pm (UK time). In late 2006 , former owners Benchmark Capital Europe and Setanta Sports agreed to sell

1957-664: Is "Believe In Now". The seeds of Super Bowl XLIII can be traced back to the end of the 2006 season . After winning Super Bowl XL in 2005, the Pittsburgh Steelers fell to an 8–8 record the following year. At the end of 2006, Bill Cowher ended his 15-year tenure as their head coach, leaving with a 149–90–1 regular season record and a 12–9 record in the playoffs. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant head coach Russ Grimm were considered most likely to succeed Cowher in Pittsburgh. Without waiting to see if he would be hired by Pittsburgh, Whisenhunt accepted

2060-491: Is still branded as Setanta Sports under licence from Setanta Ireland. Setanta Asia currently operates Setanta Sports Plus and Setanta Sports Asia . From 29 January 2020, Setanta Sports Asia has been replaced by the new dedicated rugby channel, Rugby Pass TV which launched its OTT service first, since February 2016. Rugby Pass was later shut down due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Premier Sports Asia took over

2163-588: Is the Steelers' most recent Super Bowl championship, and the last title by a Pennsylvania-based NFL team until their cross-state rival Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII in 2018. It was also the last time a Phoenix-based team reached the championship round of the four major North American sports leagues until the Phoenix Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021 . This was the last game to feature famed commentator John Madden , who retired two months after

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2266-579: Is with considerable regret that we announce that Setanta has been unable to meet their obligations. As such the existing licence agreement between us has been terminated with immediate effect." On 21 June 2009, BT Vision stopped selling Setanta Sports channels to customers. On 22 June 2009, it was reported by RTÉ News that the original Setanta Sports channel, Setanta Ireland , might be bought out by an existing consortium who already hold interests in Setanta Sport Holdings Ltd.,

2369-607: The AFC Championship Game , holding them to 184 yards and forcing five turnovers. The Cardinals advanced to the Super Bowl by beating the fifth-seeded Atlanta Falcons 30–24, the second-seeded Carolina Panthers , 33–13, and the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Eagles 32–25 in the NFC Championship Game , winning more playoff games this season than they had in their franchise history previously. Warner played exceptionally well in those games, throwing for

2472-707: The American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2008 season . The Steelers defeated the Cardinals by the score of 27–23. The game was played on February 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida . With this victory, the Steelers became

2575-556: The Arena Football League , Warner became the St. Louis Rams starting quarterback in 1999 due to a pre-season injury of starter Trent Green . He went on to lead the Rams to two Super Bowls and one Super Bowl win (in which Warner was named MVP), while also winning two NFL MVP Awards . But in 2002 , Warner's production was drastically reduced by injuries and he soon lost his starting job to Marc Bulger . He eventually left

2678-525: The Baltimore Ravens . It had been a long journey for Arizona to get to their first Super Bowl appearance. After winning the NFL championship in 1947, it would take the team half a century (and moves to two different states) before they won another postseason game in the 1998 season. And up to this point, they had not returned to the playoffs since then. Under Whisenhunt's first season as head coach,

2781-593: The Detroit Lions , made that team's 53-man roster at the end of the preseason, only to be released 24 hours later alongside linebacker Anthony Cannon in order for the Lions to make room for linebacker Ryan Nece and running back Marcus Thomas . The Steelers promptly signed McHugh after the team traded center Sean Mahan back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a draft pick before

2884-724: The Pottsville Maroons (who, like Pittsburgh, were based in Pennsylvania) were fined and suspended for playing a game against the Notre Dame football team in another NFL franchise's territory, which resulted in the NFL naming the Cardinals, then based in Chicago, NFL champions in their place, a decision Pottsville disputed). It was the third Super Bowl in history to feature two pre-expansion-era (pre-1960) teams, joining Super Bowl XIV ( Steelers vs. Los Angeles Rams ,

2987-727: The Seattle Seahawks became the first team to have this, as their end zone read " Seattle Seahawks ." For all other Super Bowl teams, end zones have just featured the team nickname. This was also the first Super Bowl to have the updated NFL logo painted at midfield. With all the cutbacks resulting from the severe economic downturn in the United States, the game was dubbed "The Recession Bowl." Restaurants were slow in business and many parties, including parties hosted by Playboy and Sports Illustrated were canceled. There were also 200 fewer sports journalists covering

3090-501: The St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV and Super Bowl XXXVI , winning the first (aided by a heads-up defensive play by linebacker Mike Jones on the final play of the game) and losing the second one (the first of Tom Brady 's seven in ten attempts), while Roethlisberger was the winning quarterback in Super Bowl XL . Under Tomlin's first season as head coach, the Steelers improved to a 10–6 record in 2007. Pittsburgh finished

3193-651: The Stanley Cup Finals . Both championship series involved teams from Pittsburgh winning championships. Mike Emrick , Eddie Olczyk , and Pierre McGuire mentioned this when they called the Stanley Cup Finals. The broadcast was available in 1080i high definition . Super Bowl XLIII was also the final Super Bowl simulcast in the analog television format in the United States before the 2009 completion of nationwide digital television transition . The transition, originally scheduled for February 17

ESPN America - Misplaced Pages Continue

3296-732: The United Kingdom , Ireland , and the Nordic countries events shown on ESPN America included Major League Baseball, the College World Series , NCAA college football and college basketball , the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship Frozen Four plus the Arena Football League , Major League Lacrosse , and the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Final Four . In continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Iceland

3399-541: The final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, average audience 106 million. However, the national Nielsen ratings of 42.0 was lower than the 43.3 rating for the previous year's game. The telecast drew a 53.6 rating in Pittsburgh and a 47.5 rating in Phoenix , first and ninth, respectively, among local markets. In addition to featuring the game's first 1-second TV ad (courtesy of Miller High Life), Super Bowl XLIII marked

3502-581: The "visiting team" against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX (during a time when the designated "home" team was required to wear their team-colored jerseys) and against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL despite being the "home team" that season but having road success in the playoffs. In addition, teams wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl extended their winning streak to five games, dating back to Super Bowl XXXIX , currently

3605-400: The #4 seed in the playoffs, where they went on to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history, becoming only the second NFL team to do so with nine wins up to that point (the 2011 New York Giants became the third, winning it all). One reason for Arizona's success was the re-emergence of 37-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner . After going undrafted and spending a few years in

3708-841: The 1960 NFL season. The Cardinals and Steelers played each other twice per season from 1950 through 1969, first in the American Conference (1950–52), then in the Eastern Conference (1953–66), and finally in the Century Division of the Eastern Conference (1967–69). It also was the first time that two quarterbacks who previously started for a Super Bowl winning team ( Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger ) opposed one another since Jim Plunkett 's Los Angeles Raiders defeated Joe Theismann 's Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII . Warner started for

3811-406: The 2006 season, appeared to severely limit Warner's chances of ever being a permanent starter on the team. However, early in the 2007 season, Warner was thrust into the starting lineup to replace an injured Leinart, and by the end of the team's season, he had re-emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the league, throwing 27 touchdown passes with a passer rating of 89.8. With his starting job on

3914-479: The 2008 season with the second best record in the AFC at 12–4, making the playoffs for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, and went on to earn their seventh Super Bowl trip in franchise history, breaking a three-way tie with the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances and most Super Bowl appearances by an AFC team. The Steelers excelled on defense and led

4017-631: The Cardinals a 23–20 lead. Minutes before this occurred, 10 seconds of an end-credit segment from ClubJenna , another Playboy-owned channel, was shown. Comcast offered a $ 10 credit for customers who claimed to have seen the incident, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it would investigate the cause of the incident. On February 4, 2011, Tucson Police and the FBI arrested Frank Tanori Gonzalez on suspicion of fraud and computer tampering in connection with

4120-489: The Cardinals finished with an 8–8 record in 2007 . Arizona then started out the 2008 season strong, winning 7 of their first 10 games. But then things fell apart as the team lost 4 of their last 6, hitting a low point with a brutal 47–7 loss to the New England Patriots in week 16. Arizona's 34–21 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the following week was just enough for them to finish with a 9–7 record and earn

4223-610: The Cardinals the fifth team ever to feature three players with over 1,000 receiving yards. The Cardinals ground game was led by veteran running back Edgerrin James and rookie Tim Hightower . James led the team with 514 yards, while Hightower rushed for 399 and scored 10 touchdowns. He was also a reliable target out of the backfield, catching 34 passes for another 237 yards. Overall, Arizona's offense ranked fourth in yards per game (365.8) and third in scoring (422 points) in 2008. The Cardinals defense, however, had played inconsistently during

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4326-542: The Dallas Cowboys in the 1998 NFC Wild Card Game). The Steelers then passed over Grimm and instead hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin . Once Tomlin was hired by the Steelers, Grimm joined Whisenhunt in Arizona in the same position as assistant head coach as he had in Pittsburgh, and the two of them began to remodel the perennial losing club into a winner like the Steelers. Of historical note

4429-636: The Interruption were dropped from the schedule as the contract between NASN and ESPN ended. However, they returned from 1 April 2007 after ESPN acquired the channel. ESPN America also aired other ESPN US produced single-sport programmes, such as College Football Live , College GameDay , NBA Fastbreak and NASCAR Now . In addition, to mark the 30th anniversary of ESPN, the channel has been showing ESPN Films ' 30 for 30 series. On 28 October 2009, ESPN America began to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen. On 1 March 2010, ESPN America began showing

4532-552: The Irish arm of Setanta Sports. Setanta Sports Ireland and Setanta Sports North America were the only brands which made a profit in 2008. The same day, Setanta lost all their SPL TV rights because they were unable to pay the £3m (€3.5m) owed to the league. Following this, it was announced that ESPN UK had bought the rights to show the 46 Premier League games bought by Setanta for the 2009/10 season. Setanta GB went into administration 23 June 2009, following failure to make payments to

4635-598: The Los Angeles-based Forza Migliozzi agency, which would have eight advertisers simultaneously in one 30-second ad. SoBe and DreamWorks Animation aired a 3-D trailer for the upcoming film Monsters vs. Aliens , along with a 3-D ad for Sobe Life Water that featured Ray Lewis and Matt Light dancing Swan Lake (renamed Lizard Lake for this ad), as well as the promo for the upcoming episode of Chuck in 3-D. About 150 million "ColorCode 3-D" glasses were given away at grocery stores across

4738-532: The NFL in fewest points (13.9) and yards (237.2) allowed per game, while also ranking second in sacks with 51. Up front, their line was anchored by defensive end Aaron Smith , who recorded 60 tackles and six sacks. Behind him two of the Steelers starting linebackers ranked among the top-ten sack leaders in the NFL, LaMarr Woodley (11.5 sacks) and Pro Bowler/NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison (16 sacks). Pro Bowl linebacker James Farrior

4841-786: The Nordic Canal Digital launched an HD version of ESPN America. The channel launched in the UK on the Sky platform on 21 June 2010. It was launched in Portugal on ZON Multimédia 's cable platform on 24 November 2010 and later on MEO (Portugal) 's cable platform on 15 July 2011. In Germany, the Channel started airing over the Sky Germany platform on 27 October 2010. In Italy, the HD channel

4944-732: The Panthers' Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme in the divisional round. The Cardinals became the third NFL team to advance to the Super Bowl after winning three playoff games despite winning its division; the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI were the other two. In addition, they would become the first team to advance to the Super Bowl as both

5047-657: The Philippines was launched, both as a linear channel and an OTT service in late 2022. This comes after a joint partnership between Setanta founders and Adjara Group bought the exclusive broadcasting rights of the Premier League for the said country. The version has broadcast rights to the Premier League , La Liga , NBA (selected matches only), and NBL Australia . In December 2015, Eir purchased Setanta Sports Ireland Ltd. On 5 July 2016 Setanta Sports

5150-672: The Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previously operated channels in Ireland, the UK, Asia, Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada. It is currently owned by Georgia-based media outlet Adjarasport . Setanta Sports sold the majority of its operations, but it continues to own and operate its operations in available in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. A version of Setanta Sports brand in

5253-579: The Scottish Premier League announced they would be paying the sums that some of the clubs were owed to avoid causing them financial problems. On 19 June 2009, Setanta Sports failed to pay the latest instalment of £30 million (€35 million) it owed the English Premier League . The Premier League had to sell the rights to the 46 live matches Setanta had for the 2009/10 season. A Premier League spokesman said, "It

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5356-556: The UK, Ireland & the Nordic countries and are now held by different networks across Europe. However, they still hold the rights for other countries throughout continental Europe, such as Germany. ESPN America acquired the American Hockey League , a minor North American Hockey League broadcast rights as a replacement for the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries. In April 2012, SportsCenter moved from five to seven days

5459-533: The United Kingdom at the beginning of 2002 with the launch of Setanta Sports 1 and Setanta Sports 2. In April 2003, Setanta won a contract to operate a Sports channel on Freeview . In January 2004, Setanta signed a deal with WWE to broadcast four of their Pay-Per-View events within the year beginning with Royal Rumble . In July, Setanta launched SPL Live on Sky and shortly afterward launched Celtic TV and Rangers TV on Sky and NTL in partnership with Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C. respectively. Earlier on in

5562-424: The acquisition of all Rugby Pass subscribers in 2021. Setanta Sports previously broadcast in the United States with Setanta Sports USA from 2005 to 2010. Fox Sports purchased the network's programming rights out of bankruptcy, adding them to Fox Soccer Channel's existing schedule and that of a new network, Fox Soccer Plus . Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between

5665-408: The actual coin toss. The Steelers called tails, but it landed on heads, so the Cardinals won the toss. Arizona deferred their choice to the second half, and the Steelers chose to receive, making it the first time in Super Bowl history that the coin toss winner kicked off to start the game. (The NFL had just changed the rule before the start of the season allowing the team that wins the coin toss to defer

5768-404: The broadcast also included NFL programmes. ESPN America also showed the Little-League World Series from Williamsport, PA and the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest from Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. NASN paid £11.6m in March 2006 for the rights to show ten live MLB games a week. In 2006, ESPN programmes, including Baseball Tonight , Around the Horn , The Sports Reporters and Pardon

5871-466: The broadcast rights to the PGA Tour from Sky, and announced that they would launch a dedicated Golf network entitled Setanta Golf in January 2007. On August 17, Setanta expanded their partnership with Racing UK, merging it's subscription package together with theirs to form one, allowing Setanta customers access to the channel and spinoff Racing World , and Racing UK/Racing World subscribers access to Setanta's networks on all platforms. On 11 July 2007,

5974-681: The channel due to poor viewing figures. Setanta reduced the channel's broadcast hours and began timesharing it with the Pub/Commercial version of Setanta Sports 1, although it remained under the Racing World name. As with Arsenal Replay and AH.TV, the Setanta version of Racing World was used as a filler network. Reports on 7 June 2009 suggested that Setanta could be forced into administration that week, after failing to make payments due on TV rights. Because of late payment and renegotiation over fees by Setanta to football clubs, several British football clubs were put into financial difficulties as money promised had been spent in annual budgets. On 4 June 2009,

6077-498: The choice to the second half, similar to that in college football and Canadian football .) By winning the toss, the Arizona Cardinals were the twelfth consecutive coin toss winner from the NFC, dating back to Super Bowl XXXII . Joe Namath ( Super Bowl III , 1969) participated in the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation and he previously participated in the coin toss in Super Bowl XXVIII . Coincidentally, Namath—a native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania , near Pittsburgh—ultimately handed

6180-418: The coin toss ceremony and the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation. The coin toss featured Roger Craig ( Super Bowl XXIII , 1989), John Elway ( Super Bowl XXXIII , 1999), and Lynn Swann ( Super Bowl XIII , 1979). Craig followed the previous year's participants and fellow San Francisco 49ers Craig Walsh (son of Bill Walsh ), Ronnie Lott , Jerry Rice , and Steve Young . General David Petraeus performed

6283-468: The company signed a deal with Liverpool FC to launch LFC TV . On July 20, they signed a deal with Virgin Media to make their networks free to anyone subscribed to the provider's TV XL service but would remain as premium add-ons for M or L package subscribers. The following week, the two companies announced plans to launch Setanta Sports News , which would rival Sky Sports News . The channel would launch in November. On September 22, Setanta entered into

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6386-590: The country for the ad. Hyundai also advertised its new Genesis Coupe in two 30-second commercials. All advertising slots were sold out one day before the game, resulting in sales of $ 206 million. The top five ads as chosen by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter were: YouTube 's top five in "Ad Blitz 2009" also saw the two Doritos ads finish first and fifth. The middle three featured E-Trade 's Singing Baby ad, CareerBuilder .com's "The Official 2009 Super Bowl Commercial" and Pepsi Max 's "I'm Good" finish second through fourth respectively. Adbowl results reflected

6489-441: The defunct operator. Arsenal TV continued until August 2009 while Arsenal explored alternative options. Liverpool FC assumed responsibility for LFC TV and decided to continue broadcasting as normal. Just as when Sky Sports , in the 1990s, first obtained the exclusive rights to screen live coverage of the England national football team 's away qualifying matches for the World Cup, so Setanta attracted similar criticism as

6592-436: The first person to have announced a Super Bowl for all of the four major U.S. television networks, having called five Super Bowls for CBS , three for Fox , and two for ABC prior to joining NBC in 2006 . Meanwhile, Al Michaels was the third man to do play-by-play for a Super Bowl on NBC television (following in the footsteps of Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg ). Also, Michaels (who, like Madden, had moved from ABC to NBC in 2006)

6695-410: The first team to win six Super Bowl championships. The win was also Pittsburgh's second Super Bowl victory in four years, after winning Super Bowl XL at the end of the 2005 season . The Cardinals entered the game seeking their first NFL title since 1947 , the longest championship drought in the league. The club became an unexpected winner during the regular season, compiling a 9–7 record, and earning

6798-423: The first time that a 30-second commercial time slot cost up to US$ 3 million for the airtime alone, excluding production and talent costs. Many traditional advertisers, such as Anheuser-Busch and PepsiCo , bought multiple ads at discounted rates. None of the " Big Three " U.S. automakers ( General Motors , Ford , and Chrysler ) ran advertisements during the game; coupled with Cash4Gold.com's third-quarter ad, this

6901-427: The following ranking: An international feed featured Bob Papa and Sterling Sharpe announcing, and was seen in 230 countries (including Antarctica) over 61 networks and 34 languages. ESPN Latin America also broadcast across Latin America. On radio, Westwood One had the national English-language broadcast rights to the game in the United States and Canada. It was only made available to local affiliates as part of

7004-571: The game as seven-point favorites over Arizona. Major factors for this included the view that the Steelers' defense was better than that of the Cardinals and the feeling that the AFC was an overall better conference than the NFC. The Cardinals were the designated "home team," as was the case for all NFC champions in odd numbered Super Bowls. Arizona wore their red jerseys, which it has done at home since moving into University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006 after predominantly wearing their white jerseys at home for their first 18 years in Arizona to combat

7107-451: The game matched up two franchises previously merged into a single team, " Card-Pitt ", for the 1944 season in response to the depleted rosters during World War II . Pittsburgh was going for its sixth Super Bowl win, which would place it in sole possession of the record for most Super Bowl wins, while the Cardinals were seeking their first league title since 1947 and only the second undisputed league championship in their history. (In 1925 ,

7210-416: The game than at Super Bowl XLII the previous year. According to the online broker StubHub , tickets with a face value of $ 500 changed hands the week of the Super Bowl for an average $ 2,500—a 40% drop from Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and 16% lower than Super Bowl XL in 2006. Ford , Chrysler and General Motors , the Big Three automobile makers , decided not to purchase television advertisements following

7313-428: The game. Tampa was selected for the game site on May 25, 2005, beating out three other finalists: Atlanta , Houston , and Miami . Super Bowl XLIII was the second Super Bowl at this venue and the fourth overall in that city. In February 2008, the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee unveiled the Super Bowl XLIII logo, featuring an abstract representation of a football stadium, with blue and green colors representing

7416-540: The head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals, a team that at the time held the second-longest championship drought in U.S. sports ( 1947 , with only the Chicago Cubs having a longer drought, winning their last championship in 1908) and had never advanced to the Super Bowl in their franchise history. In the 60 years since their last national championship, the team had won just one playoff game (20–7 over

7519-600: The intense heat of September and October. As a result, the Steelers wore white jerseys for their second consecutive Super Bowl. Pittsburgh improved to 3–0 lifetime wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl after the victory in Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh would eventually lose to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV while wearing white jerseys). The other two times the team wore white was as

7622-532: The latter of which coincidentally also went 9–7 in the regular season) and Super Bowl XLI ( Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears ). This game also featured the oldest franchise in the NFC playing the oldest franchise in the AFC. The Cardinals were founded in 1898 as an independent amateur team in Chicago. The Steelers, founded in 1933 as the Pittsburgh Pirates, are one of only three AFC teams that pre-date

7725-573: The league at NFL.com, carried most of these feeds, with select international feeds for free. Due to contractual restrictions, only Sirius XM and FieldPass were permitted to carry the local team broadcasts along with WDVE, WBGG, and KTAR, with the teams' other network radio affiliates instead carrying the Westwood One feed. Journey and the Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats performed during

7828-695: The local version of ESPN (later BT Sport ESPN; now known as TNT Sports 4), whereas the non-North American content was added to the newly launched BT Sport . Meanwhile, in Germany rights were sold to new channel Sport 1 US. Digital live and on-demand coverage of the majority of content from ESPN America is available on ESPN Player. Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin , Ireland and in Tbilisi , Georgia , broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and

7931-637: The longest such streak between white and team colored jerseys in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh also improved to 3–0 lifetime against NFC West teams in the Super Bowl, having previously beaten the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV and the Seahawks in XL. Another pre-game storyline involved backup Steelers tight end / fullback Sean McHugh . McHugh, who had spent the past three seasons with

8034-492: The match live. British Prime Minister at the time Gordon Brown indicated he felt it "unfortunate" more fans could not see the match live for free. Setanta GB also received significant criticism of its cancellation policy, with the issue investigated by the BBC's Watchdog programme and Radio 5 Live . While customers were able to subscribe either on-line or over the telephone, many customers found it "nigh-on impossible to cancel"

8137-617: The month, the company entered into a partnership with the newly launched Racing UK to become the channel's exclusive broadcast partner and distributor prior to its launch and encryption in September. On 16 May 2005, Setanta PPV1 and PPV2 moved from 435 and 436 to 438 and 439 on Sky, respectively. On 30 July, Setanta launched a channel on the Top Up TV service on DTT. In August 2005, Setanta Sports 2, Celtic TV and Rangers TV were added to Telewest . On 29 June 2006, Setanta purchased

8240-412: The most watched Super Bowl of the 2000s. Many media outlets consider this one of the best Super Bowls from the 2000s, as well as one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, due to the performance of both teams as well as its thrilling finale. This game was ranked No. 4 on NFL Top 10 on NFL Network for Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time and ranked No. 1 for Top 10 Super Bowls. As of 2022 , this

8343-456: The negative feedback, this was quickly reduced back to 30 days. These customer service issues were compounded by the fact that customers had to phone a premium rate number should they have any issues to resolve, with calls costing at least 10 pence per minute. Setanta Sports launched a variation of the channel in Asia. In 2015, Discovery International purchased the channel, as of 2016 the channel

8446-488: The network to ESPN for €70m. The sale was completed in March 2007 but the network continued to be part of the Setanta Sports Pack on satellite television until June 2009 when Setanta UK went into administration. The network became known as ESPN America on 1 February 2009 to coincide with Super Bowl XLIII . The channel continued to provide the same lineup of North American sports programming. On 1 March 2010,

8549-677: The porn incident. Gonzalez eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation. The telecast was also carried to U.S. service personnel stationed around the globe via the American Forces Network . With an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers (and an estimated total viewership of 151.6 million), this was the third most watched Super Bowl in history, and the fourth most watched U.S. television program of any kind, trailing only Super Bowl XLV in 2011, which drew an average audience of 111 million; Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, average audience 106.5 million; and

8652-515: The pre-game show, while Jennifer Hudson sang " The Star-Spangled Banner " (arranged by Chris Walden ) in her first public appearance since the murder of her nephew, brother and mother. Hudson became the second consecutive alumna from the American Idol television series to perform the national anthem at a Super Bowl ( Jordin Sparks sang the anthem at Super Bowl XLII ). The national anthem

8755-469: The regional waterways and landscapes of Tampa Bay. Eight yards of playing field are shown, alluding to the game's status as the championship of the 2008 NFL season. In a tradition starting with the Super Bowl XL logo, two stars—one red, representing the AFC, and one blue, representing the NFC—are flanked on either side of the Super Bowl XLIII logo. The tagline for Super Bowl XLIII as well as the 2008 NFL season

8858-407: The regular season, ranking just 28th in points allowed. Up front their line was anchored by defensive lineman Bertrand Berry , who recorded five sacks and forced two fumbles, along with tackle Darnell Dockett , known for his ability to blow up running plays. Linebacker Karlos Dansby was also a solid contributor, recording four sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles, while also leading

8961-457: The service, with the only means of a cancellation being to inform the company in writing. Because of the amount of negative feedback received, Setanta GB eventually changed this to allow for cancellations to be done through email. Furthermore, while customers were originally entered into a 30-day notice period once their cancellation letter was received, this was increased to 60 days without any information being sent to customers; again, because of

9064-419: The situation, feeling bad for his former Lions teammates, but also feeling it's a little payback for the Lions for releasing him in the first place. McHugh would play in the Super Bowl as a blocker, much like his regular season role. The Cardinals became the second team to have their city/state location painted in their end zone for a Super Bowl , as their end zone read " Arizona Cardinals ." In Super Bowl XL ,

9167-431: The start of the season. The subsequent media attention surrounding McHugh had to do with him being deemed not good enough for the Lions (a team that would finish 0–16 , the NFL's first winless season since the expansion 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers ), but good enough for a Super Bowl team such as the Steelers and being a valuable blocker for Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker . McHugh himself had mixed feelings about

9270-443: The team more secure, Warner posted one of his best seasons in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns, with only 14 interceptions, giving him an NFC-best 96.9 rating. His top targets were receivers Larry Fitzgerald (96 receptions, 1,431 yards, 12 touchdowns), Anquan Boldin (89 receptions, 1,038 yards, 11 touchdowns), and Steve Breaston (77 receptions, 1,006 yards, three touchdowns, 904 special teams return yards), who made

9373-537: The team to join the New York Giants , but once again he lost his starting job (replaced by Eli Manning ) and signed on with the Cardinals in 2005 . For the third time, Warner lost his starting job due to mediocre performances and injuries. After the season, Arizona selected Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart with their first round draft pick. This, combined with another mediocre performance in

9476-430: The team with 119 tackles. The Cardinals secondary was led by rookie cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (who led the team with four interceptions) and Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson (fourth on the team in tackles, 75). The Steelers began their Super Bowl run with a 35–24 win over the fourth-seeded San Diego Chargers , gaining 342 yards, avoiding any turnovers, holding the ball for 36:30 (including for 14:43 in

9579-494: The third quarter alone, an NFL record for a single quarter), and scoring a touchdown in every quarter. Also, Parker appeared to be fully recovered from his regular season injuries, as evidenced by his career postseason high 147-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Chargers. The Steelers then went on to beat, for the third time in the season, their AFC North division archrivals , the sixth-seeded Baltimore Ravens 23–14 in

9682-413: The three companies' business struggles in 2008 and early 2009. The game was televised live in the United States on NBC , the network's first Super Bowl broadcast since Super Bowl XXXII at the end of the 1997 season . Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator John Madden were in the booth, with Andrea Kremer and Alex Flanagan serving as sideline reporters . Madden became

9785-718: The training facility of the University of South Florida Bulls . The NFC champion Cardinals were based at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and held their practices at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ' training facility. Both teams arrived in the Tampa area on Monday, January 26. Also on January 26, the NFL announced that the Super Bowl game would be one of the safest places in the United States during game time. Personnel from over 20 different federal agencies were on site to assist in protecting players and fans. Pittsburgh entered

9888-427: Was also a big contributor, recording 3.5 sacks and leading the team with 133 tackles. The Steelers secondary was led by Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu , who ranked second in the NFL with a career-high seven interceptions. For the fifth year in a row the Steelers offense was led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger , who finished the season with 3,301 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. His top target

9991-418: Was launched on 1 February 2012. On 25 February 2013, BT Group agreed to acquire ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels business, consisting of ESPN and ESPN America, the value of the deal was not disclosed, but BT is understood to have paid "low tens of millions". At midnight on 1 August 2013 the channel ceased its operations in all Europe, Middle East and Africa. In the UK and Ireland most contents were moved to

10094-531: Was pushed back to June 12, the same day the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. In Tucson, Arizona and surrounding areas, the analog but not digital feed of the cable service from Comcast was interrupted by an unknown party , when 30 seconds from Playboy Enterprises -owned adult cable television channel Shorteez was broadcast to homes just after Larry Fitzgerald scored his fourth-quarter touchdown to give

10197-794: Was rebranded Eir Sport. Setanta operated Setanta Sports and Setanta Action until October 2013 when the channels were acquired by 21st Century Fox. In July 2014, Fox announced that from August 2014 the channels would be rebranded Fox Sports and Fox Sports 2. In August 2019, it was announced that the network would rebrand as ESPN Africa on 30 August 2019, due to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney . As of August 2014 both Setanta Sports Australia and Setanta Sports Plus were sold to Al Jazeera Media Network with approval sought from regulators in Australia. The channel became BeIN Sports Australia in November 2014. Setanta Sports previously operated

10300-523: Was seen as a sign of how deep the recession that began in fall 2008 had become. A short trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiered during the Super Bowl, a debut which director Michael Bay first revealed would occur in January. A preview of the upcoming Star Trek film also premiered during the game. However, with the weak economy, NBC was thought to have turned to companies already buying ad time for an additional purchase or two as set by

10403-614: Was the Steelers all-time receiving leader Hines Ward , who recorded his fifth 1,000-yard season with 81 receptions for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns. Other reliable receiving options included Santonio Holmes (55 receptions for 821 yards), Nate Washington (40 receptions for 631 yards), and tight end Heath Miller (48 receptions for 514 yards). The Steelers ground game was led by two-time Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker , who had rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of his previous three seasons. Injuries in 2008 limited him to 791 yards in 11 games, but running back Mewelde Moore proved to be

10506-545: Was the second person to serve as a Super Bowl play-by-play announcer for two major U.S. television networks (following Pat Summerall of CBS and Fox). This would prove to be the final game Madden would call, as he announced his retirement from broadcasting on April 16, 2009. The pregame show, a record five hours long at the time, was hosted by the Football Night in America team headed by Bob Costas , and preceded by

10609-620: Was translated into American Sign Language by Kristen Santos. Following the anthem, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds performed a fly-over. John Legend performed a short concert several hours before the game, while Faith Hill performed " America the Beautiful " prior to Hudson's performance of the national anthem. Also, the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 were recognized on field for their actions. The NFL saluted four decades of champions during

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