Setanta Sports HD, a high definition version of the Setanta Sports Channel, will be available in Canada beginning August 1st.

Th station will offers Canadians some of the best in professional soccer and rugby from the Barclays Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the Aussie Football League.

Setanta did not say which broadcast distributors would be carrying the HD channel on August 1st. The Standard definition version of the station is now available on just over 20 Canadian distributors including, Rogers; Shaw; Cogeco; Bell TV; Shaw Direct, Videotron.

The broadcaster says the new HD service will serve up over 500 live and near live events in high definition over the next year. The SD service serves up over 1,000 live events a year.

The first live marquee event in HD will be the Community Shield between defending FA Cup and Barclays Premier League champions Chelsea and perennial league champion contenders Manchester United Sunday, August 8 at 10 a.m. ET/ 7 a.m. PT.

A free ten-day preview, capturing the opening two weekends of the Barclays Premier League season, will be available from August 13-22

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