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According to the Financial Times, Setanta is paying Arsenal a rights fee to boost its own subscribers. The channel will offer delayed coverage of all Arsenal matches in leading competitions, live coverage of reserve games and exclusive interviews with players and staff.

Setanta's rival BSkyB broadcasts subscription channels for Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC, with the clubs paying for transmission and subscriber management.

Setanta is launching a channel for Liverpool FC this week to add to those it already provides for Celtic and Rangers.

Arsenal is hoping to make money out of advertising on the channel, which will it will manage in-house, according to the club's commercial director Adrian Ford.

"Within two years Setanta will have grown to critical mass, and that will be valuable to our partners," he said.

Arsenal's media ventures so far have included its own online TV service and mobile coverage.

Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs were recently rankedby Nielsen//NetRatings as the sports brands with the greatest concentration of online traffic from high-earning fans.