Setanta Sports pulled off an upset of sorts on March 30 when it outbid BSkyB in an auction for soccer broadcasting rights in the United Kingdom.

In a deal worth 425 million pounds ($834.50 million), Setanta and ITV had won the broadcast rights to screen the FA Cup and England matches between 2008 and 2012. The rights were auctioned by the FA (Football Association) in the U.K.

Setanta previously outbid BSkyB for U.S. PGA golf, and wrested two of the six Premiership (soccer) rights packages away from BSkyB when those were auctioned last year; BSkyB won the other four. Setanta broadcasts on both satellite and cable and charges a monthly subscription fee for its sports channels.

Analysts nevertheless found some good for BSkyB, with Nick Bell of Bear Stearns noting that “the loss of theses games could also ease some of the regulatory pressure on BSkyB ahead of the Ofcom review of the pay-TV market,” and Daniel Kervan of  UBS praising the company for “good discipline and its ability to make choices over what rights it needs to acquire, and at what price.”