User:Jill windows/Paul dempsey (tv presenter)

Paul Dempsey (tv presenter)

Paul Andrew Francis Dempsey (born 16th March 1960) is a television and radio sports broadcaster and commentator. After 18 years working for Sky he left in 2006 and is now the lead presenter for Dublin based international sports company Setanta.

Early life

Dempsey was born in London and lived in Leicester, England between 1966 and 1978. He attended St Joseph's School and then City of Leicester School. He went up to St John's College Cambridge where he read English Literature betwen 1979 and 1982. He then played football in the League Of Ireland for University College Dublin (UCD).

Career

Radio

After a summer job opportunity at the Irish News in Belfast he joined the BBC as a Graduate Trainee in late 1984. After spells in BBC Radio Sport and BBC Radio News he left to spend time travelling in France and playing football before joining the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, based in Bern, where he worked on radio between May 1986 and October 1987. Returning to London, he freelanced at ITN and Channel Four News while launching Capital Radio's sports coverage working alongside Jonathan Pearce.

Television

At Christmas 1988 he was invited to audition for the launch of Sky News which went on air in February 1989. Dempsey was one of the first presenters to be seen on screen and became a regular presenting sports news bulletins, simultaneously establishing himself as one of the lead commentators on Sky's initial sports channel, Eurosport. He covered the 1990 World Cup working alongside Ian Darke and Peter Brackley and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. After the merger of Sky and British Satellite Broadcasting, Sky Sports became the new dedicated subscription sports channel for the network and Dempsey made his name covering football and boxing alongside other regulars Richard Keys and Andy Gray. When Sky captured Premier League rights for the first time Dempsey presented Soccer Saturday with Sue Barker. From the mid 90s Sky boosted their boxing coverage by signing up most of the biggest names in Britain and the United States and Dempsey fronted all of the major shows either on regular subscription or pay per view channels. For a period Sky enjoyed a near monopoly on the sport's biggest names including Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins and Naseem Hamed. Through this period Dempsey also became known to a wider international audience through regular commentary work for international agencies CSI and TWI who relayed live Premier League, European and International soccer to a worldwide audience. Although linked with rival networks on several occasions Dempsey remained with Sky until 2006 when he was offered the chance to return to Dublin to help launch Setanta Sports' dedicated Irish sports channels. He continues to front their football programming, much of which is relayed to the United States and Canada. He was also nominated, in 2007, for an Irish Film and Television Academy Award for his hosting of the Rugby World Cup, an event which signficantly enhanced the channel's reputation.

Personal Life

Dempsey married Jill in 1996 and has two daughters born in 2000 and 2002.