http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6451894.ece
Sat down yesterday to watch the Cork v Kerry game on Setanta Sports 2 only to find the channel was unavailable.
I phoned Setanta & was told that the GAA pulled the program at the last minute, I found this a bit strange & then someone told me they were close to going into adminastration.
This article confirms what I was told by my friend.
Sports Broadcaster Setanta on the Brink
By Ainsley Thomson
LONDON -- The board of privately held Setanta Sports Holdings Ltd. will hold an emergency meeting Monday amid press reports the sports broadcaster could file for insolvency as early as this week, people familiar with the matter said.
Financial-services firm Deloitte is set to step in as administrator unless the company can come up with a rescue plan, the people said.
The meeting comes after Setanta failed to make a £3 million ($4.8 million) payment to the Scottish Premier League for its soccer broadcast rights, due Monday.
Adding to the pressure on Setanta is a looming payment to England's Premier League of around £30 million due early next week.
Setanta declined to comment.
Setanta has been in discussions with its main investors -- Goldman Sachs, venture capital fund Balderton Capital, private-equity firm Doughty Hanson and hedge fund Montrica -- for the past six months to try to secure funding. A board meeting last Saturday reportedly have failed to secure a rescue deal.
The Dublin-based company paid £392 million for two of the six packages of Premiership, now the Premier League, broadcast rights.
However, in February the company only managed to secure one package for 2010 to 2013, while rival British Sky Broadcasting PLC got the others, casting doubt over Setanta's future.
News Corp, owner of Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, holds a roughly 39% stake in BSkyB.
Quote from: mournerambler on June 08, 2009, 05:01:07 PM
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6451894.ece
Sat down yesterday to watch the Cork v Kerry game on Setanta Sports 2 only to find the channel was unavailable.
I phoned Setanta & was told that the GAA pulled the program at the last minute, I found this a bit strange & then someone told me they were close to going into adminastration.
This article confirms what I was told by my friend.
nobody told Virgin then as they showed both games on Setanta 2 yesterday afternoon!! ;D
This is really bad news - will this mean that we will get no GAA coverage in the UK or anywhere outside of ireland???
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 08, 2009, 08:08:56 PM
This is really bad news - will this mean that we will get no GAA coverage in the UK or anywhere outside of ireland???
Ah feck. Even the internet links were all through setanta. Hopefully though if there is no paid-up outside-of-Ireland provider then rte.ie might be allowed to stop blocking the football coverage to exiles...
Crap, Setanta is the only reason we keep Virgin in the house!
Ah for fcuks sake >:( >:( >:(
Phoned Virgin a month or two ago and the lad said that they would change my charges (gave a slight reduction on what I was paying).
They sent out a letter confirming these changes, when I phoned back the next month to complain tat my bill had gone up (to be told tough everyones bills were going up!) I was informed that we were now being tied into another 12 month contract, even though I never signed anything and wasn't told about the contract on thte phone!
Am just wondering if I have anyway out of this contract with Virgin, have been with them for 3 years.
it sounds like the end is nigh for setanta, they lost a low ball bid to sky for premiership games lately and are not able to secure new customers.it was on radio 1 this morning.
Rumour has it their now gone.
it was just on the 1 o clock news there that it is going into administration...
Have they committed large amounts to the GAA? Does this mean the coverage will stop now?
Scottish Football is bound to suffer even more now as a result.
Anybody know what the story will be with regards subscriptions?? I have sky and subscribe to setanta, purely for the gaa (im in england). But i believe that there is a 2 month cancellation period.
Setanta going into administration wont immediately close them down.
Pity really. Can't see Sky taking on all the sport that Setanta are going to leave behind. (Magners League, Aussie Rules, SPL, Racing UK etc.)
Jaysus, I'm on the brink of collapse............... :o
Quote from: Tempoman on June 09, 2009, 01:39:12 PM
Anybody know what the story will be with regards subscriptions?? I have sky and subscribe to setanta, purely for the gaa (im in england). But i believe that there is a 2 month cancellation period.
Setanta going into administration wont immediately close them down.
Im just going to answer my own question. I seen this on moneysavingexpert.com
"Setanta Sports has confirmed it is desperately seeking to restructure its finances to prevent it collapsing.
The Irish broadcaster, which broke into the mainstream UK market in 2007 when it began screening live Premiership football, is reported to have failed to pay money owed to the English and Scottish football authorities.
A spokeswoman today told MSE the company was discussing a possible refinancing package but said no further comment could be made. A full statement is expected during the next 48 hours.
Protect your payments
Subscribers who have payments automatically taken by credit or debit card should immediately call the broadcaster and switch to direct debit payments if they still want the service.
This is to ensure they are not left out of pocket if the firm collapses.
No cancellation rights
If payments are taken by card, known as recurring payments, you have no right to cancel the payment with the card company, meaning you're relying on the firm, such as Setanta, to stop taking payments.
Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com creator, says: "Recurring payments are a hideous nightmare. The outrageous fact you cannot cancel them should be banned. They're never more dodgy than when a company is on the brink.
"Customers' inability to cancel means you're totally reliant on the company and its customer service. In crisis times, if administrators take over, your chances of getting through drop, meaning you could risk having the cash dripping out of your account for months."
Direct Debit is best
Yet pay by direct debit from your bank account, and you can simply cancel the instruction when necessary, so no money's taken.
The same principle applies to any regular payment you have with a firm in trouble as it's generally safer to pay by direct debit anyway"
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/protect/2009/06/setanta-crisis-how-to-protect-your- (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/protect/2009/06/setanta-crisis-how-to-protect-your-)
thanks for that. i just got my payment method changed from debit card to direct debit.
Heard on the grapevine that it is going to go back to being simply setanta ireland and the other subsidiaries will be sold off.
BSkyB refused to help out, seemingly.
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on June 10, 2009, 03:33:55 PM
BSkyB refused to help out, seemingly.
would they have anything to gain by doing so gda ?
Quote from: the Deel Rover on June 10, 2009, 03:39:20 PM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on June 10, 2009, 03:33:55 PM
BSkyB refused to help out, seemingly.
would they have anything to gain by doing so gda ?
Report I read on internet said that Setanta offered them a bundle package on the EPL games that Setanta had, that BSkyB could offer to its customers for an additional cost, BSkyB in return giving Setanta some much needed revenue.
we just paid on thurs for the next 3 months what happens if it goes off air now?
what would the sports bars abroad (further than england as they can get r.t.e) use now to show gaelic matches?
Quote from: the Deel Rover on June 10, 2009, 03:39:20 PM
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on June 10, 2009, 03:33:55 PM
BSkyB refused to help out, seemingly.
would they have anything to gain by doing so gda ?
Apparently ESPN are looking to get into the PL market in Europe and Sky are mad keen to keep them out.
they'll go back to being what they were originally- an irish broadcaster. The rugby coverage they have with the national league, golf and delayed Gaa games should keep them afloat here. But they're gone abroad.
Quote from: leenie on June 10, 2009, 03:49:37 PM
we just paid on thurs for the next 3 months what happens if it goes off air now?
what would the sports bars abroad (further than england as they can get r.t.e) use now to show gaelic matches?
Probably a big screen like they always did ;)
Quote from: leenie on June 10, 2009, 03:49:37 PM
we just paid on thurs for the next 3 months what happens if it goes off air now?
what would the sports bars abroad (further than england as they can get r.t.e) use now to show gaelic matches?
RTE is available in Europe with Sky.
Quote from: clarshack on June 10, 2009, 11:57:43 AM
thanks for that. i just got my payment method changed from debit card to direct debit.
I rang at 2pm and was told that they couldn't change payment methods because the system was down >:(
Quote from: INDIANA on June 10, 2009, 04:23:08 PM
they'll go back to being what they were originally- an irish broadcaster. The rugby coverage they have with the national league, golf and delayed Gaa games should keep them afloat here. But they're gone abroad.
that's what they should have stayed at, their model was entirely flawed, in saying that they almost got lucky in that ESPN were almost silly enough to buy them up last year.
Quote from: Gaoth Dobhair Abu on June 09, 2009, 11:08:45 AM
Phoned Virgin a month or two ago and the lad said that they would change my charges (gave a slight reduction on what I was paying).
They sent out a letter confirming these changes, when I phoned back the next month to complain tat my bill had gone up (to be told tough everyones bills were going up!) I was informed that we were now being tied into another 12 month contract, even though I never signed anything and wasn't told about the contract on thte phone!
Am just wondering if I have anyway out of this contract with Virgin, have been with them for 3 years.
Had an awful experience with these shower of bastards in final year of uni. Got the fellas out to get her back on again after it was cut off, this tied us into another 12 months, from Feb even though we'd be away come June and weren't aware of this. It was £30 a month. I was pleased to know I could cancel even though there would be a fee. We had 8 months left - £240. So we decided to cancel - cancellation fee was £10 per month per service. We had 3 services. £30 per month x 8 months = yes thats right, £240 the same as keeping it on. TRAMPS!!
I got a new debit card two years ago and my account which had been rolling over annually didn't automatically roll over due to the new numbers on the new card.
Worth a try if you don't want them taking money.
Anyway what a shower of feckers. What happens to exiles wanting to watch games now? Surely RTE can step into the breach and put something together for online broadcasts???
If you are paying them by continual debit card payments ring your bank and tell them you have lost your card and request a new one. Would this work?
Quote from: Minder on June 10, 2009, 08:35:50 PM
If you are saying them by continual debit card payments ring your bank and tell them you have lost your card and request a new one. Would this work?
It should work as the payments are taken by your debit card number not your a/c number.
You will have a completely new debit card number.
that's what I meant minder.
Quote from: Puckoon on June 10, 2009, 08:40:05 PM
that's what I meant minder.
Oh i know Puck but some on this board need it spelt out explicitly for them. . . . .
QuoteOh i know Puck but some on this board need it spelt out explicitly for them. . . . .
Would you be one of them by any chance... the "would this work?" at the end of your post kinda give it away :P
A well shite, just heard of Setanta's Administration problems, does that mean no football or hurling this year for those of us in Australia, not a hope ESPN will start showing it they wouldn't even show Leinster V Munster & Leicester V Cardiff Blues despite haveing the rights, they showed feckn tractor pulling insted the dumbass gombeens.
Quote from: Son_of_Sam on June 11, 2009, 04:32:56 AM
A well shite, just heard of Setanta's Administration problems, does that mean no football or hurling this year for those of us in Australia, not a hope ESPN will start showing it they wouldn't even show Leinster V Munster & Leicester V Cardiff Blues despite haveing the rights, they showed feckn tractor pulling insted the dumbass gombeens.
I hope to jesus Setanta pull out of this mess. Us Setanta subscribers in Australia would suffer most. Not a hope would ESPN show any GAA.
Apparently the two boys that set it up originally are trying to rescue the entire company but if this fails they'll let the UK operation slide and try to buy out the Irish operation and the operation that broadcasts into the States, Australia and Cananda.
If the latter scenario was to play out I'd be happy enough
ESPN, the US sports network owned by media giant Disney, has ruled out a bid for troubled Irish pay-TV company Setanta.
The news is a blow for Setanta, which is still trying to negotiate a last-minute rescue deal to stave off administration.
Setanta founders Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan are examining a range of options, including spinning off its US and Irish subsidiaries.
Selling the business to a cash-rich competitor such as ESPN would have been a quick and easy way of ensuring the company's survival. ESPN was regarded by many industry observers as the main potential buyer for the business.
However, a spokesman for ESPN, which is keen to expand its portfolio of UK sports rights, said: "We currently have no plans to buy Setanta. There are a lot of stories out there linking us with a possible purchase and we wanted to set the record straight."
ESPN was a bidder for some of the English Premier League rights, covering three seasons beginning in August 2010, when they were last auctioned off in February, but lost out to Setanta and Sky. Setanta has 23 live Premier League games a year from the 2010-2011 season.
ESPN may still be interested in acquiring these rights should Setanta go under. If that happens, they will revert to the Premier League before being auctioned off again.
The US broadcaster could also bid for the rights to 46 live games owned by Setanta as part of its current three-year contract with the Premier League, which has one more year to run. If Setanta folds, those rights will also revert to the Premier League and be resold.
However, ESPN would probably face competition from BSkyB for those rights if it did decide to bid. Sky is barred from owning all six Premier League live TV rights packages – each of which consists of 23 games – under EU competition rules.
But Setanta holds two packages, giving it the rights to screen 46 games next season, and Sky could bid for one of them.
ESPN might also be interested in buying Setanta's other sports rights, including US PGA golf, Scottish Premier League football, and the majority of Guinness Premiership rugby games.
Setanta executives were last night expressing genuine hope that the organisation had been pulled back from the brink of collapse after a "very credible" investor emerged with an 11th-hour rescue plan.
Such was the sensitivity of the potential deal that there was no mention of the name of the bidder or its line of business. But the size and boldness of the approach took even Setanta by surprise. A senior executive contacted the Guardian last night to explain that the bid had come from "the left wing".
The executive indicated that the identity of the bidder has not been revealed in previous press reports, which means that ESPN, Sky, Al-Jazeera and the Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond can be ruled out. It is understood that the new rescue plan envisages keeping the Setanta business intact, with its operations in the UK, Ireland and the US being maintained as a single corporate entity.
But rights holders such as the Football Association, the Premier League, Premier Rugby and golf's USPGA Tour will not feel completely reasssured of their contracts with Setanta, as there was a word of warning. "It [the plan] needs the help of certain rights holders, including the Premier League," said the senior executive. "But everyone has been incredibly supportive and if everything slots into place over the next few days then we'll be OK."
The Premier League is due a payment of about £30m on Monday and it is Setanta's lack of access to cash to meet that commitment that has caused the recent crisis. There is no certainty the Premier League will offer the "help" required, since it believes it has watertight shareholder guarantees with the investment bank Goldman Sachs and the private-equity firms Doughty Hanson and Balderton Capital.
Setanta failed in its attempts to reschedule and renegotiate the size of that payment, as it did in similar talks with the Football Association, which is also confident of the £150m arrangement it has with Setanta's investors. Indeed, previous talks faltered because sports bodies felt that to provide succour would merely delay Setanta's inevitable demise and cause mutual financial pain.
The senior executive pointed out that with insolvency so close – the broadcaster is closed to new subscribers and had prepared the ground for Deloitte to step in as administrator – the organisation would not be speaking with such confidence unless it considered the bid to be serious.
Interesting history of Setanta.
Why Setanta Sports is in trouble
By Bill Wilson
Business reporter, BBC News
Where it all began - Setanta started life in a former Irish club in Ealing
Two decades ago sports broadcaster Setanta started life in an Irish dance hall in west London, showing the Republic of Ireland's 1990 World Cup game against Holland after the BBC and ITV declined to broadcast the game in the UK.
It cost just £10 admission to watch that game in Ealing's Top Hat club and Setanta's two Irish founders, Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan, managed to break even after 1,000 Irish fans turned up to watch the game.
Nineteen years later, Setanta was a company transformed. It had expanded gradually at first, and then grown in a spurt from 2004 onwards - which saw it acquire major sporting rights not only for football tournaments, but golf, horse racing, rugby union, cricket and boxing.
Along the way it changed itself from a niche broadcaster providing Irish and Gaelic sport to an expatriate audience, complete with homely Dublin guesthouse advertisements, to a rival for Sky whenever major sports rights came up for grabs.
Unfortunately for Setanta the financial sums involved had changed greatly too.
'Major breakthrough'
Since the turn of the year, Setanta - which has 1.2 million customers rather than the 1.9 million it needs to break even - had been desperately trying to raise new capital in order to meet payments for sports rights.
Q&A: Setanta and you
No sooner would it make one payment, for example to the Football Association, then money would be owed to other rights holders, such as the £3m owed to the Scottish Premier League, or the more than £30m to the English Premier League.
With the pressure of payments increasing, there are reports that the firm is on the brink of administration.
If Setanta does collapse, its broadcasting rights, such as those owned by the Premier League, will revert to the holders, who will then try to find buyers for their broadcasting packages.
James Pickles, editor of industry journal TV Sports Markets, says: "Setanta was initially able to build a very successful niche business across the world by providing one-off coverage of Irish and Gaelic sporting events to expat audiences.
"Gradually they built it up to the point where it was a worldwide operation with a number of different TV channels, such as Setanta North America, offering a number of different sports, often tailored to each individual market.
"A major breakthrough from expatriate broadcasting to major UK rights came when they won the Scottish Premier League football for the first time in 2004.
"But the big step up was in 2006 when they picked up the two English Premier League packages."
That coup gave them the right to show 46 matches annually for three seasons from 2007/08 to 2009/10.
In some ways it was handed to them after the European Commission ruled that, for competition reasons, one broadcaster could not own all the six domestic Premier League rights packages.
That decision brought an end to Sky's monopoly and allowed Setanta in.
"That seemed to cool the doubts that some people had about the business, and it started gaining them a bigger audience," says Mr Pickles.
That was followed by the deal with PGA golf, which secured coverage - for six years from 2007 - of 40 top golf events annually in the US.
Once again Setanta broke the Sky monopoly, and grabbed the exclusive UK and Republic of Ireland rights to the premier US golf professionals competition
"That was their second big move," says Mr Pickles. "People said it was very clever as it gave Setanta lots of content, and enabled them to actually set up their golf channel.
"At that point it all appeared to be moving forward for them.
"However, in a way it was not long after that golf deal that their problems started."
No buyers
After securing the Premier League rights, Setanta received in excess of £400m in private equity funding.
But the private investors wanted to see a return on their money, and soon started to look around for a profitable sale.
"Private equity investors are are looking for a three-to-five year window of investment at most," says Mr Pickles.
"But for a pay-TV channel you need a longer period than that to get established. It is very hard to launch a pay-TV channel and then consolidate, particularly when you have someone like Sky who is so dominant.
Winning US PGA golf rights was seen as a good move by Setanta
"At the start of 2008 - after the surge in interest and customers brought about by Setanta's two Premier League packages - there was talk of the firm being up for sale for £1bn, which was judged to be too much."
Potential investors would have seen that there were only two years left on their Premier League deal, and there was no guarantee Setanta would win again when the rights came up for renewal.
"This was their difficulty - when TV deals are sold in three-year cycles it is hard to show that you have an established and long-term portfolio of rights for investors," says Mr Pickles.
Despite reported interest from Disney sports channel ESPN there were no takers, and doubts were being expressed about some of Setanta's deals.
FA Cup magic?
For example, the year before, in 2007, Setanta had signed a deal with the Football Association to show FA Cup matches and England home friendly matches.
From 2008 to 2012 it would show 25 FA Cup matches a year and eight England friendlies across the contract.
"I don't think that was such a great deal for Setanta," says Mr Pickles. "You might only get two or three big FA Cup matches a year, and you have to wonder how many people are going to pay to watch an England friendly match."
Setanta lost one of its two 23 game packages for the 2010 to 2013 period
In 2007 Setanta had also launched a sports news channel in competition with Sky's offering. That ate up millions in capital.
The company did do a good deal, according to Mr Pickles, in winning exclusive rights to England's away World Cup qualifiers, but they then suffered a public relations disaster in a row over selling the highlights to such games to terrestrial broadcasters such as ITV and the BBC.
Setanta could not agree a deal to sell on the highlights to ITV or the BBC.
Many fans were angry they were unable to watch highlights of the games on an analogue channel and blamed Setanta - which said it had not received a financially acceptable offer.
In the meantime the recession was starting to bite and people were thinking twice about sports pay-TV, particularly if they already subscribed to Sky.
'Questions raised'
A massive blow came in February this year when Setanta failed to retain the rights to their two packages of English Premier League rights for the 2010 to 2013 period, winning only one tranche of 23 games.
"That really raised questions about the viability of their business model," says Mr Pickles.
"They went into those negotiations with about 1.5 million customers, and would have been looking to expand their Premier League audience.
"But it seems the private equity partners said they were going to see if they could bid less and get away with it. They didn't, and Sky got the fifth package."
If Setanta does collapse there will be a scramble to acquire its many rights, with ESPN seemingly poised to finally make inroads to the UK football broadcasting market.
Had this at home and was willing to throw a 10er a month their way for the leagues and Rugby but then they went mainstream and spent crazy money of EPL . Increased the price from 10 a month to about 25 and I just cancelled . I know a lot of people who did the same.
SETANTA SPORTS founders Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan have secured an international backer that could help them secure the future of the Dublin-based pay TV sports broadcaster.
Mr O'Rourke and Mr Ryan will put an offer for a majority stake in the cash-strapped business to the company's directors at a board meeting in London today.
This offer is backed by a major international group and will involve an investment of about £50 million (€58.7 million) in the company.
This will result in Mr O'Rourke, Mr Ryan and their backer taking a majority stake in the business.
If accepted, other shareholders, including private equity firms Balderton Capital and Doughty Hanson, which owns TV3, would have their holdings in the Irish firm diluted.
A deal would also secure about 450 jobs at the broadcaster, including about 200 in Ireland.
Setanta, which is loss-making, urgently needs an injection of cash to prevent the company from slipping into administration.
Mr O'Rourke and Mr Ryan have worked around the clock this week to secure a rescue package to save the company they founded in 1990.
Accounting firm Deloitte was placed on standby to act as administrator to the business if new investment could not be secured.
Setanta has committed close to £1 billion in recent years to secure live rights to top sports including Premier League football and the FA Cup in England, the Scottish Premier League (SPL), PGA golf in the US, Uefa Champions League football and Formula One motor racing.
Earlier this month, Setanta missed a £3 million payment due to the SPL. It was reportedly due to make a £35 million payment to the Premier League in England this week.
Its difficulties began in February when Setanta lost one of its Premier League live rights packages to Sky. This means it will only be able to show 23 live games from August 2010 for three seasons.
In parallel with seeking new investment, Setanta has sought to renegotiate its various rights deals with rights holders. It is believed to have sought discounts of up to 25 per cent from rights holders. The firm has sought to trim other costs within the business in a bid to put the company on a footing to reach breakeven.
Failure to agree a deal today could push the company towards administration. This would result in its rights reverting to the various sporting bodies and could result in Setanta being broken up.
Just heard someone (A Russian who else) has paid 20M for a 51% share.
Will that save them?
The English Premiership has taken back their rights from Setanta for non payment - that would appear to be the end.
Going to be interesting to see the knock on effect this has. Magners League, Guinness Premiership, Blue Sqaure Premier, USA tour golf, Eircom League and boxing all affected. Bound to hit the local soccer club, as well as the conference clubs in England badly. I'd assume the rugby provinces are quite dependent on this money as well.
With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.
Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 20, 2009, 10:20:30 PM
With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.
Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.
Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.
But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 20, 2009, 10:20:30 PM
With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.
Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.
there's probably a core business that can be saved and sold on to someone, I'd take a look at the rugby regularly and the us golf (although the players championship was their main tournament). Their venture into the premiership was what killed them, they paid too much for shitty time slots and relatively unattractive games. Surprisingly their venture into scottish football was successful and I think a sizable number of their subscribers were there.
Quote from: stevecw on June 21, 2009, 12:03:47 AM
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 20, 2009, 10:20:30 PM
With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.
Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.
Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.
But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!
if you go and cancel your direct debit first thing on monday morning without giving them any notice can they do anything about it?
Quote from: clarshack on June 21, 2009, 12:23:15 AM
Quote from: stevecw on June 21, 2009, 12:03:47 AM
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 20, 2009, 10:20:30 PM
With the Premier League canceling their contract with Setanta, will this have a big impact on the other sports? Obviously they dont have to pay the money for the rights so this money is freed up and can afford to cover the other sports. Obviously subscriptions will decrease as a result of the loss of the premier league games.
Anyone else thinking of canceling their subscription? I am as only have it for the premier league and the GAA and didnt watch that often anyway.
Yeah i'm certainly going to cancel mine too. Premier league was the only reason i got it in the 1st place.
They don't have much else that interests me, as even their gaa coverage isn't great. A few league games on a Saturday night, but that seems to be it.
But from what i've heard they are making cancelling very complicated indeed!
if you go and cancel your direct debit first thing on monday morning without giving them any notice can they do anything about it?
If you are paying by DD just cancel that baby. You dont have to inform Setanta.
ESPN has bought the rights to show 46 games in next season's English Premier League that were to have been shown by struggling broadcaster Setanta.
Disney-owned ESPN has won the two packages of games shown on Saturday teatimes and Monday evenings. It says both will be sold through BSkyB.
It has also won the 23 games per season Setanta was due to show from 2010-13.
The league took the broadcasting rights back from Setanta on Friday after it missed a payment deadline.
The Premier League had set a deadline of Monday for other broadcasters to submit offers for the games.
ESPN said in a statement it had "reached an agreement for its coverage to be retailed by Sky to residential and commercial customers".
'British commitment'
It is the first time that ESPN will broadcast live Premier League football in the UK.
The broadcaster already has two channels in the UK, one covering American sports and another showing archived action.
Russell Wolff, managing director of ESPN International, said: "This move demonstrates our commitment to British sports fans and our ongoing commitment to delivering football to fans around the world across a variety of media."
"ESPN have a formidable worldwide reputation and experience in sports and I am sure we will enjoy a long and fruitful relationship with them," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.
"I would like to thank ESPN, as well as all the other broadcasters who submitted bids, for their professionalism and effort in engaging in our sales process at such short notice."
ESPN channel is available only if you subscirbe to Setanta. Will this still be the case or will they have their own subscription channel for the premier league games now?
If they were just to offer a package for the premier league games I would probably subscribe, similar to the way Sky had the PPV games on Premiership Plus.
What about all the Golf tournaments Setanta have?
If they go as well as the soccer I may as well just cancel it.
Scottish league pulled the pin on Setanta today, the bill was £3m for a season of scottish football compared to £130m for the tail end of the english season mad!!!
whats the chances of saturday night GAA games being back on TG4 next season?
the Saturday night package would be ideal for TV3. with a lot of county grounds spending money on flood lights they are going to want to use them. I'd say you are going to see the league become a mainly Saturday nigh affair with the next 3 years and no harm either.
Quote from: slow corner back on June 22, 2009, 10:48:44 PM
Scottish league pulled the pin on Setanta today, the bill was £3m for a season of scottish football compared to £130m for the tail end of the english season mad!!!
Was that 3m not just the balance of what had to be paid?
May have been cavan, it sounds a ridiculously small figure.
Quote from: slow corner back on June 23, 2009, 03:43:36 PM
May have been cavan, it sounds a ridiculously small figure.
To high of a figure if you ask me for the shite that is the SPL..
From the BBC
Setanta goes into administration
The Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports has gone into administration after failing to make a number of payments to sporting organisations.
The administrator Deloitte said that it would shortly cease broadcasting to customers in Great Britain but would continue to operate elsewhere.
They said they would immediately stop collecting subscription payments.
About 200 employees involved with the British operations will be made redundant, the firm said.
Setanta had a total of 420 employees in the UK and Ireland.
"This is a sad day for all concerned," said Sir Robin Miller, chairman of Setanta.
"Unfortunately, in a difficult and highly competitive market, and despite strenuous efforts by the board and management, it has not been possible to find sufficient additional funds in the time available to ensure its survival."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8115360.stm
Teleperformance in Newry done a lot of work for Setanta & I hear a lot of them are losing their jobs now. Not good for anyone
Did Setanta Ireland have an EPL package for the Irish market? The Saturday 3pm kick-off that big Dolan presented.
RTE had this for a season or so. Will this continue on Setanta Ireland.
What will viewers in the North be expected to get then if they still keep their Setanta subscription?
Bummer really, as I don't know if any GAA will be shown in the uk apart from the Ulster SFC on BBC2NI!
Not to mention their boxing and UFC coverage.
:-[ :-[ :-[
Any Northern viewers cancelling their subscriptions?
Does it not say it's stopping subscriptions in the UK? Mind you I just cancelled direct debit.
I'm still getting setanta ireland through sky.
They didn't take any subscription of me last month. Any wonder they're going to administration.
What will happen to Aisake and Seán Óg?
Quote from: under the bar on June 23, 2009, 11:50:09 PM
What will happen to Aisake and Seán Óg?
they'll go on strike ::)
Quote from: full back on June 23, 2009, 04:07:31 PM
Teleperformance in Newry done a lot of work for Setanta & I hear a lot of them are losing their jobs now. Not good for anyone
Could be a hundred getting their cards in Newry according to the news tonight.
A few mates work in teleperformance in Newry. One of them was telling me there was a Similar outfit in Gateshead got the road 2day and Newry base are just waiting to be given a date...
will setanta continute to take direct debits from my account each month?
wot happens racing uk? will we still get it?
Quote from: Clown on June 24, 2009, 11:15:54 AM
wot happens racing uk? will we still get it?
http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=racing/09/06/23/manual_171325.html (http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=racing/09/06/23/manual_171325.html)
Seems a bit steep - not sure if I'll renew. RUK has got all the best tracks but their presenters are far too up themselves for my liking. Round the clock replays and a sh1tty website doesn't really seem worth it. At least ATR provides a decent website with a video archive and they have other shows like Get On and Stateside instead of showing replays on a loop.
Looks like I'll be strolling down to the bookies more often when the National Hunt starts to get serious.
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Cheers Benny Harp for that. I've never heard of that before.
If you hooked a laptop to your PC when watching this would the picture be ok and could you fill the whole tv screen?
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Cheers benny must try this out at the weekend
Will RTE be able to broadcast GAA everywhere now (on the web)?
Was it not setanta that was stopping it being able to?
I think the US side of Setanta's operations is still going, so they would still have the international rights.
Good news for those interested in American Sports. Looks like you can now get ESPN America with just the Sky News Package - That is if you live in the 6 counties :)
http://www.espnamerica.com/portal/systemcontent/howtoget::uk
Quote from: glens73 on June 24, 2009, 08:18:16 PM
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Cheers Benny Harp for that. I've never heard of that before.
If you hooked a laptop to your PC when watching this would the picture be ok and could you fill the whole tv screen?
Better still hook your laptop up to your TV and put it on full screen view! The cable was £39.99 from PC world though and i also had to get a sound cable too - £10ish - which seems a bit of a rip off really!! Hopefully it will still be working by the time the sunday game comes on this weekend!!
Quote from: glens73 on June 24, 2009, 08:18:16 PM
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Cheers Benny Harp for that. I've never heard of that before.
If you hooked a laptop to your PC when watching this would the picture be ok and could you fill the whole tv screen?
I hook my laptop up to my TV all the time, the picture is not to bad at all, it would probably depend on how good your internet connection is and how many people are on line watching the same stream as you.
This is THE cable to buy to hook your laptop/pc up to your tv, especially a LCD TV.
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html (http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html)
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 24, 2009, 10:29:46 PM
This is THE cable to buy to hook your laptop/pc up to your tv, especially a LCD TV.
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html (http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html)
Looks like i have been ripped off then >:( I always just go buy the first thing i see!!!
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 10:50:32 PM
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 24, 2009, 10:29:46 PM
This is THE cable to buy to hook your laptop/pc up to your tv, especially a LCD TV.
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html (http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/7966588/Belkin-AV21401QP06-Pure-AV-Blue-Series-HD-15-HD-15-Super-VGA-Home-Theatre-Cable-1-8m/Product.html)
Looks like i have been ripped off then >:( I always just go buy the first thing i see!!!
It's hard to know with these cables. I was in Curry's the other day and seen HDMI cables for £100 and upwards!!! I got a HDMI cable for connecting PS3 to my LCD TV and its great, only cost £10, so not sure what difference one at £100 would do.
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
BennyHarp = legend
Quote from: Louis the Red on June 24, 2009, 10:21:46 PM
Good news for those interested in American Sports. Looks like you can now get ESPN America with just the Sky News Package - That is if you live in the 6 counties :)
http://www.espnamerica.com/portal/systemcontent/howtoget::uk
This channel is being received in the midlands unblocked now. there was a lot of baseball on it
Not sure if this was mentioned before, but what will this mean for the UFC? Who will be showing this? Will ESPN buy the rights like they bought Setanta's rights to the Premier League and FA Cup games? Maybe Sky will try and get into the UFC, hope they don't make it PPV though like they do with the WWE main events.
Quote from: Caid on June 27, 2009, 06:46:50 PM
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
BennyHarp = legend
x 2! Great quality link.
Re: Setanta Broadband, do they ever respond to their email? I have sent 3 emails in the last 6 weeks with no response, the last one was to cancel my subscription which expired June 16 due to the non showing of GAA on broadband.I got no response from Setanta Broadband but they just billed me again for another year of service. If this is how they run their business its no wonder they are in the trouble that they are in...customer service is non existant
Quote from: FL/MAYO on June 28, 2009, 04:36:01 PM
Re: Setanta Broadband, do they ever respond to their email? I have sent 3 emails in the last 6 weeks with no response, the last one was to cancel my subscription which expired June 16 due to the non showing of GAA on broadband.I got no response from Setanta Broadband but they just billed me again for another year of service. If this is how they run their business its no wonder they are in the trouble that they are in...customer service is non existant
Do you pay by direct debit or credit/debit card? If by direct debit, you can just cancel the direct debit and you will be fine. If credit/debit card could be trickier.
I pay by debit card,I will try the bank tomorrow to see what they can do for me.
Quote from: FL/MAYO on June 28, 2009, 05:54:04 PM
I pay by debit card,I will try the bank tomorrow to see what they can do for me.
Not sure what they can do, heard stories of ones having trouble canceling a debit card. You could always tell the bank you "lost" your debit card, get it cancelled and a new one issued which will have a different number on.
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 28, 2009, 06:50:48 PM
Quote from: FL/MAYO on June 28, 2009, 05:54:04 PM
I pay by debit card,I will try the bank tomorrow to see what they can do for me.
Not sure what they can do, heard stories of ones having trouble canceling a debit card. You could always tell the bank you "lost" your debit card, get it cancelled and a new one issued which will have a different number on.
Thanks Archie for the info. Will give it a try tomorrow.
how to watch rte from anywhere in the world
think these are the links
RTE 1
For Windows Media Player
mms://89.207.56.17/wmtencoder/rte1-450.wmv
For Real Player
rtsp://89.207.56.45/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.17/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.45:554/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.17:554/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
RTE 2
For Windows Media Player
mms://89.207.56.18/wmtencoder/rte2-450.wmv
For RealPlayer
rtsp://89.207.56.18/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.46/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.18:554/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.46:554/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on June 28, 2009, 06:50:48 PM
Quote from: FL/MAYO on June 28, 2009, 05:54:04 PM
I pay by debit card,I will try the bank tomorrow to see what they can do for me.
Not sure what they can do, heard stories of ones having trouble canceling a debit card. You could always tell the bank you "lost" your debit card, get it cancelled and a new one issued which will have a different number on.
Finally got a reply from Setanta Broadband, I threatened to contact the Better Business Bureau, 5 minutes later got a reply back stating that they will refund my money.
Quote from: theoriginalmup on June 30, 2009, 02:56:58 PM
how to watch rte from anywhere in the world
think these are the links
RTE 1
For Windows Media Player
mms://89.207.56.17/wmtencoder/rte1-450.wmv
For Real Player
rtsp://89.207.56.45/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.17/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.45:554/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.17:554/broadcast/rte1-450.rm
Thanks for these, as a matter of interest does any one know why these are not geo blocked? Also I can connect to RTE 2 but not RTE 1, does anyone else have the same problem?
RTE 2
For Windows Media Player
mms://89.207.56.18/wmtencoder/rte2-450.wmv
For RealPlayer
rtsp://89.207.56.18/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.46/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.18:554/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
rtsp://89.207.56.46:554/broadcast/rte2-450.rm
Thanks for these, as a matter of interest does any one know why these are not geo blocked? Also I can connect to RTE 2 but not RTE 1, does anyone else have the same problem?
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Is the Sunday Game on RTE2? If not is there a similar site for RTE1? Cheers.
Quote from: tyssam5 on June 30, 2009, 08:27:29 PM
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Is the Sunday Game on RTE2? If not is there a similar site for RTE1? Cheers.
its on rte 2. check out reply no 97 above to get rte 1
Quote from: magickingdom on June 30, 2009, 08:33:34 PM
Quote from: tyssam5 on June 30, 2009, 08:27:29 PM
Quote from: BennyHarp on June 24, 2009, 12:17:41 PM
Not sure if someone has posted this before but for those of us in the UK the link below is excellent for watching RTE2 - its very good quality however it has jsut come back after coming off air for a while! But its better than nothing for watching the gaelic!
mms://live2.wm.rte.servecast.net/rte_wmlz_rte2-450.wmv
Is the Sunday Game on RTE2? If not is there a similar site for RTE1? Cheers.
its on rte 2. check out reply no 97 above to get rte 1
Magic, are you in the US? I tried all those links and none of them worked.
ESPN to launch UK sports channel
The US broadcaster ESPN has announced plans to launch a new UK sports channel, called ESPN, on 3 August.
The channel will show 46 live Barclays Premier League football games, which were to have been shown by Setanta until it missed a payment deadline.
The channel will also show some of the US sports to which ESPN owns rights.
ESPN has reached an initial deal to have the channel shown on Sky, but it is in talks with all UK pay-TV platforms about carrying the service.
Sky will also be responsible for selling advertising on the new channel.
ESPN owns the rights to broadcast 46 live Premier League games in the 2009/10 season and 23 matches for each of the following three seasons.
Sky's residential customers will have to pay a premium of £9 a month for the new channel if they already pay for Sky Sports or £12 a month if they do not.
For commercial customers it will be part of the "ultimate" channel package.
The Premier League matches on ESPN will be produced by Sky Sports, although it will feature ESPN branding.
ESPN also owns rights to show American football, ice hockey, baseball and college football and basketball throughout Europe, which it used to show in the UK on its ESPN America channel.
ESPN is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138992.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138992.stm)
Another £9 a month to watch the premiership this season then. Not sure if it will be worth it as they won't show as many sports as the Setanta package offered
Those Saturday evening games were always a great excuse to piss off to the pub for a few hours so I won't be subscribing to ESPN
Anyone know where all the PGA Golf tournaments are being shown?
They use to be on Setanta but obviously aren't anymore,so I wonder who has the rights now,Sky aren't showing anything other than what they already did
The will probably have to sell the rights again, similar to the UFC, SPL, Magners League etc.
UFC 100 will be shown live on tv, with Virgin 1 favourites to show it. Six TV channels are bidding for future rights of UFC - Sky Sports, ESPN, Bravo, Virgin 1, Five and an unnamed channel, with ESPN in the lead at the moment to win the rights.
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on July 07, 2009, 05:48:39 PM
The will probably have to sell the rights again, similar to the UFC, SPL, Magners League etc.
UFC 100 will be shown live on tv, with Virgin 1 favourites to show it. Six TV channels are bidding for future rights of UFC - Sky Sports, ESPN, Bravo, Virgin 1, Five and an unnamed channel, with ESPN in the lead at the moment to win the rights.
I know but there are tournaments going on every week that Setanta would have had,someone must be showing them?
Quote from: The Real Laoislad on July 07, 2009, 05:39:45 PM
Anyone know where all the PGA Golf tournaments are being shown?
They use to be on Setanta but obviously aren't anymore,so I wonder who has the rights now,Sky aren't showing anything other than what they already did
Seems to be Eurosport UK are showing it for the rest of the season.
http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/169762/us-pga-tour-be-broadcast-eurosport-uk (http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/169762/us-pga-tour-be-broadcast-eurosport-uk)
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on July 07, 2009, 05:33:39 PM
ESPN to launch UK sports channel
The US broadcaster ESPN has announced plans to launch a new UK sports channel, called ESPN, on 3 August.
The channel will show 46 live Barclays Premier League football games, which were to have been shown by Setanta until it missed a payment deadline.
The channel will also show some of the US sports to which ESPN owns rights.
ESPN has reached an initial deal to have the channel shown on Sky, but it is in talks with all UK pay-TV platforms about carrying the service.
Sky will also be responsible for selling advertising on the new channel.
ESPN owns the rights to broadcast 46 live Premier League games in the 2009/10 season and 23 matches for each of the following three seasons.
Sky's residential customers will have to pay a premium of £9 a month for the new channel if they already pay for Sky Sports or £12 a month if they do not.
For commercial customers it will be part of the "ultimate" channel package.
The Premier League matches on ESPN will be produced by Sky Sports, although it will feature ESPN branding.
ESPN also owns rights to show American football, ice hockey, baseball and college football and basketball throughout Europe, which it used to show in the UK on its ESPN America channel.
ESPN is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138992.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138992.stm)
Another £9 a month to watch the premiership this season then. Not sure if it will be worth it as they won't show as many sports as the Setanta package offered
does this mean that if you wanted to watch only this package, you have to subscribe to a sky package (maybe at £15/month for basic) plus £9 for the ESPN package?
bit of a raw deal for the consumer as it was only £13 a month on setanta
Quote from: Archie Mitchell on July 07, 2009, 05:51:34 PM
Quote from: The Real Laoislad on July 07, 2009, 05:39:45 PM
Anyone know where all the PGA Golf tournaments are being shown?
They use to be on Setanta but obviously aren't anymore,so I wonder who has the rights now,Sky aren't showing anything other than what they already did
Seems to be Eurosport UK are showing it for the rest of the season.
http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/169762/us-pga-tour-be-broadcast-eurosport-uk (http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/169762/us-pga-tour-be-broadcast-eurosport-uk)
Cheers..I don't have that channel on my NTL though >:( :'(
Quote from: fred the red on July 07, 2009, 05:59:11 PM
does this mean that if you wanted to watch only this package, you have to subscribe to a sky package (maybe at £15/month for basic) plus £9 for the ESPN package?
bit of a raw deal for the consumer as it was only £13 a month on setanta
If you have Sky and subscribe to Sky Sports it will cost you £9 per month. If you have Sky and don't subscribe to Sky Sports, it will cost you £13 per month.
Im not sure if they will offer it through Freeview like Setanta did.
I see ESPN have bought up Setanta's EPL rights for Ireland as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8140190.stm
Does this mean Setanta Ireland are struggling as well? (they do still exist don't they?) What's going to happen to the 3pm Saturday matches? BBC story says this deal covers the matches that would on ESPN in Britain so I assume that doesn't include the 3pm kick offs on Saturdays.
Sky and ESPN have announced Premier League football fixtures :
http://www.premierleague.com/page/UKAndIreland/0,,12306,00.html
Whats the craic with ESPN - will their matches be pay per view ?
An extra 9 Pounds a month on top of Sky Sports Package
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138992.stm
Setanta Ireland Secures Saturday afternoon Barclays Premier League Games for next Season
Setanta Sports announced today that they have been awarded the rights by the Premier League to show up to 33 live 3pm Saturday games in the Republic of Ireland next season. The addition of these Premier League games to Setanta's live sports programming has been warmly welcomed by the broadcaster.
Niall Cogley CEO of Setanta Sports Ireland commented "We are delighted to announce our success in winning back Saturday afternoon Barclays Premier League games for next season. Traditionally this has been the most popular and best performing slot for us of all of our sporting rights.
"We anticipate a high level of quality this season with 9 of our first 13 games featuring Top 4 teams including Manchester United at Wigan on Aug 22nd and Liverpool visiting Bolton on Aug 29th. Our opening game will see Carlos Tevez spearheading the new look Manchester City who kick- off their season at Blackburn."
Cogley went on to add "Although there has been some confusion about Setanta Sports in Ireland following recent developments in the UK we are now delighted to confirm that we will continue to provide our subscribers with the best value premium sports service in Ireland and the most attractive sports option for all television advertisers."
In addition to the Barclays Premier League, sports fans tuning into Setanta can continue to see live Magners League, Champions League, the new Europa League, Formula 1 and golf including The Augusta Masters and Padraig Harrington's historic title defence at this week's Open Championship as well as our domestic staples including the Setanta Sports Cup & Eircom League, the Allianz Leagues, and schools rugby.
Sport presenter Stubbs leaves BBC
BBC sports presenter Ray Stubbs is to leave the corporation to be the frontman of ESPN's live Premier League coverage, it has been announced.
Stubbs, who spent five years on the books at Tranmere Rovers, presented football, snooker, darts and other sports in his 25 years with the BBC.
"This was always going to be a difficult decision," he said.
"But a chance to join one of the world's top broadcasters on day one of a new channel was too good to reject."
Head of BBC TV Sport Philip Bernie said: "Ray has been a fantastic member of the BBC Sport team for many years and we wish him all the best for the future."
ESPN acquired the live rights for 46 Premier League matches next season following the collapse of Irish broadcaster Setanta.
Stubbs's first match fronting their coverage will be Everton v Arsenal at Goodison Park on 15 August.
is ESPN a station or where will they be showing sport? its not the ESPN classic station is it?
Think its going to be a brand new channel - launched at the start of August
Sky Channel 417
http://www.espn.co.uk/
http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/_a/manchester_united_liverpool_spurs_arsenal_matches_to_be_on_freeview_in_uk/
I wonder is this available on normal tv's with built in freeview, or do you need one of the specially adapted freeview sets that setanta used to supply?
ESPN America no longer on freeview. Just as well, the Red Sox are turning back into crud :-\
I cancelled my Setanta subscription 2 months ago just after they collapsed. However I am still getting Celtic TV, Arsenal TV etc which were part of that package.
I am from the 6 counties. Anyone understand whts going on?
Yeah, your probably getting LFC tv as well?
These channels are free for the moment because theres no deal set-up for anyone to charge for them so I suppose the choice was either close the channel down, charge a single premium for the channel which noone at this stage was likely to pay or just let it go free until they sort out what they're going to do.
Quote from: slievegullion on August 06, 2009, 12:40:04 PM
Yeah, your probably getting LFC tv as well?
These channels are free for the moment because theres no deal set-up for anyone to charge for them so I suppose the choice was either close the channel down, charge a single premium for the channel which noone at this stage was likely to pay or just let it go free until they sort out what they're going to do.
Yes, getting LFC TV but just realised there when pointed out by Fionntamhnach that I am not getting Celtic and Hun TV. Just never noticed that they have been taken off the EPG.
Thanks for explaining that one anyway, Slievegullion
The best comedy on TV at the moment is the Real Madrid channel. Each and every one of the presenters is the worst kind of corporate shill. Everything Madrid do is biggerbettershinierwhatever than everybody else. The spirit of Franco is alive and well.
Got ESPN
Bit of good news - if you have multi room you dont have to pay extra to watch in the extra room
Unlike Setanta - who wanted extra money
Quote from: Shortso79 on August 09, 2009, 02:56:35 PM
Got ESPN
Bit of good news - if you have multi room you dont have to pay extra to watch in the extra room
Unlike Setanta - who wanted extra money
who are you with? dont think you can get espn or eurosport2 with choras
With Sky - an extra 9 pounds a month - DC United v Real Madrid on now
I cancelled my SKY subscription a while back, but kept my Viewing Card, so I still get all the free channels (basically GB FreeSat and a load of utter crap).
Anyhow, yesterday afternoon I was flicking through the channels looking for an alternative to Songs of Praise, when I chance upon the Kilkenny v Waterford Hurling match live on one of those dud channels which I would ordinarily never watch. I think it was "Information TV"(?), which is Sky Channel 166.
Two things struck me about it as weird. First, the coverage had both RTE and Setanta logos. Secondly, the rest of the evening's "entertainment" on that channel was entirely Bingo, TV Shopping and phone-in quizzes etc.
As it happened, I watched a it of the game and it wasn't bad. I was curious to see more of your man Shefflin and he certainly looked a cut above, though maybe I was influenced by the commentary, which was a bit in awe of him?
Btw, how come some of the players seem to wear helmets, whilst others don't?
Quote from: Evil Genius on August 10, 2009, 10:48:32 AM
Btw, how come some of the players seem to wear helmets, whilst others don't?
Some players are concerned that Norn Iron fans will be in attendance and wear helmets to protect their heads from coins and other missiles. The others just aren't that concerned that Norn Iron fans will be in attendance :P
Anyone else get a letter yesterday from Setanta?
I did , to tell me that they were resuming taking payments from 23rd September and if I wanted to cancel my subscription there was a number to ring so that they would take no more money fro my account in the future Rang the number and surprise, surprise, constantly engaged. Have to write them a letter to cancel from next month but they are helping themselves to £9.99 of my money tomorrow which they wouldn t be getting if they had sent out the letter in time.
Quote from: Gaffer on September 24, 2009, 11:46:58 PM
Anyone else get a letter yesterday from Setanta?
I did , to tell me that they were resuming taking payments from 23rd September and if I wanted to cancel my subscription there was a number to ring so that they would take no more money fro my account in the future Rang the number and surprise, surprise, constantly engaged. Have to write them a letter to cancel from next month but they are helping themselves to £9.99 of my money tomorrow which they wouldn t be getting if they had sent out the letter in time.
Is it Direct Debit? Just cancel it, may be too late though as it takes 24 hrs for the cancellation to take effect I think.
Quote from: Gaffer on September 24, 2009, 11:46:58 PM
Anyone else get a letter yesterday from Setanta?
I did , to tell me that they were resuming taking payments from 23rd September and if I wanted to cancel my subscription there was a number to ring so that they would take no more money fro my account in the future Rang the number and surprise, surprise, constantly engaged. Have to write them a letter to cancel from next month but they are helping themselves to £9.99 of my money tomorrow which they wouldn t be getting if they had sent out the letter in time.
I cancelled my direct debit at the start of july plus i sent in a cancellation letter. seemed to have done the trick until yesterday when I noticed that they took £9.99 out of my account yesterday without any kind of notification. might only be £9.99 but it is still fraud. thieving cnuts >:(
Quote from: clarshack on September 25, 2009, 09:28:18 AM
Quote from: Gaffer on September 24, 2009, 11:46:58 PM
Anyone else get a letter yesterday from Setanta?
I did , to tell me that they were resuming taking payments from 23rd September and if I wanted to cancel my subscription there was a number to ring so that they would take no more money fro my account in the future Rang the number and surprise, surprise, constantly engaged. Have to write them a letter to cancel from next month but they are helping themselves to £9.99 of my money tomorrow which they wouldn t be getting if they had sent out the letter in time.
I cancelled my direct debit at the start of july plus i sent in a cancellation letter. seemed to have done the trick until yesterday when I noticed that they took £9.99 out of my account yesterday without any kind of notification. might only be £9.99 but it is still fraud. thieving cnuts >:(
Phone your bank, they ate not authorised to take any money out if you have cancelled the DD.
phoned setanta and surprise surprise it was engaged. rang the bank and they cancelled the new DD but said i needed to contact setanta and get them to refund the £9.99. if they dont i have to contact the bank again who will then try and get it out of them. it seems like it could be a lot of hassle just to get £9.99 back.
Same here lads
Cancelled the DD in July - DD was named "Setanta Transmission"
Now the f**kers have taken 9.99 under "Setanta Sports Hib"
Unsure whether I got a letter or not
Have I any fallback
I dont even look at the setanta channels now
I rang my bank on Frday to see if I could stop them taking the money. Turns out that the money had already gone for this monh. The man in the bank I was talking to a said that alot of people onto him about Setanta. They are supposed to give , I think he said, 10 days notice of a DD which they didnt do in this case. I had cancelled my original DD in July but they just set up a new one this month and started to collect.Bank man cancelled the new DD there and then and told me that they could attempt to set up a new one for next month and I was to keep a close eye on my on line banking. I am to ring him immediately and he will stop any attempt by them to collect next month. Its obviously a game of cat and mouse with Setanta and they will chance their arm. I sent them a letter on Friday as well telling them I dont want to subscribe to teir canne. Hopefully they ll take note of that.
Surely Setanta need a signature to set up a new DD ?
The banks must have some liability with no customer signature
Quote from: Shortso79 on September 27, 2009, 03:07:20 PM
Surely Setanta need a signature to set up a new DD ?
Thought that myself but it appears the are able to set up a new one with no signature
You'd need to watch that cancelling the DDs doesn't show up on your credit rating.
Extract from Setanta's website:
Do I need to cancel my payment details - either Direct Debit or credit card payment?
No. We will not be taking any further payments from customers as of 23rd June 2009.
You do not need to cancel your direct debit/credit card payment, however you may wish to contact your bank/credit card company for peace of mind.
http://www.setanta.com/global/gb.html
Quote from: Donagh on September 27, 2009, 03:34:10 PM
You'd need to watch that cancelling the DDs doesn't show up on your credit rating.
Credit rating! Do our banks still have the cheek to rate citizens credit rating?
How does this work?
Donagh: Mouthy northerner....only loan him amounts less than 200k which he can repay or amounts greater than 100 Million which we can send to NAMA.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1132580
finally got through to them. they say they never received my cancellation letter and if I want to cancel I have to give 30 days notice which means taking another payment. they wont refund me the payment from last week as they say I am still getting the service. I've already cancelled the unauthorised direct debit - will this affect my credit rating?
Quote from: clarshack on September 29, 2009, 11:00:05 AM
finally got through to them. they say they never received my cancellation letter and if I want to cancel I have to give 30 days notice which means taking another payment. they wont refund me the payment from last week as they say I am still getting the service. I've already cancelled the unauthorised direct debit - will this affect my credit rating?
Don't think it affects your credit rating as there is no "loan" as such and you haven't defaulted. I have cancelled loads of direct debits and it hasn't affected my credit rating
mate says he got through to them and they claimed they didn't receive his cancellation even though he had an email from a person in customer service confirming he had cancelled ???
Quote from: clarshack on September 29, 2009, 11:28:53 AM
mate says he got through to them and they claimed they didn’t receive his cancellation even though he had an email from a person in customer service confirming he had cancelled ???
have you got email for this setanta guy?
My sister cancelled hers too and cancelled her DD. She had no money in that account and she got a letter from Setanta to say that she owes £35 in arrears, same story as you guys have said she pnoned them and gave her the usual bull but she used to work in the bank (same bank of her accounts) and gave it to them and told them that she knew the rules and the bank were not allowed to give anything out to anyone without her signature or other means of confirmation...long story short she still owes Setanta £35 for something she cancelled 4 months ago
Anybody any updates on this Setanta business?
I am keeping an eye out for them attempting to set up a new DD after I cancelled theirs last month.