Getting Sky in US (celtic matches actually)

KdjaCL

Is there a way to get Sky in US and not pay $5 grand for it?

I know a guy who owns an Irish bar and told him i ask here how to get the games without using Setant or other ripoff company.


Anyone know a way thats cheapish?
thanks


kdjac

Too far over the horizon to get them directlyfrom Sky Ireland.

Cost wise the cheapest is a non live option ie courier over the tape.

mm

cupthehand

I was in a bar in Woodside,Queens this summer that had Sky digital complete with an astronomical size dish that took over half its roof!

Mike 1972

Nothings impossble however even on the East coast of the US you will need a HUGE dish (eiven that the signal isint even beamed towards the US) and an unobstructed view of the Eastern horizon (at 28deg East Sky is pretty far East even for viewers in Ireland)
Oh and a PAL capable TV to watch it on (US TV's mostly use the NTSC standard)

BrianD

Why are Setanta a rip-off company when they pay for the rights and deliver it coast to coast in North America? So your cheapo bar owner wants the games for free so he can sell more of his overpriced beer in his bar? What if I didn't leave the obligatory tip for the bar man who is being paid to do a job ... don't think I would last in the bar till half time!!

If your bar owner can't afford $416 a week (correction: that should be per month) for a Setanta box perhaps he should reappraise his business plan!

seano

Originally posted by BrianD
Why are Setanta a rip-off company when they pay for the rights and deliver it coast to coast in North America? So your cheapo bar owner wants the games for free so he can sell more of his overpriced beer in his bar? What if I didn't leave the obligatory tip for the bar man who is being paid to do a job ... don't think I would last in the bar till half time!!

If your bar owner can't afford $416 a week for a Setanta box perhaps he should reappraise his business plan!

Why are Setanta a rip-off company ???

$416 a week ( I think that is reason enough for me !!!)

Do you realise how many pints you have to sell to get even a break even point for 416 euro or dollars per week ???

BTW

Setanta Sport uses Satellites Telstar 5 @ 97w , Telstar 6 @ 93w and GE 2 @ 85w in C Band. for america
You can sometimes catch the open feed from europe to America on this satellite

http://www.satelliweb.com/?section=listingsfresults&sat=12.5

(Globecast is their perferred carrier )

BrianD

Firstly, I must apologise for my maths! Based on the figure of $5000 per annum (assuming this figure in the first post is correct) this means that the Setanta box costs the bar $416 per MONTH and not per week as I previously stated.

The price of a 100 bottles a beer per month or 25 per week... as I recall a beer is about $4. Not bad if you're pulling a crowd and charging a cover charge as most bars do.

The bar owner is still a cheap skate ... I'd check his beer as well before you drink it ... might have got it on the cheap some where....

seano

Originally posted by BrianD
Firstly, I must apologise for my maths! Based on the figure of $5000 per annum (assuming this figure in the first post is correct) this means that the Setanta box costs the bar $416 per MONTH and not per week as I previously stated.

The price of a 100 bottles a beer per month or 25 per week... as I recall a beer is about $4. Not bad if you're pulling a crowd and charging a cover charge as most bars do.

The bar owner is still a cheap skate ... I'd check his beer as well before you drink it ... might have got it on the cheap some where....

100 bottles per month would pay for it alright IF

He got the beer for free
He pays no rent or morgage
The water in the WC is free or he has no toilets
He gets the glasses free from the brewery and throws them away then without having to clean them
He turns the lights and the heating off
Oh and maybe the widescreen tv is also included by setanta.

The only ripoff here is Setanta in
depts of Monopolic practices

ShaneOC

Oh dear, we're back to monopolies again!

BrianD

Sean ... I don't mean to be rude but can you please argue the point!!!

You mean to tell me that $416 is not good value when most pubs charge to watch the match ... $5-$10 a head plus the additional bar traffic from those who come into watch the match? Your CC pays for the sub and your profits come from extra beer sales.

Once we have this extremely odd "monopolistic practices" arguement being thrown in without a shred of back-up. My uncle used to tell me how they had to watch the GAA finals in local halls in Boston weeks after the event. Now, must Irish people get off a plane anywhere in the world and expect to be able to see that match live in a pub. Setanta have brought the games to millions of ex-patriates around the world and continue to develop their distribution network whereby people can watch the game in their own home as opposed to the local boozer.

Setanta have bid and paid for the rights for these games and built a distribution and venue network accross a number of continents. Equally you could apply your arguement to Setanta - not having to pay the GAA or Celtic millions in TV rights , free up links, down links etc etc. Furthermore, Setanta has taken the risk of servicing these markets with programming where nobody else was really bothered. It's not a monopoly - somebody else can go in and outbid Setanta and distribute the programming if they wish. Do I detect a bit of the Irish begrudgery and "something for nothing" attitude??

Where's the rip-off? I don't know what the actually pricing for the Setanta box is but perhaps you do and you can compare it with other providers showing foreign games before making such a statement of opinion. Enlighten us!

seano

Ok fair enough I was pushing it a bit.

What gets me going on Setanta is this.

I tried a couple of years ago to get Setanta installed here in my home because I did not want to have to go to the pub with my child here on the continent to look at the games.They gave me this typical irish bank manager bull**** that it was not meant for me as lay person and did I know that it cost a lot of money etc etc.

Later i found out that I could catch the feeds,which I did until it got a bit more irregular
Then I heard that they were going on Sky so i thought Ok perfect,I will get it there.
But no,this time they gave me the Civel Servent bull****e story that it was only meant for the good people of the UK and that I would just have to be happy with their great service in the PUBs.

Now thanks to RTE being on sky I get it through them .

**** Where's the rip-off? I don't know what the actually pricing for the Setanta box is but perhaps you do and you can compare it with other providers showing foreign games before making such a statement of opinion******

I got the prices from your posting !

KdjaCL

umm thanks but bars here dont really get a lot of people in them and beer is very cheap compared to ireland. There are about 5 people per night in his bar and on saturday maybe 30.
It makes no business sense to pay full price for Sky in anyway there are no gaurantees he will fill his bar and oh did i mention hes a Celtic fan and wants the games more for him than business.

Fox Sports show premier and Uefa Cup games, ESPN2 shows champions league but if RTE and Sky show Celtic there has to be a way for him to get them without paying stupid amounts of money.

Thanks for the helpful replies.

kdjac

bucks73

He should have a look at www.celticfc.net

They have a service for non-uk residents to see all the SPL games live online and also live audio and video highlights of CL and other games. GBP8.99 per month is pretty good.

When I was in California last years on hols we were trying to find somewhere in Santa Barbara showing a United CL game. We came across a British pub which subscribed to United live audio. They had the PC connected to the TV and sound system. On the TV was the web page showing the team line-ups.

I presume the quality would be good enough to watch if he has broadband.

BrianD

Seano, my pricing was based on the original posting.

The cost of providing a bespoke direct to home network is huge especially for a channel such as Setanta with a limited amount of programming. You only have to look at the infrastructure that Sky have put in place to understand that there are huge costs involved. It therefore made sense to service venues - mainly Irish bars - where the audience could be maximised. I agree with you that many pubs and social clubs are not great places to bring the family!

Setanta's Sky Digital channels are only available officially in the U.K. so if you live out of that catchement area it's bad luck! They can only legally offer and sell the service according to the terms of their contract so it's not "civil service bull" when they refuse you. If you are watching it on RTE and are not located in the RoI you have obviously breached the terms of the contract that you made with Sky Digital but I'm sure there's 1000's doing it plus many pubs - I'm sure - making plenty of money on the back of the games that they are not paying for.

KdjaC, where in the US? Surely, the pub owner must understand that if he shows the games he may increase his patronage and profits and he must have the common sense to know that we can't have everything that we want!!!

Ironically, much of the streaming for UK football clubs is provided by Servecast who are partially owned by Setanta ... now, what was that monopolies comment again ....