Setanta

eigrod

Story doing the rounds this morning :

**Ireland's first dedicated television sports channel will begin broadcasting later this summer, cable company ntl revealed today.

Setanta Sports will televise live coverage of the English Premiership and Scottish Premier League to some 340,000 ntl customers as part of a basic package.

Setanta will also have exclusive live rights to rugby's Celtic League, and more sports content will be added ahead of the launch in August.

Setanta Sports will be the fifth national and the first indigenous channel to enter the market since TV3 began in September 1998.

The company said Setanta Sports will begin broadcasting on a weekend basis in August in time for the new football season.

From January next year broadcast hours will be extended to include weekday programmes.**

Anyone know what the story is (if any) with SKY subscribers and Setanta ?

BrianD

its on Sky already.

eigrod

But one has to pay extra on SKY for it.

It says above that NTL will provide it as part of Basic package.

My reading of it is that SKY customers will not get it as part of any existing package and will have to pay more.

Do Setanta have exclusive rights for Saturday afternoon premiership matches in Ireland ?

kierancooke

taken from s k y d i g i t a l . m e d i a b u l l e t . c o . u k
Latest news - 16 June 2004

15/06/04 New footy channels on the way for Celtic & Rangers
Celtic and Rangers are in talks with Setanta to launch subscription channels in time for the new season, with an announcement expected within days. However, Manchester United's 2003 annual financial review indicates the channel, Manchester United Television (MUTV), launched in 1998 in partnership with Sky and Granada, has still to make a profit. "MUTV, our joint venture TV channel, continues to trade at a small operating loss of which our share was £0.4m," it said. "These losses are being funded by the other joint venture partners in accordance with the shareholder agreement." Subscription levels are believed to be around 100,000 in the UK and Ireland, tend only to rise when live games are exclusively available, such as the club's pre-season tour to the United States last year and other friendlies. Roger Hall, Setanta's director of channel and programme development, said: "I can confirm we are in discussions with two clubs. Those discussions have been extremely positive, and we hope to be in a position to make an announcement within days rather than weeks."
News Feed: Raj Baddhan, Mark McGrath Source: The Herald News Break: 10:57

DMC

Originally posted by eigrod
Do Setanta have exclusive rights for Saturday afternoon premiership matches in Ireland ?

No, they are sharing 30 games with RTÉ (15 a piece) for Saturday 3pm kick-offs in the Premiership from August, for 3 years.

eigrod

Cheers DMC.

Does anyone know if NTL subscribers are getting Setanta "free" and SKY subscribers must continue to pay for it ?

celticfc

Originally posted by eigrod
Cheers DMC.

Does anyone know if NTL subscribers are getting Setanta "free" and SKY subscribers must continue to pay for it ?

I really wish it was in the basic ntl: digital package, but I severely doubt it though, it might just be a badly written article.

Out of interest, where did it originate from?

ebsa

Originally posted by celticfc
I really wish it was in the basic ntl: digital package, but I severely doubt it though, it might just be a badly written article.

Out of interest, where did it originate from?

From Setanta: Setanta launch Ireland's first sport-only channel


Setanta today announced the launch of Ireland's first ever dedicated sports channel, which will be available from August 2004 and will broadcast to over 340,000 ntl customers as part of its basic television package.

The new channel, called Setanta Sports, will broadcast live coverage of the English Premiership and Scottish Premier League, and will also have exclusive live rights to Rugby's Celtic League. More sports content will be added to the schedule and will be announced in due course.

Setanta Sports will initially start broadcasting on a weekend basis in August, in time for the launch of the new sporting season. From January 2005, Setanta Sports will extend its broadcast hours to include programming from Monday – Sunday inclusive.

Niall Cogley, Chief Executive, Setanta Sports said: "This new channel is a significant step in the Irish broadcast market place. In a relatively short-time Setanta has acquired the rights to top class sports programming, which has a direct relevance and appeal to a wide audience in Ireland. Setanta has built up a significant broadcasting business over the last 14 years and looks forward to building on that with the launch of Setanta Sports. Our partnership with ntl Ireland will enable us to deliver this unique channel to over 340,000 ntl homes."

Today's announcement establishes Setanta Sports as Ireland's fifth national channel, the first indigenous Irish channel to enter the marketplace since the launch of TV3 in September 1998.

Mark Mohan, Sales & Marketing Director of ntl Ireland said: "This is a landmark day for the broadcasting industry in Ireland. We are certain that Setanta Sports will be essential viewing for Irish sporting fans. Today's announcement enables our customers to benefit from even more choice, confirming our commitment to deliver the best value from Ireland's local and trusted multichannel television operator."

All ntl customers will receive the channel

- Fifth Irish Television Channel to be launched in history of the state

- Live matches from the English & Scottish Premier Leagues

- Exclusive live rights for Rugby's Celtic League

- Over 340,000 ntl customers to receive Setanta Sports from August 2004

LegacyUser

It is indeed part of the basic package. I've posted more info on the Setanta thread over on the Cable forum.

DMC

Hmm...

My guess is that the Sunday Game on RTÉ won't be safe if this takes off.....

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by DMC
Hmm...

My guess is that the Sunday Game on RTÉ won't be safe if this takes off.....

good point

celticfc

Originally posted by DMC
Hmm...

My guess is that the Sunday Game on RTÉ won't be safe if this takes off.....

Absolutely, Setanta have already shown they're not afraid to pump big money into getting rights with the SPL games.

RTÉ should fear.

Mossy Monk

absolutely and we all know how much the GAA like to get money, when is the RTE contract finished?

celticfc

Originally posted by Mossy Monk
absolutely and we all know how much the GAA like to get money, when is the RTE contract finished?

Next year I believe.

BrianD

This channel will be on both NTL Digital and analogue. Sky Digital viewers will pay €15 for it as it is not included in any of the packs. The channel is only for Irish audiences.

Imagine if the GAA went PPV? Now, that would bring down a government!

seano

Sky Digital viewers will pay €15 for it

per month or per year ??????????

eigrod

Originally posted by BrianD
Sky Digital viewers will pay €15 for it as it is not included in any of the packs.

Is that €15 per month ?

Widescreen

This Sky Digital viewer won't pay €15 a month for it!

However,if this channel goes onto Chorus as well as NTL it may have a knock on effect on Sky which may force them to put it in the family pack??? What do ye think?

BrianD

I presume it's €15 per month - it's about that already.

I'm sure that Sky may have to look at including it in the family pack.

Do NTL mmds customers get it as well?

Round Cable

It can't be added to Sky Digital, it would kill off the number of subcribers to Sky Sports.

About MMDS can you get all the basic channels that are on NTL analouge? If so it probabaly will be.

DMC

Originally posted by Round Cable
It can't be added to Sky Digital, it would kill off the number of subcribers to Sky Sports.

I cant see that being a factor, after all, Sky has Racing UK on isports tv, which competes with its own attheraces. NASN, part of Setanta's portfolio does ok too.

irishdeej

Because this is going free to air on NTL. Setanta needs as large a viewership as it can get to make a profit, right? So it will make since for its sports channel be on the IRISH $ky cards. That 250.000 on top of NTL's 340.000 subscribers. Advertisements is what pays for this channel. Just like TV3. So I can see it being announced that this channel will be on $ky in mid-August.

eigrod

That could be true Irishdeej, but maybe NTL may have insisted as part of the contract with Setanta that it not be made available free to SKY customers in the hope that it will stop the haemorrage of their customers to SKY.

Its possibly more likely that Setanta will do a deal with Chorus before SKY, as Chorus are not in direct competition with NTL.

irishdeej

Good point. BUT I can't see Setanta giving up such a large subscription base advertisement wise. The Sky subscribers numbers are growing each month. I bet NTL's are dipping a little each month. Setanta paid 34 million (could be wrong) Scotish games, plus the cost of the 15 Saturday Prem games, plus a small fee for the rugby. So if they sign up with Sky & Chorus + NTL, they be hiting the 800.000 viewers. Looks healther going to Advertisers, than with an 340.000 viewer-ship. I could be wrong, but I thing the real TV sports fan would have Sky over NTL. And this is the audience that Setanta need to make the channel viable. I think channel 436 will become Setanta Sport in mid-August. This channel has only been used three times??? It makes sense.

This is all guess work on my part. What do I know…:D

eigrod

Hope your right Irishdeej because anything NTL or Chorus get that SKY don't, irritates me considerably. I only switched from Chorus to SKY because of the shambolic service that Chorus provided and I feel that the extra subscription and losing UTV & C4 were small prices to pay.

Leesider

Just found this on the Scottish Herald'a Website...

RANGERS and Celtic have reached agreement with Setanta Sport to launch their their own club TV channels in time for next season.
Celtic TV and Rangers TV will screen every one of their club's Bank of Scotland Premierleague matches on a Monday evening, and will also feature pre-season tour games and friendlies as well as exclusive interviews. The deal follows on from Setanta's exclusive four-year contract to broadcast 38 live Premierleague games a season.
Roger Hall, Setanta's director of channel development and marketing, said: "We want to offer Scottish football fans everything Manchester United, Chelsea, and Real Madrid get, in top-quality games and in-depth coverage of their club side."
The team channels will be available for a monthly subscription fee of £6.99, though customers will be able to make a saving of £3.99 by subscribing to SPL Live, Setanta Sports' SPL channel, and their selected club channel for £15.99 per month. Further savings can be made by signing up for an annual subscription in advance.
Martin Bain, Rangers' director of football business, said: "The channel will initially be available to over 10 million digital homes in the UK on satellite and cable with plans later for overseas distribution."

celticfc

Originally posted by eigrod
anything NTL or Chorus get that SKY don't, irritates me considerably.

May I ask why?

eigrod

Originally posted by celticfc
May I ask why?

Because we were promised that the Telecomms & Television industries would be opened up completely to competition....the fact that SKY Ireland cannot get UTV makes a mockery of that.

Also I was with Chorus [ CMI for some of it ] for 10 years and gave them every chance to provide me with a decent service and found that it just got worse. Their customer service was diabolical. That's the main reason why I went with SKY. Been with them for 18mths now and have had no reason to contact their customer service.

While with Chorus, I ordered 4 PPV football matches one season.....I got to see ONE of them....the other 3 times their technology wasn't up to it.....nuff said.

I still wake up in a cold sweat some evenings dreaming of my experiences dealing with Chorus' customer service department :mad:

celticfc

Thats not the first & I doubt it'll be the last horror story I heard about Chorus. I'm just thankfull I've never had the misfortune to deal with 'em.

Originally posted by eigrod
Because we were promised that the Telecomms & Television industries would be opened up completely to competition....the fact that SKY Ireland cannot get UTV makes a mockery of that.

That works both ways just as easily tbh, there's plenty of things on Sky that aren't/can't/won't be available on ntl or Chorus.

BrianD

Because we were promised that the Telecomms & Television industries would be opened up completely to competition....the fact that SKY Ireland cannot get UTV makes a mockery of that.

Who promised this? If it was ComReg it dosn't include Sky Digital who have refused to be regulated in Ireland.

Without getting into the old UTV arguement, it is worth considering that not all delivery platforms wll carry all channels and even if a delivery platform is regulated in market doed not necessary imply that it is obliged or entitled to carry a particular channel.

sayireland

I wonder will this have any influence on the transponders that the various Irish channels are on.

Isn't 10.744 H full with the arrival of DW and TVE?

Would Setanta move to 2D and to 10.744 H? or maybe the Irish channels move off 2D?

redabbey

From today's Irish Independent http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=184&si=1203416&issue_id=11039

The new Irish station, Setanta Sport, will be available on NTL to all customers and the company will be talking to Chorus and Sky about joining their platforms.

eigrod

Thanks RedAbbey

mickeyboymel

Two tests have appeared on 11.222 H over the last few days labelled 52021 & 52022, with EPG information for Setanta ROI and B/O divided up into Wales Scotland England NI & ROI.

As they will need at least one extra channel on all Sky platforms for SPL Live, Rangers TV & Celtic TV, than they have at the moment, it must be a good sign that they are testing 2 extra channels,and a sign that the Irish service is definitly joining Sky.

Imposter

Will Setanta then be available in Europe on an Irish Sky sub?

irishdeej

01/07/04 Tests of new services now active
On 11.224 (H):
52011 will be Rangers TV
52012 will be Setanta Sport
52021 will be Celtic TV
52022 will be Setanta Sport Ireland

No launch date is know for these channels yet.