Setanta

L.O.F.T

Lads ive been following the reports in papers about Setanta and the problems they are having. Ill keep it simple, anyone know or have an idea that if Setanta was to go (is bust a fair word?) where would the PGA tour coverage would go? (I know its golf channel feeds, thats not my point) could sky sports get it back?
Im on the sky platform and never went for the €15 extra a month option to watch Setanta.I do miss the PGA Tour stop coverage. I know this is TV related but Its the golf coverage im more interested in....any thoughts?

Mister Sifter

If it fails then the PGA or whoever negotiates the contract on behalf of the PGA would need to find another bidder. I'd say Sky would therefore be the favourites to pick it up at a knockdown price.

I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head who would also be in for it.

Trampas

It is €20 or 22 a month on Sky now.

I say Sky maybe looking to buy some contracts for sports off them.

I say it might have to be agreed by the PGA in this case.

Adiaga 2

Sad to see what's happening with Setanta but from a selfish Sky subscriber's point of view I would love to see the PGA Tour return to Sky. Not sure how likely that will be though. I think Sky do ET golf very well and even with rain delays they normally continue coverage on interactive(with no ads!!). This happened last weekend and at the Irish Open. From what I've seen of Setanta's coverage, it's not a patch on Sky's. Setanta is new enough and I'm sure given time and resources their coverage would improve. If it does go, and Sky get the pga tour rights then maybe Sky could end up setting up their own Golf Channel(??).

Adiaga 2

Graeme1982 wrote: »

I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head who would also be in for it.

ESPN possibly. Apparently(according to a radio interview I heard) Setanta were hoping that ESPN would eventually take them(along with all their rights packages) over. Now they would have a chance to take it over without having give setanta a big pay-out?

Mister Sifter

Sky have so much golf now that with the addition of the PGA they would surely have enough for a golf channel. My only worry would be that gaining the PGA rights would mean their Euro tour coverage suffers. It's excellent and a joy to watch.

I never subscribed to Setanta but anytime i ever watched their golf coverage it seemed really half-arsed. The only thing 'Setanta' about it was the little yellow thing in the corner. Other than that it was just US coverage.

I'm sure Sky are laughing...

conno16

Graeme1982 wrote: »

I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head who would also be in for it.

tv3?

you could have big trevor welsh walking around at augusta providing insights to the game
martin king plays off 35 i think

Mister Sifter

conno16 wrote: »

tv3?

you could have big trevor welsh walking around at augusta providing insights to the game
martin king plays off 35 i think

Keep yer phone on Conno, if it's insights to the game they're after i can't see them looking past you.

L.O.F.T

I would have to agree that Sky are happy with the reported demise of Setanta. But I would like to see more golf from the Pga Tour via Sky’s coverage. I know they have US Open, USPGA, WGC etc but the regular tour stops such as memorial, Bay Hill, Sawgrass, Hilton Head are great to watch and Setanta’s broken up coverage was awful.
My opinion only but some of the European events are just not appealing to me. Sky have tried to dress up the importance of some mediocre stops but I think they would jump at the PGA Tour coverage and limit their European Tour coverage. Yes the coverage is excellent but out of the worlds top 50, and we have a fair amount of Europeans in it (16?), they spend most of their time in the States, not teeing it up in Europe for the most part, except for the big events and the Race to Dubai which you can factor in if you tee it up in the European Tours big events.
I know the purse and world ranking points are a huge factor on the PGA Tour but our very best golfers are making a better living Stateside than they are here. My point would be although the coverage from Sky of the European tour is very good the Fields are for the most part weak and it becomes predictable and for me boring! Sky to drop some European events and mix more PGA Tour stops, yes please!
Ive rambled on a bit…apologies!!!

Mister Sifter

L.O.F.T wrote: »

My point would be although the coverage from Sky of the European tour is very good the Fields are for the most part weak and it becomes predictable and for me boring!

I don't think it's predictable and boring at all... just look at the past few weeks with Lowry winning and then the young Danish lad at the weekend. On any given week it's impossible to have a clue who's going to win.

If Sky getting the US coverage back means less European Tour coverage then personally i'd rather they didn't get it back.

L.O.F.T

Graeme1982 wrote: »

I don't think it's predictable and boring at all... just look at the past few weeks with Lowry winning and then the young Danish lad at the weekend. On any given week it's impossible to have a clue who's going to win.

If Sky getting the US coverage back means less European Tour coverage then personally i'd rather they didn't get it back.

But the fields are weaker than the PGA Tour alternative, hence the possibility of an unknown/ on the up golfer having a great week. Given the choice I would have watched the Memorial over the Welsh open.

Mister Sifter

L.O.F.T wrote: »

But the fields are weaker than the PGA Tour alternative, hence the possibility of an unknown/ on the up golfer having a great week. Given the choice I would have watched the Memorial over the Welsh open.

Fair enough, but comparing the Memorial to the Welsh Open isn't fair. The Memorial is one of the bigger events on the US tour, the Welsh Open is not. Take the leaderboard for the Texas Open a few weeks back for example... Anthony Kim and Zach Johnson played in it, but the rest were all mainly journeymen. Virtually all of them meant nothing to me.

Look at the field on pretty much any given week in Europe and it is full of players i know and that are relative to me. Last week in Wales was a prime example.

Adiaga 2

Personally I don't see Sky cutting back on the European Tour. They have provided their coverage for 15+ years and never scaled back. They even increased it this year by getting day 1 & day 2 coverage of the PGA Championship and Loch Lomand(afaik) from the BBC. The tour would be in serious trouble if Sky did any scaling back. Even when they had the PGA Tour before, it was always secondary to the ET apart from the really big events like the Players. Apart from those big events, their coverage was much like Setanta's, ie. American feed complete with 100 ad breaks per hour. If Sky do get it back I don't see much changing. It would still be great to be able to catch stuff like what Tiger did last weekend.

L.O.F.T

Graeme1982 wrote: »

Fair enough, but comparing the Memorial to the Welsh Open isn't fair. The Memorial is one of the bigger events on the US tour, the Welsh Open is not. Take the leaderboard for the Texas Open a few weeks back for example... Anthony Kim and Zach Johnson played in it, but the rest were all mainly journeymen. Virtually all of them meant nothing to me.

Look at the field on pretty much any given week in Europe and it is full of players i know and that are relative to me. Last week in Wales was a prime example.

I do agree that comparing the Welsh to the Memorial was unfair. I suppose my point is that I like an equal balance of coverage from both Tours....i know I want my cake...Two tours on Sky would be bliss, euro in the mornings and PGA at night. The wife and kids would leave!

PhilipMarlowe

conno16 wrote:

tv3?

you could have big trevor welsh walking around at augusta providing insights to the game
martin king plays off 35 i think

Unless Martin King is a girlie or a junior (pretty sure he's neither), then max handicap he can have is 28.
Slipping up conno

Trampas

With the european tour you don't get the same course week in week out what you get on the PGA tour.

Also like to see other players take shots live which you don't get on the PGA unless you are Tiger.

We head over to the 12th hole to see Tiger cane make a 1 foot putt for par. He gets it and the crowd go wild.

Another thing I hate about the PGA is the roars of "Get in the hole". I have heard it on par 4's

PhilipMarlowe

There are a few tournaments that I'd really like to watch in the PGA tour but for the most part I'd much prefer to watch ET golf ahead of a regular PGA tour event... we have a connection with a lot of the players and who cares if Billy Bob cardboard pro is a great family man who loves his mom and apple pie.

TimHanley

I hope these creeps hit the wall. Bad enough paying for SKY without having to pay for another channel as well.

conno16

Licksy wrote: »

Unless Martin King is a girlie or a junior (pretty sure he's neither), then max handicap he can have is 28.
Slipping up conno

as i've said, i'm new to the game
not sure of all the rules

Sky Sports all the way

thegen

Licksy wrote: »

Unless Martin King is a girlie or a junior (pretty sure he's neither), then max handicap he can have is 28.
Slipping up conno

Nail on head me thinks.

PeterJamesDoyle

I heard it was Sky also. I had Skysports and Setanta, but slowly Setanta upped their price to 20 quid per month. So I got rid of it, and more recently the Sky Sports package I had. I wasn't willing to pay an extra 52 quid per month for the golf, plus coverage on Setanta was cat. Full of breaks because of the poor transmissions from the US.
If Sky Sports get back the golf, then the coverage might be an improvement. I was using Sky+ to record European coverage but when I was on shift, it was a nuisance watching the recording late at night. May go back to Sky Sports as I'd be watching live golf from the US when I got home at 10pm.

soundsham

conno16 wrote: »

as i've said, i'm new to the game
not sure of nearly all the rules

Sky Sports all the way

spanner

GreeBo

Licksy wrote: »

Unless Martin King is a girlie or a junior (pretty sure he's neither), then max handicap he can have is 28.
Slipping up conno

Actually 28 is the highest you can start on but you can keep getting your 0.1's back and end up on anything.


Looks like Setanta has gone, I wonder would Sky consider a Golf Channel if they get the rights to both tours?

Mr. Larson

Re: Setanta, has anyone seen just a black screen lately on Setanta Sports 2 and Setanta Golf? I can get the other Setanta Channels but only a black screen for these 2 channels lately.

Personally speaking, while I will miss the Golf, I'm going to enjoy watching Setanta going under. Worst customer service ever and they swindle people who sign up out of money when they try to unsubscribe.

PhilipMarlowe

I still reckon that (regardless of your exact being higher) 28 is the maximum allowable playing handicap for men.

stringy

AFAIK The only Setanta channels broadcasting are Setanta Ireland and their International channels.

Setanta 1, 2 and golf are part of their British setup so I think they're finito

Niall09

Jabberwocky wrote: »

Re: Setanta, has anyone seen just a black screen lately on Setanta Sports 2 and Setanta Golf? I can get the other Setanta Channels but only a black screen for these 2 channels lately.

Personally speaking, while I will miss the Golf, I'm going to enjoy watching Setanta going under. Worst customer service ever and they swindle people who sign up out of money when they try to unsubscribe.

The British Setanta channels have ceased broadcasting.

Mr. Larson

I see - well as long as they cease charging as well as broadcasting then that will be fine by me. Something tells me although I have been docked 2 channels that my Setanta bill won't change. :rolleyes:

Riskymove

stringy wrote: »

AFAIK The only Setanta channels broadcasting are Setanta Ireland and their International channels.

Setanta 1, 2 and golf are part of their British setup so I think they're finito

Stanta Ireland and Setanta 1 were both still on for me last night

Setanta 2, Golf and news all gone

SEORG

According to the Setanta website the Travellers Championship is on Setanta Ireland at 8pm tonight.

pd101

The pgatour website says that Eurosport and ESPN could get the rights in the future

http://www.pgatour.com/2009/r/06/23/tv.ap/index.html

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- The PGA TOUR is broadcast to more than 230 countries in 35 languages with a maximum reach of just under 600 million homes. For the moment, it has gone dark in Britain.
Irish-based Setanta Sports, which had broadcast rights to the PGA TOUR among other sports in Britain, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday and said it will soon stop broadcasting to customers in Britain.
Setanta's contract with the TOUR started in 2007 and was to expire in 2012.
"The PGA TOUR is disappointed that Setanta has gone into administration," the TOUR said in a statement, referring to the British term for bankruptcy. "Our main focus going forward will be to immediately and aggressively explore all options that will ensure that the PGA TOUR will continue to be made available on television in the U.K."
TOUR spokesman Ty Votaw said Setanta would be off the air late Tuesday, meaning the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., this week would not be televised in Britain until the TOUR can replace Setanta.
Sky Sports previously had the PGA TOUR rights for Britain, and it continues to broadcast the majors and the World Golf Championships through an agreement with the European Tour. Other options for the PGA TOUR could include Eurosport and ESPN, which has a presence in Europe to televise the English Premier League, among other things.
ESPN has not televised the PGA TOUR in the United States since 2006, except for the majors.
"I don't think we're going to be off long," Votaw said. "We think we have a valuable product, an attractive product. We have a lot of international players, including players from the U.K., and it's shown in prime time."

GreeBo

Licksy wrote: »

I still reckon that (regardless of your exact being higher) 28 is the maximum allowable playing handicap for men.

From this it looks like the CONGU max is 28/36. So anything above this would not be official I guess?

fullstop

GreeBo wrote: »

From this it looks like the CONGU max is 28/36. So anything above this would not be official I guess?

That's what Licksy said. 28 is definitely the maximum men's handicap.

Mister Sifter

Conno - hasn't posted in over a week but still causing ructions!

28.0 is the max.

jimmystars

Jabberwocky wrote: »

Personally speaking, while I will miss the Golf, I'm going to enjoy watching Setanta going under. Worst customer service ever and they swindle people who sign up out of money when they try to unsubscribe.

I too can say im glad they are going. Scammed me for a years sub and fed me bull while doing it. Only sad point is people will loose jobs because of this.
Will miss the American golf as i find it more exciting than the european tour. I hate the slow pace of the coverage on sky. Find it boring at times.
Whoever gets the contract for the pga tour i hope they keep the american coverage/ commentators.

soundsham

you will get th american feed by whoever takes it over unfortunately,full off adds and the whiney voices.........bar oosty of course

Pauliee

I like most of the US commentators Oosty, Feherty, McCord ect, but can't stand Sir Nick. His attempts to be funny are painful to listen to. Everyone of his fellow pros said he was a bit of a knob and you can tell this jolly Englishman act is a load of boll%$ks.

GreeBo

fullstop wrote: »

That's what Licksy said. 28 is definitely the maximum men's handicap.

Yeah for some reason my brain was talking about 18 even though you were all saying 28....doh.

bigtimecharlie

British Eurosport 2 have coverage via the Golf Channel.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055603446