Setanta Sports Subscription of UPC

The Dark Knight

I know this has been discussed in various posts, but I wanted to get a straw pole on the percentage of people who are currently subscribing to Setanta Sports on UPC. (Currently €15/month for Setanta Sports 1).

With Setanta still insisting on showing Liverpool and Man Utd Saturday games on Setanta Sports 1, their intend is to keep this arrangement, however €15/month for a few Liverpool, Man Utd and Magners League games is surly too much.....???

Ed_

It is far too expensive when you consider what they show. I would like to know how many people are subscribing to their service on both cable and satellite.

Infoanon

€15 is excessive especially when compared to ESPN, €7 might be acceptable - just.

The same programmes are now being repeated over and over again and some days SS1 is merely SIre +1

I only retained the service as UPC has given me assurances about the other services - LFC TV/Chelsea TV/ESPN America etc.

As we now know these assurances where not worth the paper they where written on so it shall be adios Setanta.

The Dark Knight

Ed_ wrote: »

It is far too expensive when you consider what they show. I would like to know how many people are subscribing to their service on both cable and satellite.

Satellite subscribers get a little better value as they are paying for Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1. However on Cable, Setanta Ireland is part of the basic pack regardless.

I'd imagine more people are happy with their Satellite subscription (although it's also very poor value at €16.99/month)

Mossy Monk

The Dark Knight wrote: »

Satellite subscribers get a little better value as they are paying for Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1.

Are they? It seems to be the same programmes being shown on both channels.

The Dark Knight

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Are they? It seems to be the same programmes being shown on both channels.

True. I was more referring to the fact that Sky customers would get nothing if they didn't subscribe, whereas UPC customers still have access to Setanta Ireland without additional subscription.

On Sky €16.99/month buys you:
All 3pm Sat Kick-Offs, including Liverpool and Man Utd Games
All Setanta's Champions League Games (Setanta's 1st and 2nd Choice)
All Magners League Games, including Munster Vs Leinster (Some of which are Free on BBCW and S4C anyway)
, etc, etc

On UPC €15.00/month buys you:
Some 3pm Sat Kick-Offs, (The Liverpool and Man Utd Games, all others are on Setanta Ireland so far)
Some Setanta's Champions League Games (Setanta's 2nd Choice Game)
Some Magners League Games, (Munster Vs Leinster, and some others)
, etc, etc

It's all relative
"Very Bad Value" vs. "Very Very Very Bad Value"

angel01

Personally I don't feel it is worth it for what you get, I subscribed to ESPN and find it millions times better. Setanta is a big rip off. All they seem to do is repeat programmes constantly on Setanta so why would I want to subscribe to that?

200motels

I got Setanta for 10.99 for six months on Satellite and when the six months are up in January I'll get rid of it, very bad value for what I watch on it.

The Dark Knight

OK, with this poll open over a week now, we have a clear opinion that UPC are offering really bad value for Money.
However, I would be really interested in hearing the opinion of the 20% (5 people) who either are happy with the service or intend to subscribe. There may be some valid points out there that the rest of us have overlooked......

(or maybe we have 5 jokers )

mikeym

The leinster vs munster match will be on ss1.

Last year setanta was good value for money but this year its dreadful. I miss the spl coverage and special1 tv.

Infoanon

On the UPC website and literature Setanta is getting very little mention, references have disappeared in certain areas on the website apart from the premium channel listing, its all ESPN & ESPN HD to the fore

Infoanon

Looking at the Setanta 1 line up for the last few weekends - a lot of the prime time programmes are now blocked for ROI and available in NI only.

So for your €15 a month you get what ?? programmes that are already on other stations and a blank screen for long periods at the weekends !

djimi

I cant believe anyone in their right mind would pay €15 for one channel, especially Setanta 1. When I had Sky I paid that for the Setanta package, but at the time that was when they had PL football, and you got a few channels for the money including ESPN America. Once they lost the football and half the channels I told them to shove it and they gave the pack to me for something like a couple of quid a month just to keep me on board.

Currently with UPC I get Setanta Ireland free, and for the couple of PL games a season I might miss by not having Setanta 1 Im pretty sure my €15 a month could be better spent...

mgsrocks

Just to point out, Setanta have lost the rights to the magners league for the 2010/2011 season. At this point the only worthwhile thing they have 3pm kick-offs. Hardly worth €15 a month.

jack presley

mgsrocks wrote: »

Just to point out, Setanta have lost the rights to the magners league for the 2010/2011 season. At this point the only worthwhile thing they have 3pm kick-offs. Hardly worth €15 a month.

Haven't they lost the Saturday Premiership matches for next season as well?

Minstrel27

jack presley wrote: »

Haven't they lost the Saturday Premiership matches for next season as well?

No. They will still show one Premier League game every Saturday at 3pm.

Minstrel27

Infoanon wrote: »

Looking at the Setanta 1 line up for the last few weekends - a lot of the prime time programmes are now blocked for ROI and available in NI only.

Do you know what programmes these are?

jack presley

Minstrel27 wrote: »

No. They will still show one Premier League game every Saturday at 3pm.

Oh ok.

I presume it will as before, either Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea and no one else.

Infoanon

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Do you know what programmes these are?

Its the GAA matches - so this can mean blank screens on a subscription channel from 12 to 7 during the day!

Looking at todays schedule the only live programme is GP2 which is available elsewhere (and won't get cut off mid programme like SS1...)
A repeat of a national rugby league match already shown on SIre
A repeat of F1 - already shown on SIre
Then the prorammes on from 10.30am are repeated in the same order at 5pm!!

Looking at the weekday schedule its basically SIre +1

€180 for a few Saturday premiership matches - premiership plus used to charge €80 for 46 games - go figure !!

Minstrel27

jack presley wrote: »

Oh ok.

I presume it will as before, either Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea and no one else.

Not quite. Mostly Manchester United yes but a sprinkling of Arsenal in there too.

http://www.setanta.com/ie/Customer-Info-Articles/Setanta-announce-2010-Barclays-Premier-League-fixtures/gnid-72184/

Infoanon wrote: »

Its the GAA matches - so this can mean blank screens on a subscription channel from 12 to 7 during the day!

GAA is blocked from the Republic of Ireland? LOL. Setanta are shambolic.

jack presley

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Not quite. Mostly Manchester United yes but a sprinkling of Arsenal in there too.

I presume they're showing Arsenal because none of Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea are playing at 3pm on that Saturday. If any Man Utd game is on at 3pm on a Saturday, Setanta are going to show that, even if it's against Blackpool at home and there's a more exciting game on elsewhere.

It's like RTE and the Champions League. If Man Utd/Celtic/Liverpool are in action against some no hopers from Bulgaria or somewhere, they'll always be shown even if Inter are up against Real Madrid or something.

Minstrel27

jack presley wrote: »

I presume they're showing Arsenal because none of Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea are playing at 3pm on that Saturday.

Obviously.

deanh

[QUOTE=
GAA is blocked from the Republic of Ireland? LOL. Setanta are shambolic.[/QUOTE]

In fairness, Setanta only have GAA rights in the U.K. RTE have the rights in Ireland.

Minstrel27

That wasn't always the case. They always showed delayed coverage of Championship games for the week after.

RTÉ also hold the rights in Northern Ireland with BBC Northern Ireland.

campo

FAO Liverpool fans because of Europa league we will only have 1 Saturday 3pm kick off this coming season so if you are a LFC fan it would be pointless getting in Setanta

icdg

Infoanon wrote: »

Looking at the Setanta 1 line up for the last few weekends - a lot of the prime time programmes are now blocked for ROI and available in NI only.

So for your €15 a month you get what ?? programmes that are already on other stations and a blank screen for long periods at the weekends !

In fairness, its rare to see a programme blocked for ROI and not NI. Mostly its the other way around - NI viewers don't get most of Setanta's football coverage, nor their Formula One coverage. And with them losing the Magner's League rights there's going to be practically no reason for NI viewers to subscribe to Setanta other than GAA.

As for their football match choices, yeah they normally go for Manchester United or Liverpool (and if there's a clash, United), and stick it on Setanta 1 while they're at it. But I note that of their first five games this season, none involve Manchester United and two of them don't involve any of the traditional Top Four (although Spurs is in one).

I agree that there is little reason left for Setanta Sports 1 to exist. Setanta have lost the Magner's League although it is useful to have both channels on FA Cup weekends where Setanta have a lot of sport to show...

jack presley

icdg wrote: »

But I note that of their first five games this season, none involve Manchester United and two of them don't involve any of the traditional Top Four (although Spurs is in one).

.

I haven't looked at the fixtures but I'd say it's a fairly safe bet to say that Man Utd. don't have a Saturday 3pm fixture during those first 5 weeks!

Kristopherus

jack presley wrote: »

I haven't looked at the fixtures but I'd say it's a fairly safe bet to say that Man Utd. don't have a Saturday 3pm fixture during those first 5 weeks!

The Mancs are on Setanta in 5 of the first 11 games being shown by them.

Infoanon

icdg wrote: »

I agree that there is little reason left for Setanta Sports 1 to exist. Setanta have lost the Magner's League although it is useful to have both channels on FA Cup weekends where Setanta have a lot of sport to show...

The magners league promos are still been run on Setanta - have they lost the rights for the 2010/11 season ??

An Tarbh

Infoanon wrote: »

The magners league promos are still been run on Setanta - have they lost the rights for the 2010/11 season ??

Looks like they'll have deferred rights or highlights, since the promo said Best of the Magners League.

Infoanon

An Tarbh wrote: »

Looks like they'll have deferred rights or highlights, since the promo said Best of the Magners League.

Thats misleading advertising to put it mildly - the 'best of' should indicate the 'best of' games avaialble and not deferred highlights - so to be clear they don't have the rights for 2010/11 ?