Setanta to broadcast in HD on UPC

Eamo71

Good news by the looks of it. PR hype below:

SETANTA BECOMES FIRST IRISH CHANNEL TO GO HD

Setanta Ireland announced today that it will become Ireland’s first indigenous channel to broadcast in High Definition. The Setanta HD channel will launch by Jan 2011. Initially the channel will be available on UPC’s cable platform with a launch on satellite at a later date.

Michael O’Rourke, Co-founder and CEO of Setanta Sports, said “High Definition channels have become established over the past couple of years and HD is rapidly becoming the standard in sports broadcasting. We are delighted to be the first Irish channel to make the move to HD. Sports content shows off HD at its best. In 2011 our HD viewers will be able to see their favorite football teams in the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Europa League. Plus the pinnacle of Setanta’s 2011 rugby coverage will be the Rugby World Cup where we will be the only Irish broadcaster to show all 48 games live in High Definition.”

Other HD content that will be shown includes French Top 14 Rugby, Serie A from Italy, Open Championship Golf and many magazine sports shows. Also, Irish national and domestic sports action will be shown in HD for the first time. O’Rourke goes on to say “We are thrilled to be able to broadcast Irish sport in HD. This will include the 2011 Allianz National League GAA Football and Hurling as well as domestic soccer action including the Setanta sports cup. It is important to thank UPC for providing us with a platform to launch the HD channel. Their support has meant that we can launch the HD channel earlier than expected and it will be a great addition to their existing HD channels.”

Robert Dunn, CEO of UPC added: "We’re delighted that Setanta will be showcasing their first HD transmission across our digital platforms and UPC customers will be the first in Ireland to experience this from 2011. This partnership underlines our commitment in using cutting edge technology to help produce and distribute outstanding content and the HD format is adding a new dimension to home entertainment for our customer base.”

The launch took place at the new Convention Centre Dublin this evening. At the event Setanta also confirmed the launch of a new App for iPhone and a ‘Setanta Goals’ service for other mobile phones and blackberrys. The main feature of both services is that subscribers will receive instant alerts each time there is a goal in their team’s game. This alert will open up a video of the goal within minutes of it being scored. The alerts will cover all 380 Barclays Premier League games. The Setanta iPhone App also allows users to watch the Setanta Ireland and the Setanta Sports 1 channels live on their iPhone and it delivers the latest sports news stories from home and abroad. The App will be available on a monthly subscription basis through iTunes. A version for Android phones will follow. The ‘Setanta Goals’ service for mobile phones and blackberrys will have goal alerts and videos as well highlights for a weekly subscription fee. Both services will be available from October.

Unregistered.

Eamo71 wrote: »

Good news by the looks of it. PR hype below:

SETANTA BECOMES FIRST IRISH CHANNEL TO GO HD

Setanta Ireland announced today that it will become Ireland’s first indigenous channel to broadcast in High Definition. The Setanta HD channel will launch by Jan 2011. Initially the channel will be available on UPC’s cable platform with a launch on satellite at a later date.

Michael O’Rourke, Co-founder and CEO of Setanta Sports, said “High Definition channels have become established over the past couple of years and HD is rapidly becoming the standard in sports broadcasting. We are delighted to be the first Irish channel to make the move to HD. Sports content shows off HD at its best. In 2011 our HD viewers will be able to see their favorite football teams in the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Europa League. Plus the pinnacle of Setanta’s 2011 rugby coverage will be the Rugby World Cup where we will be the only Irish broadcaster to show all 48 games live in High Definition.”

Other HD content that will be shown includes French Top 14 Rugby, Serie A from Italy, Open Championship Golf and many magazine sports shows. Also, Irish national and domestic sports action will be shown in HD for the first time. O’Rourke goes on to say “We are thrilled to be able to broadcast Irish sport in HD. This will include the 2011 Allianz National League GAA Football and Hurling as well as domestic soccer action including the Setanta sports cup. It is important to thank UPC for providing us with a platform to launch the HD channel. Their support has meant that we can launch the HD channel earlier than expected and it will be a great addition to their existing HD channels.”

Robert Dunn, CEO of UPC added: "We’re delighted that Setanta will be showcasing their first HD transmission across our digital platforms and UPC customers will be the first in Ireland to experience this from 2011. This partnership underlines our commitment in using cutting edge technology to help produce and distribute outstanding content and the HD format is adding a new dimension to home entertainment for our customer base.”

The launch took place at the new Convention Centre Dublin this evening. At the event Setanta also confirmed the launch of a new App for iPhone and a ‘Setanta Goals’ service for other mobile phones and blackberrys. The main feature of both services is that subscribers will receive instant alerts each time there is a goal in their team’s game. This alert will open up a video of the goal within minutes of it being scored. The alerts will cover all 380 Barclays Premier League games. The Setanta iPhone App also allows users to watch the Setanta Ireland and the Setanta Sports 1 channels live on their iPhone and it delivers the latest sports news stories from home and abroad. The App will be available on a monthly subscription basis through iTunes. A version for Android phones will follow. The ‘Setanta Goals’ service for mobile phones and blackberrys will have goal alerts and videos as well highlights for a weekly subscription fee. Both services will be available from October.

Good news for Setanta. If themselves and ESPN get more Premiership games over the next few seasons, I can see many people reconsidering moving to Sky for Sky Sports HD

angel01

Will this cover Setanta Sports 1 or the standard one?

Wish it was Sky Sports HD

surf board

Eamo71 wrote: »

Good news by the looks of it. PR hype below:

SETANTA BECOMES FIRST IRISH CHANNEL TO GO HD

Setanta Ireland announced today that it will become Ireland’s first indigenous channel to broadcast in High Definition. The Setanta HD channel will launch by Jan 2011. Initially the channel will be available on UPC’s cable platform with a launch on satellite at a later date.

Don't mean this to be a thread hijack, so apologies.

UTV are saying that they will now be the first Irish HD channel to launch on Virgin Media later this Autumn.

"We are delighted to announce that UTV will soon become the first Irish channel to launch a HD service.

UTV intend to go live on the Virgin Media cable network in late Autumn this year. Plans are also underway for a UTV HD launch on the Freeview service in 2012 when capacity becomes available as part of digital switchover and negotiations are well underway with the ITV Network about capacity for a UTV HD service on the SKY HD platform."

No mention of UTV HD on UPC or in the Rebublic though. Maybe someone can confirm if UTV or UPC have plans to launch it here?

watty

UTV is a UK channel.

Is there anything much left to watch on Setanta?

Freesat is better value for HD. Why pay for UTV when it's free?

Minstrel27

watty wrote: »

Is there anything much left to watch on Setanta?

They have Champions League, Europa League, Serie A and Premier League. All of these are available in HD.

icdg

Is there anything much left to watch on Setanta?

Football is the biggie. Saturday 3pm Premier League matches, along with second pick Champions League and Europa League matches. They also cover the Setanta Sports Cup and some League of Ireland matches and have some friendlies.

They do have the Irish rights to the Rugby World Cup, albeit that Ireland matches are on the "crown jewels" list and so must be available to a terrestrial broadcaster if they want to pick up the rights. TV3 did this the last time.

Setanta also have the Top 14 Orange (the French rugby premiership) but that's shared with ESPN. Formula One (which anyone who is a fan will be watching on the BBC anyway). They also have some GAA National League matches. Other than that, the NRL (the Australian rugby league championship) is their only other regular live rights and I can't imagine the audience for rugby league, never mind southern hemisphere rugby league, is huge in this country.

surf board

watty wrote: »

UTV is a UK channel.

Yes but it is based in NI & also received in Republic. So I guess its the 1st HD channel from the island of Ireland.

watty wrote: »

Freesat is better value for HD. Why pay for UTV when it's free?

I'd love to be able to get Freesat! Unfortunately, apartment restricts.

surf board

Any new HD addition would be great, even if it is targeting the sports enthusiasts. Setanta have a decent range of sports, but as said before, football (champions league etc) is still the attraction. Especially for those who are somewhat restricted in our choice of viewing platform.

Kristopherus

Irish Channel me ar*e. Try to sort out a problem with them & you will get kicked around all the UK contacts they have. I presume, like all things Setanta, their HD well come with a premium price:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Infoanon

icdg wrote: »

Football is the biggie. Saturday 3pm Premier League matches, along with second pick Champions League and Europa League matches.

An awful lot of Setantas programmes are already available on ESPN HD - however champions league in HD will something new on UPC.(but will the games be on ITV through freesat).

Setanta charge €15 a month for effectively the odd Saturday premiership game and I imagine that HD on UPC will on the premium Setanta 1 and suspect an increase in price will follow.

UPC marketing strategy will be interesting after pushing ESPN for so long.

Minstrel27

It will surely be a channel that takes content from both Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1.

An Tarbh

Infoanon wrote: »

An awful lot of Setantas programmes are already available on ESPN HD - however champions league in HD will something new on UPC.(but will the games be on ITV through freesat).

Unlikely as RTÉ2 usually show the same game as ITV, given that they have first choice pick of the Wednesday games, so it won't be available eslewhere in HD on UPC, unless they pick up Sky's HD channels in the meantime. Setanta show more Top 14 and Serie A than ESPN, certainly if the last few weekends are anything to go by.

0ph0rce0

Unregistered. wrote: »

Good news for Setanta. If themselves and ESPN get more Premiership games over the next few seasons, I can see many people reconsidering moving to Sky for Sky Sports HD

Bah i doubt it, didnt UPC only sign a 2 year deal with ESPN so we get it in the packs, Its nearly up and i can see us having to pay for it once the deal has ended.

thebox

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Bah i doubt it, didnt UPC only sign a 2 year deal with ESPN so we get it in the packs, Its nearly up and i can see us having to pay for it once the deal has ended.

well seeing as espn only launched in august 2009 i doubt this

Unregistered.

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Bah i doubt it, didnt UPC only sign a 2 year deal with ESPN so we get it in the packs, Its nearly up and i can see us having to pay for it once the deal has ended.

source?
My point was if there will be enough matches between ESPN and Setanta and they're both available in HD on UPC then (if they market it right and do their sums properly) they could see people moving from Sky to UPC for sports.