setanta to lay off 10% of staff

channelsurfer2

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0520/1224297357109.html

also in the irish independent this morning but a bit more negative.

as for the quote that they are at almost break even.... I wouldnt pay much heed to that. I would hazard a guess that their major source of revenue is upc and few if any people are paying the full price of €16.95 with most on discounted subscriptions.

anyway time will tell. I cant see any way forward for their offering unless they get more than the saturday 3pm matches exclusive. their other offerings can been seen mostly free to air on satellite or on sky sports(champions league).

Cantona's Collars

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0520/1224297357109.html

also in the irish independent this morning but a bit more negative.

as for the quote that they are at almost break even.... I wouldnt pay much heed to that. I would hazard a guess that their major source of revenue is upc and few if any people are paying the full price of €16.95 with most on discounted subscriptions.

anyway time will tell. I cant see any way forward for their offering unless they get more than the saturday 3pm matches exclusive. their other offerings can been seen mostly free to air on satellite or on sky sports(champions league).

Rang 'em to cancel and got it for €5 a month for the next 3 months with an option to extend it,the guy on the phone told me to call them when the current offer is up.
Apart from EPL there's little on it that I watch.

ftakeith

zerks wrote: »

Rang 'em to cancel and got it for €5 a month for the next 3 months with an option to extend it,the guy on the phone told me to call them when the current offer is up.
Apart from EPL there's little on it that I watch.

€5 per month for English league games that half of them were on rte2 up to 2008

I predict tv3 or rte2 in 2 years will get those 3pm live games after setanta go bust

JDxtra

Setanta should get on Saorview and make themselves available for free (which would drive takeup of the platform, and multiply their viewing figures). Then they could focus on advertising and sponsorship to make money.

I don't think they are ever going to make enough with the subs.

Elmo

The should really announce the number of subs they have, UPC and Magnet both pay for Setanta Ireland to be part of their Basic packages (not sure if it is still part of Magnet's basic package).

They doubled their audience during the Masters Golf (ok they went from 0.4 to 0.8%) but they would make an impact if they went FTA and could retain some form of pay TV.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4283929&tpl=archnews&force=1

And they should definately provide their licence fee funded shows on Saorview http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4283890&tpl=archnews&force=1

Infoanon

Elmo wrote: »

And they should definately provide their licence fee funded shows on Saorview

A move to Saorview for Setanta could be very beneficial to setanta and Saorview itself - as for Setanta Sports 1 - I doubt if it has sufficient subscribers to make the service viable on UPC.

Setanta HD alongside RTE 2 HD could be the boost Saorview needs ,IMHO

Minstrel27

Setanta should go on Saorview and make Setanta Sports 1 a more reasonable price on satellite and cable.

Elmo

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Setanta should go on Saorview and make Setanta Sports 1 a more reasonable price on satellite and cable.

Yeah mix of free and pay. I would acutally suggest that Setanta place HD on pay platforms only.

Setanta Ireland = Platform wide
Setanta Sports 1 + Setanta Sports HD = Pay platforms perhaps just on basic packages, if possible.

Either that or they need to improve their range of sports which is going to be difficult when they are cutting costs.

icdg

I personally wonder how many residential UPC subscribers to Setanta Sports 1 there are. It is a very bad deal at present for one channel which shows repeats large chunks of the time. You do get the majority of the 3pm FA Premier League kick offs on Setanta Sports 1 (though not quite a substantial majority, I think at least 1/3rd of them are on Setanta Ireland), the choice of GAA league fixtures on Saturday nights (though for Dublin fans it worked out nicely this year as practically all their Saturday night games were on Setanta Ireland), and National Rugby League games on a Saturday morning (if that's what you're into...). Other than that I'm not quite sure what Setanta Sports 1 has, on its on, that would attract a UPC subscriber that already has Setanta Ireland and ESPN in their basic packages to plump for it, over, say, Sky Sports. (And I see even less reason for someone who has Sky Sports, ESPN, and Setanta Ireland to fork out for Setanta Sports 1 - they would want to be a very hard core Manchester United fan or a fan of Australian rugby league...).