Sports Extra (TNT/Premier)

icdg

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

I think its because they are trying to save money and it makes more economic sense for them to do that rather than have two seperate streams. They probably are using a shoestring budget and relying on BT sport to drive subscriptions to them with little profit margin.

It saves money, because it means only operating one channel (albeit one channel with a split personality of Setanta Sports 1 and Premier Sports). But there are disadvantages too:

- No more Irish advertising except during Setanta-exclusive programmes (3pm KOs and some Champions League. GAA is shared with Premier Sports so that's out).
- A branding mess - the channel is marketed as Setanta Sports 1 off air yet on air is almost exclusively referred to as Premier Sports (though, confusing the matter even further, the cable version has a Setanta 1 DOG).
- The sports dominating on Premier Sports - ice hockey, rugby league, and NASCAR - are almost completely unknown here. Premier Sports is unashamedly aimed at Irish, Australian, and US/Canadian ex-pats of course, but most of its Irish-aimed programming (the GAA championships) are blocked to Irish viewers because RTE and TV3 hold the rights. It would probably be hard to sell advertising for ice hockey and rugby league anyway. This is not to disparage these sports - rugby league can be entertaining in its own right, and there is (believe it or not) a professional ice hockey franchise in Belfast - but they just don't have much viewers here.
- It limits what Setanta can move to Setanta Sports 1. For example last season Setanta couldn't move Europa League games to Setanta Sports 1 from April (when the merger occurred) onwards because Premier Sports had a commitment to the RFL to show rugby league. That said, the RFL and Setanta have apparently fallen out over the recent Super League deal (for which Premier Sports was apparently not even considered) and they have supposedly ended their English rugby league coverage a year early in retaliation.

mike2084

Could be a breakthrough in regards to the BT/Sky issue on European Rugby

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/10637587/TV-giants-BT-and-Sky-close-to-historic-deal-to-share-coverage-of-European-club-rugby.html

lertsnim

Good news for the consumer. Getting shafted again

It would be great if by a miracle Irish provinces were shown on Irish television again

icdg

In the European Cup? Probably never going to happen again, unless the pay TV market completely collapses (which it shows no signs of doing so at present). Best we can hope on that front is that a highlights deal is secured.

The Pro12 will (assuming the Welsh and Italian situations now resolve themselves) also be at least partially on pay-TV next season.

lertsnim

Hence my use of the word miracle

geekington

Hi guys, do you know if you upgrade to the Sky Sports HD subscription on UPC if this includes BT sport HD? If it doesn't any info on who's much it costs in addition. Thanks in advance

boreder

geekington wrote: »

Hi guys, do you know if you upgrade to the Sky Sports HD subscription on UPC if this includes BT sport HD? If it doesn't any info on who's much it costs in addition. Thanks in advance

You get BT Sport HD once you have a HD box and subscription to Setanta/BT. You don't need Sky KD subscription.

geekington

Thanks, I have the HD subscription and BT and I was wondering this as I have Setanta Sports 1 in HD but ESPN and BT say to contact UPC.ie. not sure why this is happening. Any ideas?

icdg

You're best off contacting UPC on that one, the channels may not be authorised on your viewing card by mistake.

geekington

Thanks - rang UPC and they activated it on my card! Appreaciate the feedback

channelsurfer2

a poster on digitalspy mentions that BT are trialing a price of £9 pm for champions league plus(if they get it and its no means certain as sky will fight hard to keep them) la liga rights. Thats on top of getting BT sport free if you are a BT broadband subscriber. Not good for Irish subscribers if this is the case as it would mean at hefty increase to Setanta's pack price or even BT going alone in Ireland in 2015 when the rights kick in.

icdg

All depends whether BT get the Irish rights to the Champions League when they come up, I suspect they will bid for them in any case. A Champions League extra service might not be of such great value in the Irish market if games are still on RTÉ, TV3, and Setanta. Every game from the Round of 16 onwards is currently live on Irish TV and available to basic cable customers. For BT (or Setanta) to make a premium service work that will need to change, they're not going to survive on lower value games from the group stages alone.

The Setanta deal has been extraordinarily beneficial for Setanta and (unless Setanta were making serious margins on their previous subscription price) been of little benefit to BT. The "they have no interest in Ireland because they don't sell broadband here anymore" argument doesn't stack up - BT have now bought up the Irish rights to a significant amount of sports and I'd imagine that somewhere down the road the bosses there will question whether their deal with Setanta is the best way of making money from those rights.

lertsnim

Will this Champions League Plus actually be on tv or will it be an online only thing? BT already show some events exclusively on their online service meaning that subscribers in Ireland are goosed

channelsurfer2

lertsnim wrote: »

Will this Champions League Plus actually be on tv or will it be an online only thing? BT already show some events exclusively on their online service meaning that subscribers in Ireland are goosed

it will be in addition to what you pay now in the uk. in ireland it will all depend on a number of things including (a) whethter BT get Irish rights, which I highly expect them to after paying 897million pounds there is now way they have not done a deal to allow these rights be shown in Ireland (b) whether they stay with Setanta. Either way it will be a lot more expensive and probably around 30euro a month instead of the 19.99 now with Setanta.

radiowaves

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

a poster on digitalspy mentions that BT are trialing a price of £9 pm for champions league plus(if they get it and its no means certain as sky will fight hard to keep them) la liga rights. Thats on top of getting BT sport free if you are a BT broadband subscriber. Not good for Irish subscribers if this is the case as it would mean at hefty increase to Setanta's pack price or even BT going alone in Ireland in 2015 when the rights kick in.

It is worth noting that BT have indicated from the time they secured CL rights that they intended a separate / extra charge.

It is also worth noting that the quoted price of £9pm has been pulled from a questionnaire and is little indication of any price that might eventually be charged.

They have also indicated that they hope to use CL rights to drive subscribers to their own platforms (none of which utilise satellite) so it really is a case of wait and see, especially in Ireland.

icdg

lertsnim wrote: »

Will this Champions League Plus actually be on tv or will it be an online only thing? BT already show some events exclusively on their online service meaning that subscribers in Ireland are goosed

I would eat my hat if there is not at least one, if not two games each night during the group stages (and all games from the Round of 16 onwards) on a conventional broadcast service. Streaming is all well and good for the domestic customer, but the commercial customers hate it, most pubs and venues aren't set up to do it.

The structure of the Champions League season also makes it very difficult to keep viewers for twelve months, particularly when there's a nearly two month midseason break.

lertsnim

I've no doubt that they will show a game across BT Sport 1, 2 and ESPN but Sky have had all games available on tv (Sky only, not on UPC I know) and if these were to be made online only then that is a backwards step. What we need here is a sports network like what BeIn Sports offers in the middle east. As many HD television channels that's needed and none of this red button nonsense.

ftakeith

setanta ireland told me last year that bt sport will have a red button service as uefa owns the feed

channelsurfer2

ftakeith wrote: »

setanta ireland told me last year that bt sport will have a red button service as uefa owns the feed

setanta cant even manage hd on sky never mind the extra feeds they will need to pay Sky for the use of the red button?

lertsnim

If the red button story from Setanta is correct then I imagine it will be red button via BT Sport channels. Setanta themselves might not even have Champions League rights themselves.

icdg

BT and Sky confirm that they've finally agreed a deal to share European rugby coverage from next season:

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/latest-breaking-news/15724/european-rugby-broadcast-statement/

kooga

i noticed last night that one of the europa games on bt sport 1 ran over the allotted time and geo blocking stopped, it lasted for about 15mins, great to see a europa league match in HD. Anyway they twigged it and it went geo blocked !

I wonder what the implications will be for the BT rights on the champions league, are their rights for UK only?

channelsurfer2

the irish rights have still to be decided but some sources suggest that the BT rights include ireland so wont be geoblocked.

icdg

BT/Setanta lose the rights to French rugby to Sky:

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12321/9270596/sky-sports-have-signed-the-rights-to-the-top-14-frances-premier-rugby-competition

kooga

its just one big merry go round between the broadcasters.........you gain with one hand European rugby champions cup on bt you lose top 14! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

ftakeith

icdg wrote: »

BT/Setanta lose the rights to French rugby to Sky:

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12321/9270596/sky-sports-have-signed-the-rights-to-the-top-14-frances-premier-rugby-competition

good move by sky sports

pro 12 and top 14 every weekend on sky would appeal to irish rugby fans than eng premier rugby

icdg

Worth flagging that today's Premier League 3pm is on Setanta Ireland rather than Setanta Sports 1 due to Premier Sports showing live ice hockey.

Cantona's Collars

Sky losing market share as BT grows: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/27/bskyb-chosen-one-bt-sport

icdg

A bit of exposure for the League of Ireland on BT Sport with Shamrock Rovers friendly v Liverpool at the Aviva being shown live 14th May at 5:30pm.

channelsurfer2

zerks wrote: »

Sky losing market share as BT grows: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/27/bskyb-chosen-one-bt-sport

seems the analysts were wrong... Sky gain market share etc being reported this morning but I would say most of that is not actually full subscriptions but the NowTV box which they dont break down seperately. BT to give BT sport free to Broadband subscribers for another year also in the UK.