Sky or Setanta

closeline

Which one should I get? And anyway to get the price cheaper if I say something.

irishfeen

closeline wrote: »

Which one should I get? And anyway to get the price cheaper if I say something.

I'm actually leaning towards Setanta, needing the entertainment pack before subscribing to Sky Sports is a killer in these hard times.... The thing about Sky Sports is that they do show an awful lot of s.hite for which I certainly never ever watch (Darts, Cricket, WWE, NFL, Rugby League, Golf)... They do though have the big big PL matches (although for every big match there is 3 or 4 like Stoke v Cardiff and Fulham v Hull), Champions League and Heineken Cup.

I would actually see myself watching the Setanta Pack more ... F1, Champions League, GAA, 70+ PL games (a lot of the big 4 3pm games too), FA Cup, Bundesliga, Europa League, Serie A.

lertsnim

closeline wrote: »

Which one should I get? And anyway to get the price cheaper if I say something.

Which sports do you want to watch?

Digifriendly

irishfeen wrote: »

I would actually see myself watching the Setanta Pack more ... F1, Champions League, GAA, 70+ PL games (a lot of the big 4 3pm games too), FA Cup, Bundesliga, Europa League, Serie A.

CL and GAA on both RTE and TV3 while FA Cup will be on BBC from next season. I wonder will BT sports coverage of Europa League be 'in the clear' for viewers in ROI considering Setanta's coverage?

closeline

lertsnim wrote: »

Which sports do you want to watch?

Soccer would be my number one. I would watch a load of that. Big fan of the GAA aswell plus id definetly watch a lot of the Heineken Cup too.

irishfeen

Digifriendly wrote: »

CL and GAA on both RTE and TV3 while FA Cup will be on BBC from next season. I wonder will BT sports coverage of Europa League be 'in the clear' for viewers in ROI considering Setanta's coverage?

I would think it will be shared across BT/Setanta, the only thing that might stop the Europa league being completely in the clear is that BT doesn't seem to have Irish ad's so Setanta might want a top match to be on SI/SS1 to recoup advertisement revenue... we will have to wait and see what's the story there.

lertsnim

closeline wrote: »

Soccer would be my number one. I would watch a load of that. Big fan of the GAA aswell plus id definetly watch a lot of the Heineken Cup too.

Sky Sports would serve you better so

closeline

lertsnim wrote: »

Sky Sports would serve you better so

Only thing is its 62 for sky sports and only 20 for setanta

irishfeen

closeline wrote: »

Only thing is its 62 for sky sports and only 20 for setanta

Yeah sky is very expensive and I don't know who you support but if its either United or Liverpool then there will be a lot of the 3pm games covered too along with the ones on BT.

lertsnim

closeline wrote: »

Only thing is its 62 for sky sports and only 20 for setanta

True but if you want Heineken Cup then sadly that's your only option.

kooga

lertsnim wrote: »

True but if you want Heineken Cup then sadly that's your only option.

For H cup (Amlin) there is also the french channel option and if you have a dish pointed at 19.2.

Last summer i bought a French TNT sat box in Carrefour in France €149. In less than a year the box has payed for itself. Well worth considering guys

Tom Hanks

Until Sky let us subscribe to a Sport only pack - I would personally go for Setanta/BT over Sky any-day.

I'm not interested in Sky One or any of that cr*p.

icdg

If price is your only issue and you can only get one, BT/Setanta is the clear winner.

On sports, well here's a non-exhaustive comparision for you:

Football

---

Sky: UEFA Champions League (all fixtures except first pick on Tuesday, shared with Setanta), 117 Premier League games,Football League, Scottish Premiership & Rangers games in Scottish League 1 (shared with BT Sport), Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales home internationals (ROI competitive games shared with RTÉ), Spanish Premier Division, Irish League.

BT Sport/ESPN/Setanta - UEFA Champions League (all fixtures except first picks , shared with Sky), League of Ireland (shared with RTÉ), League of Ireland Cup, 71 Premier League games, UEFA Europa League games (Setanta - all except top pick, BT Sport, all except top two picks, may be blocked in ROI), Conference Premier, Scottish Premiership & Rangers games in Scottish League 1 (shared with Sky) French First Division, Italian Serie A, 1st Bundesliga, Brazil Serie A, COMNEBAL club football. Some Republic of Ireland away friendly internationals are shown on a one-off basis.

Rugby Union

---

Sky: Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup, Anglo-Welsh Cup, British and Irish Cup, England and Ireland internationals other than the Six Nations (Ireland Autumn internationals shared with RTÉ), Scotland and Wales southern hemisphere tours, The Rugby Championship, Superugby, Currie Cup, National Provincial Championship, Pro 12 (from 2014-15 onwards).

BT Sport/ESPN/Setanta - Premiership Rugby, Top 14. Possibility of some European rugby from 2014-15 onwards depending on current talks about future of ERC (aka the elephant in the room). Some Pacific Nations internationals are shown on one-off basis.

GAA

---

Sky: Nothing
Setanta: GAA Leagues (Saturday evening fixtures only), tape-delayed Championship coverage (cannot be shown on same day match takes place).

Rugby League

---

Sky: Super League, Challenge Cup (shared with BBC) some internationals.
Setanta: World Cup, NRL, State of Origin.

American Sports

---

Sky: NFL (shared with BBC and Channel 4), NBA (shared with ESPN).
Setanta/ESPN: NHL, Major League Baseball, CFL, NCAA football, NBA, NCAA basketball, others we've probably never heard of...

Other (selected)

---

Sky: F1 (shared with Setanta and BBC), pretty much everything in Golf other than the Open, PDC darts, most cricket.
BT/Setanta: F1 (shared with Sky and BBC) MotoGP, The Open (shared with BBC), UFC, women's tennis, some horse racing.

closeline

I wouldn't be too bothered with the Heineken Cup. I would watch it of.course but the soccer is the big one for me. The GAA is also a massive one aswell for me. Setanta has a lot of league games at the start of the year. However, I just got an offer yesterday from sky. It is 50% off for 6 months. That's 31 for 6 months. It might be a tenner dearer than setanta for 6 months and 40 dearer for anybody 6 months, I think the sky sports swings it. They have much better coverage I feel and better matches plus I will be able to watch Geordie Shore too.

lertsnim

kooga wrote: »

For H cup (Amlin) there is also the french channel option and if you have a dish pointed at 19.2.

Last summer i bought a French TNT sat box in Carrefour in France €149. In less than a year the box has payed for itself. Well worth considering guys

This is not a convenient option for everybody plus the France 2 coverage is rather limited

kooga

lertsnim wrote: »

This is not a convenient option for everybody plus the France 2 coverage is rather limited

noted but two free h cup games every weekend plus an amlin match and this season FR2 have leinster and munster h cup games.

irishfeen

closeline wrote: »

I wouldn't be too bothered with the Heineken Cup. I would watch it of.course but the soccer is the big one for me. The GAA is also a massive one aswell for me. Setanta has a lot of league games at the start of the year. However, I just got an offer yesterday from sky. It is 50% off for 6 months. That's 31 for 6 months. It might be a tenner dearer than setanta for 6 months and 40 dearer for anybody 6 months, I think the sky sports swings it. They have much better coverage I feel and better matches plus I will be able to watch Geordie Shore too.

I hope you are joking :eek:

closeline

irishfeen wrote: »

I hope you are joking :eek:

Yes great show

closeline

icdg wrote: »

If price is your only issue and you can only get one, BT/Setanta is the clear winner.

On sports, well here's a non-exhaustive comparision for you:

Football

---

Sky: UEFA Champions League (all fixtures except first pick on Tuesday, shared with Setanta), 117 Premier League games,Football League, Scottish Premiership & Rangers games in Scottish League 1 (shared with BT Sport), Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales home internationals (ROI competitive games shared with RTÉ), Spanish Premier Division, Irish League.

BT Sport/ESPN/Setanta - UEFA Champions League (all fixtures except first picks , shared with Sky), League of Ireland (shared with RTÉ), League of Ireland Cup, 71 Premier League games, UEFA Europa League games (Setanta - all except top pick, BT Sport, all except top two picks, may be blocked in ROI), Conference Premier, Scottish Premiership & Rangers games in Scottish League 1 (shared with Sky) French First Division, Italian Serie A, 1st Bundesliga, Brazil Serie A, COMNEBAL club football. Some Republic of Ireland away friendly internationals are shown on a one-off basis.

Rugby Union

---

Sky: Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup, Anglo-Welsh Cup, British and Irish Cup, England and Ireland internationals other than the Six Nations (Ireland Autumn internationals shared with RTÉ), Scotland and Wales southern hemisphere tours, The Rugby Championship, Superugby, Currie Cup, National Provincial Championship, Pro 12 (from 2014-15 onwards).

BT Sport/ESPN/Setanta - Premiership Rugby, Top 14. Possibility of some European rugby from 2014-15 onwards depending on current talks about future of ERC (aka the elephant in the room). Some Pacific Nations internationals are shown on one-off basis.

GAA

---

Sky: Nothing
Setanta: GAA Leagues (Saturday evening fixtures only), tape-delayed Championship coverage (cannot be shown on same day match takes place).

Rugby League

---

Sky: Super League, Challenge Cup (shared with BBC) some internationals.
Setanta: World Cup, NRL, State of Origin.

American Sports

---

Sky: NFL (shared with BBC and Channel 4), NBA (shared with ESPN).
Setanta/ESPN: NHL, Major League Baseball, CFL, NCAA football, NBA, NCAA basketball, others we've probably never heard of...

Other (selected)

---

Sky: F1 (shared with Setanta and BBC), pretty much everything in Golf other than the Open, PDC darts, most cricket.
BT/Setanta: F1 (shared with Sky and BBC) MotoGP, The Open (shared with BBC), UFC, women's tennis, some horse racing.

Not sure if it as clear cut. Nearly twice as many soccer games as BT and for the main part Sky would get the better games. I would also like watching a bit of the championship.

On rugby, Heineken Cup and Six Nations is the only rugby I watch..no interest in premiership, top 14 or super 14 rugby so BT doesn't offer me anything there.

Rugby League, American sports and f1 don't bother me one bit. I don't watch them.

The GAA to be fair is a huge advantage for Setanta. Great to have all the league games and championship games shown another day.

I have just afraid the BT Sports/Setanta soccer coverage will be ****. I though ESPN was good enough last year but still no where near as good as Sky Sports.

Can anyone tell me actually what they think of the new coverage so far?

Ps. Excellent run down of comparison between sky and BT.

Thanks

Tom Hanks

Anyone thinking the football pitch in the BT Studio is slightly over the top?

The HD picture though is absolutely perfect, I'm unsure of the bitrate but with my eyes it must be very close to RTE HD on 28e.

Fizman

I've just moved into a new house and I'm currently looking at the different combinations of tv/bb etc.

If I go with Sky TV (Entertainment Extra + Sports), can I also get Setanta on top of that?

irishfeen

Tom Hanks wrote: »

Anyone thinking the football pitch in the BT Studio is slightly over the top?

The HD picture though is absolutely perfect, I'm unsure of the bitrate but with my eyes it must be very close to RTE HD on 28e.

Heard it was running a bitrate of about 12, sometimes a bit higher... That puts it at least par with RTE you are right.

Kristopherus

Fizman wrote: »

I've just moved into a new house and I'm currently looking at the different combinations of tv/bb etc.

If I go with Sky TV (Entertainment Extra + Sports), can I also get Setanta on top of that?

Yep.

batistuta9

Setanta/BT don't have all the CL games like sky (the show 7/8 isn't it) do either do they?

& no sky+ functionality with Setanta/BT

but i think the Setanta/BT is good enough value though
i cancelled sky - only entertainment i had - and was going to get it but sky have offered me half price for a year & HD for a €5, so i'm not sure what i'll do

icdg

They (Setanta) have much the same rights (aside from the Wednesday first pick) but they have been physically limited to two games each night (unless there is an early KO in Eastern Europe) owing to the fact that unlike Sky they've no red button.

irishfeen

icdg wrote: »

They (Setanta) have much the same rights (aside from the Wednesday first pick) but they have been physically limited to two games each night (unless there is an early KO in Eastern Europe) owing to the fact that unlike Sky they've no red button.

So Setanta could broadcast every match around Europe if they wanted?? ... Amazing I always thought they were given the rights to just 2 games.

Why isn't sky red button games blocked here as ESPNs Europa League games were last year then?... Does sky have pan European rights on their UK rights?

kooga

irishfeen wrote: »

So Setanta could broadcast every match around Europe if they wanted?? ... Amazing I always thought they were given the rights to just 2 games.

Why isn't sky red button games blocked here as ESPNs Europa League games were last year then?... Does sky have pan European rights on their UK rights?

i think sky buy both the uk and ireland rights

irishfeen

kooga wrote: »

i think sky buy both the uk and ireland rights

What are the actual rights Setanta are broadcasting so I wonder?...sub licenced by sky I wonder?

batistuta9

icdg wrote: »

They (Setanta) have much the same rights (aside from the Wednesday first pick) but they have been physically limited to two games each night (unless there is an early KO in Eastern Europe) owing to the fact that unlike Sky they've no red button.

it was ability to watch matches via the red button i was on about

i didn't know they had the rights to all the games though

thaiwolf

without doubt sky is the better package for football , the bt games are mostly on Saturday lunchtimes which are not known for classic matches , sky have now got the 5.30 games which tend to be good as under lights and better atmosphere.

irishfeen

thaiwolf wrote: »

without doubt sky is the better package for football , the bt games are mostly on Saturday lunchtimes which are not known for classic matches , sky have now got the 5.30 games which tend to be good as under lights and better atmosphere.

Of course you are right about the quality of games but the cost of sky is considerably more then the 19.99 for 71 good quality games.

super_furry

Went with Setanta/BT Sports. It's only €16 a month on UPC with the first two months free, as opposed to €34 a month for Sky.

irishfeen

super_furry wrote: »

Went with Setanta/BT Sports. It's only €16 a month on UPC with the first two months free, as opposed to €34 a month for Sky.

Yeah its a good deal especially for those who want the 3pm games of the top 4/Liverpool... Either United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal wil nearly always be broadcast over a weekend.

thaiwolf

also one thing everyone is forgetting is that you get the championship soccer games also , come the end of the year the play offs are great games.

Setanta prem games are Saturday lunchtime and 3 pm games

sky you get Saturday evening , , super Sunday and Monday night football so basically you have to decide if it is worth the 18 quid extra a month to get the games at the best times.

gammon_steak

Does anyone know how the NBA coverage will be split between Sky and ESPN?

I presume ESPN is no longer free with Sky Sports?

speedboatchase

Go with Al Jazeera Sport. €15 a month and you get all PL games (+English cups), Champions League, Championship, La Liga (+cup), Serie A (+cup), Ligue 1 (+cup), Russian league, Brazilian league, German cup, intl friendlies, World Cup qualifiers. NBA too.

Al Jazeera can't be reached from Ireland normally, however, so buy a VPN package that includes an Egyptian IP (Express VPN is what I use) and you're sorted.

Tom Hanks

Setanta Sports 1 picture.... J*sus H C*rist.

gammon_steak

Tom Hanks wrote: »

Setanta Sports 1 picture.... J*sus H C*rist.

Is it worse than TV3?

irishfeen

gammon_steak wrote: »

Is it worse than TV3?

Probably on par if not worse... terrible.

Tom Hanks

gammon_steak wrote: »

Is it worse than TV3?

irishfeen wrote: »

Probably on par if not worse... terrible.

Had to switch to Sky Italy, couldn't care less about the commentary language.

What the hell are Setanta at?

irishfeen

Tom Hanks wrote: »

What the hell are Setanta at?

Really don't know, they have no excuses now with the increased revenue from new subscriptions with the partnership with BT .. i'm here watching it at a buddy's place because on principle I will not pay 19.99 for a subscription channel without HD... what makes it even worse is that people on UPC basically have free Setanta Ireland and Setanta HD... Talk about riding us bareback like

GY A1

has setanta any offers at the mo

icdg

GY A1 wrote: »

has setanta any offers at the mo

Two free months on cable if you sign up by end September. On satellite they waive the connection free if you sign up online.

GY A1

icdg wrote: »

Two free months on cable if you sign up by end September. On satellite they waive the connection free if you sign up online.

cheers thanks
E15 fee for over the fone connection, thats mad