Setanta wins rights to Ireland home friendlies (4 year deal)

lertsnim

So Setanta take the rights from Sky Sports. I'm a bit disappointed by this as it means no HD for anybody on satellite.

I was hoping a terrestrial channel would get them

http://www.setanta.com/ie/setanta-to-show-republic-friendlies/

ftakeith

Setanta will show the england game next year

Delta2113

So much for Sky Sports 5 - even more Dutch football I guess.

iseegirls

Great news for Setanta. More than likely means though that highlights packages won't be available for RTE anymore, as i believe that was used only when Sky had the rights.

icdg

RTE haven't been so bothered about friendlies lately - Setanta have picked up the rights to virtually all Irish away friendlies for the last few years. The good news is that (if they are screened on Setanta Ireland) this will bring these friendlies, which have been exclusive to Sky Sports for some time, back to basic cable.

Whether it will effect RTE highlights (which again they haven't been so bothered with lately) depends on the terms of the deal and whether RTE would be bothered with a highlights package.

icdg

As it happens RTE do have a highlights show for the Oman game in their schedules for Wednesday 22:25.

irishfeen

Good news for Setanta but the lack of a HD channel on sky is ridiculous at this stage.

channelsurfer2

presumably these rights will also allow them to show it on premier sports? dont think sky will be too bothered or did they drop the plate?

irishfeen

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

presumably these rights will also allow them to show it on premier sports? dont think sky will be too bothered or did they drop the plate?

Setanta possibly flexing their muscles after their partnership with BT I wonder? ... they certainly hit the jackpot there.

icdg

The reason I suspect has to do with how Sky originally obtained these rights. It was part of a package of all Republic of Ireland home internationals. As you may recall there was utter outrage over this and the government made an order designating the Republic of Ireland's competitive (but not friendly) games as A-listed, so they had to be available to a qualifying broadcaster (which RTE took up the rights).

Nonetheless, the Sky deal continued but with non-exclusive coverage for competitive games in the Republic of Ireland. That continued and was renewed until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. Since then, the FAI no longer sells the rights to competitive Republic of Irleand games, which is now done by UEFA - this effectively "severed" the friendlies, which are still sold by the FAI. This would have left the remaining package a lot less attractive to Sky Sports - and a lot more affordable to Setanta.

channelsurfer2

icdg wrote: »

The reason I suspect has to do with how Sky originally obtained these rights. It was part of a package of all Republic of Ireland home internationals. As you may recall there was utter outrage over this and the government made an order designating the Republic of Ireland's competitive (but not friendly) games as A-listed, so they had to be available to a qualifying broadcaster (which RTE took up the rights).

Nonetheless, the Sky deal continued but with non-exclusive coverage for competitive games in the Republic of Ireland. That continued and was renewed until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. Since then, the FAI no longer sells the rights to competitive Republic of Irleand games, which is now done by UEFA - this effectively "severed" the friendlies, which are still sold by the FAI. This would have left the remaining package a lot less attractive to Sky Sports - and a lot more affordable to Setanta.

ah yes I had forgot that. And with RTE not having any money it would have left tv3 as the only real opposition.

Onthe3rdDay

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

presumably these rights will also allow them to show it on premier sports? dont think sky will be too bothered or did they drop the plate?

I don't think SKY would be too bothered to be honest. Irish Friendlies and Friendlies in general aren't the draws that they used to be (some exceptions of course) I think that's why UEFA are trying to start that new league type competition in a few years time which will get rid of many of the friendly dates. I would have been gutted to miss a friendly in the late 80's, early 90's. Now I forget they're even on.

Digifriendly

lertsnim wrote: »

So Setanta take the rights from Sky Sports. I'm a bit disappointed by this as it means no HD for anybody on satellite.

I was hoping a terrestrial channel would get them

http://www.setanta.com/ie/setanta-to-show-republic-friendlies/

Setanta to show European Champions Cup rugby matches according to this link. So will they simply duplicate what Sky and BT sports are already covering? I presume so. Surprised they are allowed to do this as surely Sky/BT have rights for ROI as well as UK.

An Tarbh

Digifriendly wrote: »

Setanta to show European Champions Cup rugby matches according to this link. So will they simply duplicate what Sky and BT sports are already covering? I presume so. Surprised they are allowed to do this as surely Sky/BT have rights for ROI as well as UK.

The rugby will only be shown on BT Sport, there won't be any games shown on either Setanta channel. BT Sport is part of the Setanta Sports Pack.

icdg

Just to mention as well, RTE and the FAI signed a new broadcast rights deal for the League of Ireland, seems highlights of all home friendlies were thrown in too:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2014/0829/640224-rte-fai-tv/

FRIENDO

icdg wrote: »

Just to mention as well, RTE and the FAI signed a new broadcast rights deal for the League of Ireland, seems highlights of all home friendlies were thrown in too:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2014/0829/640224-rte-fai-tv/

Thats great news, looking forward to watching live LOI games.
Well done RTE

icdg

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

presumably these rights will also allow them to show it on premier sports?

Apparently yes. Blocked in Ireland but presumably an exact simulcast of Setanta Ireland anyway.

channelsurfer2

icdg wrote: »

Apparently yes. Blocked in Ireland but presumably an exact simulcast of Setanta Ireland anyway.

yes.. watching the premier sports coverage and its Setanta presentation.

lertsnim

It is ridiculous that Setanta still provide Premier Sports to satellite viewers instead of a version that opts out like Setanta Sports 1 used to do. Tonight is the game on Setanta Ireland and blocked programming on the second channel which happens to be the exact same programme.

Poor show and they after increasing the subscriptions

Infoanon

lertsnim wrote: »

It is ridiculous that Setanta still provide Premier Sports to satellite viewers instead of a version that opts out like Setanta Sports 1 used to do. Tonight is the game on Setanta Ireland and blocked programming on the second channel which happens to be the exact same programme.

Poor show and they after increasing the subscriptions

Irish ads on SS and UK ads on Premier thus the reason for blocking it,Setanta is still run on a shoe string and they don't have additional transponders to separate ads or carry split programming.

icdg

Infoanon wrote: »

Irish ads on SS and UK ads on Premier thus the reason for blocking it,Setanta is still run on a shoe string and they don't have additional transponders to separate ads or carry split programming.

You wouldn't have known it tonight. For the first time in a very long time watching Setanta it felt like they were putting on a proper full service presentation with the proper production values you'd expect from Sky or BT, or indeed their pre-2009 incarnation..

ftakeith

replace Keith Andrews as co-commentator with Kevin Kilbane, keep Andrews away from any tv coverage, he is terrible

Digifriendly

Interestingly the RTE2 highlights of ROI vs Oman was shown 'in the clear' here in NI via satellite but geo-blocked on the local Freeview mini-mux.