Setanta 3pm games - terrible matches ??

Peter Anthony

Is there any reason why this season Setanta 3pm matches have been some of the worst matches available?

Eg today Sunderland vs Burnley when United, Liverpool, Everton , Spurs etc are playing at the same time. Its been every weekend now theres been better matches on at 3pm that they have not shown.

I'm guessing a new ruling came in that they must show each of the clubs so many times?? Because in previous times they would just show United Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal etc games every week . Even the games they do show are poor picks with little interest.

irishfeen

Peter Anthony wrote: »

Is there any reason why this season Setanta 3pm matches have been some of the worst matches available?

Eg today Sunderland vs Burnley when United, Liverpool, Everton , Spurs etc are playing at the same time. Its been every weekend now theres been better matches on at 3pm that they have not shown.

I'm guessing a new ruling came in that they must show each of the clubs so many times?? Because in previous times they would just show United Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal etc games every week . Even the games they do show are poor picks with little interest.

Their new relationship with BT has majorly effected the match picks.. Some absolutely dire games now being shown at 3pm.

ratracer

You're spot on, match choice has been terrible. I don't think I'll even wait until the end of the season to cancel the BT/setanta pack.

irishfeen

Apart from the United, Liverpool, City and Chelsea games it must be loss making on Setanta .. Absolutely dreadful stuff being shown now .. Hardly worth bidding for the 3pm games in Ireland when they are subject to enforced match picks.

Peter Anthony

I see they've been taking alot of stick on twitter today over the Sunderland Burnley pick and rightly so. They confirmed my suspicions that their hands are tied somewhat but I still dont understand why they picked the worst of todays 6 3pm games. I believe they deserve the criticism, theres no way they werent allowed show at least 1 of the other 5 matches today and who the hell cares about a supposed relegation dogfight in January, especially between 2 sides of this ilk.

https://twitter.com/SetantaSports/with_replies

ftakeith

I would be angry if I got the 'setanta pack' for english football

But for live european league games, live european rugby games and live alternative champion league games, setanta pack is value for me and I don't subscribe to sky sports
I find english football very boring and the hype getting over the top of mostly average players

Peter Anthony

irishfeen wrote: »

Apart from the United, Liverpool, City and Chelsea games it must be loss making on Setanta .. Absolutely dreadful stuff being shown now .. Hardly worth bidding for the 3pm games in Ireland when they are subject to enforced match picks.

Exactly they routinely have the worst match of the weekend televised. I'm not sure if ratings concern them or how that works but I imagine even among their own subscriber base very few fans watch these games when the better matches are on at the same time.

Tbh I dont know how Setanta has survived this long. Their content seems to nosedive every year.

mikeym

If I was paying commercial rates to watch Setanta I would be very unhappy.

irishfeen

They are taking desperate abuse on Twitter .. They really should go to the Premier League and say they will pull out unless the quotas end... At this stage the 3pm games are adding very little to the "Setanta Pack"

irishgeo

We aim to show the top teams as much as possible. However there are some restrictions on our 3pm Premier League match picks.

The stock response.

irishfeen

irishgeo wrote: »

The stock response.

It really is ridiculous that the PL have enforced match quotas on them - BT deal or no BT deal... of course they have to do it in England to give the lesser teams TV time but to force Setanta to pick lesser matches is beyond stupid.

Joo0

22 euro a month a full price for this is a joke
Its not worth 10 euro at this stage!

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

Apart from the United, Liverpool, City and Chelsea games it must be loss making on Setanta .. Absolutely dreadful stuff being shown now .. Hardly worth bidding for the 3pm games in Ireland when they are subject to enforced match picks.

The 3pm games as a standalone package does not have quotas enforced - this would be impossible.

It is because Setanta are in bed with BT that quotas are enforced.

irishfeen wrote: »

It really is ridiculous that the PL have enforced match quotas on them - BT deal or no BT deal... of course they have to do it in England to give the lesser teams TV time but to force Setanta to pick lesser matches is beyond stupid.

See above - BT and Setanta are being treated as one and probably rightly so as they are available under a single subscription.

BT and Setanta selling their combined match picks up against Sky Sports would be seen as unfair.

Cantona's Collars

ftakeith wrote: »

I would be angry if I got the 'setanta pack' for english football

But for live european league games, live european rugby games and live alternative champion league games, setanta pack is value for me and I don't subscribe to sky sports
I find english football very boring and the hype getting over the top of mostly average players

BT will have even more stuff next season,they got the CL rights.An with Setanta always ready to do a deal it can be decent enough value.We actually get a better deal than the UK-at least we get 3pm games here.I find that many have opted for Setanta/BT over Sky Sports as it's so much cheaper.
At least the picture quality on Setanta has improved this season.

mikeym

zerks wrote: »

BT will have even more stuff next season,they got the CL rights.An with Setanta always ready to do a deal it can be decent enough value.We actually get a better deal than the UK-at least we get 3pm games here.I find that many have opted for Setanta/BT over Sky Sports as it's so much cheaper.
At least the picture quality on Setanta has improved this season.

But its annoying for Liverpool and Man Utd fans who have to resort to watching dodgy internet streams to watch the games and to the pub owners who would have got more punters if Setanta showed Liverpool or Man Utd.

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

The 3pm games as a standalone package does not have quotas enforced - this would be impossible.

It is because Setanta are in bed with BT that quotas are enforced.



See above - BT and Setanta are being treated as one and probably rightly so as they are available under a single subscription.

BT and Setanta selling their combined match picks up against Sky Sports would be seen as unfair.

The thing is that it makes most of the 3pm games loss making and useless from a customer subscription base .. Tbh next time round Setanta might offer half or quarter the money because with quotas the rights don't make any commercial sense in Ireland - the PL will lose out, not to mention pushing people to watching games online or via foreign subs.

If the BT deal persists into the future, it could open up the possibility of the 3pm games returning to FTA television (UTV or TV3 perhaps) - why would Setanta pay for such dire quality games..

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

The thing is that it makes most of the 3pm games loss making and useless from a customer subscription base .. Tbh next time round Setanta might offer half or quarter the money because with quotas the rights don't make any commercial sense in Ireland - the PL will lose out.

If the BT deal persists into the future, it could open up the possibility of the 3pm games returning to FTA television (UTV or TV3 perhaps) - why would Setanta pay for such dire quality games..

I won't argue with any of that. Except Setanta are using quantity in their marketing this season - the amount of games they have in total; last year they were more focused on quality in their marketing (ie the number of Manchester United & Liverpool games they had).

Of course, if any of the other local broadcasters took the 3pm package (except for Sky Sports obviously) they would be unrestricted in what they can show and could market quality as opposed to quantity.

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

I won't argue with any of that. Except Setanta are using quantity in their marketing this season - the amount of games they have in total; last year they were more focused on quality in their marketing (ie the number of Manchester United & Liverpool games they had).

Of course, if any of the other local broadcasters took the 3pm package (except for Sky Sports obviously) they would be unrestricted in what they can show and could market quality as opposed to quantity.

"Quantity" went out the window yesterday when United and Liverpool fans turned on them and gave them an absolute bolocking.. The thing is Sky will be picking up most of the games from here on in from United, Liverpool, City and Arsenal meaning more dire games at 3pm are inevitable.

Mallagio

Thank god I'm motorised, these games that they're showing are of the poorest quality.

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

"Quantity" went out the window yesterday when United and Liverpool fans turned on them and gave them an absolute bolocking.. The thing is Sky will be picking up most of the games from here on in from United, Liverpool, City and Arsenal meaning more dire games at 3pm are inevitable.

That's my point - that's why they're focusing on quantity over quality.

Anyway, Manchester United's two 3pms for this month are scheduled to be shown by Setanta

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

That's my point - that's why they're focusing on quantity over quality.

Anyway, Manchester United's two 3pms for this month are scheduled to be shown by Setanta

What are the other two??

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

What are the other two??

There's only 2

At Swansea and home to Sunderland - 21st & 28th.

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

There's only 2

At Swansea and home to Sunderland - 21st & 28th.

??
They showing Leicester v Palace next Saturday.. Jesus that that really is bottom of the barrel stuff.

Chelsea, City and Southamption playing at the same time.. They are going to get a bolocking there too..

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

??
They showing Leicester v Palace next Saturday.. Jesus that that really is bottom of the barrel stuff.

Chelsea, City and Southamption playing at the same time.. They are going to get a bolocking there too..

And there'll be a lot more of that type of fixture for them to show as the title race and European places battle kicks into overdrive.

As they obviously have a soft spot for the Sunderlands and Burnleys they'll be in their element

Thing is, why didn't they admit on air and online that their picks were being forced on them? Instead of trying to argue that they "did their best" to pick the top games each week? That way they could've had a huge doissier of angry correspondence to bring to the Premier League table.

As things stand there's nothing to suggest that things will be any different next season.

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

And there'll be a lot more of that type of fixture for them to show as the title race and European places battle kicks into overdrive.

As they obviously have a soft spot for the Sunderlands and Burnleys they'll be in their element

Thing is, why didn't they admit on air and online that their picks were being forced on them? Instead of trying to argue that they "did their best" to pick the top games each week? That way they could've had a huge doissier of angry correspondence to bring to the Premier League table.

As things stand there's nothing to suggest that things will be any different next season.

Well they did yesterday on Twitter

"@SetantaSport We aim to show the top teams as much as possible. However there are some restrictions on our 3pm Premier League match picks"

Next week they are in for another backlash.

mikeym

irishfeen wrote: »

??
They showing Leicester v Palace next Saturday.. Jesus that that really is bottom of the barrel stuff.

Chelsea, City and Southamption playing at the same time.. They are going to get a bolocking there too..

They snubbed the 2 teams that have a realistic chance of winning the League to show Leicester play Palace.

Who wants to go to the pub to watch that?

lertsnim

mikeym wrote: »

But its annoying for Liverpool and Man Utd fans who have to resort to watching dodgy internet streams to watch the games and to the pub owners who would have got more punters if Setanta showed Liverpool or Man Utd.

At least they now know what everybody else had to endure.

MisterAnarchy

irishfeen wrote: »

??
They showing Leicester v Palace next Saturday.. Jesus that that really is bottom of the barrel stuff.

Its the best league in the world though ... or so the EPL would have you believe.

The standard of 3pm matches on Setanta this season has been woeful stuff,even when they have shown a big team the matches have been garbage.

efb

I'd say the EPL wouldn't be too happy either as setanta could easily transmitted by sat to the UK.

I'd say the EPL placed the restriction on them

radiowaves

efb wrote: »

I'd say the EPL wouldn't be too happy either as setanta could easily transmitted by sat to the UK.

Assuming you mean the Premier League (EPL??) this hasn't been a concern in previous seasons.

Also, western European channels that transmit 3pm games are easily available in the UK (not to mention a couple of African channels that show 3pms FTA - one of these had Manchester United's game on Saturday whilst Setanta were forced to offer up Sunderland v Burnley)

efb wrote: »

I'd say the EPL placed the restriction on them

Again, assuming you mean the Premier League, who else would have placed the restriction on them

EDIT - I think the acronym stands for English Premier League, am I right? I've never got this. People don't say Spanish La Liga or German Bundesliga. Why the need to say English Premier League? The name of the competition is the Barclays Premier League and the people who run it are The Premier League.

efb

radiowaves wrote: »

Assuming you mean the Premier League (EPL??) this hasn't been a concern in previous seasons.

Also, western European channels that transmit 3pm games are easily available in the UK (not to mention a couple of African channels that show 3pms FTA - one of these had Manchester United's game on Saturday whilst Setanta were forced to offer up Sunderland v Burnley)



Again, assuming you mean the Premier League, who else would have placed the restriction on them

EDIT - I think the acronym stands for English Premier League, am I right? I've never got this. People don't say Spanish La Liga or German Bundesliga. Why the need to say English Premier League? The name of the competition is the Barclays Premier League and the people who run it are The Premier League.

BPL apologies

radiowaves

efb wrote: »

BPL apologies

Nothing to apologise for, just a curiosity for me. The competition has a specific name yet I see it called allsorts across the interweb.

And following up your first point that the Prenier League may be concerned that Setanta is easily received in the UK, even if that were the case it would not be a reason for the current restrictions. Other channels that have been easily pirated in the UK have been forced to stop showing 3pms altogether, not forced to work to restrictions.

It has been well documented at this stage that Setanta are working to restrictions and the reason is because they and BT are available under one subscription.

The only question really remaining is what the restrictions actually are.

efb

radiowaves wrote: »

Nothing to apologise for, just a curiosity for me. The competition has a specific name yet I see it called allsorts across the interweb.

And following up your first point that the Prenier League may be concerned that Setanta is easily received in the UK, even if that were the case it would not be a reason for the current restrictions. Other channels that have been easily pirated in the UK have been forced to stop showing 3pms altogether, not forced to work to restrictions.

It has been well documented at this stage that Setanta are working to restrictions and the reason is because they and BT are available under one subscription.

The only question really remaining is what the restrictions actually are.

I thought they'd have to show every team at least twice. Isn't that standard?

radiowaves

efb wrote: »

I thought they'd have to show every team at least twice. Isn't that standard?

What standard is that? Where has it ever been applied to make it a standard? And where are you getting your information from?

Let's assume you're right how do you explain their picks?

Why would they show Sunderland and Burnley etc so many times whilst ignoring the big hitters like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea etc. It doesn't make sense on any level.

You really can't apply restrictions to the 3pm fixtures in isolation. They are variable and reliant on other factors (UKTV picks, Europa League and - albeit rarely - police advice).

The only way their picks make sense is that they are tied in to BT's in some way. So whilst BT will obviously max out on Manchester United, Liverpool and other big teams they won't on the so-called lesser teams. This might explain Setanta's bizarre - when viewed in isolation - choices.

Selhurst

Palace v Leicester Next Saturday I am happy enough :-).

radiowaves

Selhurst wrote: »

Palace v Leicester Next Saturday I am happy enough :-).

You, and about 4 others

Meanwhile, the rest of Europe gets Villa v Chelsea - including Spain, who've just got their 3pms back after a couple of month's absence due to piracy concerns.

Even (ironically) Sunderland's game looks better than this week's choice - away to Swansea.

Selhurst

can't keep everyone happy ;-).

radiowaves

Selhurst wrote: »

can't keep everyone happy ;-).

Well better to keep a majority rather than tiny minority happy surely? Especially when trying to attract subscribers.

Delighted for you that you're getting to see your game though

(I'm not complaining either - the days when I relied on UK/Irish TV for football are long gone)

MisterAnarchy

radiowaves wrote: »

Again, assuming you mean the Premier League, who else would have placed the restriction on them

EDIT - I think the acronym stands for English Premier League, am I right? I've never got this. People don't say Spanish La Liga or German Bundesliga. Why the need to say English Premier League? The name of the competition is the Barclays Premier League and the people who run it are The Premier League.

If you are going to become pedantic then the "Premier League" is widely regarded as the "English Premier League" outside of England ,its the most commonly used term to describe it so as to differentiate it from other Premier leagues in other countries .

La Liga's official title is the Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP),and officially named for sponsorship reasons Liga BBVA.
How often do you hear someone mention the BBVA in relation to La Liga ?

The German top league is officially the Fußball-Bundesliga ,but more commonly known as the German Bundesliga .

EPL is the most logical description for the league , I dont see why a sponsor like Barclays needs to be referenced at all ,in fact its something that irritates me.
Its the RBS 6 Nations ,it was the Guinness All Ireland Championship until recently,but these competitions rarely include the sponsors name in discussion.
Sponsors change but the competition stays the same.

radiowaves

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

If you are going to become pedantic then the "Premier League" is widely regarded as the "English Premier League" outside of England ,its the most commonly used term to describe it so as to differentiate it from other Premier leagues in other countries .

La Liga's official title is the Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP),and officially named for sponsorship reasons Liga BBVA.
How often do you hear someone mention the BBVA in relation to La Liga ?

The German top league is officially the Fußball-Bundesliga ,but more commonly known as the German Bundesliga .

EPL is the most logical description for the league , I dont see why a sponsor like Barclays needs to be referenced at all ,in fact its something that irritates me.
Its the RBS 6 Nations ,it was the Guinness All Ireland Championship until recently,but these competitions rarely include the sponsors name in discussion.
Sponsors change but the competition stays the same.

Hmmm....

I would argue it is most widely known as the Premier League

All over the globe it is what TV schedulers call it (as evidenced in the example given) and how they refer to it in their programming.

I have never heard anybody in conversation call it the "English Premier League".

As regards the sponsor I simply gave the competitions official title and whilst Premier League is by far how it's most widely referenced I have heard the official title used many times (but never English Premier League).

It seems to be solely an internet thing to use the acronym EPL.

One thing's for sure - this thread is about the Premier League and being referenced as that could not have caused anybody to confuse it with any other competition.

Selhurst

Hello Raidiowaves
best of luck to whatever team you support
hope you see pently of matches.

Douglas Eegit

Next couple of weeks fixtures coming up..



Feb 07 Leicester v Crystal Palace 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 21 Swansea v Man United 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 28 Man United v Sunderland 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 14 Arsenal v West Ham 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 21 Tottenham v Leicester 15.00 Setanta 1

Some decent fixtures there tbh...

irishfeen

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Next couple of weeks fixtures coming up..



Feb 07 Leicester v Crystal Palace 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 21 Swansea v Man United 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 28 Man United v Sunderland 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 14 Arsenal v West Ham 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 21 Tottenham v Leicester 15.00 Setanta 1

Some decent fixtures there tbh...

Arsenal v West Ham is by far the biggest but if your not a United fan (thankfully I am) then its fairly bad though.

lertsnim

I think for the neutral they will get value from Swansea v United and Arsenal v West Ham

batistuta9

irishfeen wrote: »

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Next couple of weeks fixtures coming up..



Feb 07 Leicester v Crystal Palace 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 21 Swansea v Man United 15.00 Setanta 1
Feb 28 Man United v Sunderland 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 14 Arsenal v West Ham 15.00 Setanta 1
Mar 21 Tottenham v Leicester 15.00 Setanta 1

Some decent fixtures there tbh...

Arsenal v West Ham is by far the biggest but if your not a United fan (thankfully I am) then its fairly bad though.

apart from feb 7th & maybe mar 21st (nucf vs arsenal) they're fixtures you'd expect setanta to pick anyway if there was no restriction

irishfeen

Setanta fixtures to end of March [Matches Available Without Quotas]

Leicester v Everton [Spurs V West Ham]
Chelsea v Leicester
Man City v Stoke
Southampton v Newcastle [Chelsea v Swansea]
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Man United v West Ham
Liverpool v West Brom
Southampton v Sunderland [Arsenal v Hull or Crystal Palace v Chelsea]
West Brom v Crystal Palace [Liverpool v Hull or Sunderland v Arsenal]
Stoke v West Ham [Arsenal v Burney or Chelsea v QPR]
Man United v Crystal Palace
Chelsea v West Brom
Liverpool v Stoke
Stoke City v Arsenal
Burnley v Southampton [Chelsea v Hull or Leicester v Man City]
Aston Villa v Manchester United
Everton v Manchester City
Spurs v Sunderland [Aston Villa v Liverpool or QPR v Man Utd or Swansea v Chelsea]
Sunderlan v Burnley [Liverpool v West Ham or Man Utd v Leicester]
Leicester v Crystal Palace [Aston Villa v Chelsea or Man City v Hull]
Swansea v Man United
Man United v Sunderland
Arsenal v West Ham
Tottenham v Leicester [Newcastle v Arsenal]

Setanta with Quotas
United - 5
Liverpool - 2
Arsenal - 3
Man City - 2
Chelsea - 2

.. Realistically only 14/23 games are probably breaking even/making a profit with enforced quotas. I know the relationship with BT and the upcoming CL will help Setanta greatly but you really would expect Setanta to bid much lower the next time the Irish rights come up for tender.

Just look at the games say a FTA broadcaster/Setanta without quotas could broadcast - 22/23 very solid games/profit generating games from United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool & City... the Premier League clamping down on Setanta has been devastating in terms of quality high profile games at 3pm.

You really would have to wonder why UTV, RTÉ, TV3 or TG4 don't go very hard for these rights - absolutely guaranteed viewers.

Imagine if a FTA Irish broadcaster had this sequence of fixtures @3pm - much better then some packages in the UK on BT/sky from an Irish perspective

Spurs V West Ham
Chelsea v Leicester
Man City v Stoke
Chelsea v Swansea
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Man United v West Ham
Liverpool v West Brom
Arsenal v Hull
Liverpool v Hull
Chelsea v QPR
Man United v Crystal Palace
Chelsea v West Brom
Liverpool v Stoke
Stoke City v Arsenal
Leicester v Man City
Aston Villa v Manchester United
Everton v Manchester City
QPR v Man Utd
Liverpool v West Ham
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Swansea v Man United
Man United v Sunderland
Arsenal v West Ham
Newcastle v Arsenal

United - 6
Arsenal - 5
Chelsea - 5
Liverpool - 4
City 3

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

Setanta fixtures to end of March

Great post mate, thanks for taking the time to compose it.

Taking yet another angle, up to the end of March here's the amount of times each of the 20 teams will have appeared:-

Arsenal 3

Aston Villa 2

Burnley 2

Chelsea 2

Crystal Palace 3

Everton 2

Hull City 0

Leicester 4

Liverpool 2

Manchester City 2

Manchester United 5

Newcastle 1

QPR 0

Southampton 3

Stoke 4

Sunderland 5

Swansea 1

Tottenham 2

West Brom 2

West Ham 3

Interestingly, Hull City & QPR have still to be shown (Swansea too but they are scheduled for Feb 21st). Both are available this weekend yet Setanta have gone for Leicester (4 appearances by end of March) v Palace (3 appearances).
This would certainly suggest they are not working to minimum quotas or the more specific suggestion that each team must be shown at least twice.

Manchester United will have been available at 3pm 8 times by the end of March, so considering the restrictions Setanta will have done ok.
On each of the 3 times Setanta have failed to show United by a quirk of fate Liverpool were also available. However Setanta only managed to show Liverpool on one of those occasions, thereby further highlighting the situation they are now in.

The amount of times Sunderland, Leicester & Stoke will have appeared by end of March when compared to Liverpool is noteworthy.

irishfeen

That should fix it radiowaves

irishfeen

radiowaves wrote: »

Great post mate, thanks for taking the time to compose it.

Taking yet another angle, up to the end of March here's the amount of times each of the 20 teams will have appeared:-

Arsenal 3

Aston Villa 2

Burnley 2

Chelsea 2

Crystal Palace 3

Everton 2

Hull City 0

Leicester 4

Liverpool 2

Manchester City 2

Manchester United 5

Newcastle 1

QPR 0

Southampton 3

Stoke 4

Sunderland 5

Swansea 1

Tottenham 2

West Brom 2

West Ham 3

Interestingly, Hull City & QPR have still to be shown (Swansea too but they are scheduled for Feb 21st). Both are available this weekend yet Setanta have gone for Leicester (4 appearances by end of March) v Palace (3 appearances).
This would certainly suggest they are not working to minimum quotas or the more specific suggestion that each time must be shown at least twice.

Manchester United will have been available at 3pm 8 times by the end of March, so considering the restrictions Setanta will have done ok.
On each of the 3 times Setanta have failed to show United by a quirk of fate Liverpool were also available. However Setanta only managed to show Liverpool on one of those occasions, thereby further highlighting the situation they are now in.

The amount of times Sunderland, Leicester & Stoke will have appeared by end of March when compared to Liverpool is noteworthy.

I wonder what the actual restrictions are on Setanta - are we sure the PL would drop the quotas if say UTVI won the rights? .. one thing for sure is foreign broadcasters don't seem to be subject to such tight controls - they seem to be able to pick whatever 3pm game they want... although saying that United were not shown in Spain, Germany or France over the last two weeks either although the games they broadcast were Chelsea and Liverpool.

radiowaves

irishfeen wrote: »

I wonder what the actual restrictions are on Setanta - are we sure the PL would drop the quotas if say UTVI won the rights?

Yes, globally no other broadcaster holding 3pm rights in isolation are restricted in any way. Some even broadcast FTA!

Restrictions on Setanta were only introduced this season - the second year of the current broadcast contract.

Up until this season no restrictions had been imposed on Irish 3pm rightsholders (apart from RTÉ needing to show games on delay because Sky held rights to live games exclusively).

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the restrictions have been enforced because, by selling a single subscription, Setanta and BT were competing unfairly with Sky in Ireland.
Sky, of course, are themselves operating to quotas, not to mention the vast sums they paid for their rights. Those rights will have been devalued slightly thanks to BT joining forces with Setanta.

BT and Setanta's rights in isolation have a certain market value. But operating together the value shoots up (highlighted by your own post which shows that a big team can be shown every week at 3pm). Setanta were marketing their "Sports Pack" by highlighting the amount of times they could show the top teams.

Take this season as an example. There is a realistic possibility that another couple of Manchester United fixtures will be available at 3pm. That would make ten altogether. Add that to the amount of times BT can show Manchester United (maximum 7) and compare it to the maximum Sky can show Manchester United and you can see why the Premier League have enforced restrictions on Setanta's 3pm rights.

There would be no necessity to impose restrictions on any other broadcaster holding rights to 3pm games (with the obvious exception of Sky Sports),

MisterAnarchy

irishfeen wrote: »

one thing for sure is foreign broadcasters don't seem to be subject to such tight controls - they seem to be able to pick whatever 3pm game they want... although saying that United were not shown in Spain, Germany or France over the last two weeks either although the games they broadcast were Chelsea and Liverpool.

One thing that you are forgetting is that Setanta have english audio ,which has been removed on all of the European broadcasters ,this is likely a factor in their reduced match selection too.