Setanta Sports Football Coverage

Drico

Hello there,

I am an avid football fan, with a particular interest in the European game. With Setanta Sports showing German and French football, I am considering a subscription. I would like to ask those of you with experience of the channel what the coverage of the Bundesliga is like. I have seen the TV listings, but I am more interested in the actual coverage itself. Is the highlights show up to much and what are your impressions of the live coverage?

On a technical note, is the picture quality up to par with Sky, for example, and does Setanta have the horrible tendency to silence or turn down the crowd to allow us to "delight" in the warblings of a studio-bound commentator? There is no better way to kill the atmosphere...

Thanks in advance,

Drico.

mike2084

The channels price is pretty reasonable at €150 a year, especially as you now get Setanta Sports Ireland, Setanta Sports UK 1 & 2 and free Celtic and Rangers TV. Picture quality can suffer sometimes but it's happening less and less and if you like your soccer it's worth it.

ElNino

They also have jointly (with Bravo) secured the rights to live Italian football which were previously held by Eurosport. I am tempted to subscribe but after paying for Sky Sports and another €70 for Premiership Plus it is a lot of money.

Drag00n79

Drico wrote:

Hello there,

I am an avid football fan, with a particular interest in the European game. With Setanta Sports showing German and French football, I am considering a subscription. I would like to ask those of you with experience of the channel what the coverage of the Bundesliga is like. I have seen the TV listings, but I am more interested in the actual coverage itself. Is the highlights show up to much and what are your impressions of the live coverage?

On a technical note, is the picture quality up to par with Sky, for example, and does Setanta have the horrible tendency to silence or turn down the crowd to allow us to "delight" in the warblings of a studio-bound commentator? There is no better way to kill the atmosphere...

Thanks in advance,

Drico.

Drico, like you I am a big fan of the Bundesliga and was delighted with Setanta's purchase of the live rights last year. They tend to show the Sunday afternoon match live but they usually show one of the Saturday matches in full on Saturday evening and possibly another one in full on Sunday. This may change when the Serie A season starts and Sundays become a little more cluttered. The highlights package was pretty good but it was not shown at a great time last year, in my opinion, — around teatime, I think. Maybe 9pm or 10pm would be better. The show would improve with some German input possibly via German studio guests (even a journalist from 'Kicker' etc). They relied upon Murdo McLeod and Alan McInally as analysts. Of course, those guys have Bundesliga experience but it was ages ago and is limited.

Their commentators are not the best. They are clearly in front of a monitor in the UK instead of actually being over there, but that I can live with. The picture is perfect.

Drico

Thanks a million, lads. Much appreciated.

That's a good point, Shamrok, on what coverage of Die Bundesliga will be like after Serie A begins. I hear a lot of criticism of Setanta elsewhere, but I value the opinions of those, like yourselves, who get it specifically for the Euro football. Your replies were most informative.

Cheers,

Drico.