Just too many channels with footy?

[propersplitbrainme]

Setanta are in talks with the SPL over an outstanding £3 million payment the broadcaster has failed to make for its coverage of Scottish football last season...

Setanta in the mire

Worse is to come as a payment of £40 million is due to the PL later this month.

Does this demonstrate that the UK armchair football fan will only pay so much to watch football but no more? It looks like Setanta are failing where ITV Digital failed before them, a saturated market that can't sustain any more competitors vying for a slice of the football pie.
I reckon Setanta staked a fair amount on securing the various rights to England away WC qualifiers, but just haven't picked up the level of subscriptions they expected. Furthermore, potential punters have been scared off because they are such a pain in the ass to deal with!

 

[rossparker]

armchair fan - setanta sports

armchair fan - setanta sports

i agree with your reckonings here propersplit.

i am an avid football fan but i just cant afford (in my current civvie state, although i sign the dotted line for you lot this week ) to purchase these subscriptions nor have i the time free to deal with there setups and support and all the other hassle that comes with it.

there ARE too many competitors looking for a slice of the pie thats just not there.

especially in this economic climate.

 

[he_who_dares_rodney]

I got Sentanta as part of my BT Vision package for £10 for the season
I am a Celtic fan so I thought it would be good but in all honesty it's Sky Lite
It's like watching an Eastern European version of Sky Sports
The games are the ones Sky don't want either
Exept the Celtic games do people really want to watch to Blue Square Premier teams or some lower Scottish teams battling it out
I wouldn't pay for Sky Sports when I had Sky but I'll throw a tenner at Sentanta and take my chance and only watch the Celtic games
However as ITV Sport and the BBC have found out you won't beat Sky and you can't out bid them
Football needs Sky as to be honest the clubs are skint and only the Sky money are keeping alot of them going
You have to be a bit of a die hard fan to pay for all the different channels and I'd rather wander to the pub to watch the footy
Now losing the Baseball from C5 that is a travisty

 

[Stevienics]

It's blamed on the pubs and the overall fall-off in pub patronage (and their subsequent demise) ...which in turn is of course all about the smoking thing.

I can sorta get that.

 

[he_who_dares_rodney]

Don't forget pubs have to pay extra because it's public viewing
So you need a busy pub to justify the expense

 

[spanners]

The landlord of my old local (it’s now a block of flats!) had Sky Sports for a while, it was costing him hundreds of pounds a month, it wasn’t worth it for a small pub, not bringing in enough punters, my new local doesn’t have Sky Sports either, again, they claim it’s not worth it, though the pub down the road does have it (a Bellhaven pub), but it’s only really watched for the old firm matches.

 

[POB]

My "local" in UK is in a small village with about 200 people in. Monday to Thursday there are often as many as 20 people there. If they all drink 10 pints and the landlord makes 20p per pint, he can have a "profit" of £160 for four days work (Simplistic maths I know.) Take out the cost of Sky for a pub (Something like £200 per week.) and he has to sell a LOT of beer and nuts Friday to Sunday to make it pay.

There is way too much coverage of some sports, and so little of others. But the smaller sports just don't pay. ESPN+ do 30 minutes a week of "World Aero Sports." The world championships are on at the moment. Do we see them? Well yes, we do. We get the usual 30 minutes on a Tuesday evening at about 2230. The whole thing is paid for and sponsored by Breitling and The FAI. Two world class organisations. But they don't have the clout of Football, Baseball (In the Americas) or what the Americans refer to as "Football."

In the present climate, coverage of some sports is very saturated, and the others are never going to break into the market. They just don't have the money.

 

[Tin basher]

Sultana sports might be in a bit of bother now but I welcomed their involvement in TV footy. I had hoped that a rival to Sky might bust up the Sky monopoly and the subsquent bidding war for TV rights might open up viewing options for the armchair fan. This looks like another failure as Sky continue to pay telphone number fees to show the games. Sky can afford a level of financial outlay that others just cannot match. Yes Setanta do show the Scottish games but as an English man these are time fillers, it might as well be the Bulgarian league for all the interest I have. They fill their hours with conference footy, UFC and other rubbish. Sky do the same thing. Sky sports do show major interest sports but to fill the channels for hours they show some right cr@p WWE for example.

 

[gemarriott]

I think it is time to throttle back the live coverage to one game a week! I am sick to death of the game (on the telly) to be honest there is just far too much of it. I much prefer the hit of attending a game live.

 

[firestorm]

Satsuma were a disease and their take on customer service was shocking.
I hope they fold.

 

[propersplitbrainme]

I think it is time to throttle back the live coverage to one game a week! I am sick to death of the game (on the telly) to be honest there is just far too much of it. I much prefer the hit of attending a game live.

I'm of the same view to be honest Gem. I like my footie, both live and televised, but we're getting to saturation point now, although of course I don't have to watch all televised games.
But, with multiple broadcasters, we get some weird and wonderful kickoff times which may suit the armchair fans but are a pain in the butt for those going to the game; half 5 on Saturday, midday on Sunday etc etc. The epitome of this was the sadists who sent Portsmouth to play Newcastle (the longest possible trip in the prem at the time) on Monday night for heavens sake!

 

[Tin basher]

I have had Setanta sports via my Virgin TV package for some time and have had no issues with the Setanta service at all.

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Well, Setanta's UK business has finally gone under leaving 200 people redundant unfortunately.
Setanta subscribers don't need to bother writing to them as they have ceased collecting subscriptions from UK based viewers as of today and will apparently stop broadcasting to the UK shortly.
It seems as though the Setanta package has been bought up by ESPN and will be available through Sky subscription upgrades.

 

[Bodseh]

Shame really because I rated Setanta...

 

[Scaley brat]

They died the same way WHSmith sports died before them.


If you don't remember, Screensport (owned by WHSmith's) was part of the European SPorts Network on analogue Sky back in the beginning days DT_Xtremez_14:

Sky Nabbed almost all the English Football for Eurosport (Pre Sky football, sorry I mean Sky sports DT_Xtremez_06
C4 and channel 5 grabbed Spanish and Italian football leaving Screensport looking at ESPN (America) for American football and Baseball rack climbing and international basket weaving.
I can't think why they went bust. DT_Xtremez_42: