Setanta gets 2+1 for Irish rights

flogen

http://www.premierleague.com/fapl.rac?command=setSelectedId&nextPage=enNewsLatest&id=1301294&type=com.fapl.website.news.NewsItem&categoryCode=NewsLatestFAPremierLeagueNews&breadcrumb=latestfa_breadcrumb

The Premier League has concluded the sales process for the live audio-visual rights for transmission in the Republic of Ireland, running from season 2007/08 to 2009/10.

There were seven packages of games available for transmission on a technologically neutral basis. BSkyB have won packages A, B, E and F whilst Setanta were awarded packages C and D.

Alongside this, Setanta have also been awarded the rights to a seventh ‘Live Saturday Package’, specific to the Republic of Ireland, to show between 30 and 33 further games on each Saturday of the season at 3pm.

The value realised for the seven packages was £82million for the three-year period.

Setanta get the same two packages they hold in the UK (how odd), as well as their additional Irish-only package.
Not a surprise, I'm sure RTÉ are pissed

DMC

Almost €120 million for Irish rights.... wow..... *boggle*

At that price, I'm not surprised that RTÉ didn't get any slice of the cake. Kind of glad too as there would've been awkward questions about licence money, etc.

flogen

DMC wrote:

Almost €120 million for Irish rights.... wow..... *boggle*

At that price, I'm not surprised that RTÉ didn't get any slice of the cake. Kind of glad too as there would've been awkward questions about licence money, etc.

NTL must be rubbing their hands in glee, despite little developments over the past few years (due to takeovers, lack of capital etc.), the one deal they did bag is sure to carry them until the end of the decade!

Good point on RTÉ though, it would be a questionable expense.

channelsurfer

hmmmm. expensive indeed. leaves rte sport looking very dodgy. next rights setanta will grab will be gaa rights a lot more than they have now. Interesting in the way it worked out. exactly as the uk rights. I do question that. Wonder did sky and setanta do a little deal between themselves. anyway I guess I know have to decide if I really want to pay for the saturday 3pm games or wait for highlights.

DMC

Setanta press release....

Setanta Sports wins Irish rights to 76 Premiership games
Tuesday, 30 May 17:48 BST

Dublin 30th May, 2006 - Setanta Sports, Ireland's sports television service, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded exclusive Irish rights to a minimum of 76 live matches in the Barclays Premier League.

Setanta Sports Television, which began broadcasting full time a year and a half ago has been awarded the following: Package C, which consists mostly of matches at 8pm on Mondays; Package D, which consists mostly of matches played at 5.15pm on Saturdays and in addition, Setanta Sports has been awarded at least 30 matches per season at 3pm on Saturday afternoons. The rights run for three seasons, commencing August 2007.

This represents the most significant milestone yet in the development of the new Irish TV sports service, adding live weekly Premier League matches to an already impressive inventory of sports, which includes ...

- Champions League,

- Scottish Premier League,

- Rugby World Cup,

- Live Allianz League GAA,

- Formula One,

- Celtic League Rugby,

- UEFA Cup,

- World Cup Qualifiers,

- British Open Golf

- and live football and rugby from around Europe.

In effect Setanta Sports has now secured the two packages that it was already awarded in the UK, as well as the prestigious 30 match Saturday 3pm package - only available to Republic of Ireland viewers.

CEO of Setanta Sports Ireland, Niall Cogley said, "After our incredible recent success in the UK, to get 76 games in Ireland is a huge day for Setanta Sports Ireland as the company goes from strength to strength. By any definition, Setanta Sports has now achieved the status of 'must have' for Irish football fans".

flogen

I have to say that when Setanta launched I didn't see much scope for another sports channel, but they've done a superb job so far, and I'd say GAA will indeed be in their sights (although that's probably FTA.. they might wait and go FTA with DTT)

mike65

Fvck me! If I had ever thought about Sky sports in the past I wont be arsed now. This is when they start charging extra for Setanta on NTL....:eek:

Mike.

DMC

Likewise, I can't see them remaining free on NTL.... they've got the rights, at possible an expensive price, and have to get revenue.....

byte

What about the highlights package, currently run by RTE's "The Premiership"?

DMC

They are only dealing with live rights at the moment, Match of the Day on the BBC isn't secured yet.

bk

channelsurfer wrote:

next rights setanta will grab will be gaa rights a lot more than they have now.

Not a chance until Setanta goes FTA and is available to all parts of the country.

This is partly due to the GAA being a protected sport by the government, but it has even more to do with the requirements of the GAA.

The GAA want it available to the widest possible audience and for free. They also require full free coverage in rural areas, as that is where much of their strong support is.

Also even if all that happens it would still be doubtful, the GAA have a very good relationship with RTE and if they got lots of money from Setanta, the whole ugly question of player professionalism would be raised. In fact, if it was to happen, you could guarantee the end to GAA as a volunteer sport at the top levels.

MisterAnarchy

This represents the most significant milestone yet in the development of the new Irish TV sports service, adding live weekly Premier League matches to an already impressive inventory of sports, which includes ...

- Champions League (RTE have the rights in Ireland ?)

- Formula One (ON ITV)

- British Open Golf (This is on BBC )

Most of their output is second hand feeds and the remainder is minor interest.

flogen

Setanta have the Champions league rights for Ireland.
And I wouldn't call Rugby World Cup minor interest (although that's a matter of opinion)

MisterAnarchy

flogen wrote:

Setanta have the Champions league rights for Ireland.
And I wouldn't call Rugby World Cup minor interest (although that's a matter of opinion)

I'm pretty sure RTE have the sole rights for the Champions league and will be showing matches on Tues and Wed.
The Rugby World Cup will be FTA on ITV.

DMC

RTÉ have first picks of Tuesday and Wednesday night matches in the Champions League. Setanta have the rest to choose from.

flogen

DMC wrote:

RTÉ have first picks of Tuesday and Wednesday night matches in the Champions League. Setanta have the rest to choose from.

My mistake;
as for all the others, it's a bit of a daft argument to say that their line up is useless because other stations carry it, considering that all these sporting events have been successfully broadcast on Irish TV in the past (even though UK TV had it too).
Now I know setanta isn't available like RTE is, but I'm sure they and NTL hope that will change over time; they could even go FTA under DTT, although we'll have to wait and see for that

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DMC

No, this is the total for all packages aimed at the Irish market.

Setanta and Sky have mirrored exactly what they got in the UK rights auction, plus the Irish only extra package, which is Saturday 3pm.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DMC

No worries, I re-read myself in case I did make a fusk up

That amount is too huge... way too big. Sky have deep enough pockets to cover this, they have 400,000 subscribers already directly to them, and whatever they have through the cable/mmds subscribers, and I'd say over half-2/3 have the sports package... and can increase prices at a whim... I have serious doubts now that, as Setanta currently exist, that they can pay this and the UK offering. They have to go subscription on NTL, as well as PPV for the C & D packages. And thats just to break even.

IMPEGA

There is nothing stopping Setanta bidding for the rights for GAA Championship (Setanta already have live rights to the league wit TG4) when current deal with RTE expires.

the only 2 games from the Championship that must be on FTA TV are the Senior Hurling and Football Finals. (as per designated major sporting events by the Dept of Communications)

Mossy Monk

when does the current RTÉ deal expire?

IMPEGA

Mossy Monk wrote:

when does the current RTÉ deal expire?

think that they are currently in year 1 of a 3 yr deal

flogen

IMPEGA wrote:

There is nothing stopping Setanta bidding for the rights for GAA Championship (Setanta already have live rights to the league wit TG4) when current deal with RTE expires.

the only 2 games from the Championship that must be on FTA TV are the Senior Hurling and Football Finals. (as per designated major sporting events by the Dept of Communications)

In that case I'm sure they'd go for it, and I doubt it would lead to the end of volunteer GAA even at the higher levels; the GAA is designed in such a way that this is a long, long time off and even if it happened players can't transfer and so it would never reach the obscene levels of pay seen in the English Soccer leagues.
Also, any big income for the GAA would go into development, given that many of its stadia are still of poor quality; if money permitted I'd say you'd see the development of bigger stadia in places like Cork, Limerick etc, but again that is a long way off.

Sorry to drag this OT; back on now

I'm trying to find out if Setanta plan on changing their current model on NTL, apparently they haven't spoken to the carrier about anything yet, it's too soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if they go sub, but NTL will do what they can to stop them; maybe they'll go Sub on cable, not on digital, with the cost of digital rising, NTL would hate to lose a channel just as having offers the potential for huge interest

IMPEGA

i know that the governmenht left it wide open for the likes of Sky and Setanta to outbid RTÉ for the TV rights, but I think that the GAA would not go the route of having their games on subscription TV. (just think of the public frustration if the Munster Hurling Final was not on FTA TV). Maybe the GAA could use it as a bargaining chip to squeeze a few extra € out of RTÉ. I know that the have the name of the Grab All Association but i dont think that they would be that greedy, but then again you never know.

but then again if the EU Commission gets involved they could force the GAA to split rights between broadcasters so 1 broadcaster does not have a monopoly.

construct06

So does this mean that in order to watch any live Premiership match, u must either get Sky Sports or Setanta Sports.

Rtes game on Staurday was brill., will really miss that but cant afford to fork out for the Subscription Channels

flogen

construct06 wrote:

So does this mean that in order to watch any live Premiership match, u must either get Sky Sports or Setanta Sports.

Rtes game on Staurday was brill., will really miss that but cant afford to fork out for the Subscription Channels

from August 2007, yes, next season will work the same as before AFAIK (RTÉ and Setanta sharing the Live Saturday Matches with Sky holding the rest).

Of course you could get both, as Setanta is available on Sky (but you have to pay extra) and Sky Sports is available on NTL (but they cost more than they would on SKy Digital for obvious reasons)

IMPEGA

looks that way. RTÉ have 1 more year left with live prem games then you will need sky sports sub or setanta sub .
as for highlights rights they are still to be finalised, and god only knows what way that will go ( once TV3 dont get it...... imagine listening to Trevor Welch ... god the thought )

MisterAnarchy

DMC wrote:

RTÉ have first picks of Tuesday and Wednesday night matches in the Champions League. Setanta have the rest to choose from.

I presume we will still be able to watch the Champions league matches on Sky or will this new deal void that .
With all these new deals it is definitely time to get myself that long overdue motorised satellite system and cut Setanta out of the loop.

Mossy Monk

i cant see why not. seeing as we could last season although RTÉ and TV3 owned the rights

eigrod

Hasn't there been rumours of discussions in the UK between SKY & Setanta about getting together to offer a special package through the SKY platform ? They've certainly done it for the Pubs packages.

I.M.O., they are going to have to do something like that in the UK and Ireland to maximise the benefit of this for both parties, because I can't see too many punters subscribing to both packages at the current price.

Mossy Monk

eigrod wrote:

Hasn't there been rumours of discussions in the UK between SKY & Setanta about getting together to offer a special package through the SKY platform ?

yes i have heard stories about this. if it is true then the Sky Sports subscriber will be the winner

cant see Sky giving Sky Sports away to Setanta subscribers though

bk

IMPEGA wrote:

There is nothing stopping Setanta bidding for the rights for GAA Championship (Setanta already have live rights to the league wit TG4) when current deal with RTE expires.

the only 2 games from the Championship that must be on FTA TV are the Senior Hurling and Football Finals. (as per designated major sporting events by the Dept of Communications)

Yes, they could but the GAA won't do it. There was nothing stopping the GAA offering itself to TV3 a year ago, but they decided not to for the reasons I explained above.

If the GAA got lots of money to go subscription from Setanta, it would cause massive problems all around the GAA and it would almost certainly cause the Senior players to demand to be paid for playing.

Also it would have an adverse effect on the popularity of GAA in Ireland. Even the IRFU admits that the Heineken Cup going subscription next year is one of the worst things that could have happened to Irish rugby and will likely have a negative effect on the popularity of the Sport.

With the GAA trying to compete with Rugby and soccer from the UK, they have to be very careful not to alienate their fans.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

eigrod

Mossy Monk wrote:

yes i have heard stories about this. if it is true then the Sky Sports subscriber will be the winner

cant see Sky giving Sky Sports away to Setanta subscribers though

I suspect that SKY will end up offering a package that includes Sky Sports and Setanta at a price that is more than the current Sky Sports package(s) but less then what it currently costs were one to currently subscribe to both SKY Sports and Setanta.

Obviously to do this, they will need to agree with Setanta a "per subscriber" fee that they would have to pass on to Setanta.

DMC

Just on the GAA comments, I do believe that they are happy with RTÉ, their coverage in the last year or so is very well produced, and that it would alienate their core supporters and audience if they went off RTÉ, let along TV3 or Setanta. Indeed, iirc, Setanta wanted all of the NFL, but the GAA top brass said no, to support TG4 and its Irish language support.

Rugby now... I said here on boards.ie before, might have been on the Rugby board itself, that there are too many people in charge of Rugby, and all they do is look after their own interests. We have the IRFU, the 6 Nations committee, the Celtic League and the ERC. Each one, looking for the top dollar. As the Heino Cup rights were the ERC's to give out, I can understand how some in the IRFU are probably miffed.

Its things like having national teams on national free TV that build up support. Munster have built up a huge following, after all their best matches were shown on RTÉ, I have no doubt about that. Would the team be as popular without live coverage on national free TV? Would the Lenister game this year or Gloucester game from a few years back be as well remembered if they were only on a subscription channel?

Subscription channels restrict the shared experience that unites a country in big national sporting events.

IMPEGA

I suspect that SKY will end up offering a package that includes Sky Sports and Setanta at a price that is more than the current Sky Sports package(s) but less then what it currently costs were one to currently subscribe to both SKY Sports and Setanta.

Obviously to do this, they will need to agree with Setanta a "per subscriber" fee that they would have to pass on to Setanta.

_________________________________________________________________
cant see this happening - two very diffenent companies who are at the end of the day in competition with one another. as it stands at the moment the setanta channel package is available on the Sky Digital platform but at an extra monthly/annual charge. I cannot see this changing espically in the residential market. I am aware that the two have agreed a deal as regards sports clubs and pubs but i cannot see them making any other deal

Foggy43

IMPEGA wrote:

i know that the governmenht left it wide open for the likes of Sky and Setanta to outbid RTÉ for the TV rights, but I think that the GAA would not go the route of having their games on subscription TV. (just think of the public frustration if the Munster Hurling Final was not on FTA TV). Maybe the GAA could use it as a bargaining chip to squeeze a few extra € out of RTÉ. I know that the have the name of the Grab All Association but i dont think that they would be that greedy, but then again you never know.

but then again if the EU Commission gets involved they could force the GAA to split rights between broadcasters so 1 broadcaster does not have a monopoly.

Note that I am in the UK. IMPEGA is probably referring to Ireland only. The GAA have had their games live on subscription TV. Up to just over a year ago the Sunday Game was PPV on Setanta but this and part of last year I pay £14 per month and it is included in the package. Come to think of it that is all Setanta had on Sky was two PPV channels up to just over a year ago

I am curious as to where Setanta got all this money. They can't seem to fill the comercial breaks during the Sunday Game. When football is on no problems. I get this impression they are after football and the UK market in a big way now. By population they stand to make more here than in Ireland. The people here are becoming more and more aware of Setanta and of course a particular brand of cider

flogen

IMPEGA wrote:

cant see this happening - two very diffenent companies who are at the end of the day in competition with one another. as it stands at the moment the setanta channel package is available on the Sky Digital platform but at an extra monthly/annual charge. I cannot see this changing espically in the residential market. I am aware that the two have agreed a deal as regards sports clubs and pubs but i cannot see them making any other deal

But bear in mind the structure of Sky; Sky Sports won the 4 packages, that's the broadcaster. Sky Digital will be hosting the Sky Sports channels, that's the carrier service.
At present it's slightly cheaper to get NTL Digital (€30 a month) with a Sky Sports add-on (€23 a month); so for €53 a month NTL viewers can watch all the Setanta matches and Sky matches (assuming the set up doesn't change and all Setanta matches are available on Setanta Sports). Sky Digital on the other hand costs €21.50 basic, an extra €29 for Sky Sports and another €13 (I think) for Setanta... so Sky viewers must fork out €63.50 a month to get all the matches; even with the additional Setanta packages on NTL (€8 a month), NTL still works out cheaper for sport.
So, after all is said and done NTL currently offers a slightly better deal for sports fans than Sky Digital (but that could change in the next year), Sky Digital as a carrier will want to make itself the must-have package for sports and so may do a deal with Setanta Sports to bundle it into its Sports add-on; so you'd get Sky & Setanta sports instead of just Sky sports.
Sky Digital, while all part of the same family, are working on a seperate remit to Sky Sports, Sky Sports has to get the programming, Sky Digital has to get the viewers in

flogen

Molly Dawson wrote:

I am curious as to where Setanta got all this money. They can't seem to fill the comercial breaks during the Sunday Game. When football is on no problems. I get this impression they are after football and the UK market in a big way now. By population they stand to make more here than in Ireland. The people here are becoming more and more aware of Setanta and of course a particular brand of cider

Setanta Corporate Webpage wrote:

About Benchmark Capital, Setanta's largest shareholder: Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs build great technology companies focused on long-term growth. Benchmark's partners take an intensive, hands-on, team-oriented, approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm's portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Alphyra (the leading pan European electronic payments provider), Betfair (the world's largest online betting company), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR), Sulake (the "Habbo Hotel" leading online games community, founded in Finland), Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT), Zopa (the online exchange for direct loans between lenders and borrowers) and Codemasters (the innovative computer and video games developer and publisher). Managing more than $3 billion in committed venture capital from its offices in Europe, USA and Israel,, Benchmark focuses on investing in entrepreneurs with original ideas. Since setting up a fund in Europe in May 2000, Benchmark has made more than 40 investments across a variety of market sectors and geographies. The $375m raised by Benchmark Europe II follows Benchmark's first European fund of $500m. int chief executives.

that's where!
And with these Premiership deals Setanta and its backers are sure to start to see their investments make huge returns; this is their holy grail, or at least the first stage of it.

Foggy43

flogen!
Thanks for the info!

bk

flogen wrote:

At present it's slightly cheaper to get NTL Digital (€30 a month) with a Sky Sports add-on (€23 a month); so for €53 a month NTL viewers can watch all the Setanta matches and Sky matches (assuming the set up doesn't change and all Setanta matches are available on Setanta Sports). Sky Digital on the other hand costs €21.50 basic, an extra €29 for Sky Sports and another €13 (I think) for Setanta... so Sky viewers must fork out €63.50 a month to get all the matches; even with the additional Setanta packages on NTL (€8 a month), NTL still works out cheaper for sport.

Setanta have already said they are likely to go subscription, so Setanta is unlikely to stay free on NTL. Or I think maybe they will have one free channel with some limited "taster" coverage, but most coverage will be on their sub channel.

Mossy Monk

i wonder if Setanta will be offering HDTV or even widescreen in the near future. that is the one thing that annoys me about them, the reluctance to evolve like other channels

rogue-entity

To set the record straight, Setanta on NTL is not FTA it is FTV. By that I mean, the channel itself is still a subscription channel but it is free to view on NTL because NTL are providing it as a free channel, the same way they provide Sky One. Setanta wouldnt just tell NTL to start charging for access, because Setanta are already getting fees from NTL for access to the channel in the first place. So I doubt that we will lose Setana on NTL unless Setanta ups the subscription charge enough.

DMC

I don't think this is a good comparision.

Really, the terms FTA and FTV should only be used in terms of satellite, they don't have any comparison in terms of cable, as everything is subscription. There are no free to air or free to view channels on cable, just ones that charge more.

What it really means is that on NTL, Setanta is part of the standard package, and you dont have to pay any extra other than the basic subscription. Its is not a premium subscription channel like Sky Sports.

DMC

Mossy Monk wrote:

i wonder if Setanta will be offering HDTV or even widescreen in the near future. that is the one thing that annoys me about them, the reluctance to evolve like other channels

Widescreen would be an advancement, I think we are hoping too much for Setanta HD.

mike65

Can we look fowards to NTL lite on analogue/digital which is largely the channel as it exists and a sub channel with Prem footie/Heineken rugby etc on digital alone?

Mike.

bk

mike65 wrote:

Can we look fowards to NTL lite on analogue/digital which is largely the channel as it exists and a sub channel with Prem footie/Heineken rugby etc on digital alone?

That seems very likely. As it is, on digital for an extra cost of €8 you get Setanta Sports 1, 2, Celtic TV, Rangers TV and NASN. I assume the premiership stuff will be shown on these channels (probably with an increase in the sub price) and we'll only get highlights on the "free" channel.

Mossy Monk

mike65 wrote:

Heineken rugby

Sky have the rights for this, not Setanta

flogen

bk wrote:

That seems very likely. As it is, on digital for an extra cost of €8 you get Setanta Sports 1, 2, Celtic TV, Rangers TV and NASN. I assume the premiership stuff will be shown on these channels (probably with an increase in the sub price) and we'll only get highlights on the "free" channel.

Well Setanta have to secure the highlights first.

DMC

Mossy Monk wrote:

Sky have the rights for this, not Setanta

Indeed, Setanta have the Celtic League.