Guinness Pro12 2014/2015 Season thread

Digifriendly

NI's European Championship home qualifiers will be covered in highlights form by UTV while Sky have exclusive live coverage.

awec

ITV / UTV Sport is always terrible though.

LEIN

awec wrote: »

ITV / UTV Sport is always terrible though.

In some situations, terrible is better than nothing.

NorthDown2

The tv rights in NI for watching Ulster are not looking good. The BBC Ulster Rugby Facebook page no longer tells us that the BBC will be covering the Pro12 live throughout the season - this has changed in the last few hours.

OldRio

UTV ?

The moving of Coronation Street and Emmerdale from the schedule on a Friday evening for Rugby? I think the advertisers might be a tad unhappy.

vienne86

NorthDown2 wrote: »

The tv rights in NI for watching Ulster are not looking good. The BBC Ulster Rugby Facebook page no longer tells us that the BBC will be covering the Pro12 live throughout the season - this has changed in the last few hours.

It's not good for the rest of us either....I'd say many of us watch Ulster matches on BBC.

awec

Setanta are more likely than UTV IMO.

icdg

Digifriendly wrote: »

NI's European Championship home qualifiers will be covered in highlights form by UTV while Sky have exclusive live coverage.

They won't need to do an OB for that though. In fact I think the last time they did any sort of an OB for a sporting event was the 2004 Milk Cup. Their sports department more or less no longer exists as a seperate entity from the newsroom.

bilston

How much is Setanta (or Premier Sports) in NI?

bilston

Digifriendly wrote: »

I definitely hope Setanta don't get Ulster home games. Scottish/Welsh viewers have FTA coverage so why not NI rugby viewers?

There is definitely a feeling that rugby fans in NI are getting a rough ride given Ireland's AIs are now on Sky in the UK as well. You'd hope that the powers that be will consider the fact that selling the rights to Setanta would means NI viewers requiring THREE subscriptions.

sydneybound

bilston wrote: »

There is definitely a feeling that rugby fans in NI are getting a rough ride given Ireland's AIs are now on Sky in the UK as well. You'd hope that the powers that be will consider the fact that selling the rights to Setanta would means NI viewers requiring THREE subscriptions.

That's a rough deal alright no two ways about that. It's sky's sports & TG4 for my rugby this year. Will stream games when on BT.

vienne86

bilston wrote: »

There is definitely a feeling that rugby fans in NI are getting a rough ride given Ireland's AIs are now on Sky in the UK as well. You'd hope that the powers that be will consider the fact that selling the rights to Setanta would means NI viewers requiring THREE subscriptions.

I agree completely here. I got so annoyed about the AI's going to Sky and therefore shafting the NI viewers, I wrote to the IRFU. Anyone who lisetened to the Talking Rugby Podcast (RIP) may remember William's memorable piece about that. It's very shabby that the IRFU are treating one province in this way. We should all have the same access to our team's games on TV.

I feel pissed off enough about having to pay for Sky, but I do use it a lot, for other sports as well. It's OK for me though, because I can afford it. A lot of people can't, and we need all the support we can get.

dregin

Seriously, in this day and age it is a ****ing joke that leagues can't get it together to offer online streaming packages. I'd happily pay a fiver a game to get a high quality stream.

.ak

dregin wrote: »

Seriously, in this day and age it is a ****ing joke that leagues can't get it together to offer online streaming packages. I'd happily pay a fiver a game to get a high quality stream.

I don't think the hosting or whatever is the issue. I'd imagine it's a pricey to higher a tv crew to cover a game properly. Who's going to pay for that?

dregin

This is it. Someone needs to stump up the cash for the rights & expenses for one season. Thereafter it'd be a no-brainer.

irishbucsfan

There is quite a high cost involved in putting it all together. It would be profitable if done correctly but its a major risk.

With the pro 12 as an example, you'd need to put together a crew for 11 games a season for each team (or 6 crews rotating through the sides). Then would need some form of high availability solution to serve the content itself, as well as administrators and development staff. After that you need commercial staff to firstly take responsibility for selling the content as well as attracting sponsors and maintaining relationships with them. You then start to cover those costs by reselling that coverage to tv broadcasters, but the value of TV deals would be greatly diminished.

Its a huge undertaking which can't be entered into lightly. You would really need to be able to write off the cost of the first year confidently in case of disaster. If anyone pursues it, I'd imagine it'll be PRL after their current deal expires, because I don't see the Pro 12 being confident or large enough to take the risk.

SettingSun

bilston wrote: »

There is definitely a feeling that rugby fans in NI are getting a rough ride given Ireland's AIs are now on Sky in the UK as well. You'd hope that the powers that be will consider the fact that selling the rights to Setanta would means NI viewers requiring THREE subscriptions.

What are the three subscriptions? Sky Sports is the obvious one but I was under the impression viewers in the North could also tune in Setanta Ireland (which is FTA) and then the third is?

awec

SettingSun wrote: »

What are the three subscriptions? Sky Sports is the obvious one but I was under the impression viewers in the North could also tune in Setanta Ireland (which is FTA) and then the third is?

Sky Sports, BT Sport and Setanta.

Presumably Setanta will not pay for Pro 12 coverage only to put it on their FTA channel - it would go on Setanta Sports 1.

Digifriendly

SettingSun wrote: »

What are the three subscriptions? Sky Sports is the obvious one but I was under the impression viewers in the North could also tune in Setanta Ireland (which is FTA) and then the third is?

AFAIK Setanta is not FTA here in NI. It is a subscription channel.
If Setanta win the right to Ulster games instead of BBC2NI then the following will be the results:
(1) Far less viewers in NI will watch Ulster home games - Setanta is only available on satellite platform and I can't see many viewers here subscribing to it even if they have satellite. Apart from their PL Saturday live games (which are geo blocked to NI viewers in any case) there is little else to attract viewers here to it.
(2) Viewers in rest of UK will be deprived of seeing the majority of Ulster home games as Setanta is not available outside of Ireland.
(3) Likelihood is that more viewers in ROI will watch Ulster home games via Setanta than in NI.

SettingSun

awec wrote: »

Sky Sports, BT Sport and Setanta.

Presumably Setanta will not pay for Pro 12 coverage only to put it on their FTA channel - it would go on Setanta Sports 1.

Potentially but I wouldn't say necessarily. I don't think the pull of a few bottom of the half table Ulster games - Zebre, Edinburgh, Connacht - would be worth PPV. Setanta would probably earn more from the advertising on their FTA channel than from subscriptions to their PPV channel.

BT Sport.... I forgot that this new European Cup has split broadcasters.

awec

Digifriendly wrote: »

AFAIK Setanta is not FTA here in NI. It is a subscription channel.
If Setanta win the right to Ulster games instead of BBC2NI then the following will be the results:
(1) Far less viewers in NI will watch Ulster home games - Setanta is only available on satellite platform and I can't see many viewers here subscribing to it even if they have satellite. Apart from their PL Saturday live games (which are geo blocked to NI viewers in any case) there is little else to attract viewers here to it.
(2) Viewers in rest of UK will be deprived of seeing the majority of Ulster home games as Setanta is not available outside of Ireland.
(3) Likelihood is that more viewers in ROI will watch Ulster home games via Setanta than in NI.

Don't think so, I really don't see Setanta paying money for the rights only to put the shows on their FTA channel.

thelad95

What a shambles this issue becoming. Three weeks to kick off and no Italian broadcaster and no NI broadcaster. Could those deals not have been sown up last season?

Digifriendly

awec wrote: »

Don't think so, I really don't see Setanta paying money for the rights only to put the shows on their FTA channel.

Surely there are more Setanta subscriptions in ROI than NI are there not?

SettingSun

Digifriendly wrote: »

AFAIK Setanta is not FTA here in NI. It is a subscription channel.
If Setanta win the right to Ulster games instead of BBC2NI then the following will be the results:
(1) Far less viewers in NI will watch Ulster home games - Setanta is only available on satellite platform and I can't see many viewers here subscribing to it even if they have satellite. Apart from their PL Saturday live games (which are geo blocked to NI viewers in any case) there is little else to attract viewers here to it.
(2) Viewers in rest of UK will be deprived of seeing the majority of Ulster home games as Setanta is not available outside of Ireland.
(3) Likelihood is that more viewers in ROI will watch Ulster home games via Setanta than in NI.

Setanta 1 & 2 are not free to air down South either however Setanta Ireland (its sister channel) is. Although it doesn't come with the Sky Package in NI, I believe you can tune it in to some boxes.

awec

Digifriendly wrote: »

What is this FTA channel? Also there are surely more Setanta subscriptions in ROI than NI are there not?

There's a channel down here called "Setanta Ireland" which is different to Setanta 1 and 2.

It's free but all that's on it is a load of oul sh**e - Nascar and muck like that.

icdg

SettingSun wrote: »

What are the three subscriptions? Sky Sports is the obvious one but I was under the impression viewers in the North could also tune in Setanta Ireland (which is FTA) and then the third is?

Setanta Ireland isn't free to air. It is part of basic packages on UPC in the Republic (which gives many who are on that platform the mistaken impression that it is "free" - but in fact you must pay for at least the most basic package to access it). It is a full premium channel on satellite in both the North and the Republic, part of the Setanta Sports Pack (which in the Republic also includes BT Sport and ESPN, but in the North consists only of Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1 (Premier Sports), and furthermore the versions in the North have FA Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League content blocked).

In Northern Ireland the Setanta Sports pack costs £9.99 pm (there is currently a special offer of £5.99 for first 3 months), in the Republic it costs €21.99 pm but as I say that includes BT Sport and ESPN which it does not in the North. In the North BT Sport and ESPN are a separate subscription though it is free if you take BT Broadband, otherwise it is £12 pm on Sky.

Setanta Sports 2 closed down in 2009, making the "Setanta Sports 1" name a bit redundant but its persisted. There were plans to drop the brand and call it Premier Sports here too but they were binned when Setanta managed to persaude UPC to release it from its commitment to show 13 Premier League matches a year on Setanta Ireland, which allowed Setanta to move all of these matches to Setanta Sports 1.

Cookiemunster

SettingSun wrote: »

Setanta 1 & 2 are not free to air down South either however Setanta Ireland (its sister channel) is. Although it doesn't come with the Sky Package in NI, I believe you can tune it in to some boxes.

Setanta Ireland isn't FTA on the Sky package down South either.

awec

Hm?

I was able to access Setanta Ireland on my TV without any UPC TV package.

icdg

Do you have UPC Broadband or a legacy analogue UPC TV point from a previous subscription? You may still be able to tune in the analogue version that way, if UPC haven't bothered to come out and physically cut the cable.

awec

icdg wrote: »

Do you have UPC Broadband or a legacy analogue UPC TV point from a previous subscription? You may still be able to tune in the analogue version that way, if UPC haven't bothered to come out and physically cut the cable.

Yep, I have UPC broadband and one of those UPC things on the wall. That's probably why.

crasy dash

Lucky you :pac:
Only people i know that have it are my parents and thats on Upc used to have the odd good Top 14 match though.

awec

I have UPC TV now though.

I don't want to have to fork out an extra 16 quid a month for the Setanta package!

former legend

awec wrote: »

I have UPC TV now though.

I don't want to have to fork out an extra 16 quid a month for the Setanta package!

There is a deal on at the moment, if you have Sky Sports you can add Setanta and BT for €6 per month for six months - might be good value if the EPCR schedule comes out with BT showing a lot of Irish games.

crasy dash

former legend wrote: »

There is a deal on at the moment, if you have Sky Sports you can add Setanta and BT for €6 per month for six months - might be good value if the EPCR schedule comes out with BT showing a lot of Irish games.

Really any link to it for six thats surely worth it, sorry misread your post you have to have sky sports already

awec

former legend wrote: »

There is a deal on at the moment, if you have Sky Sports you can add Setanta and BT for €6 per month for six months - might be good value if the EPCR schedule comes out with BT showing a lot of Irish games.

I don't have Sky sports. 40 quid a month that is!

I'm crossing everything for BBC NI to come up with the goods!

NorthDown2

Getting back to RTE, was it a conscious decision at Montrose not to bid for the Pro12 this year - barring interpro weekends, there would be four teams in action in different matches - Sky could cover one province, TG4 another, a NI broadcaster for Ulster, leaving one other. Or did they feel they would have been left with the scraps?

RTE did help broadcast the odd the Ulster game - was it Zebre (away) last year which only RTE showed?

Is TG4's contract for Connaught, Munster, Leinster games? I seem to recall in the mists of time, when it was still the Celtic League, that TG4 seemed to rotate around the four provinces.

channelsurfer2

Gerry Thornley saying BBCNI likely to show Ulster matches, agreement expected very soon, so no Setanta needed if correct.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro12/sky-to-show-pro-12-leinster-versus-munster-tie-as-part-of-tv-deal-1.1893912

vienne86

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

Gerry Thornley saying BBCNI likely to show Ulster matches, agreement expected very soon, so no Setanta needed if correct.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro12/sky-to-show-pro-12-leinster-versus-munster-tie-as-part-of-tv-deal-1.1893912

Good to hear. The BBC NI commentators are a bit partisan, but overall I have found their coverage very acceptable.

Larbre34

The fact that Leinster's final home interpro of the season is January 3rd is a very bad bit of planning. And that Leinster and Munster meet in reverse fixtures both in the first half of the season isnt good either. Stephens Day is a rubbish day to have to get to Limerick, so I imagine there will be far less Leinster fans travelling to what is normally a well attended away game.

Digifriendly

Ulsters' fixtures confirmed up to Christmas but still no set date for match vs Dragons at home and no host broadcaster yet for majority of home games - http://www.ulsterrugby.com/Match/FixturesResults.aspx

thelad95

Larbre34 wrote: »

The fact that Leinster's final home interpro of the season is January 3rd is a very bad bit of planning. And that Leinster and Munster meet in reverse fixtures both in the first half of the season isnt good either. Stephens Day is a rubbish day to have to get to Limerick, so I imagine there will be far less Leinster fans travelling to what is normally a well attended away game.

To be fair, a 5.00 kick-off time should suit travelling fans. Plenty of time to get down and plenty of time to get home. It's doubtful both sides will play anything close to their first XV though.

Juwwi

former legend wrote: »

There is a deal on at the moment, if you have Sky Sports you can add Setanta and BT for €6 per month for six months - might be good value if the EPCR schedule comes out with BT showing a lot of Irish games.

Hi do you have link to that deal.

oneofakind32

vienne86 wrote: »

Good to hear. The BBC NI commentators are a bit partisan, but overall I have found their coverage very acceptable.

That's the problem with all the local broadcasters, they are all partisan. Thats why I am looking forward to Sky Sports coverage.

vienne86

oneofakind32 wrote: »

That's the problem with all the local broadcasters, they are all partisan. Thats why I am looking forward to Sky Sports coverage.

Hadn't thought about that - they should be fairly neutral seeing as there are no English teams involved!

phog

Sky might well be neutral but they have Mark Robson on their team :-(

icdg

Confirmation of the renewal of the BBC Alba deal, with the promise that some games (mainly Scottish derbies???) will be on BBC Two Scotland this year.

http://www.scottishrugby.org/news/14/08/15/bbc-scotland-boost-live-rugby-coverage

Cookiemunster

Some good news for the Ulster lads.

BBC Northern Ireland ‏@BBCnireland 56m

BBC NI secures a new 4-season deal to show live coverage of @UlsterRugby in the Guinness Pro12

sydneybound

Adam Jones signs for the Cardiff Blues

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/28856090

CatFromHue

Gethin Jenikns, Matthew Rees, and now Adam Jones.

Winters

Cardiff could have the beating of the Ospreys this season.