Setanta - Horrible Screwup ! [R]

[kstuart]

RESULTS - SPOILERS




During the whole Sunderland-Tottenham match, there was huge technical difficulties staring in the first half. They seemed to have fixed them, but then they came back right at the end of the match, with the screen going black every few seconds, with the result being that the viewers missed the dramatic winning goal in the last seconds !

They then put up a crawl "We apologize for technical difficulties".

( BTW, it was clearly on Setanta's end, because their logo was unaffected by the problems. )

But, haven't they been doing this for two years? What could change ?

Just when we thought that surely $15 per month would shield you from the screwups of the commercial channels...

And just to pour salt in the wounds, they kept putting up a crawl - "If you're enjoying this Free Preview, call 1-800-DIRECTTV to subscribe." - even though we were watching on Dish Network's Free Preview.

[wjarrettc]

Technical glitches happen. It was clearly in the feed out of the stadium because as you mentioned, their graphic bugs placed into the feed were still unaffected. Without a background in live TV production, I don't really have the credentials to judge, but don't you think you're being a bit harsh on them for one game...considering the large number of live games they show on a weekly basis.

The DirecTV free preview thing on Dish Network is pretty funny though (I was wondering if that was going out on Dish as well). The US branch of Setanta is definitely not as professional as their Irish parent company.

[GutBomb]

This didn't happen on the live broadcast this morning. It was only the repeat, so they must have had a problem with their tape. I watched via DirecTV.

edit: ok i guess i wasn't paying close enough attention, i never noticed. i only watched the 2nd half and i was flipping back and forth between setanta and FSC but i do remember seeing the goal.

[wrekinrak25]

it definitely happened on the live broadcast...we missed the sunderland goal when i was at the pub this morning because of the glitches...and we were watching it live, and via directv

[Força Sporting]

Glitches happen. It was unfortunate that it happened at the moment that the Sunderland goal was being scored, but hey, you can't be perfect all of the time :o

The freeview scroll was a laugh. They only have the one feed going to DirecTV and DishNetwork, but still, they could have worded it a little differently to get the attention of DishNetwork viewers only :)

[TarheelJTK]

I watched it live and although they missed the goal I did see the replay of it uninterrupted right afterward. I guess after dealing with FSC's coverage of the European qualifiers where they lose the signal for half the match or ESPN's coverage where they are too busy showing Becks or the coaches that you miss a quarter of the game it just isn't that big of a deal to me (if I was a Sunderland or Spurs fan I probably wouldn't be as understanding though).

[rangers00]

Technical glitches happen. It was clearly in the feed out of the stadium because as you mentioned,
Screw-up is not from the stadium feed. The telecast I saw (in Asia) has no glitches.

[Arjen_Robben1]

That game was the real screwup.

[HDSports]

Glitches happen. It was unfortunate that it happened at the moment that the Sunderland goal was being scored, but hey, you can't be perfect all of the time :o

The freeview scroll was a laugh. They only have the one feed going to DirecTV and DishNetwork, but still, they could have worded it a little differently to get the attention of DishNetwork viewers only :)

I watch via Globecast, and go the ' Free Preview' scroll. I also got the scrolls for DirecTV Free Preview last year as well.

[yikchi]

LOL... I was looking at the scroll and though "damn, i should start my subscription a week later since there's a freeview going on".
And not realizing that the FreeView is for the Dish customer.

[QPR Kevin H]

Ouch! Good thing I was listening and not watching that match.

I subscribed to Setanta Broadband over the weekend, and I love it. Although that's easy to say when I'm not watching my team via streamed video - I think I'd be a little more on edge if the buffering was taking place during a QPR match.

[Achtung]

Is it just me, or does Setanta seem to have these technical glitches quite often? Right this very moment, the feed has gone from spotty to almost completely going out. And I've seen it a couple of times over the past few weeks. Don't think its a Dish Network issue because all my other channels are coming in fine.

[MasterShake29]

Is it just me, or does Setanta seem to have these technical glitches quite often? Right this very moment, the feed has gone from spotty to almost completely going out. And I've seen it a couple of times over the past few weeks. Don't think its a Dish Network issue because all my other channels are coming in fine.

I'd say often.

I'm a broadband customer, and the archive of the Thursday Carling Cup match was a mess (not sure if it aired ok live), and today they had Tottenham v Derby on both broadband channels for a few minutes (1 had the Setanta Ireland feed, 2 had the world feed) before switching the latter to Birmingham v West Ham.

[supersoft]

I've had similar problems for half the EPL games on Setanta, both live and repeat. Doing it right now in fact for Brum-West Ham - this is the worst I've seen it, and the Technical Difficulties music sucks. I was wondering if it was just confined to DISH or not. Seems that they really don't want me to pay $15/mo for their product. No problems with FSC yet this season.

Can anyone who's been a longer-term subscriber on another system report on whether this is typical performance from Setanta?

[danielmak]

I've had similar problems for half the EPL games on Setanta, both live and repeat. Doing it right now in fact for Brum-West Ham - this is the worst I've seen it, and the Technical Difficulties music sucks. I was wondering if it was just confined to DISH or not. Seems that they really don't want me to pay $15/mo for their product. No problems with FSC yet this season.

Can anyone who's been a longer-term subscriber on another system report on whether this is typical performance from Setanta?

I have had Setanta for a year now on DirecTV and I can say that I am very happy with the quality of the channel. There have been some things that have pissed me off: (1) The web site is wrong too often; it should never be wrong. (2) They seem to have recurring problems with Euro qualifiers (either showing a match that is not advertised; starting the match late; or in the case of one Greece match, showing the first half, going to break at half-time and then showing the first half again. (3) Their programming department isn't always sensible (e.g., they showed the Celtic-Spartak CL Qual one time but then showed Portsmouth-Man Utd. over and over again---I understand Man United's popularity but in the age of the DVR......). (4) They repeatedly have problems with aspect ration (usually fixing the problem in the first two minutes but in some CL games last year, never fixing it--these were usually games that were running on ESPN Classic at the same time).

Again, these problems are frustrating but I still think this is the best channel going for European football because of the coverage of quality Euro qualifying and CL matches. Over the course of the year, I have been very happy. I have tried to cut down the number of EPL games I watch since I can watch my favorite teams in each league now so I can't say if Setanta has more problems with their coverage this year than in years past, but I can say that there were very few (if any) problems with Setanta's coverage of EPL games last year (or at least that was the case for Liverpool games). Take care.

[kstuart]

I was wondering if it was just confined to DISH or not.
It has nothing to do with Dish.
During the flickering, the Setanta logo does not flicker.
During Technical Difficulties, you see the Setanta Technical Difficulties screen, not a Dish Network screen.
And people on DirecTV have reported the same problems.

[Sachsen]

Any idea how long the free preview is supposed to go? I'm enjoying it.

[kstuart]

Any idea how long the free preview is supposed to go? I'm enjoying it.

One inch above your post.

[Sachsen]

One inch above your post.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/D_oh.jpg/150px-D_oh.jpg

[yikchi]

Can anyone who's been a longer-term subscriber on another system report on whether this is typical performance from Setanta?

I don't remember having much problem watching Prem games on Setanta (Directv) all last season.

To me, the problem seems to start this season and applies both Directv and Dish.