I don't think that is the reason, Georgie Bingham was hired by ESPN to host a international version of Sportscenter which was seen in Africa, the middle east and the Caribbean which sometimes got televised here I am sure at least once by mistake, for what ever reason ESPN mad a tuff decided to can that international version of sportscenter. Personally I think it was sad that ESPN pull the plug on there show before South Africa got to host the world cup but I have a feeling a local SC as well as a HD service will return to the region using ESPN left over equipment once the world cup is over
They could staff all of their shows with people who look this for all I care. So "big news" being the addition of Lara is not on par with the possibilities that had been discussed in the thread (esp. some move to maintain the football coverage that has been on Setanta).
Anyone who thought that the alleged "acquisition" of Setanta Sports USA by FSI would be announced on FOX Soccer Report on Wednesday night: 1. Is either living in a dream world devoid of any business or financial common sense 2. Has no idea that FSI and NewsCorp are infested with accountants throughout the executive ranks, not to mention that "the big cheese" (R.M.) at NewsCorp knows how to count "beans" (and "manage" taxes) better than anyone else at NewsCorp. 3. Has never assembled a spreadsheet to calculate simple profit and loss scenarios. The "numbers" for Setanta Sports USA (i.e. subscribers needed to reach break even) made no sense to me when I first heard the numbers in late 2006, and they still make no sense to me today, exactly 2 years after I left the (soccer/internet) business just as the economy was about to implode. 4. Or does not have a reliable-enough source inside FSI or NewsCorp: this applies to those bloggers who jumped to conclusions the moment the bloggers saw the "FSC+" trademark application and the "tweet" by FOX Soccer Report anchor Derek Taylor (who does NOT work for FOX Sports International: FOX Soccer Report is produced by Canwest Global Communications' Global TV unit). You know who you are and you have red faces right now. == To repeat: FOX Sports International (FSI) has already repossessed the U.S. video sublicenses to English Premier League and UEFA Champions League from Setanta Sports North America Limited for non-payment of sublicensing fees. The only video sublicense Setanta still holds from FSI is for the U.S. video rights to half of the English FA Cup/English National Team/English Community Shield package. The "architect" of Setanta Sports USA departed Setanta Sports North America Limited at the close of business on December 31, 2009 in order to run a new venture which will start by reselling Setanta Premium closed-circuit sports TV products. == Has Setanta Sports North America and FOX Sports International officials ever discussed the possible acquisition of Setanta Sports USA by FSI? Almost certainly, with a probability above 99% in my opinion. Will FSI acquire Setanta Sports USA and its associated debt and headaches? I am one of the skeptics here who does NOT believe that the proposed acquisition makes any sense from a business or financial perspective.
Have we learned nothing from the past decade? Just because the people wearing suits have a lot of money, does not mean they know how to use it responsibly.
When you're done tooting your own horn, please post your resume (CV) on here for us all to drool over.
i just KNEW it'd be something like this. Good that they bring in someone with footy experience tho. Nabil Karim was awful.
I pretty much expected a land of PPV with maybe an additional timeslot for ESPN - but then the stories about the FSC+ and blog comments about surveys in November asking about FSC+ as the name of a future second channel - it's all so nebulous. But I agree with the premise that this is one of the cheapest operations on TV - and we need only look at current FSC/FSWC production standards to see evidence of that. So FSC trying to do what Setanta couldn't do just doesn't seem right. I can't wait to see Landon Donovan's debut at The Emirates ... on tape delay Tuesday on FSC.
Will you relax? If FSI still holds U.S. video rights to both Arsenal-Everton and Wigan-Aston Villa in the Saturday 10am ET time slot as of this Friday at 9pm ET (close of business day in Los Angeles where FSI is based), which match do you think will ultimately end up being aired on FSC and FSE on Saturday morning? Furthermore, FOX Sports Latin America North Cone and FOX Sports Latin America South Cone are both scheduled to have Arsenal-Everton live on Saturday (1200 in Buenos Aires, 0900 in Mexico City). Keep checking foxsoccer.com and foxsportsla.com for updated schedules. We will know by Friday at 9pm ET at the latest on which channels Arsenal-Everton will air in the U.S. market.
yeah, but she's not bad - and has perfect pronounciation (as far as I can tell). And Terri's still there so no net loss (except Nabil - hopefully). i mean she CERTAINLY isn't this:
I think that in this case, huhe888 has the analysis down pat, although I think that Setanta USA originally had some synergies with Setanta UK, Setanta Ireland and the Pub business, that were eventually crushed by the recession. But, at this point, the one big asset left to Setanta USA is simply the SD channel slot presently on DirecTV (actually more than one), as well as Dish Network and some cable systems. FSI may offer to trade the SD bandwidth for HD bandwidth in order to get FSC-HD jumpstarted, or they may use it to make their FSC-HD negotiations into a deal involving two new channels, either of which allows more room for negotiating.
What kind of financial situation is Setanta US really in? While definitely not good, they have divested themselves of properties throughout the year (either by letting sublicenses lapse or not paying up and having their rights repossessed), while expanding their availability on various sat/cable/fiber platforms. And with a number of prepaid subscribers and even a percentage of month-to-month customers who will stay if their focus is on properties that Setanta still has (fans of rugby, French League, English league fans whose team is currently in 2nd division, those who want to see how the Carling and FA Cups play out), they might just stick it out for the short term. And with the subsciption price staying the same, a percentage of retention is all that is required. Setanta's remaining content has already been paid for. Definitely short term though, since Setanta will continue to drop content as sublicenses expire. At the end of last season, they did not bring back the Dutch Eredivisie or Super League Rugby, and later during the summer Aussie Rules Football and NRL Rugby was gone. Then at the beginning of the current soccer season, they gave back the Saturday morning and Monday afternoon EPL slots and saved a few million. And now, they saved a couple of million more when FSI repossessed the rest of the package. But unless enough service providers decide to remove them from their systems, they might just hang on. They will move content formerly seen on delay to live slots (rugby, French League, Championship soccer) plus show content they still have rights to, but mostly bumped in the past for higher visibility content. They can show the occasional Scottish Premier league match that does not involve Celtic or Rangers live on a weekend morning slot formerly occupied by an EPL match, or even once in a while show a League One or Two televised match. They have rid themselves of much of their content without explanation nor offered recompensation to their customers for the reduction of quality. They might very well continue until enough service providers and enough customers decide it is time for them to go.
These are interesting points. Folks who follow the Setanta US Twitter feed, will see that Setanta has just been added to new cable systems. It would seem odd to me that these systems would add a station that then folds a month later. It took forever for Comcast in the Chicago area to add Gol TV even though they had the space and high quality cable that could pump in the programming, yet they took their time. This leads me to believe they are either very very slow with things because they are (A) incompetent or (B) careful. I am guessing that it is actually a combination of the two. So if there is any percentage of (B) then it would be odd for them to add Setanta within the past week because they would have been able to gain some sense of Setanta's viability. I really hope they hold on in one form or another. They have been the best network for high quality international qualifiers, friendlies, and European club cups (the latter changed this year with Fox's superior treatment of CL and DirecTV's coverage of Europa League).
Setanta Sports USA can certainly try to "hang on" through May 2010 in a "crippled" state. One would predict that Setanta Sports USA will lose subscribers en masse, from the alleged 65000 to somewhere around 10000-15000, now that Setanta Sports USA has lost EPL, which was its raison d'etre. What happens when club soccer and rugby seasons end for summer vacation? Will Setanta Sports USA have any subs left in June 2010? == The "death spiral" process is taking place: 1. Dropping core content to save rights fee expense 2. Subscribers cancel service, resulting in reduction in revenue Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until the channel has few if any subscribers left.
I agree no Premier League or Champions League, no use to me. I can not justify $15 for an occasional Ligue 1 game or delayed SPL game.
I'm ready to cancel. I just want to see an official notice from Setanta which I am sure they are in no rush to announce they have lost the main reason people have a subscription.
??? I will hang on until I get the official word. If there is no more EPL, no use to me either. By the way, will ESPN360 carry the rest of the Carling Cup games?
Your theory about trading bandwidth won't work on any cable system or DirecTV (not sure on Dish Network). On DirecTV, the SD streams are on KU transponders, while all the HD are on KA transponders. On almost all cable systems, FSC is on digital cable and the size of an SD channel isn't enough to trade for an HD slot. Digital cable is compressed into QAM carriers, you can fit two HDs per QAM (Comcast compresses it to three), while you can fit 12-15 SD channels per QAM channel.
All the content outside of the EPL and Champions League (and maybe FA Cup), how is it licensed? We know that Setanta licenses EPL and CL via FSI (maybe FA Cup too?), what about everything else? Whenever FSC+ starts, as long as its an advertiser driven channel and not a "premium" I'm a fan. i love watching footie, but i can't justify $15/month for the extra games that Setanta showed. Whenever I watched their free previews, the PQ was so much worse than FSC. I'd rather pirate a decent feed off the web that I can actually read the players numbers.
The Leaue Cup semis (both legs of both series) and the final will be shared between ESPN360.com and Setanta Sports USA.