In case you did'nt know, they are trying to start a 24X7 rugby channel in North America. Go to www.therugbychannel.com and make sure to take the survey. They need 35k positive responses and so far have 29K. Hard to believe that with a combined population of 300+ million ( US+Canada ) they have not surpassed 50K by now. Currently some rugby is shown on FSC ( one game per week at 2am - thank god for TIVO ) and now some on Setanta residential which is nothing more than just another FSC. Setanta is going to show the Tri-Nations and Lions tour as a "special event" only, not on the residential channel. If only they would do with rugby like they do with any other sport coverage i.e. American Football, cricket ( you can buy 20 days of cricket coverage for $75 and a year for $225 ) where you pay for what you want to see.
Setanta's website says that Tri-Nations will be on the US residential but nothing about the Lions tour. Where did you get your information?
If you go to http://www.setanta.com/usa and click on "Special Events Schedule" they have all Lions/All Blacks and Tri-Nations games listed there June through August. You can also click on "Special Events Info" and you will see their definition of special events : SETANTA SPORTS - SPECIAL EVENTS (Commercial PPV) in Pubs & Clubs across North America Almost all of the matches we broadcast on Closed Circuit TV are "special events," for which fans pay a cover charge to watch at bars, pubs, social clubs, and restaurants. These events are LIVE and not available through mainstream TV. Click here for Special Events Schedule. I would hope to be wrong but it seems to me that this is still going to be shown at pubs. If they show it on DirecTV I will join up for the three months but its way too expensive to watch it at a pub for $20 cover charge.
Setanta's lack of clarity on what will be on the residential channel and what won't be has been the key factor in my decision to wait to sign up. I sent them an e-mail asking about the Lions tour -- but they never answered.
Setanta website now confirms British and Irish lions tour except New Zealand on the residential channel.
So everything but the actual Test matches? For the monthly fee, and all the MUTV and Chelsea TV filler they have, one would have hoped that they would put the Tests on there as part of the package.
After every match but the 3 test matches against the All Blacks it says Setanta sports channel broadcast.The 3 test matches are on FSC on a few day delay.
With FSC showing all three tests and a few of the warm-up matches on a few days delay (plus the Tri-Nations on delay), makes it hard to justify the monthly ping by Setanta for the warm-up games and the Tri-Nations live.
I contacted Robert at Setanta. Here's his reply There was a very good reason why Fox dropped rugby. The numbers simply do not add up. All non-test games will be on the channel LIVE. The 1st & 3rd Tests will be LIVE in Bars & Clubs and on residential PPV on DirecTV & inDEMAND local cable (available in 50 million homes) The 2nd Test as a Promo for the new Channel on DTV will be LIVE and Exclusive. The Tri - Nations is yet to be decided - please send an e-mail to Newsletter@setanta.com and type UPDATE in the subject line. We plan on picking up the ball that Fox dropped and providing most of the top flight rugby in the world to serious rugby fans at an affordable cost. Unfortunately some coverage will be delayed as otherwise this would not be financially viable. We want to expand our rugby coverage well beyond what Fox previously offered. A large part of their coverage is delayed anyway and they have way deeper pockets than we have. I hope you will grow to like what we do and we are very concerned about what the fans want but there are very real financial constraints I assure you. Best Wishes, Robert.
State of Origin live into USA Wed May 25, 9:31am (NSW) Source: American National Rugby League Great news for American Rugby League supporters with tonight's State of Origin match between Queensland and New South Wales LIVE on the Fox Soccer Channel. The State of Origin match will air this week live on Wednesday at 6am ET / 3am PT. It will encore on Thursday at 2am ET / 11pm PT (Wed).
Count me as ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED they did this. Good for me though, I'm slaving through writing some papers tonight and I need something to keep me awake.
G'day Mates I'm kinda new to this and I was just wondering if someone could help me. I'm an aussie expat here in the US having major withdrawal symptoms for some rugby league. I noticed that they did show the State of Origin here on the Fox Soccer Channel but I don't get that on my cable. Does anyone know if a copy of the game is floating around in cyberspace that I may be able to get a hold of?? Thanks
OK, I'm now p*ssed off with Fox Soccer Channel (FSW RIP) when it comes to Rugby. Everything (everything they deem to show that is) is at 2:00 am. And, supposedly, all the Tri Nations games/Lions games will be at that time instead of showing them live. So my questions are: as it looks like FSC are going to diminish the Rugby coverage, is Setanta they only way to watch Rugby in America? is Satanta exclusive to DirectTV, and if so, what's the minimal package of DirectTV I could get so that I could subscribe to Setanta? In an unrelated question, what's DirectTV's coverage of cricket like?
You are probably better off joining DirecTV as they are the largest DTH ( direct to home ) satellite provider in the USA. I had the sports package with DirecTV which included something like 10 sports channels of which I watched one ( FSC ). When Setanta started I cancelled FSC and I am now paying the same ( about $58 ). Go to their website www.directv.com to find out what the minimal package is. You will also find information on their cricket coverage under "International programming" but its PPV. I recently watched SA/WI for $75 - 3 tests and 7 ODI's. You can buy the entire year for $225.
No. Setanta is also available on Globecast. http://www.globecastwtv.com/ch_setanta.htm I do not know whether Globcast can work with an off the shelf Tivo receiver or provides their one DVR. That's something to ask their customer support about.
At least it's not digital cable The thing that sucks about Setanta being only on DirecTV for now is that they make you pay an additional $5 fee for each room you want separate programming in. With Dish Network you only pay $5 for every two rooms you want separate programming on. With DirecTV you will pay an extra $15 for three rooms (not counting the main room) on top of what your monthly charge is. But, with Dish Network, you could get the same thing for only $5 extra per month since one receiver covers TWO rooms. If that wasn't a bad enough case against DirecTV already, if you want Fox Soccer Channel (and you would be stupid not to since you are posting on a soccer Web site) you have to get the third tier package which would be fine normally (you have to do this with Dish Network), but the thing is DirecTV makes you buy the ENTIRE package of every single channel, sports pak, premium movie channel and any other thing they sell for a price of at least $84 and more if you want the DVR option. They simply can not just allow you to buy the third tier package and be done with it. It just isn't a smart move to get DirecTV at all. I have a five room house that all require TV's not counting the kitchen, so to me it is just stupid to not get Dish Network. I even had a phone rep from DirecTV tell me she had Dish at home because it is better financially for the reasons I stated above but worked there just to pay the bills. But I understand that a lot of you are willing to get raped by DirecTV just to see rugby, but not me. I love rugby almost as much as soccer, but not for $115 US which is what someone would pay for DirecTV service in 4 rooms including the $5 fee for each room and the $5 DVR service (optional, but a great bargain compared to Tivo). I just thought I would drop some knowledge on you guys. Oh yeah, and Dish Network has GolTV along with FSC on the third tier package without a subscription fee! -VON
Re: At least it's not digital cable See above post. Setanta USA is NOT only on DirecTV. It is available on Globecast.
Re: I loved my Dreamcast, but Globecast? hmm... What the heck is that? Is it a competitor of the only two known existing satellite providers? If so, is it just as good a deal as Dish or better, if not, who cares about it? No channel is worth paying for something that is a bad deal, especially when there is a better deal available. That was all I was trying to say in my earlier post. I have no idea why Setanta, NFL Network, and NBATV, etc. is on one system versus the other unless one of those companies were paid an exclusive deal by Dish Network or DirecTV. It is stupid to limit yourself to one product. And why haven't I heard of Globecast before if it is on par with the other two? -Von
Re: At least it's not digital cable I hear ya man. Its extortion and I am probably not doing the right thing to promote it. I also hate subsidizing other channels I dont watch. But dont worry, satellite technology is getting cheaper ( apparently brought on mostly by the fact that they now need far less "fuel' to keep their satellites in position and therfore can have more transponders ) I found Globecast ( http://www.globecastwtv.com/ ) that Chandu mentioned. Looks like about $180 to start ( dish and decoder ) and then 11.99/month for Setanta. Only problem is if Setanta goes belly up, there's probably nothing else on Globecast you would want to watch.
welcome aboard! i hope you have found your answers. btw, where about in australia were you, and where in usa are you now?