Transition Begins For Setanta Sports Messaging Alerts Viewers To Premium Network's End, Points Watchers To Fox Soccer Plus Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 1/30/2010 10:46:08 AM The transition from Setanta Sports to Fox in the premium soccer space has kicked off. An ad touting Fox Soccer Plus, which is scheduled to launch March 1 as a high-definition, premium channel, aired before Setanta's coverage of the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Bolton on Saturday, Jan. 30. According to someone watching the match, a crawl pointing viewers toward Fox Soccer Plus also ran shortly after the game began. Setanta, which Fox Soccer Channel was reported to be in negotiations with for an outright purchase of the premium programmer that launched in the U.S. in 2005, will cease its operations in the U.S. and the Caribbean on Feb. 28. Setanta, whose home page also indicates Fox Soccer Plus is coming on March 1 and directs users toward it via an email address and toll-free phone number, issued a release on Jan. 27 indicating that it would cease its run in the U.S. and the Caribbean and that is tranferring soccer and rugby rights to Fox. However, details of those properties have not been disclosed. Setanta did not respond to a request for comment, while Fox officials declined to comment. RCN -- which is notifying its customers about Setanta's situation via this month's bill, as well as by postcards to the premium channel's subscribers -- said Setanta has been running a crawl saying: "Beginning March 1, watch matches from this league on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus. For more information go to foxsoccerplus.com." For its part, RCN has inserted its own crawl message, in block capitals, on Setanta's air, reading: "Attention: Effective February 28, 2010, Setanta Sports will cease its U.S. broadcast operations and will no longer be on the air. Call 800.Ring.RCN with any questions." One Dish customer told Multichannel News that he saw a crawl on a midweek match on Setanta that also pointed viewers toward Fox Soccer Plus. Dish officials said they were unaware of the crawl, while declining to comment about whether they were in negotiations to carry Fox Soccer Plus. AT&T U-verse said it was in the process of sending out postcards, alerting Setanta subscribers that the service would go dark on Feb. 28. Officials also declined to comment about whether they were talking to Fox about carriage. A Cox spokesman said on Thursday that crawls had not appeared on Setanta, and that the MSO was evaluating Fox Soccer Plus. A spokesman for DirecTV noted the top DBS provider was negotiating with Fox Soccer Plus. Earlier this month, Fox Soccer Channel said it would reclaim top soccer rights -- Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League properties -- that it had been sublicensing to Setanta and that they would become part of Fox Soccer Plus. In addition to the aforementioned affiliates, Setanta also counts Verizon FiOS and Comcast, in select markets, as affiliates. Sources indicate that Setanta, which through the end of February will present its existing lineup, including games from the BPL, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Heineken Cup, Magners League and Guinness Premiership, has upward of 120,000 subscribers in the U.S.
I watched the begining of the Leicester v. Newcastle match on Setanta Saturday, and there was a banner on the bottom of the screen stating something like: after Mar 1, this competition can be seen on FS+. I wonder if that means the CocaCola Championship games are headed to FS+, or some numpty just put the crawl up by mistake!
I could only hope that FS+ gets better distribution than Setanta ever could. If FS+ would be in as many households as FSC is currently available in, then I would be pleasantly surprised.
I would be very surprised if NewsCorp (FSI and FOX Cable) were to pursue Setanta Sports USA's failed a-la-carte business model for FS+. Doing very simple math, you can see that it makes more sense for: 1. FSC to be moved from the sports tier to an expanded basic tier so that the number of subscribers can eventually double from 35 million to 70 million 2. FS+ to be added to either a sports tier and/or an HD-only tier (where the likes of Universal HD, MGM HD, and HDNet Movies are slotted.) NewsCorp can generate more revenue with FS+ being distributed to 10 million households at $0.10 per month (= $12 million each year) than 100,000 households at $7.50 a month (= $7.5 million each year, assuming that each subscriber take the channel 10 months each year and the revenue has to be split with the cable/satellite operator on a 50/50 basis.)
Glad to hear that Dish is adding FSC HD on Feb 10, that may help pressure DirecTV to follow suit. My concern still is that they won't add the FSC HD signal until their new satellite is operational and that could be a couple months or longer.
RCN runs the crawl almost constantly. Once every five minutes should be enough. I hope RCN picks up Fox Soccer Plus, I imagine they will at some point but these things always seem to take time.
I'm not so concerned as to when DTV will offer FSC HD more as to when they'll offer FSC+. DTV subscribers could be left in the dark come March 1st and that's just not good enough.
Things look good for FiOS customers. http://twitter.com/fiostv - We will make sure all the soccer goodness you currently have is still available after the 28th I know I am inferring a bit here but seems possible FS+ will take Setanta's place in the lineup. I know it is isn't as simple b/c FS+ will be HD, but maybe FiOS likes the $15/month plan.
I dont really see any positives outta this. I mean FS+ is pretty much gonna be just like FSC, barely getting any real viewership.
Unlike Setanta? At least this new channel won't be a la carte. Even if it's on a Sports Pack, it should be available in more homes than Setanta ever was.
I emailed DTV to ask what was going to happen. They replied that they were in negotiations with Fox to "provide a seamless transition" so that "current Setanta subscribers would automatically switch to FS+".
In other words, DirecTV is "on the clock." Hopefully all the strings get pulled by the end of the month.
here is the response to my inquiry for Directv Thank you for writing and letting us know your concern. Beginning Mar 1, 2010, much of Setanta’s programming rights, including premium soccer games and rugby events, will be transferred to Fox and made available on the new Fox Soccer Plus channel. DIRECTV is working with Fox to come to an agreement to offer Fox Soccer Plus so we can provide a seamless transition of all the same great content you've enjoyed on Setanta, including: - Rugby matches - Soccer matches from the top leagues, including the European Champions League, England's Premier League, and more. Setanta programming will be available on Fox Soccer Plus. Upon DIRECTV and Fox’s completed agreement for Fox Soccer Plus, Setanta customers will automatically be eligible for the new channel. Fox Soccer Channel is not required. DIRECTV is in discussions with FOX to offer Fox Soccer Plus but have not reached an agreement yet. There isn’t anything you need to do at this time. Upon reaching an agreement with Fox for carriage of Fox Soccer Plus, DIRECTV would transition your Setanta programming over to Fox Soccer Plus automatically on March 1. ************************** sounds very, very encouraging... Cantona--------
As both a soccer fan and rugby fan I'm glad to see that rugby is still in the program mix for FSC+. Unfortunately, as a customer of Time Warner in eastern NC, I don't think I'll ever see the channel.
This response seems to imply it will be on the same ala carte structure. Hopefully that's not the case.....
It would do better if it was on Basic cable where there are potential More viewers.... How you think Soccer is gonna get any mainstream sucess being near payperview all the time.. I would consider it a decent accomplish ment if fox people who run FSC and Now FS+ figure that one out... I still havent seen a Champions league Game on a regular Fox or FSN yet...
Considering all the other channels on basic cable (I assume you mean channels 2-60, 70, whatever), then I think we're a long way off from seeing FSC on that tier. However, to get FSC out of everyone's sports packs and onto a basic digital tier would be a grand improvement. There has been one Champions League game every Tuesday on FSN, including a pregame show starting at 2 PM ET. These games are not blacked out, so if you have your provider's sports pack and get many FSN channels, flip around until you find one offering the game. The Champions League Final will be on F/X.
Then you must either be unlucky ot not looking because it's been on almost every FSN. every Tuesday there was a match and replays some tuesdays when there wasn't a match.
So I'm seeing the continuous ads on FSC for FS+ and it says "Debuts March1 available in HD". I could be totally wrong but that leads one to believe that it will be in SD and available as well in HD. If that's the case, why couldn't a DTV, FIOS, etc, just replace the slot that Setanta currently holds with FS+ in SD? I'm not a big HD guy anyway and I know that most people wouldn't be interested in it if it were not in HD but again, I don't want to have any gaps in my enjoyment of the sport. Just a thought.