Good to see we'll still get 1 game on RSN on Saturdays.

It sure is. With two games on now without Setanta (that's about all the wife will allow me watch !) and news that The Score will provide "a Saturday evening recap of the day's games", I think I can wait for Videotron to carry Setanta. If I had Rogers or Bell though, I would definitely sign up to this new channel, but it's not enough to make me switch from Videotron......unless I hear that this Setanta channel will carry the Rugby World Cup live .... then I'll have to give it some serious thought !

It will be carrying a lot of the World Cup of Rugby. Some matches will go PPV and the rest live on the channel. The PPV matches then shown on delay on the channel within 48 hours. I have this info from a pub owner buying the Setanta PPV World Cup Package

The Score's schedule for EPL games they will broadcast through Nov 25th can be found here (http://www.thescore.ca/programs/premierleague/)

I still don't think I'm going to waste $15 a month on Setanta, I'm not a big rugby fan.

August has arrived and still no definitive news on the Setanta Canada channel.

Does anyone know if Setanta is added to BEV is it likely to be on the main satelite or will additional hardware be required to an existing BEV setup?

See post#60 in this thread for the BEV answer.

Here is the latest from Rob Brodie of the Ottawa Sun. Setanta Set For EPL Launch (http://blog.canoe.ca/remotecontrol/remotecontrol/2007/07/31/setanta_set_for_epl_launch)

Some quotes:

It'll only be available as a pay-per-view offering at first, with a price of $14.99 per month. And that's only if you're a Rogers Cable or Bell ExpressVu subscriber. (although Cogeco should be on board in very short order, too).

The PPV price includes “all the live product on our U.S. channel except the Champions League.” That doesn't include any studio shows.

Details about the placement and purchasing of the PPV channel on the available outlets should be available in the next week.

Bell ExpressVu will carry the channel immediately.

They haven't so far upto the time of writing this.

From Today's Toronto Star

"We'll have all the games starting Aug. 11 and there will be more available than ever," said Shane O'Rourke, president of Setanta's North American operations. "We just don't know which platforms yet."

Setanta had applied for a digital licence to air international sports and expected to be on Rogers and Bell ExpressVu before the Aug.11 start of the EPL season. But that apparently won't happen, though Setanta is confident it will by the end of the month.

If the channel isn't running by Aug.11, the games will be available on a pay-per-view package.

I'm glad to see Setanta are confident the channel will be up and running by the end of August because I'm not.

Footyspecial
This is on par with rogers they for the most part do not promote upcomming channels.They just appear take amc/tcm one day they just showed up.

I'm a BellExpressVu subscriber and for the life of me I have searched the "All Channels" guide and have repeatedly come up with nothing. I just searched for The Score channel's schedule for games, and while BEV was mentioned in their blurb there is still only a published schedule for Rogers Cable, but no sign of further mention of BEV or even a Score HD channel in BEV's Guide. Am I missing something here ?

There is an official press release today.

Rogers Setanta (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2007/02/c3138.html)

BARCLAYS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER RETURNS TO

ROGERS SPORTSNET FOR A TENTH SEASON

Soccercentral also part of must-see Saturday soccer schedule

TORONTO (August 2, 2007) – Barclays English Premier League soccer is back on Rogers Sportsnet for a tenth season beginning Saturday, August 11 at 10:00 a.m. (ET)/ 7:00 a.m. (PT) when West Ham United and Manchester City square off at Upton Park.

Sportsnet will have a regular weekly English Premiership match Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

“Soccer has been a cornerstone of Sportsnet’s schedule since the network launched in 1998,” said Doug Beeforth, President, Rogers Sportsnet. “Sportsnet is pleased to continue with the strong tradition of English Premiership coverage established and developed in the first nine years of the network.”

Soccercentral also is back on the Saturday Sportsnet schedule beginning August 11 at 12:00 p.m. (ET)/ 9:00 a.m. (PT). The 30-minute weekly show looks at the world of soccer with a specific focus on the English Premiership

“Soccercentral has become one of the most trusted sources of information for soccer fans in Canada,” said Beeforth. “The show has developed a loyal and growing following of soccer fanatics who tune in to Soccercentral weekly for their soccer news, highlights and information.”

BARCLAYS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER RETURNS TO ROGERS SPORTSNET FOR A TENTH SEASON

Best news I've heard all day....

Does this mean we'll get the Euro2008 qualifiers on Setanta then?

Let me see if I've got this straight. For $14.99/month we'll be getting the remaining EPL games and some rugby games, and that's it? So we're not going to get the equivalent of Setanta USA which shows CocaCola Championship games, SPL, Aussie Football and various other sports events? Is this right?

How exactly is Setanta going to accomplish this? Don't many of the EPL games have the same starting time?

I would probably pay $14.99 a month for a full channel line-up but if all we get is the EPL and rugby I'll have to rethink.

I believe its 10 live games a week and two on tape. As for "some rugby games" it is the world cup - a fairly major event.

The press release talks about a PPV sports package. I am confused - is this a channel where you pay $15/month or a PPV channel where you pay per game/event?

OK. I'm kind of answering my own post here, but I just read this from Rob Brodie on the SlamSports website. He has been all over this story from the start and has at least tried to keep us informed. You can access all Mr Brodie's columns on the subject at

http://blog.canoe.ca/remotecontrol

"It's official now, English soccer fans.
Rogers Broadcasting and Setanta Sports have just announced they'll be teaming up to put a pay-per-view soccer and rugby channel on the air on Aug. 11 — the opening day of the English Premier League season, most importantly for 'footy' fans.
As we've reported in this space, the premium package is being priced at $14.99 per month. But Rogers is offering a free one-month trial period to its digital cable subscribers.
Bell ExpressVu, the only other Canadian carrier that's on board at the moment, is expected to offer a free trial of its own, too.
What are you getting for your money?
An average of 5-7 live EPL matches per week, with another 2-4 being aired on tape delay. Add in the 11 a.m. ET Sunday match on The Score, and a 10 a.m. Saturday game on Rogers Sportsnet, and it means every EPL game each week is being made available to viewers. That's a first in this country.
“(Canadian soccer fans) are going to get more Premier League than they've ever contemplated,” said Shane O'Rourke, Setanta's president of North American operations, in an interview with the Sun. “It's Premier League dream time.”
Setanta's soccer schedule also includes UEFA Cup matches, Euro 2008 qualifiers, Asian Olympic qualifiers, and French, Dutch and Scottish league fare, plus selected material from the club-owned Manchester United and Chelsea channels.
On the rugby side, the Setanta International Sports Pak will offer 25 live or near-live World Cup matches and a number of others on tape delay, plus other important series such as the Six Nations, Tri Nations, Super 14s and Guinness Premiership.
“It's the best international sports channel in the world,” said O'Rourke. “Just look at the lineup. It speaks for itself.”
He expects that, initially at least, some viewers in Canada will find Setanta's price point on the steep side, “but that's because they don't realize yet what's on the channel.”
“We're the fans' network. Yes, we're charging (for it), but we believe if you pay, you should get more.”
The deal between Rogers and Setanta began to come together last October, when the Irish-based Setanta expressed its interest in making a foray into the Canadian market. But it needed a partner in Canada to do so, and talks began between the two sides.
While he “didn't have any lack of people who wanted to be our partners,” O'Rourke said “Rogers is a major player in the Canadian market, and they had a sports channel. And Sportsnet had been showing the Premier League to this point.”
As part of the deal, Setanta sublicensed one Saturday match to Sportsnet, which will in turn promote the PPV games.
Rogers was happy to add sports content with a growing demand, said Rogers Communications spokeswoman Jan Innes.
“All around, it's good for us,” she said. “We're cable operators, and this is content we think people are very interested in. We think there's very big interest in European soccer and rugby.”
Rogers viewers in Ontario can find the PPV games on Channel 429.
A full Setanta Canadian programming schedule will be available next week at setanta.com. O'Rourke said a separate Setanta Canada website should be up and running in about three weeks."

I'm over the initial shock and anger over this and I'm still pissed at theScore for they way they handled this whole fiasco. But when you boil it down, I suppose getting all this for less than 4 bucks a week isn't the end of the world. Now, if I was in western Canada i'd be storming the ramparts at the Shaw head office.

Maybe Setanta will offer a deal similar to NHL Centre Ice where we can pay an annual fee at a reduced rate. (in my dreams)