Wayne
They really did word it wrong.Its $15 per month its not per game.

$199 for the Rugby World Cup?! I don't think so. I guess this will be the first rugby WC I don't watch. The cricket wc was also a rip-off. Sports coverage in this country is woeful compared to Europe. Even in some of the remotest parts of the world they get access to the rugby wc but this is Canada. And since I have Star Choice I guess I won't have access to the regular Setanta channel till the season's near over. It's amateur hour all round from Setanta being given the rights before they have a channel to this bizarre situation whereby only certain satellite and cable companies get access.

BTW good luck trying to grow rugby in Canada by having it only on a pay channel!

Andrew
I was talking to some friends in the uk today.They said they would love to have what rogers has in term of the sports pack.Sure they get soccer/rugby but thats it.They get very limited nhl/ncaa/nfl even wwe and boxing they don't get alot of.Outside of soccer europe sports coverge is very very weak.

HI Bytown,
Are your friends North Americans? I'm a Brit and am not surprised that we don't get much coverage in Ice Hockey, NCAA or American Football in England. Those are not the major sports and won't generate enough revenues. It's the same here in Canada that they don't carry DTM, BTCC (if you know what they are?!)at all. Lucky that we have ITV coverage for F1 instead of Speed or ESPN. I won't call the sport coverage weak in Europe, it quite depends on where are you from originally. I may say the coverage in Canada weak as well since they don't carry the sports I'd like to watch. But that's the price for me to stay here in Canada. Nowadays, TV is strictly a piece of business. Most of the management teams don't really have passion in it. They care more about the books/profits than the contents. I know it because I'm working in one of those stations here in Ontario.
By the way, 15 CAD a month seems reasonable. It's not cheap in England to get the SKY HD coverage for the season.
Cheers

Just a small point, to all those ex pats who say coverage is better back home. How many games do you get of the EPL in Britain live. Isn't it 2 or 3.

Well most people who know there footie know that in Canada the amount of differant leagues you can pick up from Europe plus Champions league etc is far greater than overseas. Lets see EPL, La Liga, French, Italian,Bundesliga,Portuguese etc etc etc then add on Cup Competitions.

Last year FA Cup was on FSWC here in Canada.While most big matches in the US were PPV . Most people are dying for Setanta to launch. $14.99 a month, less than three pints at the pub you had to watch it on Setanta last year.

Stop bitching, You don't like it don't buy it, get an antenna and watch CBC.
Wait you have to pay for the Antenna

Bytown
tell your friend to get NASN, North American Sports Network. It's on SKY and a few other platforms in the UK and Continental Europe. I had it and it was fantastic for a while even the Score network score tonight updates were on it. O yeah guess who owns it? Setanta

$199 for the Rugby World Cup?! I don't think so. I guess this will be the first rugby WC I don't watch. Where is that from? You mean you won't get the RWC if you pay $15/month for the channel?

The downside to this channel is that the best programming that Setanta will carry was available on one of the other channels that people already got - such as Sportsnet, Score, Fox SW, TSN. So with Setanta launching a premium channel you now have to pay much more for what we were used to getting for pretty much nothing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the lack of rugby on more accessible channels such as RSN is the large prices the IRB is asking for the rights. No?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the lack of rugby on more accessible channels such as RSN is the large prices the IRB is asking for the rights. No?Thta's possible but all previous RWC's were held on TSN or RSN. And that doesn't explain the disappearance of all other rugby. Fox Sportsworld used to show Super 12 (now 14) and Tri-Nations but not for the last few years and I don't know that the IRB controls the rights for those series - wouldn't they be held by the SA, NZ and Aus Rugby Federations?

Stevib
They do have nasn it is not even close in beeing the same and ci/ nba league pass.Last year they got the following.

100 Nhl games.
100 Nba Games.
60 Nfll Games.

Bytown. You are correct not quite the same as Centre Ice and league pass. If you want to know how to get a couple of extra games for them. There are a few backhaul positions that the NBA and the NFL and the NHL use. All they need is a FTA sytstem (not a pirate one) and a motor for the dish.
If you IM me I could help, It's only about 2 more NFL games on Sunday and a few extra of the NHL etc, but if they want. For the die hard stuff I used to go online and watch on the web, easier to find.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the lack of rugby on more accessible channels such as RSN is the large prices the IRB is asking for the rights. No?


This is exactly the point all Rugby, EPL and other major overseas sports arebecoming very expensive. Goltv was rumoured to have paid $8 million US a year for La Liga so just imagine why The Score shared the rights with Setanta for the EPL. It was the same thing Fox Soccer Channel did last year in the US. Its aboyut money

The best thing is for the fan who wants it they pay and have more access. Just wait to the EPL has 3 live and a couple tape delay on Setanta every Saturday, and the 8am game Sunday morning.This all reminds me of a time when the NFL Sunday ticket came out and people said $100 for extra NFL screw that, HA HA HA

A must have for any true fan of those sports definally

Has anyone been able to get any info from Expressvu about the channel launch? Do we need an equipment upgrade? Do we need to subscribe before we get a free preview? The CSR I talked to on friday had no clue what I was talking about. As of last night I still couldn't find it on the channel listings.

Anyone noticed that Sportsnet only showing the EPL in the Ontario and East areas
http://www2.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule/...dDate=20070811

Anyone noticed that Sportsnet only showing the EPL in the Ontario and East areas
http://www2.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule/...dDate=20070811
Could it be that since the Rogers/Setanta alliance hasn't reached a deal with Shaw for the new Setanta package in the west, they're putting the pressure on Shaw to come across with the dollars? Conspiracy theory maybe, but this whole Setanta-Rogers-TheScore situation has been quite bizarre from the beginning, so nothing would surprise me.

Then again, maybe it's just a misprint.

If anything, its Sportsnet trying to "encourage" westerners to buy the digital package with all four channels.

I'm really excited about the upcoming launch of Setanta. However, a few questions come to mind:

1. Will they show all the matches on 1 channel ie: 429 (Rogers) or will there be multiple channels like the PPV movie channels ?

2. I currently record alot of GOLTV on channel 428, so I assume I can do the same thing for Setanta channel 429. If the channels are like the PPV movies , where they dont allow for recording (PVR), then it might not be worth it (For me) to pay $15.00 Cdn/mth.

3. Sorry, not a Setanta question, but since I dont have TLN (Did not subscribe to Ultimate/Combo Pack-Rogers) and FSWC no longer show Italian Seria A, where can I watch Italian Seria A ? Thanks

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star wrote: "Rogers, Bell ExpressVu and Setanta Sports announced ... that they will offer six of the 10 weekly games live and two on delay in a pay-per-view package." (The other two are on The Score and Sportsnet.)
"Games will be on Rogers 429 in the Toronto area and are free to digital customers until Sept. 1."

"The Setanta package will also include the Rugby World Cup 2007."

but Gary Kingston of the Vancouver Sun wrote this about the Rugby World Cup: "Sportsnet has contracted to air Canada's first-round games, but fans who want to watch other games will have to purchase Setanta's $14.99 pay-per-view package, where selective games will be broadcast, or pay $199 for a full package of live and delayed matches, previews and tournament highlights."

There was a podcast interview with the North American/Australian head of Setanta made over the weekend. The first hour or so is an interview with FSC (http://epltalk.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=242515). Just fast forward to about 64 minutes and you'll get the Setanta Canada news straight from the horses mouth.