RIP EPL on Setanta?

Its looking like they may have dropped the Premiership. The Stoke match delay airing has been removed from their schedule and there are no matches scheduled for this coming Saturday or Sunday. I dont even see any EPL replays all week and generally they have always aired them in off hours. Also, if you look on their home page they also no longer list the Barclay's Premier League.

I emailed them to find out and hope I am wrong. Without Setanta over the last 3 years watching Fulham live would have been a rare event since FSC is Big 4 centric.

 

That is bizarre, they were on the schedule earlier today, but now they are gone. I hope someone just screwed up. I couldn't handle losing setanta.

 

GREAT catch obsolet3!

Do keep us posted.

 

Sunnuva %$^#@$%$##$!

I THOUGHT it was freakin weird I couldnt find them on soccertv.

Sayonara, then.

Now... let's go back to Don's thread on the 2 assholes... how the hell soon you think you're gonna get FSC HD.. and how long you think you gonna see FSC 'free' with just the basic digital package?

 

This is bad. Who, if anyone, is going to pick up those matches? I doubt ESPN will as they already have so many commitments in other sports.

I fear they'll simply disappear.

 

Is anything confirmed on this? It's unusual for a contract to halt midseason like that. Especially given they had a deal in place thru the end of this season.

 

WTF?!?! Now it's saying it's back on at 5PM?

But still nothing on Saturday?

RAH!

 

This is just fucking great. We get to watch like 10 matches a season on fsc and espn and I remember how it felt to watch like one match every month, it fucking sucked. I hope this is just a mistake and we get coverage til the end of the year. Doubt it thouth considering the extreme money problems at setanta.

 

Well I guess I'll be at the bar tommorrow. I just hope there is a game on.

 

Save yourself a trip, Brad.

http://www.epltalk.com/breaking-fox-sports-international-in-talks-to-acquire-setanta-sports/14489

 

Well that settles it then. Good find Ag, although I must admit that I was hoping that I was crying wolf..

The only happy person I can think of is my wife who has griped for almost 3 years about the $14.99 a month for Setanta. Maybe just maybe Fox will buy them because if they don't I am not going to keep it. I just cant get excited over Rugby and French League Football. :cry:

 

I dont see how the hell Fox can afford them, unless they got most of what they wanted from T-W.

ESPN's a different story, you know the two mother channels are a gold-mine for both them and the cable operators. so now we get ESPN U, C, and N as well if you buy the digital package.

FSN makes it by carrying local baseball, Basketball and Hockey, right?

FSC just doesnt have the same attraction. If you dont see major corp or local adverts, they aint making money. Soccer-shop ads dont pay the freight. So I dont think Fox adding Setanta's coverage is going to do it.

UNLESS they sweetened the pot from the cable co's by giving them an offer they couldnt refuse.

 

I wrote to The Gaffer and he didn't respond. Here's hoping he didn't take our scoop...

BUT!

I did get to speak with Steven Cohen on the phone, personally, (ie not on his radio show) about this tonight and he basically told me the same thing that The Gaffer reported.

 

Unbelievable. I can't believe people actually think this is good news. Of you read the comments section, everybody seems so excited that this is happening. Everybody is worried about the premier league, but what about the other sports and leagues? I liked having the option of watching Gaelic football if there was nothing else on at 2 in the morning. I liked all of the other football as well.


Hopefully we still get a channel that will broadcast premier league games along with other leagues. I really hope we don't go back to pay per view shit and 5 games a week being broadcasted so we never get to see Fulham.

 

Anyone know if Setanta Canada are connected to the US channel or do they operate as a seperate entity?

 

24, I've watched that sport a few times and believe it was a game they stole from me when I played on the schoolyard playground. You want to carry the ball? Sure. You want to kick it? Sure. You want to use your feet and hands? Sure. Kick it through the posts, or put it in the net, it's all up to you...

I jest, Setanta gave some good programming options. Now, instead of $15 / mo., we're gonna have to drop $25/ mo. for less programming...but I hope not.

 

Here was my comment at EPLTalk.com

As someone who enjoys soccer & rugby, this could be devastating…especially for rugby fans in the United States (far more of us than most of you think). If Fox International or anyone else buys out Setanta US, hopefully they will keep the rugby coverage intact. Otherwise, folks in this country will be left with absolutely no option.

Setanta has rights to the Magners League, Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup, European Challenge Cup, Super 14, Currie Cup, Air New Zealand Cup, 6 Nations, Tri Nations & various international test matches. Not to mention they had the 2007 Rugby World Cup. That’s a lot to miss out on. Add in the Premiership, Champions League & the other soccer Setanta offers. Wow.

Really not sure what I would do if rugby got dropped. Next to soccer, it's my other favorite sport. Hell, I blog about rugby...haha.

 

Huh. Well I guess i will wait out the week before making the call to cut it from the package. I dont care what channel the matches are on, but they need to be ON. I hate the internet for watching the EPL - well - any league or game... its crap.

 

Don't want to get anyone's hope up, but Stoke vs Fulham has been re-added to the Setanta schedule tomorrow.

5:00 pm EPL: Stoke City vs. Fulham
Barclays Premier League action as Stoke host Fulham.

Take this with a grain of salt though. The news has been confusing and their program guide has been changing almost hourly.

 

Wow, they sure did. The funny thing is I only discovered this when I tried to email them to ask if they would consider showing the match Live on the Setanta Xtra channel on DirecTV.