View Full Version : Setanta to go bust
Hardly surprising really. Didn't they learn anything from the debacle of ITV Digital.
There seems to be this thought that if you have a channel which shows football, any football, you'll immediately have people paying crazy amounts of money to watch it.
It didn't happen with ITV Digital, and it hasn't happened with Setanta Sports.
Another one bites the dust.
MrJan
9th June 2009, 10:31
This has been rumbling about for a long time now. Shame as they provide good football coverage for smaller games, such as the BSP. Of course now Exeter are L1 I'm not so bothered :D
wedge
9th June 2009, 10:46
Hardly surprising really. Didn't they learn anything from the debacle of ITV Digital.
There seems to be this thought that if you have a channel which shows football, any football, you'll immediately have people paying crazy amounts of money to watch it.
It didn't happen with ITV Digital, and it hasn't happened with Setanta Sports.
Another one bites the dust.
Two completely different things.
ITV Digital was similar to the dot.com bubble. ITV expected an instant digital revolution with millions switching immediately to digital TV set top boxes but it didn't happen.
Setanta started off with SPL which did pretty good and branched out to compete with Sky for big name boxing matches and not just football.
The problem is that Setanta is no HBO. Its just a pay per view sports channel.
GridGirl
9th June 2009, 10:52
It's not suprising considering how much they were willing pay for tv rights although one does assume that the FA should of learnt it's lesson the last time but apparently not.
Mind you this news comes less than a week after Liverpool announced going concern problems and on the day that Real Madrid spent something like £60m on Kaka. Football finances drive me absolutely crazy!
Two completely different things.
Not really. Both built there business model around pay to view football channels and both have become unstuck because there was much less interest than they'd hoped.
steve_spackman
9th June 2009, 17:29
Looks like my uncle will be out of a job then. He host the football shows on there
schmenke
9th June 2009, 19:10
Bummer. I'd subscribe to Setanta from time to time to get my fix on rugby union, which is difficult to get coverage of on this side of the pond :mark: .
BDunnell
9th June 2009, 19:45
The viewing figures for most football except really big Premiership and international matches are, by general TV standards, awful — way out of sync with the amount of money paid for the rights.
GridGirl
9th June 2009, 20:42
TV rights are big money to football clubs but they couldn't give a damn about how many people are watching. For example, a club could have a really good cup run but maybe only have one (if that) match shown on tv. On the other hand a club could get knocked out a few rounds earlier, yet they could generate more income if they'd had two matches shown on television. Fans moan about teams putting out weak sides for cup matches yet the rewards for doing well only really occur if your on tv. Last time I looked you only get £1m in prize funds for winning the FA cup. That's pocket change compared to the income you can receive from tv rights regardless of whether anyone wants to watch you play or not.
BDunnell
9th June 2009, 20:47
TV rights are big money to football clubs but they couldn't give a damn about how many people are watching.
Trouble is that this hasn't proved to be that great a business model, surely?
Brown, Jon Brow
9th June 2009, 20:56
Looks like my uncle will be out of a job then. He host the football shows on there
Des Lynam? :s
GridGirl
9th June 2009, 20:57
Indeed it's not, but tv rights and a whole lot of debt in most cases is what is currently keeping British football afloat. Sentanta may be gone or going but some other corporation will step in and offer big money and the football clubs will breathe easy untill the next time it happens.
Dave B
10th June 2009, 08:34
I'm not sure anybody will offer big money.
The BBC are restricted in what they can spend, already have a good sport portfolio, and need to be seen to be making savings. ITV are as poor as a church mouse that's just had an enormous tax bill on the very day his wife ran off with another mouse, taking all the cheese; Five could theoretically be lent money by RTL; and Sky would probably wait until everybody else said no and the rights were worth a pittance.
The idea of giving the viewer more choice simply didn't work. It just meant paying two subscriptions.
Incidentally, Fry & Laurie's sketch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2zUEiVQU4)on giving the viewer more choice is - in my opinion - still a classic.
Daniel
10th June 2009, 09:05
I'm not sure anybody will offer big money.
The BBC are restricted in what they can spend, already have a good sport portfolio, and need to be seen to be making savings. ITV are as poor as a church mouse that's just had an enormous tax bill on the very day his wife ran off with another mouse, taking all the cheese; Five could theoretically be lent money by RTL; and Sky would probably wait until everybody else said no and the rights were worth a pittance.
The idea of giving the viewer more choice simply didn't work. It just meant paying two subscriptions.
Incidentally, Fry & Laurie's sketch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2zUEiVQU4)on giving the viewer more choice is - in my opinion - still a classic.
I feel like I've missed out so much not having ever seen Fry & Laurie
This made me chuckle :D
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AndyRAC
10th June 2009, 10:02
TV rights are big money to football clubs but they couldn't give a damn about how many people are watching. For example, a club could have a really good cup run but maybe only have one (if that) match shown on tv. On the other hand a club could get knocked out a few rounds earlier, yet they could generate more income if they'd had two matches shown on television. Fans moan about teams putting out weak sides for cup matches yet the rewards for doing well only really occur if your on tv. Last time I looked you only get £1m in prize funds for winning the FA cup. That's pocket change compared to the income you can receive from tv rights regardless of whether anyone wants to watch you play or not.
As someone who used to ‘eat, drink, sleep’ Football, it now largely leaves me cold. The main reason is money. When will fans wake up and smell the coffee? They’re all a bunch of mugs being taken for a ride. How on earth can you justify £40 a ticket for game, especially a Carling Cup game? When is Football going to join the real world? Yet every time a new deal comes up they pay even more. How on earth does Scudamore manage it? Money for old rope....
It might sound harsh, but the sooner the bubble bursts the better, a reality check is needed. A train out of control.
Also, this notion that Football started in 1992 and anything before doesn’t count is grossly wrong and misleading.
MrJan
10th June 2009, 10:26
As someone who used to ‘eat, drink, sleep’ Football, it now largely leaves me cold. The main reason is money. When will fans wake up and smell the coffee? They’re all a bunch of mugs being taken for a ride. How on earth can you justify £40 a ticket for game, especially a Carling Cup game? When is Football going to join the real world? Yet every time a new deal comes up they pay even more. How on earth does Scudamore manage it? Money for old rope....
It might sound harsh, but the sooner the bubble bursts the better, a reality check is needed. A train out of control
Also, this notion that Football started in 1992 and anything before doesn’t count is grossly wrong and misleading.
£40 a game :eek: I've paid £245 to see 23 games next season, including ex-premiership teams like Leeds, Southampton and Charlton :D
steve_spackman
10th June 2009, 14:17
Des Lynam? :s
Nigel Spackman
GridGirl
10th June 2009, 19:05
Emphaisis to be placed upon EX-premiership teams eh? ;) Two of which have faced or are still facing financial difficulties.
How can you justify £40 a ticket? The simple answer is that you can't. However, at the same time a full stadium and such high ticket prices do not pay the bills. I have a couple of football club clients at varying ends of the football leagues. The one that does charge £40 ticket for home matches and has a full stadium every week could only pay its total pro-rataed wage bill for six weeks based upon a entire years worth of home ticket sales. Thus you go back the problem of needing large tv revenues, a whole lot of debt or a Russian billionaire with more money than sense.
Don't even start me on what goes on in motorsport. :p
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