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The channel that nobody really wanted or needed appears to be on its last legs. Good riddance to bad rubbish? For the fans, perhaps. But for the clubs and affiliations stupid enough to bank on Setanta’s money? Perhaps not.
Quite how the football world didn’t see this coming I don’t know. ITV Digital and Prem Plus both failed, so what made Setanta think that they could rival Sky Sports? I’d like to know who genuinely thought Setanta was a good idea.
Company CEO’s Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan obviously did. They took what was essentially a fairly small-time Irish sports broadcaster into the limelight of live England internationals and Premiership games on a wave of cash and promises. Clearly they felt that despite the disaster that was ITV Digital, a niche existed in the market. Ultimately it was their prerogative; surely it was their money and their risk?
In many ways it was and the risk has blown up in their faces. Setanta are likely to go bust, O'Rourke and Ryan stand to lose an awful lot of money and a considerable amount of people will be left out of work. But as we are likely to see over the coming months, the repercussions for British football clubs may prove to be pretty critical.
Wisely, the Scottish F.A have bailed Setanta out by footing the bill for a £3m payment due to Scottish Premier League clubs, but the same clubs may go wanting if they had banked on receiving their share of the £125m that Setanta had agreed to pay for rights to Scottish football until 2014. Credit must go to the Scottish F.A in this instance, as when ITV Digital collapsed in 2002, the English F.A failed to act and many clubs were forced into administration.
However, it must be said that the game’s bigwigs were foolish to accept any money from Setanta in the first place. Perhaps it is easy to say with hindsight, and given the lack of publicity each receive, it is easy to see why both the Scottish Premier League and the English Blue Square Premier sold coverage to Setanta, but how did they not see this coming? I know they say ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’, but did the men in charge really think people would pay a tenner a month to watch Scottish or Conference football?
Ok, so Setanta did secure some other, more high profile contracts. But rarely did they appear to match Sky’s ‘Super Sundays’. It was as if there was a hierarchy of games and Setanta simply had no rights to any of the big clashes. In the current recession Sky is expensive enough – people simply didn’t want to pay another ten pound a month for the odd England game and lots of clashes between Hull and Bolton or Wigan and Portsmouth.
Not only were the games poor, but the coverage was at times pretty shambolic, with Setanta Sports News often providing a few cheap laughs as sound overlapped, graphics came and went, and presenters struggled to pronounce the names of players. What’s more, the channel was notoriously difficult to unsubscribe from; so much so that BBC’s Watchdog programme was forced to investigate.
Customer service is the lifeblood of any company. Unhappy customers eventually means no customers. Setanta charged premium rates for phone calls, made it impossible to cancel by any means other than post, and changed the cancellation period from 30 days to 60 without notice. Basically the company was a shambles from the ground upwards.
So the fans will be pleased to see the back of it. Personally I can’t wait for Angus Scott, Craig Burley and Tim Sherwood to disappear from our TV screens, but it is not the poor presenters that will mark Setanta’s short legacy. Unfortunately for Britain’s football clubs, it could be the debts they leave behind that everyone remembers.
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1. Mark, Waterhood
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I find all this dancing on Setanta's yet unfinished grave pretty appalling. It frequently takes an anti Irish tone, that I thought was long gone. Old habits die hard I see. They were far from perfect, but the reason they failed was because they underbid for future rights recently by a small amount, trying to be smart.
In the US, Canada, Australia and other places, their coverage is BREATH of fresh air. Save the dancing on someone's grave, and show a little grace. |
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2. Oliver Chettle, Bedford
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It was a good idea, in its early days, when it provided a niche product to a niche market. Then it tried to expand, and it failed. Unfortunately 21st century Britain enjoys watching risktakers fail. The idea that there is any anti-Irishness involved in this story is utter poppycock. |
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3. B.Jennings, england
wrote...
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I saw this coming weeks ago.I cancelled my subscription according to their proceedure.Today I received a threatening letter demanding an undisclosed sum that they say I owe them.The phone line carried a message saying that they were having a huge demand due to demand from customers wishing to sign up for upcoming fixtures |
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4. Nick, Ipswich
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I'm not at all sure how any anti-Irish sentiment can be read into this.
It was simply too big a gamble and while I am not 'dancing on Setanta's grave, I feel it is important to point out that is was an enormous risk for the various football associations to put their trust in a brand new broadcaster after what happened with ITV digital.
A lot have people have said Sky ruined football, but at least they are reliable and consistently pump money into the game. |
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5. Dave, Florida
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I'm not to sure about Setanta being a breath of fresh air in the States. It is on hardly any Cable networks. I did purchase a converter box just for Setanta at one time. That was a disaster, company went bust in a few short months. Setanta is good if you live near a bar that has it. |
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6. Guacks, Watford
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"It was as if there was a hierarchy of games and Setanta simply had no rights to any of the big clashes."
That's because there is.
Setanta get 3rd pick of the matches. |
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