Setanta collapse means no NRL for UK fans
Roar Rookie
By mattbeks, 26 Jun 2009 mattbeks is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- NRL, Rugby League, Setanta, State Of Origin
State of Origin is rugby league’s showcase. It’s about State against State, mate against mate. Not only is it a showcase of rugby league, it’s a showcase of being Australian.
Every year Aussie expats pack pubs right across the UK in the morning this time of the year to cheer on New South Wales or Queensland.
This year should be no different, but think again.
As of 6pm yesterday evening Setanta (the broadcaster for the NRL in the UK), ceased trading in the UK. This means Aussies right across the country will miss out on cheering their State and enjoying the greatest game of all at the greatest showcase the sport has.
Although this is unfortunate to say the least, questions should be raised on why the game’s showcase isn’t being beamed into the very country where rugby league was invented.
Imagine the Football World Cup not being televised in England.
This morning, Ireland will have coverage, Italy will have coverage, the United States will have coverage, even Zimbabwe will have coverage, so why not the UK.
This is a joke to say the least.
I live in the North of England, near some of the country’s biggest clubs. This is rugby league’s heartland, for crying out loud.
Obviously this is not the NRL’s fault, it’s Setanta’s. But my anger is centered on why Setanta stopped trading the day before rugby league’s biggest game. There are well over 300,000 Aussies living in the UK, many of whom have subscribed to Setanta to watch NRL as well as AFL on TV over here.
This can only say one thing about Setanta’s overall commitment to rugby league.
They couldn’t give a stuff.
My next question would be towards the NRL and how they are going to address the problem.
If they were serious on promoting the game in the UK, and worldwide, they would have a stronger strategy to get people watching.
Although I don’t claim to be an expert in broadcast deals, we need to learn from this and encourage prospective broadcasters to televise more games. The package we got from Setanta had up to two games a week, mostly one game a week.
I remember one week we had the bottom table battle of Cronulla Vs Canberra and that was it. Weekend wasted.
I can’t bear to see my team win a Grand Final and I am unable to watch it! Many of us wouldn’t mind paying an extra quid if we can see our teams play regularly.
So I leave it to you, NRL, to solve. We want our footy back on UK TVs now.
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- Explore:
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Michael C said | June 26th 2009 @ 6:23am | Report comment
For AFL fans – it’s firstly a case of No – Carltons Setanta o’hAilpin has not been out on a bender…..
Setanta is also a key platform for AFL coverage overseas. You’ve only touched on the AFL briefly in your article. This is a major issue for all expat Australians and for the capacity for Aust Footy to grow overseas – having a regular coverage even on subscription TV is a key component – - because there are enough stories of people who stumbled across the game on tele and got involved or even established clubs.
Part of the issue with Setanta seems to be that they tried to work the UK market as a competitor to BskyB as a soccer provider – - which forced soccer fans to have to consider buying 2 subscriptions. Perhaps, Setanta should have built their business model around being a clear alternative instead. Especially given that Setanta was getting less EPL games and poorer quality matches at that.
Setanta previously showed 3 and more recently 2 AFL games a week, plus finals and even I gather the full Brownlow count.
At any rate – did greed kill Setanta??
Will perhaps ESPN step in? (and would they offer the variety?? and alternatives??)
It’s not just NRL and AFL that subscribers will miss out on – also NHL, NFL and NBA.
MVDave said | June 26th 2009 @ 7:20am | Report comment
Strange how they are still broadcasting in Oz?
ESPN have taken up the EPL games Setatnta lost so the EPL dont miss out.
Mushi said | June 26th 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Um I think it is a bit rough saying they “couldn’t give a stuff”. The company has gone under in the UK it wasn’t some consipracy to screw the NRL they are freaking broke.
So if you mean they don’t view broadcasting rugby league as more important than the collapse of their entire company well oyu’re probably right but hoenstly who does?
Brett McKay said | June 26th 2009 @ 8:45am | Report comment
There’s some fairly long bows being drawn here. Yes mattbeks, you’re annoyed that you can’t see the NRL and SOO, but you’re venting at the wrong targets.
“why isn’t the game’s showcase being beamed into the very country where rugby league was invented?” Because Setanta stopped trading. Pure and simple.
“This morning, Ireland will have coverage, Italy will have coverage, the United States will have coverage, even Zimbabwe will have coverage, so why not the UK. This is a joke to say the least.” Again, this is because they can no longer trade. The Satanta arms in other countries, including Australia, are still a going concern. It’s not personal mattbeks, it’s just business, bad business in this case.
“But my anger is centered on why Setanta stopped trading the day before rugby league’s biggest game.” That it happened the day of SOO is irrelevant and completely coincidental. If this happened last week or next week, this would be a moot point. I’m sure they didn’t pick the day to become insolvent.
“This can only say one thing about Setanta’s overall commitment to rugby league. They couldn’t give a stuff. ” Come on mattbeks, you’re starting to throw your toys out of the cot now. It’s not just the NRL they’ve stopped showing in the UK, it’s EVERYTHING!! They can no longer trade. The only commitment they are concerned about now is to their creditors. This is no different to Company X ceasing trading, like happens every day of the year. Even Company X doesn’t plan to become insolvent. It just happens.
“My next question would be towards the NRL and how they are going to address the problem.” and “So I leave it to you, NRL, to solve. We want our footy back on UK TVs now.” Please, how is this the NRL’s problem?? The NRL didn’t force Setanta to cease trading did they?? All the NRL can do is HOPE that another UK network asks about buying the rights for the remainder of the season. If no-one comes through, then sorry, you might have to watch another sport in the short term.
Obviously, you/re annoyed, but come on, do you really believe what you’re saying here??
Pippinu said | June 26th 2009 @ 9:37am | Report comment
MC
the commercial reality is that you probably can’t survive as a pay TV operator in the UK without a cut of the EPL – just like here in Australia, no pay TV operator can prosper without having both the NRL and the AFL – if Fox lost one or the other, it would just about bring them to their knees.
Michael C said | June 26th 2009 @ 12:10pm | Report comment
MVDave -
at this point it’s SetantaGB (the Great Britain arm).
Which includes the business model that has paid (or committed to) big bucks for some EPL content as well as SPL I believe too – and that may be an issue for SPL cash flows.
Pippinu -
It seems there’s a legislated requirement for ‘competition’ in the market place. As it is, the writing was on the wall a couple of months back as Setanta was left with a lesser EPL offering. So, this ‘fall’ has been flagged for a while.
Perhaps for competition, they just say, okay, Sky, take soccer, Setanta has everything else!!!
One wonders though – the AFL for example seems to work hand in glove as much as possible with it’s ‘broadcast partners’. It seems as though the EPL may have treated Setanta with contempt???
Lazza said | June 26th 2009 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
From my reading of the British press, Setanta paid too much for it’s Cricket and Rugby which aren’t huge ratings winners over there. Also, EPL fans resented having to pay for two subscriptions so just chose the better package, BSkyB.
ESPN are picking up the EPL package and dedicating an entire channel to it. They also have Champions League and other Football which may encourage Football fans over there to take up another subscription.
There are many minority sports on Pay TV and they have a lot of time to fill on their schedules so why doesn’t another provider take up AFL or NRL? It can only be beacause the ratings are so poor it’s not worth the trouble?
whiskeymac said | June 26th 2009 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
in the early 90s Sky TV was built on the EPL. without people being forced to pick up subscriptions to watch their teams there would not have been anything but novelty pick up rates in the UK. Imagine if AFL and NRL was solely broadcast by Fox and you’d get the picture, so to speak. Because of this the rights for the premier league were very high – there was too much at stake for Murdoch to lose it or have it watered down. Setanta challenged reasonably well but at the end of the day as someothers posted, paid too much for the bum end of the draw.
Re AFL or NRl – why do they have to be on Pay Tv at all over in the UK. I remeber that channel 4 used to have AFL on as a, no offence intended, novelty game along with a sport called Kabadi (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaddi ), every week. If the AFl etc were serious then surely there is a TV station out there – it depends on what they are asking for it.
Viscount Crouchback said | June 26th 2009 @ 4:27pm | Report comment
Mattbeks,
If you spoke to 99 out of 100 Englishmen, they would have not the faintest notion what the State of Origin is. Rugby League is a minority sport in the UK, played only by peculiar little men with funny accents from the more deprived parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
To compare it to a football World Cup is completely laughable.
Pippinu said | June 26th 2009 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
Kabaddi? wow, and I thought I was being adventurous with Korfball.
I read and re-read the wikipedia article, but I haven’t the foggiest notion what the game is about.
It would appear that no ball is involved. A “raider” is sent across to the other side, who has to hold his breath – I’m not sure what happens beyond that.