AFANA Footy BBS

http://www.setanta.com/usa

LIVE Australian Rules Football
Setanta Sports will broadcast LIVE Australian Rules football, starting this Saturday with the clash of Brisbane and Essendon, every week from now through to the Grand Final in September.

http://www.setanta.com/content/setanta/portal.nsf/systemcontent/tvschedule?open&action=channel&dateadjust=3&

Sat Apr 8
05:15 - 08:00am Live
Brisbane vs Essendon - AFL 2006
Joined in Progress. LIVE coverage of this Australian Rules Football game from the Gabba as the Brisbane Lions take on Essendon.

Repeat Sun Apr 9 at 1:00 - 03:30am

> Setanta Sports will broadcast LIVE Australian Rules football, starting this Saturday
> with the clash of Brisbane and Essendon, every week from now through to the Grand
> Final in September.
> Sat Apr 8 05:15 - 08:00am Live
> Brisbane vs Essendon - AFL 2006
> Live -Joined in Progress.
> Repeat Sun Apr 9 at 1:00 - 03:30am

AFANA was notified of this officially earlier today. Live Australian football is finally here.

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA Newsletters - Subscribe Here

> Setanta Sports will broadcast LIVE Australian Rules football, starting this Saturday
> with the clash of Brisbane and Essendon, every week from now through to the Grand
> Final in September.

Looking through this week's schedule I see the very interesting "Dragons vs. Munster" match. Does Gomez Addams play for Munster?

What I don't find is a footy match. I see an advert that claims "Australian Rules Football Live Every Week On Setanta Sports". But I don't see a footy match. In fact, I looked all the way forward to the end of next week. Still no footy.

    -- RW "KC Swan" Lipp

> What I don't find is a footy match.
> ...In fact, I looked all the way forward to the end of next week. Still no
> footy.

Tsk, Tsk... I'd think you knew better. Did you look on the AFANA TV Info page or the home page lower left column for the schedule?

AFANA always has the current schedule and often has it posted before the channels do it themselves.

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA TV Info Page

I called Setanta yesterday (Monday) and asked why, in two places, their home page noted live Aussie Rules coverage, yet their posted schedule contained no Aussie Rules listings. I was told the schedule had not been updated yet and if I did not see a listing by Wednesday, to call back.
This is a very lame response. If AFANA has the coverage schedule it seem plausable that Setanta should have it and correctly noted in their program guides. Not everyone is going to know about this site and may simply give up. Perhaps if Setanta received many calls and e-mails, they would get their act together.
While it is great to have live coverage of a full match, it would help promote support for the game here in the USA if Setanta would consider a repeat broadcast at a reasonable hour. 2AM Pacific and 5AM Eastern are not exactly convenient viewing times and not likely to build an audience.
The schedule Fox Sports World/Fox Soccer Channel carried the last couple of years was less than ideal. 11PM Pacific/2AM Eastern wasn't very good either. I spoke with Fox last week and was told they had dropped Aussie Rules because the lack of support did not justify the cost of carrying the program. What did they expect with that time slot? I'd hate to see the same thing happen with Setanta. If we can't get timely and accurate schedules, Setanta will take the same position as Fox and discontinue AFL coverage.

Doug Nelson
dougn1@dslextreme.com

Hey Doug,

Let me see if I address your comments...

> I called Setanta yesterday (Monday) and asked why, in two places, their home page
> noted live Aussie Rules coverage, yet their posted schedule contained no Aussie
> Rules listings.

I've been at this 11 years and frankly, Setanta is better than most. But one of the reasons AFANA exists is to keep fans informed.

> Not everyone is going to know about this site and may simply give up. Perhaps if Setanta
> received many calls and e-mails, they would get their act together.

Setanta will get their act together but understand that the coverage is a new addition to their schedule so they are still gearing up to promote it. AFANA is working with them to do that. And everyone should know about this site ... well ok, maybe not but we do get hundreds of thousands of visitors a year and we are listed near the top of most of the search engines. We're now in our 11th year.

> While it is great to have live coverage of a full match, it would help promote
> support for the game here in the USA if Setanta would consider a repeat broadcast at
> a reasonable hour.

It's not only great to get live coverage, it is the biggest achievement in our 11 years of pushing for better TV coverage. This is the first time we have ever had in-season live coverage. Setanta knows the times are not ideal but there are some constraints: other live programming, existing contracts, etc. AFANA will be working with Setanta to get repeats at better times. Be patient, we're only in week 2 after NEVER having this before. Setanta is committed to this and wants it to succeed. If enough fans subscribe, the coverage will expand. In the meantime, all the fans should get a recording device of your choice and watch it a few hours later.

> The schedule Fox Sports World/Fox Soccer Channel carried the last couple of years
> was less than ideal. 11PM Pacific/2AM Eastern wasn't very good either. I spoke with
> Fox last week and was told they had dropped Aussie Rules because the lack of support
> did not justify the cost of carrying the program. What did they expect with that
> time slot?

The real reasons are much more complex than that so don't believe everything they tell you. However, their own lack of interest and support of the programs (e.g. the time slots) was a major problem.

> If we can't get
> timely and accurate schedules, Setanta will take the same position as Fox and
> discontinue AFL coverage.

As I have been telling fans since 1996, if you want timely and accurate schedules don't depend on the networks to give them to you. That's what we do. Almost every schedule you see (printed, web, etc.) save for those the networks like Setanta do on their own web site, is from just a couple of sources. Unless you are ESPN or CBS, good luck. I get the info directly from the programming staffs usually at the same time or before they release it to any other outlet. We post it ASAP.

Don't worry that Setanta will go the same route as Fox. Worry that not enough fans will subscribe.

Hang in there. This is just the beginning!

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA TV Info Page

> AFANA was notified of this officially earlier today. Live Australian football
> is finally here.

> -Rob de Santos
> AFANA Chairman

Any word if FSWC is planning on carrying the Setanta live feed into Canada? I remember there being some rumors about that a few weeks ago. I'd imagine Setanta USA would be willing to resell the feed to FSWC for Canadian distribution. However, now with the Setanta Canada approval, maybe not?

> Any word if FSWC is planning on carrying the Setanta live feed into Canada?

Nothing new on this. FSWC has said to AFANA, repeatedly, they'd like to carry the footy live. I think the overall fate of the channel past this September is a major issue in whatever they do these days. The Canadian content restriction really ties their hands as well as financial issues. They say live coverage is still a possibility.

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA TV Info Page

> Nothing new on this. FSWC has said to AFANA, repeatedly, they'd like to carry
> the footy live. I think the overall fate of the channel past this September is a
> major issue in whatever they do these days. The Canadian content restriction really
> ties their hands as well as financial issues. They say live coverage is still a
> possibility.

> -Rob de Santos
> AFANA Chairman

hopefully they'll still be able to air the Grand Final Live like they always have. Since FSC in the USA isn't getting the feed, FSWC would have to pick up the Setanta feed to continue to air the GF live. I just wish they'd do it a little earlier and start now