Australian Football Association of North America

Setanta added DISH Network to it's US distribution as of 1 August and is now available as a free trial to DISH subscribers.  As of 9 August, Setanta Canada has started to appear on some cable systems in Canada, notably on Shaw Cable in the prairie provinces and some Rogers Cable systems, and is on Bell ExpressVu satellite as ch. 420.   AFANA welcomes reports from Canadians who receiving the channel.  The Canadian feed was initially identical with the US feed with the same schedule of coverage but now with different commercials.   We are advised that it will soon have a different schedule (which if it affects AFL coverage, we will list separately).

The US channel will be available as a trial to DISH users until either 5 or 9 September (the date varies in the reports we have received).  Fans should try ch. 284 (trial) or permanent channel 406.  The Canadian channel is also available as a trial on the systems we are currently aware of (perhaps until Sept. 4 or 5 in some reports), and channel numbers will vary on cable systems.  Digital cable is required to receive it.  After the trial concludes, the price will be either US$14.99 or CAN$14.99 respectively. 

We expect Setanta US to begin to be available on some cable systems as early as September, but no announcement has been made by Setanta yet. 

Our TV pages and newsletters will have more on these developments over the next week.