Setanta Sports, Freeview query for Irish viewers.

[DrPhil]

Hi all, hope someone here can help.

I live in Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland but only about 8 miles from the N. Ireland border. I have Sky at the minute.

Problem is, (as you can see from my sig), I am a big MMA fan, and in July this year Setanta have agreed an exclusive deal to broadcast all UFC events and programming. Until now it has been on Bravo, but with the rise in popularity of the sport Setanta have snapped it up. It will be on their sports channel, not PPV.

So to cut a long story short, I need Setanta in place before July. And that's where the problem starts.

In the UK, Setanta is £9.99 per month as we know. However, in the Republic of Ireland it is 18 Euro!!! I think you get Setanta Ireland too, but it's a crappy channel and I don't care about it anyway. With the current crappy Euro/Sterling exchange rate, that means I would be paying nearly £15 a month instead of £10. With the grief I'm getting from the missus already about paying £10 a month, I'll get shot if I tell her it's £15!!!

My question is, if I can pickup UK freeview (and I think I can), will I be able to use one of the freeview cards you can buy in the UK shops and therefore only pay £10? Has anyone else connected to the UK Setanta subscription from Ireland? And is it legal??? I'm sure it probably is, but I want to be sure.

PS, I hope this is in the right forum, if not, please move it. Cheers

[DrPhil]

Nobody???

[panda23]

Not sure you will get much response as you have asked a freeview question in the satellite section,you can ask the mods to move it or start another thread in the right section,hope this helps.

[shadows]

do you know anybody in n i
if so get the subscription from there address

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by shadows

do you know anybody in n i
if so get the subscription from there address

That would be bending the rules, which I'd rather not do.

Mods, can you move this to the freeview section please?
Thanks!

[velvitjester]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Hi all, hope someone here can help.

I live in Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland but only about 8 miles from the N. Ireland border. I have Sky at the minute.

Problem is, (as you can see from my sig), I am a big MMA fan, and in July this year Setanta have agreed an exclusive deal to broadcast all UFC events and programming. Until now it has been on Bravo, but with the rise in popularity of the sport Setanta have snapped it up. It will be on their sports channel, not PPV.

So to cut a long story short, I need Setanta in place before July. And that's where the problem starts.

In the UK, Setanta is £9.99 per month as we know. However, in the Republic of Ireland it is 18 Euro!!! I think you get Setanta Ireland too, but it's a crappy channel and I don't care about it anyway. With the current crappy Euro/Sterling exchange rate, that means I would be paying nearly £15 a month instead of £10. With the grief I'm getting from the missus already about paying £10 a month, I'll get shot if I tell her it's £15!!!

My question is, if I can pickup UK freeview (and I think I can), will I be able to use one of the freeview cards you can buy in the UK shops and therefore only pay £10? Has anyone else connected to the UK Setanta subscription from Ireland? And is it legal??? I'm sure it probably is, but I want to be sure.

PS, I hope this is in the right forum, if not, please move it. Cheers

setanta show the mma on their ppv channel,the ppv setanta channel is only available on sky digital.

It aint shown on setanta
1,2 or Ireland.so keeping sky is the only way to go and then you have to pay to watch each event.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by velvitjester

setanta show the mma on their ppv channel,the ppv setanta channel is only available on sky digital.

It aint shown on setanta
1,2 or Ireland.so keeping sky is the only way to go and then you have to pay to watch each event.

Sorry to disagree with you but...
http://www.setanta.com/en/UK/Our-Sports/UFC/

The much-anticipated UFC 85- Bedlam, which takes place on June 7th will NOT be on a pay-per-view basis but will be available to Setanta Sports subscribers.

UFC Events will not be PPV, they will be free to subscribers. All the UK UFC events that have been on Setanta in the past have always been free. If they were PPV only that ould be fine, I'd just pay for the events and not bother about the rest of the subscription as I rarely get to watch much else, but Setanta made it clear when they bought the exclusive UFC rights that it would be free for subscribers rather than on PPV.

[SportBilly]

As long as you can receive the reception, mux A I think it is then there is no reason why you couldn't pick up a freeview box with card included and subscribe to freeview Setanta.

You can find box+card packs for about £25, then it would be £10 a month.

You could probably activate it online. You'll probably need an NI address or UK mainland address to register the account to. Maybe a friend or relative may help.

Be aware though that Setanta on Freeview only gives you the one channel, Setanta 1 between 12 noon and 3 am and the channel is already pretty congested. There's no guarantee that all the UFC coverage will be live on Setanta 1.

You might be best to just sign up for the Satellite service on an offer and then try for a cancellation offer. It's only a rolling monthly contract after all.

[velvitjester]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Sorry to disagree with you but...
http://www.setanta.com/en/UK/Our-Sports/UFC/



UFC Events will not be PPV, they will be free to subscribers. All the UK UFC events that have been on Setanta in the past have always been free. If they were PPV only that ould be fine, I'd just pay for the events and not bother about the rest of the subscription as I rarely get to watch much else, but Setanta made it clear when they bought the exclusive UFC rights that it would be free for subscribers rather than on PPV.

your right,Thats only recent.Now we can just hope that Bisping clown gets a hiding.He absolutely robbed Hamill,disgrace of a decision

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by velvitjester

your right,Thats only recent.Now we can just hope that Bisping clown gets a hiding.He absolutely robbed Hamill,disgrace of a decision

True, although even the ref agreed with the decision afterwards and one of the judges who scored it explained it in an interview. In his opinion, the fight was scored correctly in Bisping's favour, even though Hamill was the better fighter. He blamed the 10 points scoring system rather than the judges themselves.

Anyway, back on topic...

Originally Posted by SportBilly

Be aware though that Setanta on Freeview only gives you the one channel, Setanta 1 between 12 noon and 3 am and the channel is already pretty congested. There's no guarantee that all the UFC coverage will be live on Setanta 1.

I didn't know you only got 1 channel and limited times. That's a bit crap, pay £10 for it on UK satellite for everything or pay £10 on freeview for very little. I may well order it, watch the first UFC event in July, then cancel it and see if they offer me something free. If they don't I can just go straight back and reorder later can't I?

The big UFC events are only once a month and according to their website they will be on the Sports 1 channel, but stuff like The Ultimate Fighter, UFC Wired, UFC Unleashed etc may not be and that would be pretty terrible.