Live Premiership next season - channel comparison

[conorg]

OK, with ART losing the Premiership rights for next season I did a bit of research into possible alternatives for next season. I have worked out the percentage of Premiership games shown by each channel between September and December 2006, I realise that numbers might be different for next season but this is the only info I have to work from.

I've included how much a 12 month sub will cost to each channel for UK viewers, just using the cheapest price I could find on the internet. As a comparison, Sky Sports with a Prem Plus season ticket showed 37.6% of all matches and costs £468 for 12 months.

[FONT=Courier]Channel         Country    %Matches  Cost[/FONT][FONT=Courier]
=========================================
ART Sport       UAE           80.7%  lost rights
SuperSport SA   South Africa  62.4%  n/a in UK
Sky Italia      Italy         59.1%  £900
Canal+          Scandinavia   56.4%  £595
Diema           Bulgaria      55.2%  £195
SuperSport      Greece        50.8%  £745
TPS             France        50.3%  £475
DigitAlb        Albania       48.6%  £140
UPC Sport       Hungary       46.4%  £425
Galaxie         Czech Rep     39.2%  £656
Cabo Sport      Portugal      39.2%  £595
Sky / PremPlus  UK            37.6%  £468
MegaSport       Ukraine       37.0%  ?
Premiere        Germany       36.5%  £430
Canal+Deporte   Spain         34.3%  £700
TeleSport       Romania       34.3%  £395
TV8             Turkey        34.3%  FTA?[/FONT]

So first impressions are that Digitalb (48.6% of all matches for £140) and Diema (55.2% of all matches for £195) are the best value alternatives.

What I would like to do is gather more information about these channels and their Premiership coverage. For example do they have English commentary, are they broadcast in widescreen, what is the picture quality like, are they easy to pick up in the UK. And of course if any of the above information is incorrect please let me know. So if anyone has watched Premiership coverage on any of these channels and can provide relevant information, please add your info to this thread.

 

[wod]

ART Sport n/a next season
SuperSport SA not available in uk
Sky Italia yes hotbird 13e 80cm dish
Canal+ yes for Scandinavia 1.2m+ dish as on thor 1west*
Diema yes 16east 80-1m dish
SuperSport yes 13east (greek nova package) 80cm dish
TPS yes 13east merging with canal + france 80cm dish
DigitAlb yes 16east 80cm+
UPC Sport yes 19east 80cm
Galaxie
Cabo Sport yes 19east & 30west
Sky / PremPlus yes 28.2e minidsh
MegaSport
Premiere yes 19east 80cm dish
Canal+Deporte yes 19east 80cm dish
TeleSport
TV8

* this depends where you are in uk
these are approx as hotbird, astra 1 and 16east are good signal satellites

 

[bodge]

I live in Sweden and pay ca £196 for Canal + a year. For that you get to see about 7 live games a week.

 

[Salty25]

It would be great if someone could report on the quality of picture and audio, and whether and much of the games have English commentary, and whether they do the UEFA Champions League. I think this has the makings of a very good piece of reserch.

conorg, we commend you!

 

[rolfw]

Yes, very good thread starter.

 

[DUVET]

brilliant thread it is exactly what i want to know, i'm new to the satellite world and i'm interested in getting it for football only, can this set up pick up DigitAlb 16east 80cm+ as it seems to be the best alternative to art.

I live in Northern Ireland.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=260050278694&rd=1&rd=1

cheers for your help.

 

[mulls74]

I get the C+ Norway channels on an 88cm in the north-west of England, near Liverpool. The package is expensive but has similar picture quality to PremPlus etc and the film channels are excellent.
The coverage of football is excellent and some games have English commentary - they also have the great 'Plings' when a goal goes in at one of the other games.

 

[bodge]

Here is a list of the games being shown on canal + Sweden over the next few weeks

http://www.canalplus.se/page.asp?guid=A60D42FF-B00F-4440-A84F-A5E9B92CDEF8&category=F9980F5D-6D39-4DC3-9F6C-25C0AC7898D0&showall=1

 

[conorg]

Thanks to everyone who has replied with info so far.

Bodge: £196 for a year is great value for what you get, pity we can't get it for that price over here! I think it was Canal+ that my local pub used before ART came along, I seem to remember their coverage being very good.

Duvet: I'm in Northern Ireland as well and am having a hell of a time trying to find an installer for my motorized system. Let me know if you know anybody.

 

[DUVET]

Thanks to everyone who has replied with info so far.

Bodge: £196 for a year is great value for what you get, pity we can't get it for that price over here! I think it was Canal+ that my local pub used before ART came along, I seem to remember their coverage being very good.

Duvet: I'm in Northern Ireland as well and am having a hell of a time trying to find an installer for my motorized system. Let me know if you know anybody.

Thers a guy on here offering his services, just go to the thread that offers installations etc, if you have trouble finding him let me know and i'll get his details for you.
I'm just confused about what i need, i've seen some setups on ebay that are low budget, but i need to know who to use to get the most football. i suppose get the dish / set up first but will it recieve the signal ?

 

[linsladeboy]

I am in the process of slowly getting an 80cm motorized system together which I hope to have fitted in the next few weeks(weather permitting) primarily for footie which I decided on before Art sport lost coverage for next year.
Thing is, do I now get a 6 month Art card to see out the season or a 12 month Digitalb card which seems the cheapest alternative for longer term?
What's the chances of Digitalb also getting gazumped before start of next season and what's picture quality like from South of England as I've read conflicting comments on this forum.

 

[conorg]

Duvet: I contacted the guy in the installers' forum and we agreed a price for the job, but he is no longer answering PMs and I have no other way of contacting him. Let me know if you have better luck.

linsladeboy: I decided to go for the 6 month Art card for the rest of the season, once I get my system installed I can see what the reception is like for other channels. As you have found out, some people can pick up Digitalb with an 80cm dish, some can't. I think I read that the strength of their signal had increased recently so maybe the non-reception reports are out of date. Also I'll maybe wait until a few games into next season before deciding, just to make sure I'm not wasting my money on a channel that have lost their rights.

Anyway, I don't want this thread to drift off topic, so any further info on Premership coverage? I am particularly interested in information on Diema's coverage, it looks like a good value option but it seems not to be at all popular, and I was wondering what the reason was.

 

[teide_ian]

As per the latest wikepedia entry for Diema "while Diema Extra is a paid and pay-per-view channel airing films and the most interesting English and Spanish football matches since 2005."

So maybe it ends up more expensive than just the subscription charge if the matches are pay for view.

Edit

Can anyone confirm that it is available on the Eutelsat at 16º as per the Goallz.com website it is on the THOR 3 satellite and not Eutelsat (whereas Satfootball.com lists it on both).
I doubt I have any chance whatsoever of picking up it here in Tenerife if it is only on Thor

Edit 2

I have found my way around the Eutelsat website and yes Diema Extra is on there at 11.011 V 3/4 27500

Anyone Bulgarian speakers around to check the Diema website and see if the games are pay for view. I tried using Russian on babel and google to no avail.

 

[Zorba]

Hi I just came across this interesting thread.I didnt know art lost the football rights.Is it lsot on both hotbird AND nilesat ?

 

[teide_ian]

My understanding is that from the end of the 2006/07 season ART as a whole do not have the rights for the premiership, regardless of satellite. I'd love it if they were able to keep nilesat online.

 

[Zorba]

Thats bad news,it is very popular over here as i do a lot of nilesat installations,but what i have heard is that showtime on nilesat are getting premiership football but i dont know full details yet.

 

[wod]

yes those that can get showtimeon nilesat can tell us what where missing next season , if it turns out might not be all that good anyway

 

[student]

“Galaxie sport” shows on average 5 or 6 matches a weekend, usually the same ones as sky and/or sky ppv. The sub costs £23 a year IF one has a Czechlink or Slovaklink card, and its also part of the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian UPC subscription.

The quality of the picture is not as good as sky but has improved lately.

Also forgot to add, there is english commentary during the matches but not before, after or during the half time.

 

[wod]

just watching digital + and the picture is very good but no english commentry , its spanish

so add that to your channel comparisons

 

[kamaleon]

Now that premiere has been opened for a wee bit i could enjoy a couple of games with an English audio track. Both on Premiere Sport Portal and Arena (carling cup). Decent image btw.