Serie A to Setanta setback?

Hey Ho Podsters!

Many thanks for your continued interest. Apologies too for the confusion re zamorano's number - it most certainly was 1+ 8. I should have known better, and to be fair, so should he.

Now, as for the mounting confusion over Serie A; I'm sorry to say that what looks a cracking opening weekend will not be getting an airing on uk television. I was told last week by A Broadcaster that they'd signed up il campionato piu bello del mondo, hence my excited outburst in a show last monday. This week however the deal hit a major stumbling block when said broadcaster discovered that italian games would be streamed for free on at least one uk website.

All hope is not yet lost, and if you wished to e-mail said Broadcaster expressing your desire to pay good money to watch creaking knees and questionable hair decisions on a proper telly, that just might make all the difference. Or it might not.

I'll be posting as soon as I hear some news anyway.

Yours in pod,
Jimbo

According to this quote from James Richardson on the guardian website, it would appear that Setanta aren't impressed that the matches they screen would also be available for free elsewhere - for instance, on the bet365 website.

Hopefully this can be resolved, as I'd much prefer to watch the matches on my telly than on the internet!

Serie A finds it's UK home

Serie A has found a home for the 2008-9 season, on Setanta Sports, after an absence there for a season in it's failed daliance with Five. Much more excitingly, it brings the prospect with James Richardson already doing some work for Setanta of the possibility of "Gazetta Football Italia" being resumed.

It seems logical for Setanta to try and increase it's portfolio in this way - it gives them more football to use on Saturday evenings, a time currently when they have only French League action to show, and also gives them a better selection of matches for Sunday evenings, as well as more of a selection on Sunday afternoons to go against whatever Sky are offering.

I don't expect the rights will have cost that much, given the lateness of the deal, Serie A will just have been glad to get "someone" to show the league. It helps Setanta by increasing the number of live matches they will show, which now comfortably exceeds the number of live matches on Sky. However, I don't expect more than one or two live matches per weekend, given Setanta's strange insistence that they provide their own commentators for every match, which doesn't make sense given that the French, Italian and German leagues all come with centrally produced English commentary, meaning live matches could be screened easily and cheaply.

I hope that Setanta make better use of Serie A than they did last season - it would be criminal not to use James Richardson's knowledge and passion for the sport in a positive way. Serie A do produce a central highlights program, but it is dull and dry compared to Gazetta.

I'm delighted that Serie A is still going to be on UK screens next year. For all it's criticisms about defensive football, it has improved massively in the last few years.