The message reads “Setanta Sports and NexTV would like to assure our customers that we are committed to providing an excellent product paired with excellent service. NexTV is an IPTV platform and is owned by Ethnic Channels Group, a premier ethnic television provider. They are completely unrelated to ITVN. If you are still being billed by ITVN, please notify your credit card company immediately as this is a fraudulent charge. ITVN has been defunct for several months and should not be charging for service.”

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the curse of ITVN has struck again and that it can be inferred that the number of people subscribing to NexTV for Setanta Sports service is much lower than anticipated. This is completely understandable though since so many customers got burned by ITVN because of the credit card charges as well as poor service and reliability.

It’s going to be extremely difficult for IPTV companies to sell Setanta Sports. ITVN has so ruined people’s first impressions of the technology that it’s easy to see why soccer fans would be reluctant to sign up for NexTV.

For those soccer fans in the United States who don’t have DirecTV or DISH Network but who want Setanta Sports, the choices are Verizon FiOS, NexTV, Gek TV and Setanta Broadband. If anything, Setanta is competing with its partners with its Setanta Broadband service. No numbers are publicly available but I wouldn’t be surprised if more people are signing up for Setanta Broadband than Setanta on NexTV and Gek TV combined.

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This effectively eliminates the only all-HD soccer network until GolTV, FSC and Setanta start going HD some time by 2011. Remember, FSC showing things in HD doesn’t have as much to do with FSC as it does with the number of HD consumers in Europe, and right now, less than 10 percent of England has an HDTV. HD will not be the standard in England until 2012, so unless ESPN gets involved, there is really no rush on that side of the ocean to get everything into HD.

Now, it is heartening to know that ESPN2 will show the Champions League final in HD, but there is currently no plan (that I can find) to show more of it in HD in the U.S.

So lament the loss of La Liga in HD. And prepare yourself for the EPL on ESPN3 in 2010. Well, we can hope, anyway.

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Living in the States, it’s something we often overlook — how Match of The Day is still an institution in England and how popular highlights shows are in that country.

Still, the article by Mosey reads like sour grapes against SkySports. Sure, BBC has more viewers for Match of the Day than live televised matches, but if you were the BBC, wouldn’t you trade MOTD for the real thing?

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But it got me to thinking: What is the breaking point for finding soccer on my dish? 

For instance, I refuse to pay for the Copa Libertadores ($299) package. I also used to refuse to pay for the FA Cup final ($24.99 on Dish, TBA on DirecTV). I held off with Setanta until it became clear that in my part of the U.S., they had the best games in the EPL consistently.

But would you pay $9.99 for RAI International to see Serie A matches live and in Italian? Coppa Italia? How about the Bundesliga’s home network in Germany for $9.99? Such are the decisions a dish owner has to make.

A few years ago, I paid the money for the Major League Baseball package when it was available on Dish. I loved it, and when it went away, I spent the $7.99 a month for the “Superstation Package” to see the occasional Red Sox, Mets or Dodgers game (only to hear Vin Scully). But I dropped it when I added HD because my bill was north of $100 a month.

So I ask you, readers, how much is too much? Both in terms of cost and in terms of quantity. $100 a month? $150 a month? Are FSC and ESPN enough? Would you die without GolTV? Or do you need soccer 24/7 from every country in the world? Let me know. And by the way, I would pay $10 a month JUST to get old reruns of “Soccer Made in Germany.” Maybe that will be part of the next package. 

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BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting) has announced that its subscriber base in the United Kingdom has now grown to 8.9 million as of March 2008. Sky is now on track to hit 10 million subscribers by 2010.

Setanta Sports, meanwhile, has approximately 3 million subscribers in the UK.

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So I guess I pay a lot. 

My name’s Ian. I’m the new contributor over here at Soccer on Dish. In the coming days, weeks and months, I’ll be talking a lot about what’s on, what’s not and how it’s broadcast over the space-waves.

A little history: I’ve had Dish since 1999. I used to buy the Premier League package religiously. I finally broke down and got Setanta just a few months ago. I watch on a 50-inch Samsung DLP machine that makes me yearn for Man U games in HD. I’ll also post about ESPN and the family of networks and how they take on Euro 2008. This should be fun.

As a starter, I want to ask for help: Have you seen the weekly Euro 2008 preview show that ESPN is producing on Deportes? If so, let me know what you think. Deportes is not available on my tier of Dish (only on Dish latino). it should be, but I know the money isn’t there to make it more wide-spread. Oh well, if you see it, pass it along.

For more about what I think, check out my first post over at EPL Talk. And watch for me. And tell me what you want to see and hear.

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If you’d like more information, feel free to contact NexTV directly via email at setanta@getnextv.com.

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If you have story ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact me at thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com

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