“Aye, There’s the Rub!”

One of my contacts from an old boys rugby group shared the following (bad)news
release the other day:

http://www.setanta.com/us/Customer- Info-Articles/ SETANTA-SPORTS- USA-AGREES-
TO-TERMS- WITH-FOX- SOCCER-CHANNEL/ gnid-59836/

Like any news story, there is always what the journalist, the late Paul Harvey
would say "There is the REST of the story".  Here is my "rest of the story" as
an American who has tried to follow the sport of rugby in my country for the
past several years.

About 10 Christmases ago, my wife surprised me with Direct TV, as I could not
get my regular fix of rugby or English soccer/football watching cable TV. In the
beginning, I was able to watch a lot of rugby on Fox Sports World: 6 Nations,
Super 12 (at the time), Tri Nations and the Rugby World Cup. For somebody who
had to follow rugby by having news clippings sent from my Beziers-born friend
Jean-Paul in France, this was a MAJOR step in the right direction.

Life was good.

Over time, it seemed like Fox Sports World was showing rugby less and less. To
the point where "The Rugby Club", with Max Bretos holding court was on only once
a week...at 4 AM. Finally, the break was complete and Fox Sports World sold
their souls and became Fox Soccer Channel. My disappointment could only have
been more complete had my lovely red-headed bride decided to tell me she
preferred women.

Then I found out that Direct TV had Setanta Sports, which offered 6 Nations,
Tri-Nations, Heineken Cup, The Guiness Premiership, The Magners League, The New
Zealand and South African Domestic competitions, and all of the World Cup
matches back in 2007. I was able to watch as much rugby as I could watch and
record.

Life was good, again.

Good news, like fame, is a fleeting thing. The decision by Setanta sports to
throw American rugby fans under the bus and sell out it's USA programming to FSC
may not have been as catostrophic as the events in Haiti and the Middle
East...but it was still a very bitter pill to swallow that programming on
Setanta will stop in the USA at the end of February. The key to the Setanta
kingdom is their rights to the EPL and SPL in soccer-that FSC surely coveted.
The question in all of this will be if FSC will exercise the option to show any
of the rugby that was shown on Setanta.

One little bit of good news is that BBC America announced that they will show
some of the 6 Nations matches starting the first weekend in February with
England-Wales.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/comingsoon.jsp 

Still, for those of us who love the game of rugby in the USA, the loss of
Setanta Sports and it's rugby programming is a huge blow to us all, and we are
very much in a state of flux.

To be continued....