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Setanta Sports on Freeview

Want to watch Setanta Sport on Freeview? On this page, we offer information on how to watch Setanta with a Freeview set-top box or IDTV.

Setanta Sports:

Setanta Sports is a big player in UK sporting TV. They've got the rights to show a number of top sporting packages, and with Setanta, you can get live Barclays Premier League football, access to English World Cup qualifiers, Blue Square Premier League matches, as well as top rugby, cricket, US PGA golf, horse racing and exclusive boxing matches.

You can see what's on offer at www.setanta.com

Setanta Sports on Freeview?

Setanta Sports 1 is a subscription channel, and you might think you need to subscribe to Sky or Virgin to get this.

The good news is, Setanta Sports is available with Freeview, using a standard TV aerial.

You can get the flagship Setanta Sports 1 channel for just £10.99 a month with no annual contract. It's on Freeview Channel 34, from midday to 3am, seven days a week.

There are three ways to get Setanta over Freeview, and we'll explore each one for you:

1. Setanta on a basic Freeview box

Setanta is a subscription channel, and so you need equipment with a special card slot that takes the Setanta Subscription Card. Some Freeview boxes have a card slot that may be suitable.

If you don't have a box with a suitable card slot, you get get a box, plus subscription, direct from Setanta, or from high street retailers such as Comet, Currys and Argos.

To get a box direct from Setanta, go to www.setanta.com - at the time of writing, they offer low-cost boxes from Sagem, Astratec and Philips that are ready for Freeview for under £30.

2. Setanta on a Digital TV set

Many of today's newer LCD and Plasma TV sets have a built-in Freeview receiver - these TVs are known as IDTV (Integrated Digital TV) sets. A good number of digital TV sets have a slot somewhere to allow for a subscription card module to be inserted. If your telly has a suitable slot, you should be able to use this to get Setanta.

These slots can't accept the credit card Setanta Subscription card directly - you have to use a special card adapter, called a CAM (Conditional Access Module). These slot into the hole in compatible TV sets, and then accept the Setanta viewing card.

You can get a CAM ready for Setanta from Dixons, Comet or Argos. If you're looking to subscribe to Setanta, you'll probably find it easier to get a CAM directly from Setanta's site - they're about £25.

There's more information on using a CAM with your IDTV set at www.setanta.com

Setanta Sports CAM
Setanta Sports CAM with subscription card

3. Setanta on a PC with a Freeview USB Adapter

Got a PC or laptop and in a Freeview coverage area? Who needs a TV set, when you can watch on your PC?

For this, you'll need a PC TV receiver and a card reader (to accept the subscription card). Hauppauge makes a suitable USB TV receiver that can get all of the Freeview channels, and comes with a card slot ready for a Setanta viewing card.

The Hauppauge WinTV-CI-Setanta comes with a Setanta subscription card, and includes setup fee and one month's Setanta subscription.

You can get one of these at Dixons Online.

Other ways to get Setanta:

Setanta's service is available on services other than Freeview. You can get Setanta on Sky, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV, and BT Vision. To sign up, go to www.setanta.com, otherwise, click on an icon below for more.

Setanta Sports Freeview FAQ:

Q. Getting Freeview: Freeview is not available in all parts of the UK. How can I tell if I can get Setanta?

If you want to check you're able to get Freeview, see our Freeview Coverage section

Setanta broadcasts on Freeview Multiplex A. As long as you have a Freeview receiver with a suitable card slot that's capable of receiving at least one channel on Multiplex A (other channels on that multiplex include Five and QVC), then you should be ok to get Setanta over Freeview.

For help on improving your Freeview signal, see our Reception page, or listen to our podcast on the subject.

Q. I'm having problems activating Setanta on Freeview

Once you've got your subscription card, you may have to contact Setanta to get the service activated. If you're having problems with this, here are some notes:

Subscription / activation is sent over the air using the Freeview transmission system - you must have your set-top box switched on and connected to a TV aerial with a decent signal

The over-the-air signal can take a while to get through - from experience this is around 15 minutes, but we understand Setanta quotes two hours

It can help to set the set-top box to the right channel

Make sure you haven't quoted the wrong subscription card number when you activated your subscription

Make sure your viewing card is correctly inserted (the right way up). Also, try rebooting your box

If you're not getting a decent signal on the Setanta channel, this could cause problems - see our Reception page for help on improving signal reception and reducing interference.

If you still can't get activated, call Setanta Sports on 08712 00 33 22 to get them to send a new activation signal

To discuss Setanta Sport, or for help with Freeview, please contact us, or visit our forum