Football on TV is a commercial enterprise and as such nobody should be surprised that a TV company will want to show what they consider the bigger games. They are not a charity. What do you propose? A communist style TV setup? It will not work in a commercial climate.
Now whether you want the cameras there in the first place or not is another matter. I do not think that Setanta are really going to make that much difference to the gulf that already exists between part-time clubs like ourselves and the big boys like Oxford and Torquay. £5000 is going to be of far more value to us than £20000 would be to Oxford anyway....it's all relative. We are going to lose VERY few supporters through the gates on a matchday as the result of a televised game (and certainly nowhere near five grands worth).
If you want to rail at anyone, you should be directing your views towards the governing bodies of football and NOT the TV companies for it is they that have agreed to current contracts as they stand
I totally agree. Live TV matches on commercial channels have been around for a quarter of a century, with numerous commercial channels around for just less than that. We live in a market economy, and the "good old days" of the 60s and 70s that some people pine for have gone for as long as Sky is around and the man who owns Sky owns the papers that tell you who to vote for.
The Setanta deal is great for us, and I think it actually has precious little bearing on the financial gap that alread exists. In fact, I would agree that it puts us as no real disadvantage against the bigger clubs in real terms.
There is no way the traditional 3pm will disappear at this level - there simply isn't the demand for several games being spread around a weekend as per the Premiership. As for Thursday night kick offs, it is not much different from Tuesday night (Baldrick, I recall you recently suggesting midweek games being played in the afternoon!)
We cannot kick Setanta out, as we are in a legally bound contract with them. In any case, I think they have bitten off more than they can chew at this stage - maybe not an ITV Digital, but they will get their fingers burnt eventually methinks.