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Watching sport on TV is for many of us a great way to relax and spend time with friends and family. But over the past few months we've received a large number of complaints regarding one particular broadcaster, Setanta.
Frustrating experience
Setanta Sports has become a major provider of some of our favourite sports viewing and in some cases it's the only place to see certain fixtures, bouts and races. When you subscribe to Setanta's satellite service you get 11 exclusive channels for £12.99 a month. But for those of you across the UK who contacted Watchdog it appears that you're having a frustrating time viewing all 11 channels - not to mention getting Setanta to help resolve the problem.
In Hertfordshire, Chris Doyle chose Setanta because he and his family are all sports fans. However, since subscribing he has had a lot of difficulty receiving a good enough picture to watch some of his favourite sports. As a result his family and friends just don't bother coming around anymore.
In Wales, Laura Williams and Allen Jones subscribed to Setanta 18 months ago and have never been able to get a clear picture. With a young family they couldn't go to the pub to watch their favourite teams play so they get their footie fix at home. But the picture problem, according to Laura, was only the beginning of their troubles.
Disappointed with customer service
She has been extremely disappointed with the help she sought from Setanta's customer services, especially when she tried to cancel their subscription.
She says that Setanta: "Hasn't even had the decency to respond. The company left it too long now and it's gone on too much and too little has been done about it."
Professor Martin Tomlinson, an expert in satellite technology, has tested Setanta's signal. He says that one of the reasons people have had difficulties receiving Setanta is that it's broadcast from a satellite called Eurobird 1 whereas most other major channels use the ASTRA satellites. When installers set up your dish they can't point it at both satellites.
When we were invited to Setanta customer Dave Marshall's home in West Sussex, we brought installation expert Kevin Dawson to have a look at his satellite set-up.
It's a simple dish alignment problem. Nine times out of ten it's the dish, skew or cheap cable or a combination of all of them.
In most cases this can be fixed easily and only takes a few minutes. But the key question customers like Dave Marshall are asking is:
"Why didn't Setanta tell me it's an installation problem?"
Setana's response
When Watchdog contacted Setanta it refused to discuss individual customers. It said:
"Most of the time we are successful, and most customers are very happy with the sport that we serve up to them. However, from time to time, and for a variety of technical reasons, a tiny minority of customers have difficulty receiving the signal for Setanta Sports and the other channels that the company broadcasts.
"It is our firm belief that this is not a Setanta-specific problem. Setanta is a television producer. It does not own or operate the satellites that are used to broadcast its programming, nor does it install or service the satellite dishes (or other equipment) that are required to receive its pictures.
"Setanta recognises that in a small number of cases customers may need to adjust the alignment of their satellite dish in order to receive a satisfactory signal from Setanta Sports. As stated above, Setanta does not employ its own fieldforce of satellite dish engineers. However, we will endeavour in future to work more closely with BSkyB to identify customers who could benefit from the visit of an engineer."
The company added:
"Following Watchdog's investigation, we will give further thought to how we might publicise the importance of correct dish alignment, and improve our procedures for resolving problem cases."
Setanta recommends that customers contact the company that installed their satellite equipment in order to make the necessary checks on dish alignment.
