Free BTCC on Virgin Media this weekend

Those nice people at Virgin Media are offering Setanta Sports 1, 2 and Golf free to all ther customers this weekend. That means you can watch the Manchester Utd game for free, hooray! Plus there's some top British motorsport on in Scotland somewhere which is being televised all day on Setanta Sports 2 apparently..

Free BTCC on Setanta! Kinda...

Got a Freeview box? Missed the Croft coverage? Fear not, set your remote to channel 34 tomorrow (Tuesday 19 June) and you can see Setanta's recap at 2000-2130. They are being nice and de-crpyting themselves between 1900 and 2200 for a while so you can catch obscure New Zealand rugby series and the occasional bit of motorsport in slightly-less-than-crystal-clear picture quality. (If it still claims it's encrypted try a channel re-scan or similar).

Setanta: Good news, Bad news

Righty, it's been long enough since we got the news that Setanta now cover the BTCC and support races live. Yes, MotorsTV was free and everyone was enraged at Setanta for a bit, but thankfully it's all settled down now. Picture quality on Setanta is much better than the graininess that was Motors, and of course there are no ad breaks. Plus that £15 or so a month spent on Setanta will also get you golf, SPL and Premiership footy from August.

However, bad news is afoot. Coverage from Croft and Oulton Park will only start at midday. Even worse, Brands Hatch and Knockhill won't even be covered live (there will be highlights, but whether it'll be better than the ITV coverage is anyone's guess).

The good news is that race weekends 4-7 (Croft, Oulton Donny, Snett) will be on Setanta Sports 1 instead of Setanta Sports 2. This means that it'll be possible to catch ad-free BTCC and support races on Freeview, hooray!
Things you'll want to know:

• You'll need a Freeview box with card slot, or an IDTV with CAM and card slot
  
• Freeview Setanta subscription is £10.99 a month currently, but AFAIK it's only a 2 month minimum contract
  
• Setanta currently have a special offer - £5 per month for the first 3 months
  
• Setanta Sports 1 on Freeview only starts broadcasting at midday*
  

For more info/FAQs have a looksy: Setanta on Freeview / BTCC on Setanta Sports