New Freeview TV Channel: Sommet Sports

Hope someone picks up the Bundesliga and Football League rights. 

Sky are broadcasting some ASB Premiership games I notice.

Tomorrow at 2 pm they are screening live Wellington Phoenix Reserves vs. WaiBOP from Eden Park

Sky Sport 4

Curtain-raiser to the A-League game.

Guess they are piggy-backing on the TV production gear being there for the A-League game.

Sommet Management on Facebook checking the interest in starting a crowd funding scheme to relaunch.

December 19 at 3:49pm

"Would You Help Bring Sommet Sports Back to Life?

To Our Valued Sommet Sports Viewers.

With great sadness Sommet Sports stopped transmission last week on Friday 12 December due to lack of funding initially promised to us from financiers. ...
Sommet amazingly managed to deliver quality Sports television for 18 months on 1/3 of the funding initially assured to us.

Since our closure we have been greatly humbled by the many messages of support and dismay from viewers throughout the country who have loved watching the many sports events that we delivered FREE to all New Zealanders 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Many have asked us to seriously consider Crowd funding. This is where the public fund a project or idea.

Well.. we have an idea.

Would you consider pledging a sum to return you sports channel to New Zealand screens?

We would love to know.

 Tell us your ideas. 

Would you pledge $100 donation and also receive a Sommet Sports T-Shirt?
Would you gift $50 to us for a 4GB pin drive?

Let us know your thoughts and suggestions?

Your responses could bring this idea to life. We may be the first in New Zealand to Crowd Fund an idea – your sports channel – one that YOU funded, that YOU can watch free, that YOU can be proud of.

Your opinions matter !!

Kind regards

Andrew Reeves

This is a personal initiative by the previous management of Sommet Sports Limited"

I just noticed that Sommet Sport did go down a pledge drive route, only one day left and they need $250k

It doesn't seem well advertised.

https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/3149-sommet-strikes-back

Just over 24 hours left for Sommet Sports' croud funding campaign on Pledge Me.

Closes 6 pm tomorrow (Friday).

If you pledge something, nothing will be debited from your credit card unless the total aimed for is raised;

https://www.facebook.com/SommetSports

"We have now managed to negotiate to get 42 hours of sport each weekend on Freeview and Sky if we reach the 300,000 target as well as the 24/7 internet channel."

- will broadcast 24/7 online

- 42 hours each weekend on Freeview and Sky

Pledge here:

https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/3149-sommet-st...

Seven hours to go - what a shame.

Aiming for $300,000 from Pledgeme was, I'm afraid, much too ambitious. Pledgeme in NZ has only ever raised $800,000 total. (That's how much has been raised by successful campaigns, not how much has been pledged - mostly towards unsuccessful campaigns like this one).

yeah bit strange. I suggested they should do it on a per sport basis as the rights came up, that way people know exactly what they were pledging to, and various sporting communities would get behind it. It would also be more sustainable than a one off pledge, as people would be more willing to give in the future too. 

They could use grants, advertising etc for the running of the channel

It's interesting that Setanta Sports (based in Ireland and the UK) who provided most of Sommet's football coverage went bust around the same time as Sommet late last year.

BeIN Sports Australia took over all the football rights for Australasia that Setanta had.

BeIN sports is carried by Foxtel in Australia.

Now they have the UEFA Champions League rights too (snatched them away from ESPN).

I suggest that fans contact Sky TV and suggest that they add BeIN Sports to their roster.

Contact Sky here:

https://skytv.custhelp.com/app/contactus/emailus

Sky Sport Facebook - post a message:

https://www.facebook.com/skysportnz

Sky TV Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/SKYnewzealand

This is what I sent to them and posted on their Facebook:

"With the UK & European soccer seasons starting, what I want to know is, now that you have lost the UEFA Champions League (ESPN no longer have the rights), on top of you losing the English Premier League rights a couple of years ago, what are you going to do about it? I suggest that you ditch ESPN and add BeIN Sports which now has the Champions League rights for NZ & Oz (It's carried by Fox in Australia). Plus BeIN Sports has heaps of other top football as well as rugby (Six Nations etc.)
I terminated Sky TV recently because of your lack of soccer coverage and won't subscribe again until it improves."

[I used the word "soccer" so they don't get confused]

Don't ditch ESPN, but they can ditch the rugby channel as all their games are on Sky 1 anyway.