Traveling in the US during RWC - help!
 

Hi!

Basically the Rugby World Cup is on while we will be in the US. I have discovered that the channel that this will be shown on is Setanta Sports.

What I can't determine is whether this is a channel that the hotels I am at will have.

So for instance the Hilton site says

"TV-Cable
TV-Pay per view
TV-Premium HBO,CNN,ESPN
TV-Standard Network "

will any of those have Setanta Sports??

I have identified a few "kiwi" bars that will show it but not for every game (with help from a few people here!).

We will be away 3 months and husband is not willing to miss the RWC. (Although god forbid if we lose.)

I'd say definitvely NO, you won't find setanta sports on any hotel. Most hotel chains have 10-20 channels. ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, a couple of news and US sports channels (ESPN), and an assortment of other channels (SciFi, History, Discovery, etc).

At home I have DirecTV satellite service with 100+ channels, and in order to get Setanta I'd have to pay $15 extra per month.

You may want to find a local station from your home that will broadcast, either audio (possible) or streaming video (less likely due to high bandwidth required) over the internet.

Never heard of this channel on cable - and we get a zillion channels.

How important is this to you and how much are you willing to pay? There is a device that can be purchased (yes, it is legal) called Slingbox that one hooks up to a home TV and then one can remotely take over and watch that TV over the internet from a computer. The "take over" part is important - it is not just watching a station over the internet, but actually watching what you tell your home TV to watch.

In US that means the TV does not actually have to be on, but the cable box does - you can switch channels, even rent a movie off the cable service.

most any city will have multiple sports bars and most have many screens. So if you go in and the RWC isn't on - ask them to put one screen on that channel (if it is on their satelite service). It may be a tv stuck in the corner but they'll do it if the service is available.

But no, it is almost 100% certain hotels will not have Setanta Sports in-room.

This is pretty important and I will fork out any cost. But I will be country-less while travelling (moving back to NZ you see).

I did see the Setanta Broadband option but it is only available in North America.

I find it surprising that one of the most watched tournaments (third behind football world cup and the olympics according to Wikipedia) has almost no coverage in the US. Sigh.

Anyway - does anybody know of a bar in Las Vegas that shows rugby?

My husband is a rugby fan (he used to play) and he says to contact some rugby teams in the cities you'll be visiting. Many of the teams have a "home" bar that has the channel on satellite and the team gets together to watch the game. (Sometimes the bar has to pay to get the game, so the attendees pass the hat to pay the bar owner back!) Either way, the team members will know how you can see the games!

If you'll be in Dallas, The Tipperary Inn in the Lakewood area of Dallas will be showing the games!

No hotels will have this - it's not a cable channel - I have over 1000 channels on my cable and had never heard of it. It's a subscription only channel if you have dish - rather than cable.

I would suggest you need to find sports bars that focus on rugby - otherwise you chances are extremely slim to none.

Hi Wilees,

No, rugby is not a major sport here in the US. I just clicked on your post to find out what the heck RWC stood for. I had no idea.

Good luck with finding your network and enjoy your traveling!

Setanta is a definite no in hotels and unless you find a good pub or are going to be in a place long enough to purchase the RWC on Direct TV then you may be out of luck. Since there are almost no New Zealand bars in the US, but much more plentiful are Irish Pubs, you may want to look up the ones where you will be and see if they will be showing the games. Don't worry though, most Irish pubs are not what you think. YOu don't have to be Irish (just like the pub atmosphere and drinking) and you can cheer for whomever you want. If you are going to be in Florida at all during your trip let me know and I can get you in touch with some ruggers who have the RWC cable service and also most likely know of some pubs that will be showing the games. Now that I think of it, if a pub is showing the games, they will be recorded and on delay because all RWC games are at like 3am or 4am easten US time. Good luck on your search. I personally am doing the exact opposite and heading into Europe for the festivities. Not France though. Opted for Cardiff and Edinburgh for a better rugby atmosphere. I don't want to drink wine while I watch the matches :)
Again good luck!

Hi, McMullans in Vegas will be playing the games live ... not sure if that helps you or not!

Cheers

Hubby has been watching lots of the RWC games on the "Versus" channel (formerly Outdoor Network).

I can't help but remark about the interesting "double standard" here. Whenever someone from the US posts to ask about where to see the Super Bowl while in Paris or Venice, he is attacked with "why do you want to" or "you're in Paris, forget football for one day".

I think it's nice that people aren't reacting that way to your request.
But sorry, I can't help.

Go All Blacks! :)

I have fond memories of watching the All Blacks games when I was in NZ, even though I knew nothing about rugby. But now I have a nice collection of All Blacks apparel that I wear proudly -- even though it's hard to find the games televised in the U.S. So Good luck.

According to the Setanta website, the following bars in Las Vegas will be showing at least some of the RWC (including the one butla posted above):

Crown & Anchor (Las Vegas)
Address 1350 East Tropicana Avenue
City Las Vegas, NV 89119
Phone 702-739-8676
Website www.crownandanchorlv.com

McMullan's Irish Pub
Address 4650 West Tropicana
City Las Vegas, NV 89103
Phone 702 -247-7000
Website www.mcmullansirishpub.com