Watching France vs. Lithuania

I’m still striking out for next week’s France-Austria, but I have multiple options for those of you wanting to watch Saturday’s Lithuania-France game. (And yes, much but not all of this post is pulled from what I wrote last month before France-Argentina. I’ll put the newer stuff in BOLD.)

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First, and cheapest, (like, free, but kind of totally illegal and not particularly reliable,) we have the footy pirates. I love the footy pirates, at least when they work for me. And they worked for me for France Greece in November. Update: Somebody (can’t remember who, sorry!) also offered up this pirate site. It’s worth a try! Don’t wait till the last possible second for either, because they require softward downloads and some time to load.)

Then we have Option Two: Television. The game will be shown live on Setanta Sports.

What’s that you say? Don’t have Setanta and don’t have the megabucks necessary to get it? Well, guess what. I may be able to help. Click on this link for a this link for a list of pubs across the country that offer Setanta. There’s a menu at the top of various areas on the US. (Although now that I’m looking at the pub lists, I’m seeing that Setanta is not available in a lot of places. Which sucks. But you can always come to Seattle, where it is offered.)

And then we have the option I’ll be using, Setanta Broadband, where you can watch direct from your computer. I LOVE Setanta Broadband. It was $149.99 for a full year and $11.99 for a month? (The price difference is because the yearly subscription includes all PPV events. This particular game isn’t PPV.) They have good European coverage, so it was worth it for me.

If you’re only interested in the one game, we have a new option this month. I have no idea how reliable it is, but it is another option and those are always welcome. Cost ranges from $7.95 down to $2.95 for a delayed (non-live) match. You’ll need to register first, so sign up in advance. If you use this, please let me know how it works!

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I tried this next option for a live match for France-Argentina and it didn’t work for me. I reported it to Tech Support and got a nice e-mail back. I see they’re offering it again, but they’re only offering it delayed and not live in the US. If anybody tries this and it works, let me know!! Since I can’t find France-Austria anywhere else, I may be checking this out next Wednesday. I’m assuming that the sign-up process is the same as last time.

Well, there’s one more option that may work. First, go to the French Football Federation website. In the middle right-hand column you’ll see “Vous vivez hors de France et vous voulez voir les Bleus jouer ? Suivez, en direct et en vidéo, la rencontre France-Argentine !” which is the link for people outside of France. Click where it says, “Acceder au service.” On the next screen at the top, you’ll see, “Pas encore inscrit,” (not yet registered.) Click on that. The next screen will be a diagnostic that will tell you if your computer has what it takes. We’ll assume yes, (green buttons, but it take ten or fifteen seconds) so click on “Continuer l’inscription” in the bottom right.

Now it asks for:

E-mail
Votre mot de passe: password
Confirmer votre mot de passe: retype password
Prenom: first name
Nom: Last name
Adresse: (guess)
Ville: city
Code postal: zip code
Pays: country. (They’re alphabetical, and we’re under E — Etats-Unis, not United States.

You don’t need a phone number. Click on “j’ai pris…” at the bottom — basically that you accept the terms. Once you register, they’ll send you a validation e-mail. Click on the link and you’re golden. Then you can sign up to watch the game by clicking on ” Tarifs” at the top. It looks like the cost is 4.99 Euros to watch during the game and 1.99 Euros after the final whistle. (So don’t sign on at halftime expecting to see the whole game.) I think the current exchange rate is about $1.30 per Euro, but don’t quote me. Plus 20% VAT, of course. They’ll take multiple credit cards, and that part is in English. So good luck!