I like watching sport on TV, and genuinely believe it is why God invented Plasma TV’s.

This year, the monopoly that Sky previously held on Premier League football has been broken and a new kid on the block has appeared. They are called Setenta Sports. You may have seen the adverts? Des Lynam in a burger van trying to convince someone it has nothing to do with Sultanas? Advertising at its very best.

Anyway, this ‘extra choice’ for us consumers means that I now have to subscribe to not one, but two sports channels if I want to watch when my team plays on the television. The really good news however is that Setanta Sports do not require an annual contract. According to their increasingly irritating advertising materials, you just pay £9.99 a month, with no annual contract as you have with Sky. Bargain eh? So I called up to discuss a subscription.

“Hello Setanta Sports.”

“Hello, I would like some details about your monthly subscription please. Is it really just £9.99 with no annual contract?”

“Yes.”

“And how do I sign up?”

“We can do that for you, with a one-off £10 set-up charge.”

“A set-up charge?”

“Yes, but it is only a one-off.”

“Err, still, that basically makes it £20 for the month doesn’t it?”

“Only if you want it for just one month.”

“Which I do. But even if I subscribe to your service for one thousand months, it still isn’t £9.99 a month on average, is it?”

“We prefer to see it as a one-off charge and £9.99 a month from then on.”

“Let’s agree to disagree on that point. So, I can just pay the £20 and then the service would stop working in one months time?”

“Err, no. You would need to cancel your subscription, it won’t stop automatically. Payment is by Direct Debit.”

“And how would I do that?”

“You can do that over the phone by giving us thirty days notice.”

“Hang on a minute. Thirty days notice? For a one month contract?”

“Yes.”

“So if I want to subscribe to your non-contract £9.99 a month sports channel, I have to sign up with you now, pay you £19.99 immediately, and then tell you I want to cancel my subscription straight away?”

“I would need to put you through to the cancellations department to do that, but you can’t cancel in the first month.”

“I can’t cancel it for a month? So I can’t actually subscribe for just one month at all, can I? And the absolute minimum I can spend with you, even though I only want to subscribe for one month, is £30?”

“Err, yes.”

“And what if I wanted to miss a month and watch again in December?”

“You would need to pay another £10 set-up charge.”

“And sign up for another two months, as a minimum?”

“Yes.”

[Click]

This is one consumer choice I shall be choosing not to take advantage of.