For those of you who have had a chance to experience Setanta-i — the new broadband video service from Setanta Sports, you should be now sold on how incredible the interface is plus the quality of the video and the array of features available (read the product review here).

But after experiencing Setanta-i — no matter how it’s improved leaps and bounds compared to Setanta Broadband — there are still some enhancements which would take it into the next stratosphere. Here’s my wish list of feature enhancements:

  1. Add matches from Setanta Xtra. Right now, the only lucky souls who can get Setanta Xtra content are the ones who have DirecTV or an annual subscription to Setanta Broadband. The ideal solution to make Setanta-i more attractive is to make all live Setanta Xtra games available in addition to the ones shown on Setanta Sports. This will greatly add to the amount of games Setanta-i customers will be able to watch on a monthly basis.
  2. Watch a game from the beginning even if it’s already in progress. If you log into Setanta-i while a game is in progress, you can either record it and wait until the game is over to watch it, or you can watch it live from that minute of the game onwards. However, a beneficial feature would be able to have a third option — which would be to watch the game from the beginning.
  3. Add Tivo-like functionality. It’s possible that this may already exist, but if so, I haven’t been able to find it. But I would love to be able to log into Setanta-i and have more options regarding what content to pick and choose to subscribe to. Personally, I would like to indicate in Setanta-i that all future Premier League games should be recorded for me, as well as football related shows such as the Friday Football Show and Football Matters. I don’t want to have to go in there every week and set which games to record or not, if at all possible.
  4. Add more interactivity. This would not appeal to everyone, but it would a welcome feature to either switch on or off the ability to interact with fellow soccer fans who are also online watching the game at the same time. It could be as simple as an instant messenger that’s built into the corner of the Setanta-i screen that allows fans to chat with one another during a game. Setanta should proceed with caution regarding adding this feature to make sure it doesn’t reduce the quality of the actual live video of the game, but if it’s possible to add, this would be a massive differentiator for Setanta and would be a glimpse at the future of watching soccer online.

The more I use Setanta-i, the more I’m impressed by it. To me, this is a much better experience of watching a game than on television. I’m also really looking forward to being able to watch the Champions League via Setanta-i beginning next season (albeit at an additional charge, to be determined by Setanta). If only all of the Premier League games from Fox would be available via Setanta-i, that would be a dream come true.

What do you think about the above recommended feature enhancements, and what other features do you think Setanta should consider adding to Setanta-i in the future? Click the comments link below and let us know.