How fast an internet connection will be required to watch EPL football via internet

[potty]

This post is related to my other thread just posted regarding establishing a wired internet connection in multiple rooms in my house.

I am considering canceeling my Showtime subscription and using that money to pay for a greatly increased etisalat al shamil internet connection - I currently have 512kb. The plan is then to watch up to date UK tv etc via the internet and services such as BBC iPlayer rather than the vastly out of date offerings currently available from Showtime.

An important part of this will the English Premier League football which will be available via a number of routes the most cost effective of which is likely to be live streaming on the internet. So what internet speed am I likely to need to watch live football via the internet, accessed by a mac-mini and displayed on a 42inch plasma? Are there any problems with this idea that I should be conscious of before going down the route of buying the mac-mini, cancelling Showtime and increasing my internet connection speed?

All help and suggestions very much welcomed!

[fangpyre]

Cable will offer a more reliable service.
Most sites are blocked to a region, BBC to UK, HULU to US, etc…
There are ways to get them to work, but they will either outweigh your saving or the increased bandwidth you bought.

[potty]

Thanks for the response fangpyre.

Whilst cable may provide a more reliable service, I am looking to go down the internet television route as this is surely where everything is going as telephone, television, movies and other online content all merge into one compared to historically when they were discreet items.

With regard to regioanl issues related to online cointent I am aware of this and that this can be overcome - I would prefer to leave that discussion there as I am sure you will understand.

My question still remains - what speed connection do I need to watch internet tv succesfully? Will 4Mb do the trick or do I need top go faster and more expensive?

[fangpyre]

4MB should be enough, but of course the more the better.
Etisalat has a good offer on e-life for an 8MB connection.

However, my point is when you get around the regional issues, you essentially slowed down your connection.
There are ways to fix THAT, but these cost more money.

[potty]

My concern with e-life is the 100GB fair usage limit. If this is my main tv connection that might not be enough - I just don't know. I get your point with regard to losing speed when overcoming regional issues.

[fangpyre]

They said there is no longer a 100GB limit, but there is still a fair use issue.
What that is is anyone's guess.
THEY probably don't know.