The preliminary EPL fixtures list is out. Some highlights: == Opening Weekend Saturday August 14 Chelsea vs West Brom Tottenham vs Manchester City (Tottenham vs Man City must be played on Saturday due to Tottenham's involvement in the UEFA Champions League Playoff Round on Tuesday August 17 or Wednesday August 18) Sunday August 15 (to be confirmed) Liverpool vs Arsenal Manchester United vs Newcastle (Whichever match to be scheduled for 1330 London Time will air on ESPN2 HD in the US at 8:30am ET/5:30am PT. The other one will be played at 1600 London Time and will be on FSC HD and FSE in the U.S. at 11am ET/8am PT.) == Sunday August 22 or Monday August 23 Manchester City vs Liverpool (Match cannot be played on Saturday August 21 because both teams have UEFA Europa League Playoff Round matches on Thursday August 19; Newcastle vs Aston Villa also cannot be played on August 21) == Sunday September 19 (to be confirmed) Manchester United vs Liverpool (Match cannot be played on Saturday September 18 if Liverpool were to advance to the UEFA Europa League Group Stage, which has matches scheduled for Thursday September 16) == Sunday October 3 (to be confirmed) Chelsea vs Arsenal == Sunday October 17 (to be confirmed) Everton vs Liverpool == Sunday October 24 (to be confirmed) Manchester City vs Arsenal (Match cannot be played on Saturday October 23 if Man City were to advance to the UEFA Europa League Group Stage, which has matches scheduled for Thursday October 21.) == Saturday October 30 Manchester United vs Tottenham (match cannot be played on Sunday October 31 due to UEFA Champions League matches on November 2-3) == Sunday November 7 (to be confirmed) Liverpool vs Chelsea (Match cannot be played on Saturday November 6 if Liverpool were to advance to the UEFA Europa League Group Stage, whcih has matches scheduled for Thursday November 4) == Wednesday November 10 Manchester City vs Manchester United (Expect this one to be on ESPN2 HD in the U.S.) == Saturday November 20 Arsenal vs Tottenham (Match cannot be played on Sunday November 21 due to UEFA Champions League matches on Nov 23-24.) == Saturday November 27 or Sunday November 28 Tottenham vs Liverpool == Saturday December 11 or Sunday December 12 Manchester United vs Arsenal Tottenham vs Chelsea Newcastle vs Liverpool (Possible "Grand Slam" Sunday on BSkyB?) == Sunday December 19 (to be confirmed) Chelsea vs Manchester United == Sunday December 26 (Boxing Day) Arsenal vs Chelsea == Saturday January 15 or Sunday January 16 Liverpool vs Everton == Sunday February 6 (to be confirmed) Chelsea vs Liverpool == Saturday February 12 or Sunday February 13 Manchester United vs Manchester City (cannot be played on Sunday if Man Utd were to have UEFA Champions League match on February 15 or 16) == Saturday February 26 or Sunday February 27 Tottenham vs Arsenal == Saturday March 5 or Sunday March 6 Liverpool vs Manchester United == Saturday March 19 or Sunday March 20 Chelsea vs Manchester City == Saturday April 9 or Sunday April 10 Liverpool vs Manchester City == Saturday April 16 or Sunday April 17 Arsenal vs Liverpool == Saturday April 30 or Sunday May 1 or Monday May 2 Arsenal vs Manchester United == Sunday May 8 (to be confirmed) Manchester United vs Chelsea (Will this match decide the title?) == Saturday May 14 or Sunday May 15 Chelsea vs Tottenham == Round 38 will be on Sunday May 22 with all matches kicking off at 1600 London Time (11am ET/8am PT)
ok so now how long until ESPN and Fox figure out their tv schedules? It would be nice to have it set before the world cup is over for promotional purposes.
BSkyB and ESPN UK are supposed to make their picks for August-October by the end of June (i.e. within the next 2 weeks). ESPN UK will only have 23 matches in 2010-2011, with almost all of them on Saturdays at 1730 London Time. BSkyB will have 115 matches including: 23 matches on Saturdays at 1245 London Time 23 matches on Sundays at 1330 or 1400 London Time at least 23 matches on Sundays at 1600 London Time up to 12 matches on Mondays at 2000 London Time FSI (FSC/FSE & FS+) and ESPN Inc. (ESPN2 and ESPN Classic US) can make their picks after BSkyB and ESPN UK make their picks.
any chance all the games will be available on HD feeds this year? (i.e. the 10 AM ET matches not shown on TV in the UK)
One would expect at least one EPL match on Saturday at 1500 London Time to have HD video in order to satisfy the needs of international broadcasters. The EPL now generates over 20% of its TV revenue from outside the U.K. thanks to outrageous overbids in the Middle East/North Africa (a company associated with the rulers of Abu Dhabi bought the rights), Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Fox has extended its FSC and FS+ listings on their website through Sunday, August 15th, and it lists a live English soccer match at 8:30 am (ET) that day on Fox Soccer Plus. Meanwhile, ESPN2 shows NASCAR programming at that time according to their international viewer schedule (although, in the case of ESPN, it is usual for their listings not to get updated until later). However, it looks like the speculated early Sunday English match for ESPN2 did not materialize as many thought it would.
Exactly, I thought my dream of never having to use streams to see every United game was going to finally come true. Oh well, at least its only one window out of 5.
...and to make matters worse, the Cola-Cola Championship is no more... No, I do not mean that FS+ are no longer showing the FA 2nd tier matches... It's just that the league is now called (drum roll).....the nPower Championship http://www.npower.com/web/football-league/index.htm
I can't wait any longer. I need this damn schedule to come out. Only one month away from community shield.
Something "happened" to the ESPN sublicense deal with FSI since "The Gaffer" reported in late January/early February that ESPN Inc. was supposed to sublicense "83 EPL matches" in 2010-2011. We now know that FSI will keep the 23 Sunday morning (8:30am or 9:30am ET) matches so that FS+ will have at least a handful of "1st pick" EPL matches in order to sell subscriptions. What we don't know yet (because no official announcements have been made): 1. How many matches will ESPN Inc. will sublicense from FSI? I can't manipulate the math to come up with 83 matches if FS+ were keeping the 23 Sunday morning matches. 2. There are only 12 Monday night EPL matches each season and those will no longer have ESPN-branded video available because BSkyB has the rights to Monday night matches in the U.K. during the new contract cycle. I had previously assumed that ESPN2 will NOT sublicense those 12 Monday night matches this season because a) there is no "synergy" or "branding" argument for ESPN Inc. to justify sublicensing those matches for the U.S. market, b) Monday night EPL matches disrupt ESPN2's afternoon talk show schedule, and c) ESPN Inc. was not able to find a sponsor for the 12 Monday night EPL matches on ESPN2 during the 2009-2010 season (U.S. Marines sponsored the Saturday morning matches only.) 3. Furthermore, we don't know yet whether ESPN2 or ESPN Classic will have a match in the 10am ET or 11am ET time slot every EPL match Saturday (which would have been the case if the sublicense were to cover at least 60 games). == For August, we now know: Sa 8/14 7:30am ET Tottenham vs Man City ESPN2(HD) Sa 8/14 9:55am ET Aston Villa vs West Ham ? Sa 8/14 9:55am ET Blackburn vs Everton ? Sa 8/14 12:25pm ET Chelsea vs West Brom FSC(HD)/FSE Su 8/15 10:55am ET Liverpool vs Arsenal FSC(HD)/FSE Mo 8/16 2:55pm ET Man Utd vs Newcastle ? Sa 8/21 9:55am ET Arsenal vs Blackpool ? Sa 8/21 9:55am ET Everton vs Wolves ? Sa 8/21 9:55am ET Stoke vs Tottenham ? Sa 8/21 12noon ET Wigan vs Chelsea FSC(HD)/FSE Su 8/22 8:25am ET Newcastle vs Aston Villa FS+/FOXsoccer.tv Su 8/22 10:55am ET Fulham vs Man Utd FSC(HD)/FSE Mo 8/23 2:55pm ET Man City vs Liverpool ? Sa 8/28 7:30am ET Blackburn vs Arsenal ESPN2(HD) Sa 8/28 9:55am ET Chelsea vs Stoke ? Sa 8/28 9:55am ET Liverpool vs West Brom ? Sa 8/28 9:55am ET Tottenham vs Wigan ? Sa 8/28 12:25pm ET Man Utd vs West Ham FSC(HD)/FSE Su 8/29 8:25am ET Bolton vs Birmingham FS+/FOXsoccer.tv Su 8/29 10:55am ET Aston Villa vs Everton FSC(HD)/FSE == In September: Everton vs Man Utd is currently scheduled for Sunday September 12 at 8:25am ET on FS+ and FOXsoccer.tv. That match will be moved to Saturday September 11 (at 7:30am ET or 12:25pm ET) if Man Utd were drawn to play a UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday September 14. The big one, Man Utd vs Liverpool, will be on Sunday September 19 at 8:25am ET on FS+ and FOXsoccer.tv. Whether FOXsoccer.tv will be able to handle the traffic demand remains to be seen. Bolton vs Man Utd is currently scheduled for Sunday September 26 at 6:55am ET. That match will be moved to Saturday September 25 (likely at 12:25pm ET) if Man Utd were drawn to play a UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday September 28.
I don't think he ever reported a deal, he reported they had an agreement. That stuff can change. Couldn't they just sublicense 10am games after college football is over?
I am "guessing" that FSI and FOX Cable officials (possibly including David Hill) felt that the 23 Sunday morning EPL matches were essential for FS+ because FS+ would not have any "1st pick" EPL matches if those 23 matches were sublicensed to ESPN2. (I am still assuming that ESPN2 or ESPN Classic will have 37 "1st pick" matches on Saturdays at 10am ET or 11am ET plus Boxing Day and midweek rounds, though there is no official confirmation.) FSI should be on the hook to FAPL for approximately $19-20 million each season for U.S. video rights to 380 EPL matches (plus access to Premier League TV video content 24/7). Sublicensing 23 Saturday morning (7:30am or 8:30am ET) matches plus 37 "1st pick" matches on Saturday morning (10am or 11am ET) plus midweek rounds to ESPN Inc., for a total of 60 matches, should result in ESPN Inc. paying FSI about $6 million. FSI needs to sublicense some EPL matches to ESPN, Inc. in order to help pay the bills. Recall that FSI had bid for U.S. video rights to EPL (on the order of $19-20 million/season) and the UEFA Champions League (should be on the order of $8-10 million/season) with the assumption that Setanta Sports North America was going to be the sublicensee. That assumption turned out to be incorrect.
Chelsea will play 2010 FA Cup runner-up Portsmouth in the Community Shield in a rematch of the 2010 FA Cup final. Sunday August 8 at 9:55am ET on FSC(HD) and FSE.
Chelsea will in fact face Manchester United in the 2010 Charity Shield: http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFACommunityShield/NewsAndFeatures/2010/Shield2010
You are correct. The 2010 FA Community Shield matchup will be: Chelsea v Manchester United Sunday August 8 9:55am ET on FSC (HD) and FSE.