News: La Liga US rights awarded to Al Jazeera Sports Network

Discussion in 'TV, Satellite & Radio' started by Live247tv, Mar 15, 2012.

  1. blackhornet

    blackhornet Member

    Jun 26, 2008
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    so quick question - who did more: Setanta or Gol?
     
  2. Cpt_K

    Cpt_K Member

    Jan 20, 2005
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Good question!

    I didn't have Setanta but from the streams that I watched the duo of Pat Dolan and Paul Dempsey did the best studio show of any soccer studio show I've seen on a regular basis here in America. I enjoyed Special 1 TV. They had good games to air like the 7:30a and first choice game at 10a on Saturdays along with the 8:30a game on Sunday. The only negative is that they never got good distribution on all of the cable providers not to mention the PPV channel angle didn't work here as they ended up out of business.

    GOL TV brought La Liga and Serie A to me for the 1st time on a regular basis not to mention UEFA Cup on Thursdays which could be a good watch after they got the rights from Fox. I'm a huge fan of Uncle Ray and Gentlemen Phil and look forward to their commentary every weekend. I like that they offer German League after Fox let that property go when they got the rights to Setanta's games. My Colombian friend at work loves the network because he can watch his beloved Cali on a semi-regular basis.

    In the end the winner was the soccer fan because both channels brought programming to the US that wasn't seen on TV regularly till the last 10 years or so.
     
  3. jhernandez86

    jhernandez86 Member

    Sep 22, 2004
    Setanta never got the distribution that goltv has. I am of what is going to become of Goltv.
     
  4. BlueInter8889

    BlueInter8889 Member

    Mar 27, 2012
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Is there any chance of GolTV partnering up with MLS (especially since FSC will not show MLS this year)? MLS viewship is on par with the regular (outside top 4) EPL games, unless MLS rights are tooo expensive GolTV should try to be partner with them in order to get the fan appeal to stay in the English language packages.

    MLS teams are giving their local broadcast rights away for almost free (at least in Houston) in order to generate greater fan interest. It'll suit both MLS and Gol's interests to partner up. MLS get another large national platform and Gol gets another product that appeals to English language viewers, a win - win.
     
  5. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    GOLTV is too small for MLS. Only 13 million subs nationwide.

    MLS is better off (in my opinion) partnering with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, and COX Communications (which have a joint venture known as iNDemand) to launch MLS Network, probably in time for the 2015 season when the next media rights contract cycle starts for MLS.

    (The Pacific 12 Conference chose to partner with Comcast/Time Warner Cable/Bright House/COX to build out its 7 PAC 12 Networks. Time Warner Cable is running that show behind the scenes. The San Francisco studios of the PAC 12 Networks is located in the same building where Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/Comcast SportsNet California has its studios.)



    Don Garber, Mark Abbott, et. al. have been planning for MLS Network for many years. 2015 is probably the perfect time to launch it and iNDemand appears to be the perfect partner.
     
  6. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    At this point, Qatar Media has demonstrated that it has no use for the "GOLTV" brand.

    Qatar Media's sports TV brand in English-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and French-speaking markets is "beIN", which is derived from "bien", which means "good" in both French and Spanish.

    At this point, one would have to suspect that Qatar Media has moved far enough along with MEDIAPRO as its production partner in the U.S. Hispanic market to consider purchasing a controlling stake in GOLTV, Inc.

    MEDIAPRO is using the Emir's money to build a new public relations toy for the Emir.
     
  7. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    According to SportsProMedia.com, GOLTV, Inc. paid $24 million for the U.S. rights to La Liga in 2009-2012.

    (The $24 million figure does NOT include rights in Canada, which are only worth around $1.5-2 million for 3 seasons. Canada is really small potatoes compared to the U.S.)

    http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/goltv_wins_la_liga_three-year_television_rights_extension/

    (The figure in the box is incorrect. Off by a factor of 10. But you already know that.)

    Remember that GOLTV and ESPN Deportes combined will earn about $35 million in subscriber fees in 2012 (+/- 10%.)

    I am aware that Univision Deportes Network offered $75 million for the U.S. rights in 2012-2015, which is a reasonable offer because 1) the economy has improved, 2) more young viewers in the U.S. want to watch Barcelona and Real Madrid, and 3) Univision would almost certainly have given away el Clasico on free-to-air TV.

    beIN Sports USA bid at least $120 million, if not closer to $135 million.


    There was no way ESPN, Inc. would be willing to spend $20 million/year on a U.S. sublicense for La Liga when ESPN Deportes itself is only able to earn around $11 million/year in subscriber fees.

    beIN Sports USA knew what the absolute upper limit was for GOLTV and ESPN Deportes, and proceeded to blow them both away by tacking on another $20-30 million to that limit.

    ==

    FOX Sports Media Group will run into the same issue when the U.S. rights to the English Premier League are tendered for auction in August. ESPN, Inc. in particular has an upper limit of how much it wants to pay for its U.S. sublicense.

    At least we now know with 95% confidence (if not closer to 99%) that FOX is willing to walk away, as the option to flip FOX Soccer into "FOX Sports 1" by stuffing it with college sports on evenings and weekends is on David Hill's table.
     
  8. Lyrical S.

    Lyrical S. Member+

    Aug 22, 2006
    Morelia, Michoacan
    Club:
    Club América
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Dude where do you get all this speculation?

    How do you know Bein Sports will exist in the USA?
     
  9. coracaodoporto

    Jan 3, 2012
    Club:
    FC Porto
    You really think the Glazers, Lerner, Henry and Kroenke would allow an Arab owned tv channel which has no desire to make money and will have very little carriage to gain EPL rights in the US? These owners are sending their teams on Summer Tours in the US for a reason which is to expand their brand. Allowing Bein Sports to get EPL rights would do the exact opposite.
     
  10. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    1. beIN Sports USA can always agree in writing before submitting the tender document to buy time on another network to air 10-12 big matches.

    ION Media (formerly PAX TV), which reaches over 100 million households free-to-air, offers cut-rate time on weekend mornings at less than 50% what the likes of CBS and CW would charge (i.e. less than $150,000 per 2-hour block on ION vs over $300,000 per 2-hour block on CBS,) with more flexibility than the other networks because ION Media is "all infomercials, all the time" except during prime time.

    2. If beIN Sports USA were to bid $300-330 million with an agreement to buy time on another network to air 10-12 big matches written into the tender document, do you really think that the Premier League can afford to turn that down and accept a bid from FOX-ESPN-(Univision) at $225-270 million?

    FOX knows that ESPN, Inc. is not likely to be willing to go beyond $90 million for its sublicense. Ditto Univision.

    beIN Sports USA knows what the threshold of pain is for FOX, ESPN and Univision.

    FOX, ESPN, and Univision know that beIN Sports USA won't have any threshold of pain until 2022.

    FOX also knows that beIN Sports USA will go after the U.S. rights to the UEFA Champions League for 2015-2018 when those rights are tendered in 2013 or 2014. FOX will have the same problem to deal with in 18-24 months even if FOX-ESPN-(Univision) were able to fend off beIN Sports USA for the rights to the English Premier League.

    Look, NewsCorp and ESPN have dealt with "irrational" bidders for media rights to EPL in Asia. Each time, ESPN STAR Sports smartly walked away and let the "stupid money" play with their new toy.
     
  11. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    Temporary studio space has already been leased from MEDIAPRO's Miami, Florida subsidiary.

    Internet domain names have already been registered.

    A brand consultant has already earned a small fortune for coming up with a trilingual brand from scratch.
     
  12. KFofB

    KFofB Member

    Oct 31, 2007
    Mittelfeld
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    spain is running north of 25% unemployment. 5.8% on their 10-yr. these classicos better start getting wicked good or they're proper f-ed. ;)
     
  13. Lyrical S.

    Lyrical S. Member+

    Aug 22, 2006
    Morelia, Michoacan
    Club:
    Club América
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    LOL..

    I want to see proof for Bein Sport USA, not the french version..

    The easiest guess would be that Gol TV would be working with or would be sold to Al-Jazeera.. Not the confusion you are creating with what YOU THINK might happen..
     
  14. matty311

    matty311 Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    According to my sources a certain "someone" who works at a certain "soccer channel" out of "south Florida" has been racking up alot of frequent flyer miles going between the U.S and Doha meeting with the Qatari royal family. I can't reveal what it is they have been discussing, but lets just say bigtime "petrol dollars" are being spent on "trademarking brands", discussing "deloitte money league football clubs" and registering "domain names" on "godaddy.com".
     
  15. coracaodoporto

    Jan 3, 2012
    Club:
    FC Porto
    Is Goltv gonna be bought out and turned into beIn Sport? So many different rumors and sources that I find it hard to believe any of them.
     
  16. Cantona

    Cantona Member

    Jul 12, 1999
    Texas/Luton/Manc
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    WRONG... again Oliver you are "presuming" too much...

    Al Jazeera has NOT leased any space via MediaPro in Miami... there have been inquiries regarding the possible takeover of GolTv.. but nothing has went forward in the negotiations.. at this point Al Jazeera are looking to startup their channels.. 1,2 and possibly 3 down the road. Unfortunately it doesnt seem they are in a rush for their US launch as we would have hoped.. they are focusing on the Europe launch right now..my concern is that they get things straight prior to the season starting..

    Cantona---
     
  17. Cantona

    Cantona Member

    Jul 12, 1999
    Texas/Luton/Manc
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    to clarify..

    internet access will be available at the season start.. but its a guess as to whats going to happen for the channel launch..

    Cantona---
     
  18. Hellas04

    Hellas04 Guest

    I have been reading through this thread and still am not totally clear on what is happening here?! This is what I have been able to grasp thus far:

    1- Al Jazeera has acquired the rights to the French league, Spanish league & Italian league- correct?! Are these rights US only or do they have the rights for Canada as well?! In Canada, EuroWorld Sport has the rights for Ligue 1, Italian & Spanish rights expire at the end of the current season and thus far there has been no announcement on who has acquired the rights for the next contract cycle?!

    2- Al Jazeera plan on launching their own channel to air this content on in the US and Canada (?). In addition, they are supposedly in the process of launching a channel in France where they have acquired the rights to Ligue 1. It will be called Bein Sport- what kind of stupid name is that, what does Bein mean??

    Regarding Canada, they cannot launch a channel here unless they partner up with a Canadian broadcaster as CRTC regulations do not allow a foreigner to own 100% of a broadcasting channel or company. *IF* this info about them launching an Al Jazeera soccer channel is true then they would need to either partner up with EuroWorld Network/TLN or GolTV Canada. Also, I don't see them launching a French language service as there is no need for it. TV5 Canada airs a ligue 1 match every week in French, which tells me there is not a huge interest from the French speaking population in watching French soccer. If there was, more games would be available on one of the French sports networks (RDS, TVA Sports).

    This Huhe888 person seems to be throwing out a lot of speculative info but has yet to provide any concrete proof of any of these things he is posting about. Have any PR been issued about Al Jazeera acquiring the rights to all these leagues?!
     
  19. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    Al Jazeera paid only EURO 192 million (or EURO 32 million/year) to acquire WORLDWIDE (ex-France) rights to Ligue 1 for 2012-2018. That deal was officially announced in May 2011, nearly a year ago.

    http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/al_jazeera_sports_wins_ligue_1_international_distribution_rights/

    Though not officially announced, there will be a "beIN Sport International" French-language service in the Americas, with Ligue 1 as the cornerstone product. That channel will be a premium a-la-carte satellite/cable TV channel in the U.S. (at least $10/month if not higher.)

    The logical partner for "beIN Sport International" in Canada is TVA Sports (owned by Quebecor Media), which has a ton of time to fill on weekends and lacks access to the only "Tier 1" sports TV product that matters to Francophones in Quebec, the NHL Montreal Canadiens (which is locked up for years to come by RDS, which is owned by Bell Media with ESPN, Inc. holding a minority equity stake.)

    (TV5 Quebec/Canada is NOT interested in more than 1 Ligue 1 match each week so TV5 would not be a logical partner for "beIN Sport International".)

    We don't know yet whether EuroWorld Sport (TeleLatino) will have Ligue 1 next season. If beIN Sports Canada (in English) were to launch, then EuroWorld Sport will not have access to Ligue 1 for the next 6 seasons.

    ==

    "beIN" is a trilingual brand, formed by transposing the letters "i" and "e" in the word "bien", which means "good" in French and Spanish.

    The brand consultant who came up with "beIN" earned a small fortune for his services. Coming up with a clever brand that will work across 3 languages is not easy.

    ==

    If you don't want to believe anything until the press release is issued, you are an idiot. Dozens of people would have already been hired by the new channel before the press release announcement is issued. beIN Sport 1 and 2 in France had already hired a staff of over 100 when the press release came out last weekend.
     
  20. Cantona

    Cantona Member

    Jul 12, 1999
    Texas/Luton/Manc
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    Oliver.. where is your PROOF on Al Jazeera leasing space via MediaPro??????


    NONE..

    im sorry.. but we need to continue to call Oliver out.. he is not even making an informed guess this time.. he has NO INSIDE INFORMATION that anyone else on these boards could not find out with a search engine.. so please take all of his speculation with nothing more than a grain of salt..

    dont fall for his predictions.. like he did when he called for the end of Fox Soccer a couple of years ago..

    Oliver thinks that because he ran soccertv.com and attended a couple of trades shows with advertisers 10+ years ago.. he thinks he is an "insider".. he knows nothing more than anyone else.

    Cantona---
     
  21. Hellas04

    Hellas04 Guest

    So, they have worldwide rights to the French league, what about the Italian and Spanish, I see you conveniently left out any mention of those?!

    Do you just make stuff up as you go- first you say Ligue 1 might air on EWS again next season and then you say that Al Jazeera is going to launch their own channel to air the matches- which one is it?! You also mention them possibly partnering up TVA Sports- are they going to launch their own channel or are they going to sub-license out content to other broadcasters- make up your mind!?

    A press release is an official document issued directly from the company, while you are just some person posting stuff on a message board-are you affiliated with any of these associated companies in any way?! If not then why exactly should we believe anything you say?!

    Oh and the name calling is not necessary, although it does indicate to me what kind of person I am dealing with. ;)
     
  22. corolla

    corolla Member

    Jan 8, 2008
    Club:
    Olympique de Marseille
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Guess im a total idiot then because i wont be watching la liga on univision (as Ollie fearlessly predicted) and i now watch SPL matches on FS+ every week (which Ollie also predicted as something that would never happen sans fear).

    Its very clear that Ollie boy doesnt even really enjoy the sport that the rest of us love. Hes more concerned with who is in the Deloiite list and making fearless predictions, most of which are wrong. Even when theyre right, you could have read them 1st at EPL talk without the annoying all knowing media insider bullshit. Good thing hes a "media insider" because no one would ever put him on camera as a media outsider!!
     
  23. Redbullsnation2012

    May 26, 2010
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Wondering when does this JSC USA channel launches?? August??
     
  24. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    With all due respect, Canada is "small potatoes" compared to the U.S.

    Canada is NOT a priority for global media companies because 1) the market is too small to matter, and 2) the CRTC is way too protectionist with draconian CanCon requirements, which resulted in the death of FOX Sports World Canada and the eventual exit of Setanta Sports from the market (absorbed by SportsNet.)

    Even NewsCorp (FOX) exited the regional sports TV business in Canada by selling its 20% stake of SportsNet back to Rogers.

    Ligue 1 will air in FRENCH in Canada, but more likely as a programming block on a channel that needs sports programming such as TVA Sports than as a standalone "beIN Sport International" (which cannot air as is without modification due to the CanCon requirement.)

    Because TV5 is only interested in one match each week, TV5 would not be a good partner for beIN Sport International (in French).

    beIN Sports Canada (in English) can either air Ligue 1 itself (on a channel owned by a Canadian partner) or sublicense it to EuroWorld Sport. That arrangement is still up in the air.

    As for rights to Serie A and La Liga in Canada, the likes of SportsNet, The Score, TeleLatino, and GOLTV Canada would have announced that they have won the rights if the contracts have been signed. The fact that the deals were done at least month ago but no press release has been issued by anyone should be a "tell" that you should be able read easily.

    --

    If you don't like my message that Canada is too small to matter, you are welcome to join idiots such as "Cantona" and "Corolla", who have too much time on their hands to stalk and heckle an absolute nobody.
     
  25. huhe888

    huhe888 Red Card

    Oct 3, 2007
    The idiot above didn't even know that FS+ had lost the rights to Ligue 1 and that SPL is a direct replacement for Ligue 1 before he started heckling two weeks ago.

    4 Old Firm matches are worth much more to FOX Soccer that the entire Ligue 1 season because...

    None of the Ligue 1 brands are worth anything in the U.S. market. No Ligue 1 side has played on U.S. soil in the last 20 years.

    If FOX Soccer/FS+ were really interested in Ligue 1 for next season, then FOX Soccer would have made a sublicensing offer that Al Jazeera could not refuse. Other than its own Paris St. Germain, Al Jazeera couldn't care less about the rest of Ligue 1 in the U.S. market.

    If FOX Soccer/FS+ were really interested in SPL, FS+ would have gotten SPL 18 months ago when the SPL sent representatives to FOX Soccer in Los Angeles to start negotiations.

    SPL is nice for FOX Soccer and FS+, but is is not a core product. Never have been. Never will be.

    With that said, SPL is a much more valuable product for FOX Soccer to have than Ligue 1 because the pubs can use the SPL, especially the Old Firm Derby, to bring in customers.

    The pubs in the U.S. have ZERO use for Ligue 1.


    Don't like the message? Go tell Marseille, Lyon, etc. to get off their rear ends and start marketing in the U.S.
     

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