For those with DirecTV, they broadcast all of the Champions League games so that 10/3 game with Olympiacos should be available.
I'm really sold on paying 15$/mo for FS+ with this amazing non hd smaller picture with side boxes preview.
It's not so much the $15, but the fact that there is only one game a month or so I care about that they show. And that's if I can even manage to watch it. I'm hoping this will all fix itself the next time Premier League rights are up for sale, but who knows.
I just think it's silly to have a free preview, where you're trying to get people to buy your product, to air it in lower quality and delayed. But yeah, hopefully when rights are up we can get something more consistent.
Epi, I assume you did your daylight savings time homework this time and that's why the middle match is 8:45am, right? We've all been screwed up once or twice in the last few years when the USA & UK got out of sync in their DST schedules. Thanks for all your hard work, as always!
Dish Network has continued to show the FSN soccer programming on an HD Sports Alternate Channel, usually channel 444 - even in the CSN areas. The Guide listing typically starts with SOC:
Yeah, I'm not seeing it listed, I went through all of their schedules and nothing. Too bad, apparently it's going to be a sellout crowd at the Emirates.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...gins-tender-to-sell-soccer-rights-in-americas The rights are up for sale for next year on. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. I'm praying for ESPN. I don't know anything about the quality of bein's broadcasts. NBC would be a dark horse. Anyone but fox. Pleaseee
Wow that's interesting. I make a big vote for FOX, a big thumbs down for BeIN (yikes) and a real concern about ESPN. You can hate the silly/stupid presenters on Fox Soccer News, but what Fox does a great job of is: (1) Showing the weekly EPL highlights show unadulterated. I LOVE THIS SHOW! Have done for so many years I've lost count. (2) Showing so many EPL matches either live or short delay, and with the England-based commentatary. They showed so many Arse matches last year live it was unbelievable. (3) Having enough channels to easily accomodate #1 & #2. FSC, FS+, regionals like YES, MSG, etc. (4) Every carrier has FSC channel and most of the other little foxes as well. I would be pretty sure that if any of the other networks win the EPL rights that Fox currently has, it won't be nearly as good. From what I can tell BeIN would be a near disaster. My 2c.
Keep it like it is... haven't ever missed a match, and it's all in HD... i never watch the pre/post game crap anyway.. if anything it is marginally worse in that they used to show sky's pregame show for big games.. that was a nice bonus (the english know how to broadcast a game proper).
Fair points. I don't get BeIN, so I'm not advocating for them, but just saying I can't speak to their quality. ESPN consistently has the best broadcast quality of any of them. They have plenty of channels as well, although football would obviously be a concern around this time. I can't stand FOX's pregame/halftime/postgame team. And yesterday they talked through the beginning of the match, not even switching to the live feed on time. And the commentators are just from the international feed the premier league puts out; I prefer ESPN's in house production more than the international feed. Other's may disagree (we might miss another debate about zonal marking). I also refuse to pay for FS+ when they show maybe one game a month I give a shit about. They rotate their games around just enough to piss you off and make you want to buy the premium channel, when they could almost always easily throw it on another channel or the local feeds. But I don't care that much. I just think it'll be interesting to watch. Will BeIN splash crazy money? How much does FOX care about protecting the Fox Soccer brand (especially now that they have the WC rights)? And now that ESPN has lost the WC, what will they invest in?
I watched a stream of the JAM-USA WQ qualifier which I believe was a BeIN feed and I have to say that the PBP guy was way worse than when Bob Ley used to call my HS soccer matches on Cablevision in the late 70's! I'll take quality of presentation & commentary over resolution quality any day. And even though ESPN has a few channels, there is absolutely zero chance of them ever showing as much footy as Fox does, or to repeat hilight shows or matches at multiple times on multiple channels. I agree, Fox's team is woeful, except maybe Rob Stone who I've always liked. Wynalda 100% full of sh*t. But their failing to show the first 2 mins of the match they said was due to technical problems. Still they could've announced that 3 mins earlier, no? ESPN's Saturday morning matches w/ Darke & Macca aren't too bad, but I cannot in any way imagine ESPN could do that for multiple matches per day, let alone simultaneously. I think the EPL is the heart & soul of Fox Soccer. I can't imagine any contract anywhere near as important... or potentially bigger a loss. However if it becomes a huge bidding war, e.g. w/ BeIN, can Fox afford it?? And if not, what would our world be like then? At best some pretty awful BeIN coverage, at worst no BeIN to watch on our cable providers (as it is now for me). I don't even want to think about that!!
I tend to agree. Losing the Premier League would be a huge blow to fox. But I don't know how profitable it is ether, and how much they'll be willing to put up. I also don't know how the US rights auction works. Do they do it in blocks, or does one company win all the rights? I wouldn't mind Fox winning some coverage and keeping FSC around. But I'd also be in favor of ESPN and NBC getting in on it. Everyone gets those channels - much better than FS+.
As I've said before, I have no inside connections or sources, but I will be absolutely stunned if BeIN doesn't get at least some of the rights. They will simply pay whatever it takes. They don't appear to operate within the normal confines of TV that we're used to. Also, Fox already threw a ton of money into the World Cups and Champions League. Maybe ESPN will give it a run, but that would be a pretty major departure from their normal strategy. Also, the play-by-play announcer for BeIN on the U.S. matches was Phil Schoen. I'm a fan, but everyone is entitled to their preferences.
Phil Schoen is the guy who used to do GolTV w/ Ray Hudson right? If so, that was NOT the guy I heard on the JAM-USA stream I watched... he was borderline comotose. I don't love Schoen but he's way better than they guy I heard. Still... There's only one........Martin Tyler....... one..... Martin Tyler.....
ESPN has so many other sports that I don't see how they could do a good job with a bigger slate of games than they currently have. I hope Fox gets a good portion of the BPL games. Even though their pre-game, halftime, and post-game coverage sucks, the games that are presented are top notch in that they use the English presenters. BeIn may have the money to buy everything, but they currently don't have the distribution agreements in place, and who knows how long it'll take to get their channels on cable providers. Look how long it took NFL Network to finally be available on all cable television providers.