DirecTV subscribers is almost 20 million, hardly 5%. True you need to have sports package or the Premier package to get it.
I agree with you. Many people, including some self-professed "experts," used their knowledge of past struggles getting soccer channels to forecast doom scenarios for BEIN. Well, it's 2012. In the past, people who wanted this or that channel had no idea if there were other people like them or not, they could be easily fooled by the cable company. Today? Today everything is in the open. We can tell if we have plenty of others on our side or not and the cable company has nowhere to hide...
Yup. This day and age we have so much info available. Everyone who has cable/Fios should be flooding their service providers with emails and phonecalls instead of boycotting as proposed by the OP.
Not sure why the initial reaction by some is so bad. Bein is in talks with multiple other providers, one obviously being Comcast, meaning it's highly likely it'll be available to a much larger percentage of the population somewhat soon. So you miss out on one qualifier and some La Liga/Serie A soccer for a few weeks? I;m glad we have a network who thought our WCQers are important enough to buy the rights too. This ups the anti for the other soccer broadcasting outlets like ESPN and NBC, helps raise the value of owning the rights t o broadcast soccer in the US, which probably helps both MLS and our NT teams financially down the road. The games which were going to be on ESPN/NBC still are, so what's the huge uproar about the games which were going for $30 on PPV, shitty quality, instead being broadcast on a network and even though you miss one Jamaica qualifier, the chances definitely increase future qualifiers will be available by your provider and PPV becomes obsolete? It's not like the channel which owns the rights to La Liga, Serie A and MNT WCQers among other things won't end up on comcast and other providers, is it? Does that make sense? Bein doesn't appear to be stupid. They clearly want to branch out into more households. And use a freakin stream for some games if need be. We've all done it. The away qualifiers were going to be on a shitty stream anyway.
Your choice, of course. And I understand, going to battle against these cable companies ain't easy. To tell you the truth, sometimes after a couple of heated phone sessions with them I have to take a quick shower, to reset myself as a human being. I don't know what they do at the end of the day...
I think this is a great thing personally. more competition is going to yield better coverage in the long run. more money and more competitors in the arena will make it more challenging. Al Jazeera has a lot of money to use and already shows a ton of soccer and is used to presenting it around the world. this could be a great thing for the sport with this kind of competition especially if they get thrown into the other packages on cable and such.
I think it kinda sucks that there's not enough interest and viewership to get someone like ESPN to make a decent bid and make the games available to a wider audiance. Having it on some minor network does make it harder to watch, no matter how you want to justify it or hope that the channel will be expanded in the future. But this type of thing will happen until when/if more people actually want to watch the games and the ratings are such that a bigger network wants to pay to show the games. Stations aren't going to show the games as some public service and lose money on them Really though, since I remember when you couldn't even watch the World Cup on TV in the US, or then the days when they would show World Cup games with commercial breaks slotted in, I'm just glad they are televised somewhere. I can at least go to a bar and watch or for those unable to do so the games will all be streamed on the internet somewhere, legal or not. It's just nice that one way or another we can see all the games nowadays.
the previous option was pay per view or fox soccer channel. Bein sports is going to be in more places. they are already a world wide network. just with a different name in the other parts of the world.
If it's any consolation, being with Comcast doesn't make me feel particularly intelligent.... Now, what you have to do is fight on their forum, and on their facebook page and on the phone. Getting others to do likewise. The good thing is that if our efforts with Comcast work, as it's expected, its going to help others put pressure on their own cable deals. So, get busy and keep hope alive!
To the best of my knowledge this is pretty accurate regarding Comcast and BEIN: http://www.multichannel.com/article/488795-BeIN_Sport_Nearing_Comcast_Carriage_Pact_Sources.php
Don't tell that to Schapes who thinks USNT get the viewership that other sports like the NFL, NBA and MLB get and therefore channels like ESPN and NBC Sports should shell out $$$ for the rights fees.
Maybe ESPN and NBC Sports/Fox Soccer won't have any USMNT games. That way ESPN/FOX/NBC SPORTS won't have to bother. ESPN can show the NFL. NBC Sports can show "Caught Looking" (Don't know what that is), Fox can show women's soccer and everybody will be happy. I don't think USMNT games get NFL, NHL, MLB numbers. I get it. But NBC Sports, ESPM, Fox want to go halfway. When it is convenient for us - we have to do a P&L - it rains in that country. I remember when ESPN did away qualifiers - Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, etc. What happened? No American networks are interested, but an Arab channel is. Go figure?
I don't know. Prior to the announcement of acquiring USA Home matches when I used to google "BEIN Sport USA" Very few results popped up. Now there seems to be 10 times the amount of articles and blogs that appear (mostly pertaining to the USA National team games.) To me that is evidence of creating a buzz and publicity that may pay off in the long run.
NBC Sports Network currently shows the NHL. ESPN has in the past. Why no love for USMNT road qualifiers then?
I haven't had cable in several years because the only channels I care to watch require me to buy 73 channels I don't give a damn about and I'm not shelling out a hundred bucks aor more each month to watch one channel. I'm just holding out for the day when we can just pay a fee to get a spoecific channel. Thought Fox Soccer Channel online was close until it turned out you couln't watch any of the decent game live unless you have the cable channel instead of the online version. Until then, beers at a bar while watching a game a week or so are pretty much less than what I'd have to pay for cable anyway and I can always find a stream if necessary. Someone mentioned pay to play earlier in this thread and I do think this is all sort of related, that soccer only gets shown on channels you have to have enough money to afford to get expensive cable packages to watch. This sort of thing keep soccer the province of the afluent.