I enjoy paying to watch my small club play live all 36 weeks of the season. I don't care if it's on FSC, FoxSoccer2Go, NBCSN or NBCSports.com. Objectively, this deal is fine if not better for the Premier League in the US. Take off your blinders.
I don't have Roku, Xbox, PS3. The NFL Sunday Ticket package will cost me money I don't have to spend today. Just because it is in more homes - doesn't mean more people will watch. Take Dish for example - to get NBC SportsNetwork you have to have America's Top 250. To get FSC you need only get America's Top 120 Plus - which I think is twenty dollars per month cheaper. To have Universal Sports Network - you need America's Everything package.
It's not better for me. Games won't be replayed. I can't always sit down on a Saturday and watch 1-2 games. So I record and watch games replayed during the week. Same with Champions League. I have caught up with those games I chose to miss.
So? It sucks to have Dish. The overwhelming majority of people will have access to more EPL games for less money. Just because that isn't the case for or the small number of Dish customers, doesn't make it so for everyone else. FSC: 35 million homes NBC Sports Network: 80 million homes Those are the facts. Dish customers are just a niche segment of the market.
I took JHernandez's "Quality is not the same" to mean more than just resolution. MLB.tv is the best streaming service I've used, but even then there are fluctuations in the video quality that occur far more often than with cable. Other streaming services I've used (MLS's MDL, WatchESPN/ESPN3, FoxSoccer2Go during last season's finale) have been worse. And even when the video is coming in at a high resolution, the video just isn't as smooth. Maybe that's an issue with the PC I use but that's part of the point. It's not simple to get your PC streaming setup to behave as well as a cable connection. (Or a satellite connection, I just can't speak to that experience.) I think streaming is a great option to have, but I can understand the concern. That said, the initial plan of showing 6 games live seems to show a pretty strong commitment to airing lots of games.
What you don't understand is I won't watch them online, can't get basic able where I live, won't pay additional for a Direct kick set up - which means less games. I just can't say - sorry - Saturday AM is my time. I have other commitments ( in other words a life that most of you must not have).
Also, how do we know at this point there won't be some acceptable way to catch (or record) the other 10AM games? There may still even be delayed games rebroadcast at later times. So far NBC is sounding quite promising, even if one's concerned about the other 10AM games. They've made a big commitment.
The argument of Fox Soccer not being in more homes - doesn't mean less access. People can access, if they want. Just because NBC SportsNetwork is in more homes - doesn't mean more people will watch.
Given that NBCSN is in more than twice as many homes, it's reasonable to assume to ratings will be at least slightly higher.
Ratings have improved for MLS since the move from FSC to NBCSN http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/m-l-s-and-nbcsn-give-birth-to-ratings/
By basic cable, I meant the standard digital package on dish, Directv, cable, or fios. If u subscribe to the top 250 or whatever they call it and have a dvr, you'll be set up to see just as many, if not more, games under the new deal. Have u considered Directv? Nbc sports is in their basic package, and you also have access to all the champions League games not otherwise available.
At one point some time in the future, it will be good and consistent quality. However, we are not there yet. As far as replays, TiVo or maybe the cable operator can set-up an on demand channel. Nonetheless, I see this as a win win situation for football fans in America.
Again, my assumption is that TiVo or the cable operator (have Dish - doubt they would do it) would still have to pay more than I am now.
I have actually been pretty happy with Dish. Between beIN Sport and Fox Soccer - I have more than enough football to watch. I understand about the Champions League, but in all honesty - due to other time constraints - I can keep up with the games on FSC and that is about it.
This now means that the 3 English competitions are on different networks, with the PL on NBCSN et al, the FA Cup on FSC, and the League Cup on beIn.
Could be for a lot of reasons though. The league is growing and getting more popular. Couple of things on that front though. If NBC SportsNetwork has EPL games on and then an MLS game at night or later in the day. Will the MLS telecasts Decline. While MLS is getting better every year. It's not the Premier League. The other criticism I have is that (maybe it is a criticism of MLS) they don't have a times lot when games are on tv. The EPL has 7:30 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:30 AM. 7:30 AM, 11:00 AM on Sunday? 2:55 PM Monday. They ought to look at a designated time slot. Maybe NBC Sports Network hopefully will show most, if not all Monday games.
The Big 10 On Demand programming comes with the cost of the 8 dollar Sports Pack. It's an actual channel where when you click on the channel a menu comes up and you can pull up each of the Big 10 Teams that you can watch 2 classic games and 3-5 minute highlights of the games from the Big 10 this season. The Michigan options include the 93 Rose Bowl, the 2001 Citrus Bowl, a Sit Down Interview w/Coach Hoke, an episode of Tailgate 48 looking at the Ohio/Michigan game, and highlights from Week 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from Michigan's Season so far. Brighthouse customers also get Fox Soccer Plus with the Sports Pack so we didn't have to shell out an extra 15 dollars for 1 channel like a lot of providers charge. For 8 dollars I get ESPN U, ESPN Deportes, FUEL, Big 10 Network, YES, MLB Strike Zone, Tennis Channel, PAC 12 Network, NFL Red Zone, World Fishing Network, Sportsmen Channel, Outdoor Channel, Fox Soccer Pus, Gol TV, NESN, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Sports South, Prime Ticket, Maverick, Fox College Atlantic, Fox College Central, and Fox College Pacific. I'm a sports junkie who loves all sports so I'm happy to pay 8 dollars a month so I don't miss a University of Michigan Hockey Game that is picked up on Fox Sports Detroit/Fox College Central or miss the UFC Prelims on FUEL, or watch Bundesliga on GOL TV.
I saw online somewhere that only Seattle and Miami of the 56 media markets that make up the overnight Nielsen TV Ratings have a regularly scheduled local news that would be affected on Saturday's if NBC aired every 12:30p ETZ Saturday kickoff. The kids programming can be moved to late fringe time periods on the weekends or doubled up on weekends where NBC doesn't have a Premier League Game so the stations can reach the threshold of kids programming they need to broadcast to keep their FCC license. I don't think all the local stations will be too thrilled having to give up 2.5 hours of Paid Programming or Syndicated bartered programming slots on the weekend to soccer which doesn't offer hardly any local commercials. That said I see the local NBC affiliates sucking it up as the Network does wield a heavy ax and they have 250 million reasons over the next 3 years that they want to make sure are well spent. And even if games are not aired on NBC because of a local pre-emption I could see the local station moving the game to their digital sub-channels to make sure that the game airs live somewhere. Sunday might be a bit harder because of Meet the Press. The Sunday 11am slot is usually a better game than the 12:30p game on Saturday but I just don't see the local stations wanting to give up airing Meet the Press relatively live, local public affair programming, and most of all Church programming especially in a lot of the small markets.
I figured you would say something like that. It's not because of anything different with the league, it's the TV deal with NBCSN. Rating doubled in a year (2011 to 2012) when they moved to a network in twice the households - do the math. Attendance is up a little bit - ESPN audiences are not up substantially - but Fox Soccer vs NBCSN way up.
Once TWC/BH adds Bein I'll have access to all competitions, so I'll be happy, but I did prefer the 'one stop shopping' aspect of having all things England on the Fox networks. Just seemed like a good fit especially as they also air Sky Sports News