I saw this post in the Fox Stupidity thread: And it reminded me that there was way more positive in what Fox did than negative, although you wouldn't know it from all the flack they got. So I too want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Fox Soccer (nee Fox Sports Channel) and Rupert Murdoch. In the late 90's and early 00's they completely revolutionized EPL & footy coverage in the USA, and enabled me to follow my beloved Arsenal via TV, in a way that I never dreamed was possible in the barren 80's and 90's. As good a job as NBC is doing so far with its LIVE EPL coverage, there are still things that they aren't doing (and sadly may never do) that Fox did great: 1) 24x7 footy-dedicated channel FSC (not to mention a 2nd channel FSP very close behind) 2) Re-airing matches 2-4X in the hours/days immediately following the match 3) Nightly football news/highlights show (Fox Soccer News/Report) at dependable time slots (e.g. 10pm ET), covering EPL, USMNT, MLS and many other leagues worldwide 4) Alternate news show at (fairly?) dependable time slots (Sky Sports News) 5) Many airings of peerless Premier League Productions shows, e.g. my #1 favorite: EPL Review 8pm Sunday 6) Other great content like: Greatest Goals, <you team's> Greatest Moments, etc, etc Of course for me the main thing they did was the most basic: show my club's matches live on TV virtually every weekend. (I realize that for followers of Fulham or Stoke that wasn't true) And of course there are many other things that Fox did great, which I've left out (as well as more than a few far-from-great thing) But again, they deserve a HUGE thanks for all they've done for all of us EPL/footy junkies over these decades. I hope other relative newbies like NBC, ESPN & BeIN will continue to learn some lessons from what Fox did well. RIP Fox Soccer Channel.
While I am sad that Fox Soccer has gone away, I think it is good for the growth of the sport in the US for soccer to be integrated into the regular sports programming at NBC, ESPN and Fox. It means that soccer is less of niche sport.
I am thankful for the effort FSC put towards soccer in this country. However, I am happy someone new is giving it a shot. Fox's production of games was poor IMO.
I've heard that said by more than a few. I'm not sure what that means though. For me the best "production" any network can do for a live EPL game is to just let the native British matchday commentators do their thing (the ones that come with the feed). And then maybe add some US-based analysis/highlights before, after & at half-time, assuming that doesn't come with the feed. Fox did that fine for my liking. Are you talking about a different kind of production? Or for different games like MLS where they had to use Fox commentators?
As with many others, I have had my problems with Fox Soccer especially post-Fox Soccer Report. But like all memorial services, lets remember the good that they have done. If it weren't for Fox Soccer, I would still think that soccer is played professionally in Mexico and like most Americans would remain by and large ignorant towards the beautiful game except during the World Cup, Olympics, and Women's soccer for reasons other than the sport. When I was much younger, I was always curious about where the World Cup players go to hone their craft in between the said events. Aside from the Mexican players, I was not able to become familiar with the world's most prolific players on a regular basis. Thanks to Fox Soccer, I was introduced to the UEFA Champions League which still remains as the gift that keeps on giving, then to the likes of AC Milan, Inter, and Juventus in Serie A as well as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United playing in the Premier League. Before I knew it, I became more interested in the pivotal league games that would determine Champions League berth at the close of the season. Then came the 2006 World Cup, it was almost instantaneous of the number of faces and names that I was able to recognize. Afterwards, I've just stuck with all the highs and lows ever since. I am at the point where I am hardly as passionate of American sport as I am with international football until they have promotion and relegation (yes, I know, wishful thinking). With all that said, I'll dedicate a song to the Fox Soccer I once knew.
On U-Verse, it was still at the FOX Soccer location on the guide, but it said FXX. I think I saw something about it moving over the next few days/weeks.
Gotta be honest in that I didn't know this was going down until I turned it on tonight. Sad day if I'm being truthful but I also understand why this had to happen and the good that will come from this down the road.
Yeah tonite was a night where Fox Soccer News & Sky Sports News would've been all over the last-minute transfers. Instead there was Fox Soccer Daily which, from what I could tell only mentioned Bale & Ozil. I guess partly because they aired at ~4pm ET, so they're supposedly going to leave it until tomorrow afternoon's show to cover it all. And although my Tivo said ESPN FC was on EspnNews at 11pm tonite, it was actually just SportsCenter. That surprised me, but I guess I shouldn't have been. It just underscores how there's a big programming vacuum where FSN & SSN used to be. Why couldn't Fox rekindle FSN, air it at 10pm +/- on FS1 and/or FSP? They've got the expertise. They already made the capital investment in studio, tech, etc. They could strip it down to 30 mins, with 1-2 cheap presenters, and make a go of it. And there are many thousand habitual consumers who would probably come back to it in a NY minute, if it was comparable to before. Please???
Agree, now that the rubber has met the road with all of this, there is a massive vacuum of space that used to be filled with soccer. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be good for the fan of the sport? It seems weird that with the popularity of soccer going up in this country, the coverage available, outside of live EPL, has decreased dramatically. Sucks, actually.
Disagree. There are 24/7 Football, Baseball, Tennis & Golf channels. There's gotta be a 24/7 soccer channel!! BE-IN is close but show the occasional motor sport and other non-soccer program. They should try to establish a really good daily news roundup, and should show the SkySports news (that FSC used to show). They could have filled the vacuum yesterday....
There is a good 24/7 soccer network,GOLTV. But, no one except DirecTV spanish subscribers get it. A real shame. They show some great leagues on there with Bundesliga,Brazil and Argentina. When I resubscribed to DirecTV I was disappointed they got rid of GolTV in the sports pack. Now more than ever they need to bring it back.
It sucks most providers got rid of GOLTV once Bein was added. It wasn't like GOLTV was going out of business and replaced by Bein.
A lot of folks on these boards had pronounced GOL dead. Turns out they may have found themselves a nice niche as the only all soccer channel
Yeah they have Bundesliga and Eridivisie. Add a few more like Portugal and they would be back in business if providers get them back.
I don't disagree with you. I agree about the other sports (and you forgot NBA and NHL, which both have 24 channels), but all have much more significant television deals with other networks, and had significant impact in the general sports television broadcasting prior to their own channels. And none of those channels broadcast the majority of the games being shown live. NHL has a deal with NBC (and its networks). NBA with ESPN and ABC. MLB and NFL with, well everyone. Tennis shows US Open matches live, when they are not a major network (CBS and ESPN, I think). Golf...well who gives a crap, it's not really a sport anyway. Essentially, the NFL Network, MLB Network, et al are "vanity" channels for the leagues, allowing them to produce programming (and show highlights, reruns of games, etc.) that project a positive light on the leagues. I just listened to a story on NPR about this a couple of weeks ago. The leagues want to control the message and they are positive PR and positive revenue streams for the leagues. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Fox Soccer. The primary reason I picked Dish Network over DirectTV in 1999 was that Dish offered Fox Soccer (then Fox Sports World) as part of one its primary packages and I wanted my goddamn soccer. I still have Dish to this day. Also, I want there to be 24 hour soccer channels (BeIn, GolTV, etc.). It is great to turn to a TV channel any time and watch it. However, what I really want is for soccer in general, and MLS in particular, to be integrated into the greater sports broadcasting network across the nation and to be treated just like every other sport. To do this, they had to avoid the "niche" that having their primary programming shown on a specialized network brings.
I get GolTV as part of my sports pak. But the last time I watched it was a few years ago for a Barca-RM classico. Do they have a nightly news round-up/highlights that's any good. Does it cover EPL, MLS, USMNT, etc? Or is it mostly focused on the German/Dutch/whatever leagues they feature?
I just checked http://www.goltv.tv/en/schedule and they have two 30min shows that I wonder about "Football Review" & "Football Headliners". But I doubt they are daily footy news shows a la Fox Soccer News. For one thing they're only on a few days a week. I still think our best hope, even if small hope, is that FOX or NBC will come up with a true replacement for FSN. FOX because they already know the value of such a show and have proven they can do it (and might want to continue to recoup their investments?). NBC because they're the new band leader, and they might soon get hip to the need for such a show.
personally, I fail to understand what Fox is up to. after years of being on, showing soccer, in what was a less that understanding country [USA], now soccer is accepted, and Fox drops it. did some bean counter suddenly emerge to say drop FSN because it is no making a mega profit? or did the EPL just want more $ than FSN could live with? not only that, but Fox killed Speed Channel as well, and all the car guys I know watched something on that channel! someone must know what is going on! Rod in AZ
FS1 and FS2 are turning into the UFC channel. This really sucks. It was great to turn on FSC and there'd almost always be a full soccer match on. Whether Europa, UCL, EPL from last season, whatever, there was almost always a game on. FSN was also great as well. NBCSN needs to step it up. For how much they invest in the EPL during the weekend, their weekday level of footy programming is quite poor. All I see tonight is Still Standing, NFL Turning Point and some Star-Spangled Crap. WTF is this? FSC would be running full match replays all week of the previous weekend's EPL matches. While the weekend coverage has improved, providing you don't have Dish, the actual weekday coverage has gone downhill big time. Big time. There's actually less footy on tv now than there was the last few years. Fewer shows as well. No FSN, no Sky Sports. Not all that impressed.
QPR Kevin WMD IU Gooner disagree with you. Fox is trying to match ESPN. NBCSN's weekday programming is poor. They could put some EPL on there. FSC will be sorely missed.
The change in airing the review show isn't NBCSN's fault. In the past, when there was a Monday game, the show would end saying that next week's show would have highlight's of that Monday's game. This year, the first two weeks of the season the Review Show started with highlights of the Monday games, Newcastle-Man City in week 1 and Manchester United-Chelsea in week 2. That means that the change was made in England either by the Premier League or their production parters, IMG. So, the earliest they could be on is Monday evening. As was mentioned in another thread, once the NHL starts, hockey is usually on NBCSN on Monday nights. I expect that NBCSN knows that and is airing the Review Show at midnight as that's probably the earliest it would air during the NHL season. Nonetheless, RIP FSC.