Goltv just does not have the cloud nor the money to compete. Even Fox is on the fence now. Look at what Comcast and beIN are doing. Personaly, the rate of return on all these football "Soccer" assets is not there. That may change in Five years, and maybe Comcast has a crystal ball, but the rate of return on their investment will not in what I like to call the near future............3 to 5 years, but what do I know.
Hi all, I received an email from Kay Dammholz (vp of av rights for DFL)this morning and he assured me they're aware of the TV situation in the USA and working on it. It was not a generic response and hopefully they get it fixed this season. I also contacted my US representative to make him aware of the NBC Comcast collusion with Al Jazeera (taking money to carry BeIN and buying comcast's 10% share in Current) and their attempts to monopolize soccer coverage in the US (eliminating GolTV after they purchased US EPL rights). I suggest everybody else do the same or there won't be much soccer on TV besides the EPL and La Liga in the USA anymore.
Any more info on this? I'd love to know that this means...I wonder if Guardiola's signing puts a little bit more "pep in the step", pardon the pun, of the DFL to ensure the league is available for American eyeballs and American pocketbooks next season.....
Unfortunately he didn't elaborate with any details or a timetable. Just said they're aware there's a problem and working on a solution. My guess is we're out of luck this season, unless they can force GolTV to sub-license the games to espn, like they used to. I do think we'll be on the air on a channel available in the USA next season.
Interesting angle on the NBC Comcast-BeIn collusion, not sure if it is truly anti-competitive. But you are headed towards a short-term situation where the rights to much world soccer (or at least the top-tier soccer leagues) are all warehoused with rightsholders who can't/won't distribute all of their product. Bundesliga is stuck with GolTV who won't be on many big systems anymore. BeIn has a bunch of rights but no online portal of note.
I received a follow up email from Kay Dammholz today asking me for more information on what's going on in the USA. They weren't aware that Comcast also owns NBC, making GolTV their competition now that they own the EPL rights. I do believe they are taking this seriously and will work out something for its US fans. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
it is encouraging that someone from DFL got back to you; hopefully we get some details on what's happening. Pretty much their only option for widespread carriage would be ESPN or Fox, be it on Fox Soccer if it survives or whatever "new"/rebranded sports channel Fox throws out at us....I'm thinking something along the lines of the old "Fox Sports World". Well, fingers crossed for the Bundesliga to be available to everyone in the US, regardless of their cable provider....
He also asked me about the availability of NBC Sports Channel in the USA, so reading into it, maybe they're an option, as well as ESPN, Fox, and BeIN. I do imagine there is language in their contract with GolTV that if the network is not available in a certain number of households in the US they can break the contract, or force them to sub-license (my hope is both happen - sub-license the rest of this year to espn, and then move the rights for next season). They also weren't aware that Time Warner was about to drop GolTV. If (or more like when) that happens, the 4 biggest providers in America (with nobody else close to the big 4 of Comcast, Directv, Dish, and TWC) will no longer carry GolTV, so the network will be virtually extinct in the US. I think my emails opened their eyes to just how big an issue it has become to watch the Buli in the US and hopefully we now get some results.
It looks like thanks are in order for making the DFL aware of the situation in the US. I can't see nbcsports as an option because they're committed to showing 6 live games every week across their networks, so I don't know how much room that leaves for Bundesliga matches when you consider they have EPL, NHL, Notre Dame football pregame/postgame, and whatever else they show - perhaps they'd show BL games on delay? The best option for US viewers is ESPN. After this season their soccer properties are what - Portugal/Dutch/Mexican domestic leagues, International Friendlies, Africa Cup of Nations... I wonder if the DFL is really concerned about the league's exposure in the US or do they think they can't compete with the EPL, La Liga, and to a degree, Serie A. We never see German clubs tour the US - they all seem preoccupied with China/India/Middle East. Here's a crazy idea - now that Bayern has Guardiola, what better way to promote the league and a potential new tv deal with wider exposure than to have Bayern play a few friendlies. Selfishly, I just want to see my club in the US!
Well GOLTV is being dropped because sadly they hold properties that are not that popular in the USA, if they were that popular people would be calling their TV providers bitching up a storm that they were dropped. I went with DishNetwork even knowing that they did not carry GOLTV but since they carried other stuff I wanted and I did not want COMCAST, I did not care. Realistically who could pick up Bundesliga and/or Brazilian Soccer if GOLTV goes under? CBS Sports has not shown that they want anything to do with soccer. Fox Sports may pick them up if they want some soccer content when they lose the EPL, but I hear they bought the TV carrier for the Netherlands. ESPN may actually be good choice since they will also lose their soccer content after this summer. I guess the other question is how much is Bundesliga/Brazilian league worth to ESPN or FoxSports? I wonder how much did GOLTV pay for those rights, probably not that much.
If espn gets the bundesliga, other than dortmund-bayern game, I would expect everything to go to espn3 and deportes which for me is same as staying on gol tv. Frankly, the best option would be fox sports 1 or whatever the new channel is.
I agree NBC is unlikely - but Dammholz did ask about its availability, so who knows. I also like the Fox option best. Besides showing they will broadcast matches on all their networks, they also have fox soccer2go, so we do have a safe streaming option if our game is on tape delay or not carried at all on a network. If not, I am fine with espn since I have access to watchespn. It's not optimal but it beats a network nobody can get anymore.
At least if ESPN or even Fox gets it, they have a viable online portal to show games. GolTV & beIN are sort of the worst-case for a secondary league that wants exposure because they have the rights but no broadcast slots or online portal to show them
My advice would be for DFL is to get a top notch TV consulting firm (not so fast, Oliver) and go from there. There are a bunch of ex-TV programmers (ex-head of CBS News Andrew Heyward - http://marketspacenext.com/ ) and Neal Pilson (ex-CBS Sports tzar) who are in the media consulting biz. (the link constitutes no endorsement of any individual or company ... except, the opposite of endorsement for Oliver, who was useful for us folks but might be problematic for Bundesliga - "Heidi Klum - behind the plexiglass desk!") FWIW, Bundesliga was not getting major ratings when GolTV was in a relatively wide distribution and is unlikely to get on any of the cable ESPN/Fox/NBC Channels full time. Conceivably, an occasional Dortmund/Bayern/Bayer/Schalke match might get on as a filler. Some combination of cable+online deal is a possibility. In that, I would prefer ESPN over Fox because ESPN3 is basically free while Fox online charges an arm and a leg. NBCSN is a mostly unknown soccer quality at the present (they have employed Marcelo Balboa in the last, which is a strike against them) but they have won the EPL rights and might be interested in widening their soccer presence with Buli 1 as well. PS. For the above analysis, Heyward and Pilson would probably charge several grand, at least. If Frau Kay Dammholtz can remit a few useless Deutschmarks, or preferably a Gerd Müller autograph, my way, I'll consider my time as well wasted.
FSC used to have games from England and Italy, so why couldn't a Fox Sports channel have games from the Netherlands and Germany, especially if FS+ survives? Based on the schedule for today through Sunday being a regular weekend for the Bundesliga and Eredivisie, here's a sample schedule: Friday: Eredivisie plays at 2:00 P.M. and Bundesliga at 2:30 P.M. (1 game each) Show one game live and if it the channel cared enough about soccer the other game could be showed delayed. Saturday: 5 Bundesliga games at 9:30 A.M. 1 Bundesliga game at 12:30 P.M. 1 Eredivisie game at 12:45 P.M. 2 Eredivisie games at 1:45 P.M. 1 Eredivisie game at 2:45 P.M. Show one game at 9:30 A.M., one game at 12:30 P.M. or 12:45 P.M., and one game at 2:45 P.M. This could be similar to FSC's old Saturday schedule of EPL at 10:00 A.M., EPL at 12:30 P.M., and Serie A at 2:45 P.M. Whichever league was not shown on Friday could get the middle game on Saturday if the channel wanted to cover the leagues equally or it could depend on the matchups. Sunday: 1 Eredivisie game at 6:30 A.M. 2 Eredivisie games at 8:30 AM. 1 Bundesliga game at 9:30 A.M. 1 Eredivisie game at 10:30 A.M. 1 Bundesliga game at 11:30 A.M. Show the Eredivisie at 6:30 A.M., the Eredivisie at 8:30 A.M. or Bundesliga at 9:30 A.M., and the Bundesliga at 11:30 A.M. This way 7 games a week could be shown live and the average distribution could be 4 Bundesliga games and 3 Eredivisie games, but with one time slot on each day flexible based on what clubs were playing. For example, the Bundesliga could be shown Sunday at 9:30 A.M. with exceptions if there was a big Eredivisie game involving two of Ajax, PSV Eidnhoven, and Twente Enschede. Edit: Let's say two channels were available: Friday: The second channel could show whichever game was not on the first channel. Saturday: The second channel could show a game at 9:30 A.M. and a game at 12:30 P.M., 12:45 P.M., or 1:45 P.M. Sunday: The first channel could show the Bundesliga at 9:30 A.M. and 11:30 A.M. with the second channel showing the Eredivisie at 8:30 A.M. and 10:30 A.M. This would add 5 games and make a total of 12 out of 18 games on live TV. Of course there might not be enough viewers to make it worth it to show that many games.