Serie A American Television Rights?

[Gioca]

Who will show Serie A next season in America?

[da_cfo]

Who will show Serie A next season in America?

Gol TV has the US and Canadian TV rights in English and Spanish for 1 more season.

TLN has a sublicense from Gol TV for the Canadian market.

RAI International has rights in Italian. Those rights can probably be renewed by RAI Int'l indefinitely since there is no competitor in the horizon.

[Gioca]

Thanks. Hmmm. I'm going to get digital cable for the first time, and I guess I now have to decide between RAI or GOL. I wasn't aware GOL TV broadcast in English. I might go with RAI so I can improve my Italian, but I heard GOL TV has a ton of other leagues to watch.

[Outback Maverick]

Thanks. Hmmm. I'm going to get digital cable for the first time, and I guess I now have to decide between RAI or GOL. I wasn't aware GOL TV broadcast in English. I might go with RAI so I can improve my Italian, but I heard GOL TV has a ton of other leagues to watch.

First of all, it's nice to see another Palermo supporter on the board. Welcome! The opportunity to see the Rosanero in Serie A next year has me salivating.

This past season, Gol TV carried:

Serie A (2-3 games a week live)
La Liga (2-4 games live + Copa del Rey)
UEFA Cup (2 games live a week)
Many smaller central and south american leagues, including Columbia but not Brazil or Argentina. which FSW carries.

I know with RAI you will get some Serie B matches...but I don't seem to miss it with Gol TV, FSW and some spanish language channels for Mexican League.

FORZA PALERMO!

[Gioca]

Forza Palermo! Yes I cannot wait to see them on Serie A, actually I'm thrilled I'm going to be able to see them at all. Thanks for that info. I still have to decide but I gotta make sure my cable company offers Gol.

[Jabinho]

Some of you may have "The International Channel" on your cable service.
They take one game per week from RAI during the season. On Sunday taped.

[Gioca]

Hey how many games does RAI International show a week? Anyone know?

[strega]

Hey how many games does RAI International show a week? Anyone know?
last season it was just 2 a week - always one of the 3p.m. (italian time) sunday kick offs and then one other (either of the saturdays or the sunday evening game depending on importance). and that sunday (3p.m.) game is shown with goal updates from all the other sunday games. all this might change with the new schedule the italian league has decided on for the upcoming 2004-2005 season.

[Gioca]

Thanks, I was hoping more than that, but we'll see what happens.

[Catenaccio-maldini]

Thanks, I was hoping more than that, but we'll see what happens

hey guys , just send to them . .
i have been in contact with GOL TV and exposed my request to have more than 2 games a week . .
i just told GOL TV , we need some balance betweej LA LIGA and CALCIO . .
and then i saw some improvement . .

Rai shows two games . . one is alive (8 a.m ) and the other is not live but starts at 3 p.m

i hope we have more games for CALCIO and forza Milan ;)

[rangers00]

Forza Palermo! Yes I cannot wait to see them on Serie A, actually I'm thrilled I'm going to be able to see them at all.

Yes, you should be thrilled to see the following Palermo games, probably on GolTV. If not, they will definitely be on TeleLatino:

Palermo x Juventus
Juventus x Palermo
Palermo x Milan
Milan x Palermo
Palermo x Inter/Roma, depending on which team is contending and worth covering
Inter/Roma x Palermo

For a just promoted club like Palermo, do you think you'll see games like

Palermo x Bologna,
Palermo x Reggina,
Palermo x Lecce,
Palermo x Sampdoria?

GolTV, like all other soccer carriers like FSW, only cover the marquee teams.

[Mancityfan81]

GOLTV makes FSW look like a bunch of amatuers when comes to coverage, with double the live coverage last season
any news on Atalanta Bergamo on US tv?


FORZA Atalanta!

[Gioca]

Yes, you should be thrilled to see the following Palermo games, probably on GolTV. If not, they will definitely be on TeleLatino:

Palermo x Juventus
Juventus x Palermo
Palermo x Milan
Milan x Palermo
Palermo x Inter/Roma, depending on which team is contending and worth covering
Inter/Roma x Palermo

For a just promoted club like Palermo, do you think you'll see games like

Palermo x Bologna,
Palermo x Reggina,
Palermo x Lecce,
Palermo x Sampdoria?

GolTV, like all other soccer carriers like FSW, only cover the marquee teams.

Yeah that sounds right. I'd love to see those other games too, but I don't expect it.

[da_cfo]

GOLTV makes FSW look like a bunch of amatuers when comes to coverage, with double the live coverage last season
any news on Atalanta Bergamo on US tv?


Gol TV is now the upstart channel that needs to build its distribution so Gol TV needs lots of product to attract subscribers.

FOX Sports World is now a mature business so it only needs enough product to maintain its subscriber base.

FOX Sports World only needs English Premier League. Everything else on FOX Sports World is filler.

Note that FOX Sports World no longer has Dutch League (ESPN Deportes for the next 2 seasons) and is cutting back the Bundesliga to just one game each week to save cost.

I expect FOX Sports World to drop Brazilian Futebol after the contract expires in December.

[kevruth]

Note that FOX Sports World no longer has Dutch League (ESPN Deportes for the next 2 seasons) and is cutting back the Bundesliga to just one game each week to save cost.

I expect FOX Sports World to drop Brazilian Futebol after the contract expires in December.

Just curious, if FSW cuts back Bundesliga to one match per week and drops Brazile entirely, does this mean they might offer even more EPL matches other than what they origianlly announced? If not, what in the world are they going to use as "filler" for those two drop matches?

[therealronaldo7]

Just curious, if FSW cuts back Bundesliga to one match per week and drops Brazile entirely, does this mean they might offer even more EPL matches other than what they origianlly announced? If not, what in the world are they going to use as "filler" for those two drop matches?

Unfortunately I do not think they will add any mroe Premiership matches, rather they will show reruns of every match they play. Empty slots will be filled with reruns for sure. I wish they were showing more, but I can't complain. They will be showing a live EPL game every Saturday at 6:30AM. They are also showing a tape delayed match at 11AM. Should be good. I can't for the season!

[texgator]

Actually for the first several weeks that I've seen on their schedule they will be showing a live at 7:30, a live at 12:00, and a tape delayed at 3:00 on Satuday, and a tape delayed at 11:00 on Sunday (all times are EST). This is indeed an increase over last season. Looks like they are definetly down to one Bundesligia and one Ligue 1 match per week. I'll miss the Eredivisie matches, but I would trade that for an extra EPL match everytime.

[Dave141]

Just curious, if FSW cuts back Bundesliga to one match per week and drops Brazile entirely, does this mean they might offer even more EPL matches other than what they origianlly announced? If not, what in the world are they going to use as "filler" for those two drop matches?

I apologize for being dense on this, but it seems to me that we will be getting less soccer than before. Last year we used to get 2-3 EPL matches per week (with replays of the PPV matches on a few days delay), 2 German matches, a Dutch match and 2 Brazilian matches (Wed and Sun). [I am excluding the French and Argentine matches since they are apparently staying the same.]

This season, if you take the Dutch, 1 of the German and both Brazilian matches away, that's 4 matches a week that are gone. From what I have seen, we'll only be getting approx. 4 EPL matches a week under this new contract. So what is so great about this? Oh, that's right, I have a better chance of seeing contests like Everton vs. Norwich on a regular basis.

I just don't get it. A few English home internationals against countries like Latvia don't make up for that shortfall. Instead of naming itself Fox Soccer Channel, why don't they call themselves Fox Sports for British Expatriates?

[texgator]

Well, we got more 2 match weeks then we did 3 match weeks last season. The mid week replays of PPV will continue. So we are getting, most of the time, 2 extra EPL games per week in trade for 1 Bundesligia and 1 Eredivisie. I don't count the Brazilian, personally, because I don't think most viewers of the European leagues are also watching the South American leagues, but I could be wrong about that. Yes, it is a bit English-centric. But, bottom line, that is the only league that sells ads on FSW. It is also, far and away, the most watched foreign league in the US (other then Mexico). Do I wish they could have kept the Eredivisie AND increased their EPL coverage? Sure, but that didn't make financial sense. I'd rather have a channel like FSW, with slightly less programming diversity then see them go out of business trying to be all things to all people (in a soccer sense).

[Dave141]

Well, we got more 2 match weeks then we did 3 match weeks last season. The mid week replays of PPV will continue. So we are getting, most of the time, 2 extra EPL games per week in trade for 1 Bundesligia and 1 Eredivisie. I don't count the Brazilian, personally, because I don't think most viewers of the European leagues are also watching the South American leagues, but I could be wrong about that. Yes, it is a bit English-centric. But, bottom line, that is the only league that sells ads on FSW. It is also, far and away, the most watched foreign league in the US (other then Mexico). Do I wish they could have kept the Eredivisie AND increased their EPL coverage? Sure, but that didn't make financial sense. I'd rather have a channel like FSW, with slightly less programming diversity then see them go out of business trying to be all things to all people (in a soccer sense).


texgator,

I don't disagree with your last point in theory, but FSI didn't drop Bundesliga/Eredivisie/Brazil(?) to cut costs to stay in business, they spent a ton of money to get this EPL package, and I don't see how it will pay off.

The core soccer fan watches as much FSW as their schedule permits, and while they may favor a particular league, they will still generally tune in. I don't see how having a greater emphasis on the EPL attracts so many new viewers that they can increase their advertising revenue to cover the EPL costs. So, unless FSI is doing some fancy accounting (which wouldn't surprise me), I don't see how this adds up.

My fear is that somebody gambled on this plan to grow FSI, and it doesn't pan out, and they have to pull back more to make up for it.