ESPN Soccernet Press Pass in the United States!

[Kryptonite]

Just heard on the Liverpool-Atletico game in the 50th minute.

ESPN Classic 7 PM every Monday and Friday starting on Monday, November 10th.

[canesfan00]

Just heard on the Liverpool-Atletico game in the 50th minute.

ESPN Classic 7 PM every Monday and Friday starting on Monday, November 10th.


I guess their acknowledging the growing soccer presence and are taking the necessary action to satisfy our demand. Let's just hope that Tommy Smyth takes his medication and isn't hogging the show and fighting with everyone.

[djpower]

Just heard on the Liverpool-Atletico game in the 50th minute.

ESPN Classic 7 PM every Monday and Friday starting on Monday, November 10th.

I was surprised when watching this morning champions league game on ESPN Pacific Rim and herd Derek Rae make the announcement. Congratulations you finally get a show that we have been receiving in Australia for years and years. Its going to be interesting to see if they change the stlye more to suit the American audience more eg more MLS stories I guess thats okay as the sometimes have Steve Nicol (N.E Revs coach) as a special guest on the panel. Last time he was on they did not even mention anything to do with soccer outside of Europe

[djpower]

I guess their acknowledging the growing soccer presence and are taking the necessary action to satisfy our demand. Let's just hope that Tommy Smyth takes his medication and isn't hogging the show and fighting with everyone.

In the past Tommy has been in some great arguments with Janusz Michallik and has been very entertaining at times, but Janusz has not been on the show as much these days

[Kryptonite]

In the past Tommy has been in some great arguments with Janusz Michallik and has been very entertaining at times, but Janusz has not been on the show as much these days
That's one of the good, and bad, things about the Friday afternoon Champions League highlight show available on espn2 in the US. The arguments can be entertaining, but at the same time, they need to know when to stop talking over each other, and when to drop the discussion.

I'm surprised it took this long to be able to get Press Pass in the USA, considering so many outlets are available. ESPN Classic and ESPNU could have picked it up a while ago, not to mention ESPN360, which probably could have easily picked it up as well.

[huhe888]

I'm surprised it took this long to be able to get Press Pass in the USA, considering so many outlets are available. ESPN Classic and ESPNU could have picked it up a while ago, not to mention ESPN360, which probably could have easily picked it up as well.

Interesting to see ESPN domestic programming (i.e. John Skipper) making this move to fill a void a few weeks after GolTV had to cancel American Soccer due to lack of sponsorship.

It is only a matter of time before ESPN, Inc. lands U.S. video rights to EPL. I can see one to two games a week on ESPN Classic (U.S.) and the rest (excluding the one to two "B" games sublicensed to FOX Soccer Channel each week) on a $20-25/month subscription channel dubbed "ESPN World".

Two questions remain:

1. How much will ESPN, Inc. charge for "ESPN World" if and when ESPN, Inc. were to buy Setanta Sports USA (or perhaps all the assets of Setanta Sports Limited), and whether the purchase will take place "under administration"?

2. Who will try to outbid GolTV for the next U.S. TV rights contract to La Liga? (I suspect FOX Sports Int'l will bid, especially if FSI were not able to sublicense EPL from ESPN, Inc.)

Disney/ESPN has to be drooling at the prospect of being able to buy distressed assets in western and central Europe on the cheap.

[Kryptonite]

Hmm, so I guess Setanta's days (or just as we currently know the channel) might be numbered?

In 3-4 years from now, it seems like we might be looking at ESPN Classic and Fox Soccer Channel (or some variation thereof) as the home for international sports?

[djpower]

Hmm, so I guess Setanta's days (or just as we currently know the channel) might be numbered?

In 3-4 years from now, it seems like we might be looking at ESPN Classic and Fox Soccer Channel (or some variation thereof) as the home for international sports?

This is going to be very interesting to see what happens if there is a ESPN/Setanta take over as our markets are similar as the 3 main sports networks in Australia are Fox Sports, ESPN and Setanta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GAHGtDYywU As you can see our networks although very similar in ownership and name most of the tv rights are different Just something for you to think about if there is a take over, A ESPN/Setanta take over will be huge and will affect a lot of different markets in different ways

[huhe888]

Hmm, so I guess Setanta's days (or just as we currently know the channel) might be numbered?

In 3-4 years from now, it seems like we might be looking at ESPN Classic and Fox Soccer Channel (or some variation thereof) as the home for international sports?

I don't believe ESPN Classic (U.S.) will morph into an international sports channel. Disney/ESPN is locked into "no conversion" clauses in carriage agreements for ESPN Classic (U.S.) with Time Warner, Comcast, and COX, limiting the number of hours of live programming ESPN Classic (U.S.) can carry each week (that number should be in the single digits.)

I can see a subscription "ESPN World" channel ($20-25 month) within the next 24 months that will have EPL, UEFA Champions League, and SportsCenter re-runs from the UK and Australia markets.

FOX Soccer Channel will definitely be around. It now reaches over 30 million households. How much EPL will still air on FSC is the big question. I don't see more than 2 EPL games a week under the new deal (to be priced at around $30 million a year.)

Note that NBC Universal has a free-to-air digital international sports channel, Universal Sports (formerly WCSN), that will be available to most people for free via a digital TV tuner (i.e. channel 4-4 in New York and LA, channel 5-3 in Chicago, channel 10-3 in Philadelphia, channel 11-3 in San Francisco, etc.) by February 2009. Universal Sports has a ton of international sports events 24/7, including IIHF European Champions League Ice Hockey.

[huhe888]

Hmm, so I guess Setanta's days (or just as we currently know the channel) might be numbered?

Setanta and its investors, notably Goldman Sachs, got a little too greedy and chose not to sell when Setanta had its chance last year.

A year later, Goldman Sachs isn't the same company it was, as it tries to de-leverage.

The big question mark for Setanta: how will it be able to obtain additional financing under current market conditions without diluting existing stakeholders?

==

We have seen this stuff before.

During the last market downturn, PanAmerican Sports Network (PSN) overspent on TV rights and was way overexposed to currency risk in the Argentina market (which had to devalue its currency sharply).

NewsCorp (FOX Sports International) was able to clean PSN's carcass in U.S. bankruptcy court, buying just selected assets (video rights to Copa Libertadores plus a video library).

This time around, we know that:

1) Setanta needs additional financing

2) GolTV is struggling

The likes of Disney/ESPN, Inc. is of course circling above the likes of Setanta like a vulture...

[Kryptonite]

It is only a matter of time before ESPN, Inc. lands U.S. video rights to EPL. I can see one to two games a week on ESPN Classic (U.S.) and the rest (excluding the one to two "B" games sublicensed to FOX Soccer Channel each week) on a $20-25/month subscription channel dubbed "ESPN World".

Two questions remain:

1. How much will ESPN, Inc. charge for "ESPN World" if and when ESPN, Inc. were to buy Setanta Sports USA (or perhaps all the assets of Setanta Sports Limited), and whether the purchase will take place "under administration"?

Hopefully not $20-$25 a month. Setanta currently charges ~$15 a month for residential customers. AFAIK, DirecTV is the only outlet with Setanta Xtra. Obviously, Xtra isn't a huge benefit, but i'm sure it's nice to have that option.

At $20-$25 a month, i'm hoping that is an over-estimate on your part, or they have something major up their sleeve.

[SirFozzie]

I've noticed Setanta sublicensing a lot of programming (such as the current Rugby League World Cup) to ESPN360. One could honestly make the argument that ESPN 360 is ESPN World Already

[huhe888]

Hopefully not $20-$25 a month. Setanta currently charges ~$15 a month for residential customers. AFAIK, DirecTV is the only outlet with Setanta Xtra. Obviously, Xtra isn't a huge benefit, but i'm sure it's nice to have that option.

At $20-$25 a month, i'm hoping that is an over-estimate on your part, or they have something major up their sleeve.

At $15 a month, Setanta Sports USA needs at least 80K subscribers just to break even on soccer rights fees.

80,000 subs * $150 per subscriber per year (assuming 10-month EPL season) = $12 million

(Setanta currently pays $9.5 million per year for its share of EPL in the U.S. market. Conservatively tack on another $1.5 million for UEFA CL, UEFA Cup, WC qualifiers, and UEFA friendlies, and add another $1 million for the French League and you get to $12 million.)

I believe that the U.S. pay subscription EPL/UEFA CL soccer-centric channel, whether it will be run by Setanta or ESPN, will need to charge at least $20-25 a month during the next contract cycle in order to be viable.

[R1PP]

If ESPN gets rights, they need to do a PPV option to get every game. Why not take advantage of people that will to pay for that? Seems strange that Fox and Setanta haven't done it already.

[DAGSports]

If ESPN gets rights, they need to do a PPV option to get every game. Why not take advantage of people that will to pay for that? Seems strange that Fox and Setanta haven't done it already.

They both did do that for a while with the EPL and FA Cup/England packages. Between PPV and FSC, you could see almost any game for which those competitions offered a world feed broadcast. Not cheap, but the option was there.

Over the past couple of years, they found that they could make more money by splitting the rights based on time-slot and phasing out PPV for the EPL and FA Cup. They either sell more subscriptions or get more ad revenue by creating destination viewing for their share of the games.

I suspect this is because PPV in-home and pub sales were never that big to begin with and were not going to increase with FSC and Setanta passing on the recent escalation in rights fees. Subscriptions, conversely, probably have room for growth as more people get digital cable and satellite. With channel bundling, FSC can increase revenue even if probably 99% of people with access to the channel wouldn't ever watch.

[huhe888]

They both did do that for a while with the EPL and FA Cup/England packages. Between PPV and FSC, you could see almost any game for which those competitions offered a world feed broadcast. Not cheap, but the option was there.

The original poster was talking about the uefa.com Internet pay-per-view option ESPN currently offers for the UEFA Champions League for viewers in the U.S.: every game available live for $8 each.

Offering every EPL game live via Internet pay-per-view should be a no-brainer in the next EPL TV contract cycle.

[DAGSports]

The original poster was talking about the uefa.com Internet pay-per-view option ESPN currently offers for the UEFA Champions League for viewers in the U.S.: every game available live for $8 each.

Offering every EPL game live via Internet pay-per-view should be a no-brainer in the next EPL TV contract cycle.

Sure thing, especially since coverage has gotten to the point where only 1-2 games go untelevised a weekend now, although 1-2 of the current ones can only be shown on tape delay.

Also, the broadcasters will hopefully offer free or cheaper streams of the games they actually televise, as ESPN currently does with the Champions League (if your provider has a deal for ESPN360- currently few of the major providers offer it- you could flip between both games live each day plus at least one of the Spanish-language games for ESPN Deportes).

[danielmak]

Note that NBC Universal has a free-to-air digital international sports channel, Universal Sports (formerly WCSN), that will be available to most people for free via a digital TV tuner (i.e. channel 4-4 in New York and LA, channel 5-3 in Chicago, channel 10-3 in Philadelphia, channel 11-3 in San Francisco, etc.) by February 2009. Universal Sports has a ton of international sports events 24/7, including IIHF European Champions League Ice Hockey.

Do you know if this will this be added to DirecTV?

[huhe888]

Do you know if this will this be added to DirecTV?

Universal Sports is available FREE TO AIR if you have a digital (ATSC) TV tuner in many markets. You do NOT need to pay for the service via cable or satellite TV.

http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html

Look for more NBC affiliates to offer Universal Sports on a digital subchannel starting January 2009, when NBC Weather Plus goes out of business.

[Kryptonite]

So the Friday show is a weekend preview and the Monday show is a highlight/wrapup show? Correct?