The network had begun broadcasting a week before. I have FiOS so it was never a problem for me. Their deal was done back in 2018. The ACC's commissioner expected quite a few 11th hour deals. Comcast is still the leader for worst provider. They may be the last big provider not to add the channel. Blacksburg, Virginia where Virginia Tech is located was serviced largely by Adelphi until that was bought by Comcast. Of course it has been downhill since. That's at least one campus and surrounding area that has limited access to the network which brings me to my favorite tweet by an athletic director this year. I’d like to announce that I’ve entered the 📺 transfer portalOfficially leaving @xfinity @comcast after 5+ years. It’s been real. Am now enrolled & immediately eligible w @Hulu TV & @accnetwork Respect my decision! No interviews please 🤪#GameOn #GetACCN.com— Whit Babcock (@WhitBabcock) August 23, 2019
Looks like my speculation here was confirmed, if Bonetti and Donaldson were going to do more games behind the paywall they certainly would have been heard on Juventus-Napoli this past weekend, but thankfully they weren't and we had the world feed announcers.
Bit of a dick move by ESPN to only offer that to people that forgot to renew and not to those that renew in advance of their membership expiring.
Seems like every service provider does that though. Once you leave they always try to get you back with a special offer. If you are a loyal customer and don't ask any questions they will not bring up special offers.
True. Not sure its such a great business move though when nobody else offers a comparable service. Since now I'm just likely to let my subscription expire next time and see what kinda offer I get. Granted we're not talking about a lot of money, I guess...
I recommend you email them and try to haggle with them. Say that you heard other people got a special offer. Maybe that will work. *shrugs*
Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very strange production at halftime of the Arsenal-Forest EFL Cup match right now. That's one "very" for every time they showed a replay of our goal. Literally 7 times. And for 5 of them there was no synched audio... just the background music form the ground at halftime. Very odd. Then they finally got the crowd noise synched with the highlights, and they proceeded to show our next best shot on goal, and once again they showed it 5 or more times in quick succession. Then some commercials. More than I recall from last year, but that's OK. And if you pause them and let it buffer, you can then FFWD through them,, which is a pleasant surprise (until they shut that capability down) What's conspicuously missing is any commentary during HT. Didn't they use to have a little of that during the highlights or stats?
ESPN is only showing the (mostly raw) EFL stream feed for most of these Cup matches. Arse-Forest wasn't shown on TV in the UK (we're getting 7 cup matches this week vs only 2 in the UK), though even if it had been ESPN+ doesn't show Sky's HT show. They just loop highlights to fill the time before the second half starts. Similar to NBC Gold matches but PLP puts a little more polish on the PL fills. "they" = EFL not ESPN.
True, true, true. The culprit here is really EFL's production team, which we already know is suspect due to the unreadable red-on-blue clock time when they go past 90'. The halftime highlights and audio was bizarre. And not really similar to what NBC/PLP does... the latter is coherent and very professionally done. But your point is taken that I'm lucky to have been able to watch this live without a pirated stream, which I guess would not have been possible if I lived in UK. I do remind myself from time to time how ironically lucky we are... stranded 3500 miles away from the teams we love and yet with every game available for live viewing.
ESPN confirms addition of Bundesliga starting 2020 https://www.espn.com/soccer/german-...espn+-gets-bundesliga-rights-starting-in-2020 ESPN now has Serie A, Bundesliga, EFL BeIn now has La Liga, Ligue 1 NBC with Premier League Fox no longer will broadcast European club soccer of any kind - seems like the first time in decades
Is that for both English and Spanish? I read somewhere that Univision was trying to negotiate to keep some Spanish Language matches.
and Match Pass, which is still charging $20/month for the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the occasional MLS game
Seems a bit questionable on their part. When they still have the FIFA TV rights for coming World Cup(s)?
They still have MLS and a few Mexican soccer matches. Maybe they will just focus on that and Womens soccer.
Honestly, I don't know if this is the worst decision by FOX. Lower profile European clubs (most of the Bundesliga, really) don't draw audiences in the US. There's not much profit to be made broadcasting European soccer in the US, though there is some prestige and attention getting potential -- which is what NBC is in the Prem game for. FOX Sports isn't seriously trying to go digital like ESPN, though Fox Sports Go is a pretty good authenticated product. And after selling their regional sports networks I'm thinking there's more changes coming. End of Soccer Plus and maybe even FS2? The FOX Sports national cable experiment has largely been a failure, mostly due to starting in the later stages of cable tv's lifespan. They have some good properties like World Cups, college football and baseball playoffs - so I think they'll focus on those and go cheap the rest of the day(s).
And with 95% (or so) percent of MLS games either on your local/regional channel and ESPN+, it's not like Match Pass is a *must have* for soccer fans right now.
I feel like the majority of their customers of Match Pass at this point are just people that forget they are being charged for it or are just confused in general about what they're paying for.
I think FS+ shows much more than Bundesliga. They show a lot of rugby and I think they have access to all of the Aussie Rules Football matches, so I don't think that'll go anywhere. (Personally, I'd love for AFL to leave Fox and come to ESPN+. I think that would be a fantastic addition.) I think MatchPass will have to go away. It served its purpose, and I really enjoyed it in its heyday when it had Serie A, Ligue 1, and Champions and Europa Leagues. $15 a month seemed like a steal for all of that content, and I was so happy to pay for it. Now, though? Not a chance in hell.
To answer my own question the deal includes Spanish Language too. So based on the Serie A programming it will probably be the lame ESPNews match of the week simulcast thing they do on ESPN Deportes.
I remember when getting picked up by ESPN was the best thing in the universe. Now, it seems it is like if we can’t find someone, there is at least ESPN.
Still the best thing from a viewer’s POV. I mean, Ajax is covered better than Barca or Bayern atm. Bye bye FOX.
MLS Decision Day is this Sunday at 4pm ET. I think the answer to this question is probably "no" (because of fragmented TV rights) but I'll ask it anyway... Does ESPN(+) have any sort of MLS Decision Day Live show which shows all the goals & races as they happen... all over the league?