Multichannel News: beIN Sports USA will launch 2 channels on August 1

Cruz Azul, Monarcas, and Jaguares are off limits. Azteca America will not sublicense those 3 to Univision Deportes Network.

That leaves Puebla, Tijuana, and Leon. Because Puebla and Tijuana play mostly on Sundays, Azteca America is keeping them. That leaves Leon available for sublicensing to Univison Deportes Network.

 

Do you realize how much U.S. rights to soccer matches that appeal to Mexican-American viewers in Southern California now cost?

U.S. TV rights to a typical package of 17 Liga MX regular season home games for a random Mexican club (not including Chivas or Club America): $8 million

(Why do you think ESPN Deportes and FOX Deportes buy non-exclusive sublicenses from Azteca America? Because ESPN Deportes in particular, with only $11 million in annual subscriber fees earned, cannot afford an exclusive sublicense; and FOX Deportes doesn't want to pay for exclusive sublicense when a non-exclusive sublicense is available.)

U.S. TV rights to 34 La Liga matches involving Valencia (but not involving Barcelona or Real Madrid): about $3 million

If Time Warner Cable wants a "launch fee" from beIN Sport (USA) LLC for priority placement of beIN Sports and beIN Deportes, beIN Sport LLC has "launch fee" ready: 24-hour exclusive Spanish-language rights to 34 La Liga matches involving Valencia, plus access to an international soccer talk show that beIN Deportes can produce from Miami and customize specifically for Time Warner Cable Deportes so that Time Warner Cable Deportes doesn't have use its resources to produce a similar show out of Los Angeles.

Bottom line: beIN Sport (USA) LLC can offer exactly what Time Warner Cable Deportes is looking for, with no cash changing hands, if Time Warner Cable (at the national HQ level) can deliver exactly what beIN Sport LLC is looking for: expanded basic or digital basic placement for beIN Sports, and Spanish-language tier placement for beIN Deportes on all TWC systems across the U.S. by August 2013.

Who really has more leverage here: beIN Sport (USA) LLC or Time Warner Cable? You decide.

Time Warner Cable better play nice with beIN Sport (USA) LLC if it wants soccer content at little or no cost from beIN Deportes for Time Warner Cable Deportes.

 

NOBODY wants to pay $3.95/month combined for Time Warner Cable Sportsnet and Time Warner Cable Deportes. And I do mean NOBODY in the MSO industry.

Time Warner Cable Sportsnet is worth around $1-2/month with the Lakers, but Time Warner Cable Deportes is worth no more that $0.15 because it does NOT have unique live events that appeal to its primary target audience (Spanish-dominant Hispanic males 18-34 and 18-49) that other networks don't have.

(ESPN U.S. is worth over $5/month but ESPN Deportes is worth only $0.15/month. Same rationale. FOX Deportes is only worth $0.22/month.)

Time Warner Cable Deportes NEEDS live international soccer that appeal to Mexican-Americas living in LA if it wants COX and Charter to sign on at a reasonable price (i.e. $0.15-0.20/month.)

Regardless of what the NBA tries to tell you, the NBA doesn't really sell in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Telemundo tried NBA a few years ago and couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

ESPN Deportes doesn't simulcast all NBA games produced by ESPN, Inc. whenever live soccer or boxing are available.

Turner Sports doesn't put the NBA on CNN en Español U.S. the way Turner Sports does with MLB playoffs.

 

COX Cable serves Santa Barbara, Southern Orange County, Southern half of San Diego County, and Las Vegas.

Charter Communications serves the parts of Los Angeles county that isn't served by Time Warner Cable, i.e. Pasadena.

In North Carolina, Time Warner Cable ultimately folded CSET and cut a deal with FOX Sports South (which was later split to create FOX Sports Carolinas) for the Charlotte Bobcats.

Bottom line: CSET did NOT work and the Bobcats were furious with Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner Cable is run by egomaniacs living in a fantasy world who need to be slapped silly in order to get back into reality.

 

Caught this on Twitter early Sunday morning, posted by Imagina U.S. VP of Programming & Affiliate Distribution Antonio Briceno:

https://twitter.com/anbricenozehl/status/216804683510054913

@mariadelvalle16 hola nos interesa hablar contigo sobre una posible oportunidad en canal nuevo en usa. favor enviarme tu contacto. gracias

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Venezuelan Maria del Valle is a former swimsuit/lingerie model who now anchors Central FOX on FOX Deportes and FOX Sports Latin America North Cone:







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As you would expect, a lot of talent will be evaluated in the coming weeks.

On the Spanish side, I don't know yet whether the afternoon Central FOX female anchor, former Mexican beauty pageant contestant Pilar Perez, will apply as well. Pilar was "Miss Guanajuato 1996".




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On the English side, two obvious candidates have expressed interest as one would expect: former CNN/SI & CNNI World Sport anchor Candy Reid (a lifelong Liverpool fan and "soccer mom" whose son has red hair a la Paul Scholes) and former FOX Soccer Report anchor Terri Leigh (a.k.a Terri St. Louis, she is married to Jeremy.)

Don't know yet whether Michelle Lissel will apply or not, but she is certainly on the radar, especially since FOX Soccer Report will shut down on August 31.

Ditto Julie Stewart-Binks, who anchored a grand total of 1 show on FOX Soccer Report in addition to doing voiceover reports during the 4 months she spent at 201 Portage. JSB is now a sports reporter/weekend anchor at CKCK-TV (CTV affiliate) in Regina, Saskatchewan.

 

I understand that the branding of the two beIN SPORT USA channels, as of June 25, are:

beIN SPORT 1 (pronounced in English: BE IN SPORT ONE)

beIN SPORT 2 (pronounced in Spanish: BEEN SPORT DOS)

The branding for the two beIN SPORT USA channels will remain European and will not be localized to conform to U.S. usage.

Both channels are scheduled to launch on August 1.

I also understand that up to 6 matches may be available simultaneously in the U.S. once Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1 are all in season, with 4 of the 6 matches to be available exclusively via the Internet, due to conflicting kickoff times.

 

I understand that former FOX Soccer Report anchor Terri Leigh (a.k.a. Terri St. Louis) has definitely tossed her hat into the ring.

Terri is a legitimate contender because she has a combination of experience (2 years as FSR anchor) and youthful appearance. She is a Canadian citizen and she will need P-1 visa sponsorship if she were selected for any on-camera role at beIN SPORT 1 (USA), including the weekend "update desk" being planned for August 2012 and beyond.

 

Does not appear to me that SAP will be offered.

I understand that beIN SPORT 1 (ONE) and beIN SPORT 2 (DOS) are supposed to have distinct on-air identities with different languages and different on-camera personalities.

beIN SPORT 2 (DOS) is supposed to be La Liga heaven with some key Serie A matches sprinkled in. DOS will NOT have Ligue 1 because Univision Deportes Network will have Ligue 1 in Spanish through May 2014.

 

The branding is certainly one "tell" that a certain amount of ego is involved in the decision-making process by the inner circle based in Doha as well as the branding consultant (in France).

The brand will be "beIN SPORT" and will be pronounced "BEEN SPORT" in Spanish.

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No tells so far regarding beIN SPORT's possible interest in the BIG EAST Conference and the new College Football Championship (BCS replacement).

The managers on the ground at Imagina U.S. in South Florida certainly understand the value of the BIG EAST to beIN SPORT 1 (in terms of distribution leverage), but Youssef is the only one who can make the decision whether he wants BIG EAST sports to air on beIN SPORT 1 regardless of whether the BIG EAST events will air under the "beIN SPORT" brand or the "NBC Sports" brand.

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Logic now points to DIRECTV and Comcast as the two most logical launch MSO partners for beIN SPORT USA, but logic does not always apply in the pay TV business.

Time Warner Cable appears to be the most difficult nut to crack, as most of us would expect from recent history.

(Whatever "tells" I can observe are consistent with the above two sentences.)

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I understand the Bertrand-Régis Louvet (BRL), the sports media industry blogger from Le Parisien, didn't do his homework before he posted his blog entry on June 5. I understand that there was no deal for beIN SPORT USA with Cablevision at the time of his blog entry. BRL apparently was talking to someone at beIN SPORT France, which meant his source was not close enough to Imagina U.S. to know what was going on at beIN SPORT USA.

http://brl-tv.blog.leparisien.fr/ar...-sport-etats-unis-va-s-installer-a-miami.html

 

Interesting stuff regarding the new "College Football Championship" starting with the 2014 season:

2 semifinal games (to be hosted by existing bowls) plus 4 exhibition "bowl games", for a total of 12 teams, all to be selected by a selection committee. Conference affiliation apparently will NOT matter, but conference champions will be given weight.

The "Boise States" of the world (champions of the BIG EAST conference on down) will still have to hope for the stars to align (as they did for TCU after the 2010 season if the new system were in place at the time) in order to get a shot at one of the semifinal games.

If anything, the new system will encourage further "creative scheduling" of non-conference games, as going undefeated will still matter in the eyes of the committee members.

There will be controversy and there will be endless debates. The "soap opera for men" aspect of college football will continue.