ESPN+ solves your ESPN FC and MLS coverage issues. I'm sure you can afford the $4.99/month price tag.
Honestly, ESPN FC and Premier League Review have never been easier to access. Streaming only model eliminates the possibility of cable TV schedule movement for previous events running late. It's just there sometime in the evening for a week or more.
Ugh, I'm a little sick of re-explaining this, so I won't. Suffice it to say that the new Digital Streaming model has pros & cons. But it's definitely not a panacea and has certain shortcomings when compared to the venerable TV+DVR model, one of which Kevin alluded to when he said "a week or more". We don't need to relegislate this. My concerns & hopes for the digital future are fairly amply laid out in the various media threads on BigSoccer, over the past week, month, year or two. As for ESPN+, I used to subscribe for the EFL/FA cups but once my team dropped out, and my credit card coincidentally expired, I decided to forgo that particular $5/mo. Which also tells you that I was not really looking to go back to watching the daily ESPN FC show, which I used to do when it was on TV. I don't really miss those guys and the format direction that show was being taken. I'll get my MLS info elsewhere. As for ESPN+, I could see resubscribing at some point, but there's not a huge pull for me right now.
You could split a taxi with all the people who care about full sports replays that are more than a week old. Conversely, ESPN+ now has over 2 million subscribers.
Yeah, yeah, I know your mantra well by now. As you appear to know mine. There's still room for opposing views. But IMHO there's no need to put people down just because they may be in the minority. And that includes the size/popularity of club that someone might choose to support. This phrase comes to mind: Variety is the spice of life. As is the expression of varied points of view, regardless of the "market share" of any particular view.
I imagine shows will be available to download to a hard drive in the Future. It may not be soon but eventually it may happen. And if I had to guess which company would do it first it would probably be Sling.
That would be great, but it seems to buck the trend of everything from the cloud. 5-10 years ago Arsenal's website allowed you to download their various ArsenalTV content (matches, highlights, etc). Now that seems quite old school. Great as it was.
NBC will have games at 12:30 P.M. on Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday game is 12:30 P.M. instead of 11:30 A.M. because the time difference will be one hour less for two weeks. There will be games at 8:00 A.M., 10:05 A.M., and 12:30 P.M. on Sunday. There won't be a Monday game. NBC has Man City vs. Watford on Saturday and Arsenal vs. Man United on Sunday. Tomorrow at 10:00 A.M., CNBC will show Newcastle vs. Everton, so they're showing a game when Tottenham is the only big six club playing then. 7 of 10 games will be on TV.
I'm disappointed in how NBC has deprioritized airing Goalzone & MOTD shows on their TV channels. This weekend in the EPL was a really exciting one, with tons to play for at the top-end especially, culminating in the marquee matchup between Arsenal & United. But was there Goalzone on TV at any point during the weekend? No. Any MOTD shows scheduled? No. But just now I heard them advertise their "digital only Goalzone" which started 5 mins after the end of the last match, was SD (not HD) quality, OK there were the highlights, the table, and the music, but no commentary... no Rebecca or Robbie. Then straight into a Sky interview of Aubameyang which was absolutely... silent... for minutes. Poor production by NBC at the start I guess. NBC's "product" is so much higher quality when it's on NBCSN, or when their shows are delivered at all. p.s. to @QPR Kevin H, there's no need to reply. I already know this stuff doesn't bother you or the majority of Americans who are dying to ditch their cable/satellite/dvr for the brave new world of streaming. With Roku's that have no ability to pause an NBC show.
Yesterday was a little odd with a triple-header through 2:30 ET on a Sunday, with the marquee late match on NBC. No real room for Goalzone with packed NBCSN and NBC schedules. I swear I saw MOTD was scheduled for 6am Sunday but I guess it was nixed for PL Download. Shame, MOTD is really on its last legs.
Here's something that's working for NBC -- NBC Sports will take “Premier League Mornings Live” supporters event to Boston March 30-31 at Cask 'n Flagon near Fenway Park. This is the show's third trip -- previously New York and Washington.— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) March 11, 2019
It's ok to watch on TV for a bit, but it's hugely successful as an in person event. DC and NY passes were snapped up almost immediately after being offered. Good publicity in their most important markets.
For an event? Maybe but it isn't much for me to care about. It would be even better if they were on site for a game but again I care more about the game than whatever they do in the studio
Sometimes I wonder if the NBC's EPL production team actually follow the EPL. Tomorrow 6:30am they'll air MOTD to presumably cover virtually all of 3 matches which played on Saturday: West Ham - Huddersfield, Burnley - Leicester, Bournemouth - Newcastle. On this FA Cup weekend where only 2 of the top 6 are playing, I just can't wait to watch that show! Contrast that to a week ago, when all 20 teams played, and there were some hugely significant matches/results, and NBC had not a single MOTD or Goal Zone show on TV. It's as if NBC's promise to its viewers is: We'll do our best to air live matches (and TBF they do a very credible job of that) but anything else, including post-match coverage & highlights shows, don't expect much logic, predictability or consistency from us.
They didn't have time for GoalZone last week with a packed schedule. And I bet they just couldn't be arsed to put together MOTD also because of packed schedule. It's filler. And I'd already seen all of today's goals as of a couple minutes after full time. On to the FA Cup and MLS!
Yup. "Couldn't be arsed" is a good way of summing it up. Sad how NBC has sort of given up on their original promise for coverage that went beyond just live games. Remember how much better and more reliably NBC covered the EPL in their first years? p.s. Watching goals on Google is a poor distant relative of quality shows of extended highlights or post-match analysis. I think even you have said from time to time how much you appreciated a good show like PL Review.
I remember how prohockeytalk used to be a really good product before NBC took it over. Then it turned into nothing with a few news articles and goals from the games televised by nbc. The fact that they killed nightly football show, fantasy football show, and a bunch of other things tells you it’s all about cost cutting over there.
I don't follow NHL but it sounds about right to me. But watch what you say... you might be the next recipient of a GIF meme.
Nobody watched those shows so they stopped showing them. Chucking on some motocross works better. For the niche audience that wants highlights, there's Gold which offers hours of fresh PL studio content per day. NBCSN and FS1 have really struggled with studio shows, mostly because they got in the game when it was over. ESPN was the king in the 80s and 90s, now studio shows just don't attract viewers. Highlights and news have moved to quicker online sources. NBC and FOX to pretty well in those areas, particularly NBC + the PL. B/R is very good at it, which is one reason the Turner UEFA deal makes sense.
I've wondered whether they could straight up port over MOTD from England. They've done collabs before and the BBC is sort of weird from a rights standpoint as far as being free to air over there. Probably something I'm missing and it'd have the same timeslot issues as the crappy American version.
I would(ve) love(d) that. Is there any precedent for BBC selling rights to its shows for airing on a foreign channel like NBC? Clearly NBC is open to the general concept, having just added Sky Sports News at 11am every weekday, which is perhaps the best thing NBC has done with ancillary footy content in the last 2-3 years. But if I was betting, I'd say there's a 5% chance of seeing BBC MOTD on NBC air.
Yeah they tried the direct collaboration with the name usage and having Lineker on US MOTD every now and then but I'm not sure how a deal with the BBC would work directly having the show appear on US TV. And the Premier League may not be receptive either since the BBC has a deal for the highlights domestically with MOTD but not internationally - and the PL offer all rights nations their own highlights show. BBC cooperation with other networks around the world is extremely common for many productions, but sports is a pretty big exception since rights are by country and it's some of the highest priced BBC stuff. And I'm pretty sure NBC wouldn't want to put any extra money and effort into showing it because the market would be very small for it (and I say that as a longtime MOTD lover). The deal with Sky was easy for SSN because Sky Sports is now primarily owned by Comcast. So you may be seeing more crossover there as opposed to with the Beeb.
When the 11am SkySportsNews showed up, I figured there was some new arrangement between NBC & Sky. I didn't know that it was because of having the same corporate parent. Good to know! And if that makes it cheaper for NBC to use Sky content, i.e. to broaden their EPL coverage, including a regular/reliable review show*, then I says "BRING IT ON!" Even though some on this board may prophesize that this kind of content is a dinosaur that "nobody" wants to watch any more, I'm heartened that NBC has just recently taken a step (SkySportsNews) that appears to buck that theory. *Doesn't Sky have a sort of 1hr review show ("Soccer Saturday"?) that we see on NBC some day?? Time-shifted to late at night would be fine... just like they used to do w/ the PLR show. We all have DVR's don't we?