Yeah that multimatch was wild! I think I like that format better than the EPL's Goal Rush, which stays mainly with the featured game which is sometimes a dull one. Pity we don't get that kind of BL coverage (matches on big FOX and FS1) more often
FOX to produce Soccer Documentaries leading into World Cup coverage: http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/fs1-plans-soccer-documentaries-advance-2018-world-cup.html
Interesting. But given Fox's stumbles, don't hold your breath? This kid's article had one line that stood out for me: "Push Forward will be more than likely the first film made about the horrific crash involving Chapecoense..." Could this really be true?? Like no one in Brazil has made a documentary on this yet?? Hard for me to imagine that.
For the bundesliga final weekend it looks like Bayern-Freiburg FOX and Fox Deportes Hamburg-Wolfsburg FS1 Multimatch FS2 FS Plus ??? (Guessing Dortmund-Werder) Looks reasonable with Hamburg-Wolfsburg being as good as it gets for the final day game. It will be toigh deciding between FS1 and FS2 this weekend.
Maybe I'm getting old but I found multimatch to be unwatchable! Just too much jumping around. Do they really need to switch away from a match with good flow to it just because someone is taking a corner kick elsewhere? Also when a penalty occurred, they would switch as the player is taking the run-up to for the spot kick. You don't even have time to figure out which team is which, so what's the point of showing it then? On several occasions, it became painfully clear that even the poor guy doing the commentary couldn't keep up with the flipping every 10 to 15 seconds, which just added to the chaos! Fortunately, on the final day there was one huge match while the other 8 had significantly less importance or no importance at all and FOX had the common sense to show that one match on FS1 (kudos to them for doing the right thing). So one only needed to watch that one match to see pretty much everything that mattered. Multimatch is a good concept, its a shame that they feel the urge to go totally overboard with it. Hopefully they get it right before we have a round 34 where 4 or 5 matches really matter.
"MultiMatch" is definitely a matter of people's taste. They either hate them or love them. I'm a big fan and a Sunday morning without a Serie A mutlimatch on SkyCalcio is rare. It's important to note that Fox is not the first to introduce this type of coverage and shouldn't be blamed for the format. SkyBundesliga has a multimatch every Saturday morning; as mentioned, SkyCalcio on Sunday; Norway's TV2 Sport dedicates a channel to the EPL on Saturday morning (10am ET); beINSport in France as well as Premium Sport in Italy dedicate channels on Saturday for Ligue-1. Multiple channels have multimatch during UEFA CL and EL matches. If you think Fox was jumping too much from match to match, I strongly suggest you stay away from SkyCalcio and their Serie A coverage as they whip around at times at break-neck speed. It's fascinating how different countries approach multimatch. Italians are frantic and jumping around while the German's will stick to a game longer and not lose their flow. Norway's EPL coverage is more like Gold Rush with a primary match being interrupted only by goals elsewhere. I doubt we in the US will have to deal with this unless its the last 2 rounds of a league. And as long as any other matches that really matter are available stand-alone, its great for people to have a choice. As I said, I'm a big fan. During the season, the really big matches in every league are moved to different kickoff times compared to when the majority of games are being played so the mulitmatch is a great source to follow a league and then watch the big game later in the day (or whenever its scheduled). As for CL, for a couple of years now my preferred method of watching is having a big game on 1 screen and a multimatch on another tv. I can understand that its not everybody's cup of tea but for me its heaven. SA www.soccertvblog.com
As I wrote in the last para of my post, "multimatch" is a good concept. The way its implemented can vary greatly though. I don't really watch Serie A anymore, but I strongly remember back in the 1990s their equivalent of "multimatch" was basically showing one game and breaking away whenever there was a goal in another match. Absolutely nothing like the mess on FS2 yesterday. I'm not saying FOX should model round 34 of the Bundesliga on 1990s Serie A coverage because the purpose is different. People didn't tune in to FS2 yesterday to 'mainly watch one match'. But changing every 20 seconds? Sorry, that's just pointless. At the end of two hours you've seen nothing that you couldn't get from a 15 minute highlight show that covers all games 9 games.
UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League Crowned on FOX, FS1 and FOX Deporteshttps://t.co/cmoyP05tYJ— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) May 23, 2017 The Europa League final kicks off coverage on Wednesday, May 24 at 2:00 pm ET on FS1 when Manchester United squares off against Ajax LIVE from Friends Arena in Stockholm. Kate Abdo anchors pre-match/post-match studio coverage alongside Warren Barton, Stu Holden and Mario Melchiot. Keith Costigan and Alexi Lalas are on the call of the match. On Saturday, May 27, Arsenal seeks its third FA Cup in four years when it battles Chelsea at Wembley Stadium at 12:00 pm ET on FOX. Kate Abdo anchors pre-match/post-match studio coverage alongside Warren Barton, Mario Melchiot and Eric Wynalda. FOX Deportes’ coverage begins at 11:00 am ET with a special edition of FOX DEPORTES EN VIVO hosted by Ariel Torrone and Alvaro Izquierdo. Real Madrid closes out FOX Sports’ championship coverage on Saturday, June 3 at 2:00 pm ET on FOX when it clashes against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final. John Strong and Brad Friedel call the match from Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with Geoff Shreeves reporting from the sidelines. Rob Stone anchors studio coverage from the FOX broadcast center in Los Angeles alongside studio analysts Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda and Warren Barton, with Katie Abdo reporting from Cardiff. FOX Deportes’ Road to Cardiff presentation kicks off Sunday, May 28 at 10:30 pm ET with a special edition of FOX DEPORTES EN VIVO - from Cardiff with hosts John Laguna, Mariano Trujillo, Claudio Suarez, Hector Fernandez and Isabel Forner. Coverage continues Monday-Friday from Cardiff at 7:00 pm ET with a rotation of talent including Katie Abdo, Javier Aguirre, Jose Maria Baquero and Valeria Marin. Saturday’s coverage begins at 11:00 am ET leading up to the final. http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/...up-europa-league-crowned-fox-fs1-fox-deportes
A few years back when Juve played Barca in the final Fox used FS+ to show Sky Italia coverage of the final. Any word if FS+ will be used for anything for this year's CL final? If not, it's time for me to dump the channel. If so, then I'll keep it for another week. Sucks we've got USA announcers for this one instead of the UK feed. And of course, I pray there's no bad weather because the weather goons love to flood the network channels with giant maps showing 1 inch of rain.
From 2:30 A.M. to 5:30 A.M. FS+ will have recap shows of the different rounds. During the Final, FS+ has Europa League Magazine at 2:00 P.M. and a replay of the FA Cup Final at 3:00 P.M.
After the U20's made it to the QF's, Fox has apparently decided it makes sense to bump the game to FS2 which few get. Because, you know, there's other important and competitive crap to show during the 2am-4am time slot.
PRESS RELEASE: Check out Saturday's @UEFA @ChampionsLeague final in virtual reality from the free @FOXSports #VR app https://t.co/gjVNc2e8R7 pic.twitter.com/xTHz1pJEGt— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) June 1, 2017
The programming decisions that Fox makes regarding soccer, defies logic sometimes. NBC does the same thing, to a lesser extent.
I agree. The second game tomorrow will be on FS1. Does anybody know of another time where two games of the same round of a competition were played on the same day and the game USA was in was on a channel that fewer people get?
I remember one year when Gus Johnson was screaming the PbP that Fox Deportes had the UK feed on SAP. Not this time.
Anyone know the FOX plans for the qualifier on Thursday? Wondering if they'll have the studio crew in-stadium, who will be on the call and on the crew, etc.
While we may never know the reason for disputing the television/streaming rights (my $ is on Fox Deportes wanting to pay less because Mexican clubs weren't participating), someone caved in and the Copa Libertadores are back and so is the Cops Sudamericana! There is speculation that the matches will stream on FoxSoccer2Go, which I hope is true because my cable provider doesn't have Fox Deportes in HD yet (it really sucks); actually if anything, it should be on FoxSports2Go (free stream)... it's the least they can do but if Fox Deportes was the one that caved in, I'm sure they'll try to milk it as much as they can. F that, I'm sure they'll milk it either way those bastards!
Good question. You would hope everyone would be at the stadium just like they were in San Jose in March. But with Mexico on Sunday and the Confederations Cup after that maybe they won't be. That is a lot of travel.
UEFA Champions League final delivers more than 3 million viewers on FOX on FOX Deportes https://t.co/8IyeTvNOaQ— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) June 6, 2017 On Saturday, June 3, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid defeated Italian powerhouse Juventus 4-1 to retain the UEFA Champions League title in a match that delivered more than 3 million viewers on FOX and FOX Deportes. The match drew 1,762,000 viewers on FOX, up +5% over last year’s Real Madrid vs Atletico de Madrid final (1,682,000). On FOX Deportes, the match attracted 1,241,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched Spanish-language cable sports program in the United States for the week. On FOX Sports GO, the match delivered an average minute audience of 56,116 for both the English and Spanish streams. http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/...l-delivers-3-million-viewers-fox-fox-deportes
Now that Kate Abdo has come in and taken a fair amount of Rob Stone's regular duties, what's the scuttlebutt on him? Is he on his way out? If so where would he go?? Edit: or maybe he'll have a significant role for WC'18?
http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/...els-colorado-mexico-fifa-world-cup-qualifiers says the studio crew will be in stadium and will be Stone, Lalas, and Fernando Fiore. Wynalda will be one of the annoucers for Mexico vs. Honduras. Strong and Holden will broadcast both USMNT games, with Donovan as a third announcer tomorrow.
That answers my question. Mainly I wanted to know if Brad Friedel was working the game because I'd bring my Rovers jersey and try to get an autograph.
Not really surprised by this news but a lot of people around here are going to try and get audio from a different source/ illegal stream/telemundo next year at around this time : Fox plans all-American World Cup broadcast crew https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...-american-world-cup-broadcast-crew/102597484/
FOX Sports assembles international broadcast team for FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017https://t.co/2S3E8g4TIY— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) June 7, 2017