i've got dishnetwork. very pleased with DN for offering GolTV and FSW. but what do i need to do to get them to offer or even consider offering ESPN Deportes? any ideas? any fellow dishnetwork subscribers want to help each other out getting ESPNDe.? I'd LOVE to get EUROSPORT over here but i'll set my target realistically this time.
The "Big 4" MSOs: DirecTV Para Todos, DISH Network, Comcast, and Time Warner are holding out on ESPN Deportes because ESPN Deportes does NOT have Mexican Futbol MATCHES that are meaningful. Until ESPN Deportes adds Mexican Futbol MATCHES (which probably won't happen for another 2 years), the "big 4" have no incentive to add ESPN Deportes. A Spanish-language sports channel without Mexican Futbol matches is useless to MSO's because 70% of Hispanics who watch sports watch
TyC Sports has Argentine Futbol. However, TyC Sports is not in the basic package (Opcion Extra) or the expanded basic package (Opcion Extra Especial). You have to pay $4 extra each month (Opcial Ultra Especial) to get TyC Sports. ESPN wants way too much money for ESPN Deportes, which currently has ZERO products that can drive subscriptions of basic tier or expanded basic tier. ESPN Deportes belongs to a premium Spanish-language tier but ESPN wants it in the expanded basic tier. FOX Sports International signed a deal with TV Azteca for Mexican League futbol matches airing on FOX Sports en Espanol for the next 2 years, thereby locking out ESPN Deportes, Telemundo, and Gol TV.
It's more likely that ESPN will use it's bundling and packaging powers, but done forget the constant consolidation of international corporations. Since NBC bought Telemundo, the idea of a deal involving Univision and Disney doesn't seem completely inconceivable. Is Viacom in the Spanish language TV business?
No, you don't. At least, I don't. I get Para Toda Opcion Especia.l and I get TyC - with no additional payments.
I hope the Disney execs budge and lower the asking price for this channel. Otherwise, they may end up folding the channel altogether. It's idiotic to be so greedy and ask so much money for a channel with "supposedly" not that big a demand - especially when the biggest providers aren't going to buy it. How do they afford to keep such a channel alive? Is it more of a tax convenience for them, to be able to claim some loss? Or are the operating expenses very low due to already available feeds for ESPN International? Does ESPN Deportes have a dedicated staff with salaries, equipment, seperate from what ESPN Latin America has? I would be interested in seeing the balance sheets for this channel in isolation.
I have Opcion Extra Especial and I do NOT get TyC Sports. You have either Opcion Ultra Especial or Opcion Premier. http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/learn/ParaTodosPackages_comparison.dsp
Everything is now shared. Even SportsCenter (en Espanol), which was created for ESPN Deportes, now airs on ESPN Dos in Mexico.
In that case, asking so much money for it and demanding to be included in the expanded basic package instead of Spanish tier is disingenuous on Disney's part. Maybe more of us fans should urge these guys to lower their asking price at the following survey site: http://r.espn.go.com/espn/deportes/survey They state: English: If you want ESPN Deportes, please fill out the following form with your personal information. We will send this information to your cable or satellite provider informing them that you would like ESPN Deportes on your cable system. If you would like to take additional action, please call or email your cable provider today! But how about being reasonable, eh? It takes 2 sides to do negotiation. I can call Comcast or Dish network all I like, but if ESPN doesn't change its stance it's an impasse.
We maybe onto something here. I went to the following website, gave my zipcode and chose pretty much all providers (cable, Dish, DirecTV): http://tvlistings4.zap2it.com/espn/grid.asp?partner_id=ESPN For all except DirecTV, it states that ESPN Deportes is not available in my area. However, for DirecTV, is shows it as available at channel no. 426!!! Now, I went to following website and see that there is no such channel no. 426. It jumps from 425 to 427, but I notice these numbers are in the Spanish tier. http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/ProgramGuide?time_zone=est&start_time=2000&m_display=PM&timezone_display=Eastern&time_display=Prime+Time¤t=Footer&success=%2Fglb%2FProgramGuide.dsp What gives? Does this indicate a preview of some change to come, or is the ZAP2IT site showing some obsolete info? Even if this change happens, it's not too good, since GolTV is only on Dish and not DirecTV. Why do things have to be so complicated? I just hope ESPN Deportes starts showing up as being offered by Dish network as well. In any event, I think people interested in this channel should take a 2 pronged approach. Pressure ESPN to drop their asking price, and keep asking the carriers to pick it up.
ESPN Deportes had been on DirecTV Para Todos for years. It was a part-time channel showing only Sunday Nite baseball and Sunday Nite football en espanol. It was a free channel then, before it was launched full-time and charged money. That's when DirecTV pulled the plug. If you are so desperate for Champsions League games, there is a better way to get Champions League games in the U.S. Besides Real Madrid x Roma on ESPN2, these matches are all available in the U.S.: Bayern Munich x Ajax Man U x Fenerbahce Olympiakos x Liverpool Monaco x Deportio la Coruna Juventus x Macabbi Tel Aviv like the first matchday, it's 6 games per day. Tell me, when do ESPN Deportes broadcast Olympiakos X Liverpool or Juventus X Macabbi Tel Aviv? Answer: never. "On what channels they are available?" you ask? You obviously have not been reading the threads in the past 2 weeks about watching CL games in the U.S.A. There have been 100+ posts in this forum as well as the UEFA forum... Why bother with ESPN Deportes while many other people are enjoying 6 games per day in the same country as you are? "
rangers00, it's mainly CL, I'll admit. But, that's not all. There are also certain European WC qualifiers and the highlight shows on ESPND. I've given up on it happening on DISH anytime this season, though. Next coupla years, maybe.
rangers: i THINK your post was supposed to be helpful but unfortunately it came across as i) slightly snotty and ii) doesn't address the fact there are other events on ESPN Deportes i'm interested in seeing. thanks though.. i think.
No chance. Univision executives allegedly view Disney stock as toxic waste. Disney is a slow-growth company with lots of problems. ESPN has masked the mess that is Disney for years. Nearly 80% of Disney's profits are traced back to ESPN. There is no way Univision will be bought out by Disney in a stock swap. Disney's credit rating isn't that great either so a cash deal with Univision will be way too expensive for Disney.
European WC qualifiers recently available (from memory): - Austria x England - Poland x England - Croatia x Hungary - Denmark x Ukraine - Holland x Czech Rep. - Turkey x Georgia - France x Israel - Portugal x Estonia - Latvia X Portugal How many of these games were available on ESPN Deportes? Yes, Holland x Czech Rep and Portugal X Estonia. What else? Basically, you are talking about the inventory of ESPN Deportes vs the inventory of Super Sports Gold (Thailand) + CCTV5 (China Central TV's sports channel) + Super Soccer (Hong Kong) + other regional sports channel in China. It's not even close. It's like an MLS team vs Brazil. As far as highlight shows are concerned, even WCQ highlights, Champions League highlights, EPL highlights, la Liga highlights are available.
It's possible, but there are several issues here. 1) Napster's opponents is RIAA, a very powerful organization. Who owns the rights of the games I mentioned in the U.S.A. ESPN International, Setanta and other ethnic channels? Well, you can say that ESPN International is a subsidiary of Disney, but the content we are talking about here are extremely niche contents in America, i.e. no mass market at all. For example, I look at the # seeds/peers of a CL game from yesterday. It has at most 50-100 peers at the peak. In total, I guess there are about 200-300 downloaders. After the peak period, the download activity is very limited. Out of these, I estimate about only 20-30% are from the U.S.A. (I know, because I used to trace the whereabouts of the peers on certain WCQ; you may not believe it, but the majority of them are from Europe/Asia). So you are talking about an estimate of 60-90 people in America downloading a hot game from BT. That's about right, because European soccer has minimal appeal in this country. So, RIAA and MPAA can sue Napster and peer-to-peer because they claim they lose billions of $$$ out of 60 millions peer-to-peer users. How many such numbers can Setanta, DFH, TeleAntenna and ESPN International claim? Don't get confused by statements like "there are many immigrants interested in CL", "lots of people like to watch European soccer here" by my opponents in this forum. Here "many", "lots of" may be in the ballpark of 4-digit, far from millions, or tens of millions of people in the talks of TV ratings... 2) RIAA and MPAA are lucky that they are up against an American target, and in MPAA's case, an Australian target (Kazaa). They are against "copyright violators" in developed countries. Had RIAA/MPAA been against targets (web-sites) in China, they would have had NO CHANCE, and I repeat, NO CHANCE!!! We are talking about a country, a culture and more importantly, a government, that has total disrespect of copyrights. A country that even Microsoft and Cisco can't do anything about. Yes, China is in the WTO, we can all wait for the state department to complain to China, and using WTO's charter, to force the Chinese government to shutdown all these BT sites. That may happen by the South African World Cup... 3) And that leads to point #3. If you know that a method of watching games is not everlasting, but it will be there for a while, will you still watch the games? Let's see, we talking about about - a Napster waiting to happen, vs - an ESPN Extra waiting to happen. which one will you bet on to last longer? 4) China is also too big a market for UEFA and FIFA to do anything. Yes, the content rightholders, UEFA, can force China to shut down all these BT sites or they will not sell the CL and WCQ to China, but with hundreds of millions of (legit) TV audience, do you think UEFA will take that chance? It's a trade-off. Selling the rights to China while allowing a certain degree of peer-to-peer sharing is much better than totally pulling out from such a vast market. In other words, UEFA and FIFA would have treated this problem as if it's non-existent, at least not until BT gets out of hand.
Justify it all you want - it's still theft of intellectual/commercial property - and you know it. I'm just glad to hear that you can sleep at night knowing that you're advocating theft because it's convenient.
Uhhh, excuse me, but can we stick to the subject at hand? There is no need for the patronizing tone above. I know all about the BitTorrent as well as the other Asian (or international) streams. I'm not interested in talking about it in this thread. I've been watching some Champions' League matches myself for the past 2 weeks, depending on what my time can allow. This thread is to discuss how to increase distribution of ESPN Deportes in the US. Does every thread about this topic have to turn into some sort of lecture?
Absolutely, I can sleep at night because of watching games from BT. My definition of theft is vastly different from yours. - if I pay for something, I have the rights to share a particular content with my relatives, my friends, my co-workers, etc. Let this be a CD, a tape, a PPV event, or even a show on cable. Even residential PPV cannot limit the # people watching the game, i.e. I can pay $24.95 for a game and let 30 people into my house watching the game. As long as I am not charging my friends money, no law can regulate that. This is called "fair use". Sharing it with some fellow fans in another continent may be theft in your book, but it's "fair use" in my book. - Have you ever taped a show and loaned the tape to your friend? You can call it stealing (on your friend's part). I don't. - If it's theft, it must be of any value. Juventus X Maccabi Tel Aviv is not sold in any form in America, not on ESPN Deportes, not on Setanta, not even on ESPN Latin America. The rights holder of this game do not consider this content of any value to sell it in this market. If somehow I can obtain this content from somewhere else (e.g. a friend in Asia taped it and shared it with me), is it unethical in your book? Maybe, but it's definitely ethical in my book. This game has no commentary and minimal graphics. It's very likely a wildfeed (in the clear) that someone pull down from C-band. If you don't know, ITC wildfeeds are fair game, it doesn't break any law to pull down a wildfeed if it's unencrypted. This is true even in the copyright mecca - U.S.A. So, if someone pulled down an ITC wildfeed from Asia (legal) and share it with me in America (such product isn't even sold in America), what is being stolen? So, you can go ahead and lose sleep at night based on a warped definition of theft that the RIAA and MPAA want you to believe in. Two years ago, rememebr the Turner Broadcasting president called people who use the 'ad skip" feature stealing TV shows, as in "when you watch our TV, you enter a contract that you must watch the ads. Skipping the ads means stealing"? I mean, these people are not God. They don't define what "stealing" is. It's stealing only if the law says it is. If the Chinese law doesn't consider it stealing, it is not. Remember, this is not only about American law.
Maybe the title of the thread should have been: "ESPN Deportes: how to get it? And no rangers00: We're not interested in your lectures about gray market satellite dishes, BitTorrents, or live stream from Asian sites. We know enough about them already."
Yes, you can ask about how to get ESPN Deportes, and never manage to get it. The point is, do you want to get ESPN Deportes just for the sake of getting ESPN Deportes? it isn't about watching any games, but just for the sake of telling friends that you get ESPN Deportes? If getting ESPN Deportes is just your means to watch certain content, then this particular means is pretty meaningless. That's my point. If getting ESPN Deportes is your goal, you don't want this channel to watch any content, but just want such a channel on your TV to brag to your friends, then your question had been answered, e.g. what you see on Zap2it under you zip code on what DirecTV Para Todos offered, why there is an ESPN Deportes listed under DirecTV Para Todos...
Yeah, thanks for that. It's just that if the answer didn't come with the baggage of a patronizing lecture, it would have been appreciated more. Maybe you should add the lecture to your signature. Would save a lot of trouble for you, as well as people who have signature viewing turned off.
So you dodge the other question. Do you want ESPN Deportes just because you want ESPN Deportes on your channel lineup? or do you want ESPN Deportes as a means to watch certain content? Is it the means or the goal?