Except for the fact it's owned by the fascist Australian Murdoch, I love the big FSW. Whether it's MLS, EPL, Wrap, Bundesliga, La Ligue Frances, various Highlight shows, UEFA Cup, Argentinian (their highlight show is often extraordinary), Brazilian or whatever, it's all good when I just need to see some soccer, no matter of what stripe. It fulfills (and probably feeds) the hunger. Thank God for FSW. (Feel free to chime in with your own testimony.)
Aside from MLS, the best thing FSW has is the FA Cup rights. I love, I mean love, watching those lower league and non league teams battle. This Friday at 2:30 is the first FA Cup match of the compettetion on FSW. The vcr will be fired up for that one.
Yes! I'll be home on brat duty while the wifey is off to Chicago to probably cheat on me. At least I'll have the sweet, warm embrace of international soccer to comfort me.
I could not have said it better myself. FSW rocks! The games, the highlight shows, the FSW Report, Dream Team and everything else. This channel is by far my favorite channel and I spend at least 65% of my TV watching time on FSW. I do not know what I would do without it!
I don't know wether to laugh or cry at this post! Poor guy.... but you get to be home with FSW all day!! I always refer to soccer as "my other girlfriend" to my wife, she knows I cheat 2 nights a week for playing league and 3 hours a week watching highlight shows!
I enjoy FSWC a great deal with their coverage of matches. However, two things bother me about FSWC. From 18:00 until 19:00 EST they run a show hosted by John Oakley, which is absolutely awful to watch...its a talk show that is quite sexist and offers nothing to the soccer viewer...I believe it is only run to meet Canadian content rules... The other thing is during the Fox Sports World Report (hailing from Winnipeg), usually J St. Louis goes through the upcoming live games many of which he says "are for our viewers south of the border...for our American audience only". when he knows full well that the 2 EPL matches shown on a Saturday on FSW are shown on Rogers Sportsnet, a basic cable channel with carriage probably 10 times that of FSWC or FSW (taking into account the size of the US vs. Cdn market). Last night, they made reference to the FA Cup tie being shown on Friday afternoon live on FSW...the game will be shown live on Rogers Sportsnet. The inference made is that Cdn viewers get little in the way of coverage....what we get if one has FSWC is usually 3 EPL games live on a Saturday (via Rogers Sportsnet...anybody who has FSWC has Sportsnet as it is a basic cable channel and FSWC is an add on channel on the digital platform, via satellite or cable), 1 game on a Sunday, and a game on a Monday if available...as well, many people have Telelatino which shows 4 Seria A games in English per week, which are then shown on a 2+ day time delay...as well, we usually get 1 or 2 Primera Liga games per week in english on Rogers Sportsnet. Would it be possible for the FSWR crew to acknowledge Rogers Sportsnet and the exemplary coverage they give in Canada to the sport.
NewsCorp actually owns part of Rogers Sportsnet. FSWC simply licenses the FOX name from NewsCorp and are entirely owned by Global TV, one of Rogers' biggest rivals. They are in competition, although Rogers can afford to outbid Global for virtually any property.
Thank you for mentioning this. I have the EXACT same gripe. When I first got FSWC, I always found it confusing at first because the hosts make it sound as if Canadians have no access to these games. This is strange because I always see other television stations cross-promote games for a particular league between competitive networks. For instance, take the CFL (Canadian Football League). TSN and CBC ALWAYS mention when each others games are coming up. TSN doesn't try to hide the fact that some games are on different networks and vice versa. I remember watching a CFL game on CBC once and they even went out of their way to mention that an upcoming game was going to be on Rogers Sportsnet and not TSN or CBC. This kind of thing is very handy for fans because often we want to watch games of a particular league but we don't care which particular network its on. I greatly appricate when networks realize that it is in thier best interest to promote the league as a whole and not try to discourage people from catching other games only because they are on a competitive network. When the EURO 2004 was on, I remember TSN even went out of their way all the time to mention the fact that "many games would not be carried live on TSN but only on tape delay but that the games could be seen live on FSWC" thereby providing FSWC with some promotion. FSWC however doesn't seem to do this at all, they seem to try to hide the fact that these other EPL games which are supposidly "only available to american viewers" are easily available to anyone with simple cable here. To be fair though I think I know why FSWC does this. If the FSW Report was ONLY shown on FSWC they might actually do this, but since they produce the show for both FSWC and FSW, the latter having a greater viewership. I think they are trying to intentionally minimize the "Canadian-ness" of the show so that many casual viewers in the US won't realize that the show wasn't produced strictly for their consumption. If they started mentioning "Roger's Sportsnet this", "TSN that", American's would start saying... "wait a minute, what is this stuff, how can they show something unamerican on american television." It shouldn't surprise anyone though. Canwest Global is notorious for this. They ALWAYS get in trouble from the CRTC for doing the minimum amount of Canadian content and even when they do, they go out of their way to make thier content "seem" american so that they can resell it (like they do with the FSWR) to other networks. Heck, we all know that the ONLY reason there is a FSW Report is to get around the whole minimum Canadian content requirement of their licence. As far as Canwest is concerned, it's an annoying cost that they'd rather avoid. So it makes sense to them to minimize the "Canadian-ness" of the show in order to resell it to FSW in the USA to recoup as much of their costs as possible. Message to FSWC: Tell us when a match featured is going to be on a domestically available station even if its not yours. If a game will be on Sportsnet rather than FSWC tell us. If it's on Telelatino...Tell us... if it's on TV5...Tell us. We KNOW that you guys get your feeds for your highlights from these networks (the logos in the corner sort of give this away) so if you don't have the broadcast rights to something that's fine, but the least you could do when you are previewing a game is to let your viewers know where they can tune in for them. If FSWC hasn't purchased broadcasting rights for a particular game, don't try to make it seem as if Canadians don't have access to a particular game.
Why would a channel promote the programming of competing channel? If you have a channel that shows a particular game and you have FSWC, chances are that you know you can watch that game somewhere else. You wouldn't see TSN promote a game to be shown on Sportsnet or vice versa because they compete.
I hear the channels that carry the NBA here in the states do the promoting of NBA games on channels other than there own. However, I do not see this done for other sports like Baseball and Football. The NBA needs to do this to promote the game and with games on evey night on different channels, it helps fans to be able to watch the games. Whereas the NFL and MLB do not need to do this. Does the EPL get good ratings in Canada on the different channels?
Ok - first of all - if you KNOW where the games are, why do we need to tell you where they are? We're not trying to hide anything - it's just the way it works in TV. You do not promote another network's programming when it runs parallel to yours unless there is a working agreement in place. Sure, we could promote the games on Sportsnet but do you see them promoting games that we have on FSW? No - I don't see any complaints about that on here. Ya we did pump up games on TSN during the Euros and they did the same for us. It was a working agreement we had with them after we basically GAVE them all the viz they asked us for for their Euro Preview show. You don't get something for nothing and I for one am not about to promote Sportsnet's games on MY show (unless directed otherwise). Ya, Fox owns part of Sportsnet but we compete and trust me, there is no love lost between us. Like I said, if you know where the games are and when they're on, we don't need to promote them. J1
I love the Canwest bashing that goes on on this site sometimes....Yet if Canwest was to sell everything to an American company, they'd all gripe about the loss of a Canadian institution. First of all, Rogers is able to get the games they do from the EPL and whatever else because they make their money on the backs of their hockey and baseball coverage. Our licence at FSWC is just for soccer/rugby/cricket and so it is hard for us to get the big games because the money in those sports isn't there in North America like it is for hoceky and baseball. Do you think Sportsnet makes money off of soccer? Give your head a shake if you do....I hear enough bitching about them running ads during games (which is what makes them money) so they minimalize it and make next to nothing. In fact, they likely lose on the games. From what I hear, FSWC is trying to get their licence amended to show more sports so that they can make money off other stuff in order to help bring in better games. But of course, TSN and Rogers will fight this tooth and nail. What viewers need to remember is Sportsnet and TSN were built on hockey and baseball....Advertisers pay to get their stuff on the air during these games....We're not - we're built on soccer where the money is almost non-existant. Sure - Sportsnet and TSN show the good games but just remember - if a hockey game or baseball game were broadcast at the same time, you'd be out of luck. This is not an excuse - this is just the way it is. J1
Jeremy, how are Sportsnet and TSN's ratings for the Hockey season so far? Just kidding. Thanks for the information.
Thanks again Jeremy. I recall hearing that Sportsnet has seen EPL ratings and ad sales increase over the past couple of years (I'm American, so I can only go off press releases I read). Of course, it helps that FIFA does NOT consider Canada a "growable soccer market" because the weather and population density do not support a D-1 soccer league. Hence, Sportsnet can get away with running commercials during the games, which no US broadcaster could.
On a bit of a side note Jeremy I was wondering what happened recently to the cricket focus. You guys used to have something going during Monday's during the daytime before. I'm almost tempted to pay for that ATN network that seems to be carrying a lot of Cricket lately but it's like $15/month and besides, it's in some language I don't understand. I can't wait for the day.. you know it's coming if it hasn't already.. when Sportsnet ends up missing a goal due to a break! Yup, I was the one and only viewer that sent in an official "intervention" when the CRTC sent out a bulletin for a call for comments on notice number CRTC 2004-28. You can read some of those comments in the CRTC's written responce to FSWC regarding thier request. Basically, I just feel that FSWC should add other less covered international sports like Gaelic football, hurling, stuff like that, if they're going to add anything at all. I think from the CRTC's perspective they are concerned that if FSWC starts bidding for similar content as TSN/Sportsnet the price of broadcast rights will increase. They seem to have a longstanding policy of not doing this and trying to keep the prices low by reducing competitive bidding. Yup, unfortunatly this kind of thing used to happen years ago, not during Soccer but during Aussie Rules. Back when TSN used to have the broadcast rights to Aussie Rules the Grand Final was pre-empted a few times due to baseball. And Jeremy, Sportsnet and TSN do not show all the "good" games, you guys DO afterall show the AFL Grand Final.. the best game of the year on FSWC!
Yes, FSW + DVR/Tivo is a blessed dream come true. Really must say the when I took up with Dish Network, my only real issue was the availability of FSW. Once they confirmed that in fact I would get it, I agreed to the deal. My daughter and I have now established a ritual where we get up about 6:00 am Saturday, make coffee and waffles and then tune in to watch the EPL live...while she is only 7, she seems to have grasped the game quite well. She has become a rather big fan of Man City (loves the sky blue). Cracks me up. She has asked me to ask you all at FSW to make sure you show all their games (lol) I am also pleased that the FSW Report has such a solid crew - love Jeremy, Bobby and of course the best smile in television, Michelle. Well done to you all! (also love the fact you all post on these boards - nice to see. Church
So did FSWC manage to get their licence amended to carry more sports?...or did they get a special exemption to show IFL and John Oakley...
INCORRECT. FOX Sports World CANADA, abbreviated FSWC, was able to obtain a CRTC licence amendment so that FSWC can now air a limited number of hours of golf, auto racing, and mixed martial arts (International Fight League). Note that FOX Sports World Canada dropped English Premier League after the 2006-2007 season. It still has the FA Cup in 2008. The flagship soccer product on FOX Sports World Canada week in and week out during 2007-2008 is Serie A, which was sublicensed from TeleLatino Networks. FOX Sports World Canada is owned and operated by Canwest Global. It is NOT part of NewsCorp. The "FOX Sports World" brand and logo are used by Canwest Global under licence from NewsCorp.
Actually, NewsCorp no longer owns part of Sportsnet, Rogers bought them out and now controls 100% of Rogers Sportsnet. As for FSWC, it will be intersting to see what comes out of the CRTC hearing that starts next week that is a review of the entire system. They will going over the rules pertaining to specialty channels and the distribution system (i.e. cable & satellite). One of the things being mentioned is getting rid of the rules that forbid CDN channels from competing against one another. If this rule is done away with then it allows 'real' competition amongst channels. Would FSWC try and secure rights to more mainstream sports to help strengthen the channel or will they keep the wallet closed and just continue the status quo?!