OK! I guess we're finally set now. ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP Fri Aug 4, 2:45 PM ET Sunderland vs. Derby County Sat Aug 5, 10:00 AM ET Fulham vs. Norwich City Sat Aug 5, 12:30 PM ET Aston Villa vs. Hull City Sun Aug 6, 11:30 AM ET Bolton Wanderers vs. Leeds United
How will this impact the ifollow thing? I thought I heard the games on beIN would be blacked out on ifollow. Since ESPN3 is capable of showing every single game, how will that impact the new service?
The iFollow blackouts will be for those games the EFL internationally distributes, which typically are one 10AM game on Saturday, the 12:30PM game on Saturday, and the single matches on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays. With the exception of the 10AM Saturday game 99% of the time these are the games that SKY broadcasts domestically in the UK. These were the same games that BeIN had last year that they usually showed on Connect or delay on the regular channel, or on occasion, live.
ESPN3 will show the designated TV matches (what Sky shows in the UK) + a Saturday 3pm UK match designated for intl distribution. By appearances, same as beIN. iFollow and individual club streaming services cannot show these matches marked for intl TV distribution -- but they can show all others. ESPN will not show matches outside the intl TV rights parameter, leaving clubs the rights to most League and Cup games.
Fubotv still lists these games on beIN channels. Maybe this change will mean that they will try little harder to get ESPN to fubotv.
So when Leeds are on I can watch on my phone at work, or from the comfort of my living room, or not even get out of bed on a Saturday morning?
So no more matches on BEIN? They just showed a promo that had the EFL crest on television the other day.
Also, do they have the Spanish Language rights too? Are they going to show anything on ESPN Deportes?
Meh, not the greatest news for me. I hate watching games on my tablet and if I connect to ESPN3 through my PS4, I can't flip between games. I'll figure something out.
ESPNFC announced it today: http://www.espnfc.us/english-league...glish-football-league-games-in-us-this-season
After losing BeIn on Playstation Vue and thinking that it was going to be difficult to watch Leeds games this season this is such great news. MOT.
This is good for Comcast customers like me. Comcast still doesn't offer Connect, and the actual BeIn channel is only available in SD.
Really hope they don't pull an NBC Gold with this where I have to eventually pay actual money to watch a one off Liverpool v Bristol City Cup match. Streaming is still not as good as the television, but I much prefer ESPN commentators and their on demand aspect to beIN. Getting sort of annoying that there's a gap in all of the streaming services where they're missing one of the major soccer properties. Vue was just about there and lost beIN. Some of the bundling is already getting too broad. Would love it to be more customizable.
Yeah, it may 'only' be streaming now, but this deal opens The EFL up to tens of millions more people in the US -- and via accounts they already subscribe to.
ESPN rarely does this with their online properties. The only big example I can think of was with their coverage of the ICC (cricket) Champions Trophy earlier in the summer. Created a one-off subscription package for the event. But that's still more of the case with major cricket events. I liken ESPN's streaming deal for the EFL to their deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board, where they show all England and televised County Cricket matches through regular ESPN3. That arrangement has been really great for cricket lovers in the US.
I am hoping they have the playoffs at the end of the season on ESPN or ESPN2. I rarely watch the Championship but the last few seasons I have been drawn into the playoffs at Wembley though.
The ESPN3 stream is beautiful. The Championship now has better online picture quality in the US than the Premier League
I don't know if this has been covered before, but it looks like you can get a single game match pass for the ifollow games. Forest-Millwall is viewable for $7.
Much of the ESPN3 content is not tied to having cable, but rather to your internet provider. I cut the cable cord, a couple of months ago, but I can get all of the ESPN3 live and archived content through their Roku app. There are things that may be broadcast live on ESPN or ESPN2 that are NOT available on ESPN3--but that wil unlikely be the case with EFL, I would think.
The ESPN FAQ states that espn3 content is not available on connected devices without a video subscription. I'm glad that it's still available despite the FAQ, but the fact that it's posted means it may be taken away soon.
Watching the Sunderland match on my TV via the Directv/ESPN red button streaming option. This might be the solution for those modern Luddites among us like North Bank, etc.