From Washington Post's Steven Goff via Twitter: Fox Soccer Channel out as #MLS broadcaster. NBC takes over in 2012: 6 games on network, 43 on Versus (now NBC Sports Network). ESPN remains. Official press release: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/08/10/mls-nbc-sports-agree-three-year-broadcast-deal Not a surprise to see NBC Sports Group (Comcast) going all-in with MLS/SUM. 49 matches (more than the the 31 matches MLS/SUM has contracted with ESPN, Inc.) (Comcast signed new regional rights deals with MLS for Philadelphia and San Jose for the 2011 season. MLS have been angling for a national deal with Comcast for some time.) Anyone wanna bet that the agents for J.P. and Kyle M. have already approached Mark Lazarus et. al.? == Also not a surprise to see FOX Soccer walk away completely from MLS after another season of awful ratings (0.1% average) despite spending money to spruce up the production and paying for on-air talent. As long as FOX (NewsCorp) is OK with not having a ticket to bid for U.S. rights to FIFA properties during the 2016-2023 cycle, FOX Soccer should walk away rather than toss $8 million down a black hole each year... == There will be a bidding war for the U.S. rights to FIFA Properties during the 2016-2024 cycle. I expect Comcast (NBC Sports Group) to bid at least $1 billion to U.S. media rights in all languages. Let's see whether ESPN, Inc. and Univision Communications will have the stomach to bid higher. Scratch NewsCorp (FOX) as a potential bidder. (Don't believe Yahoo! will bid now that Jeff Mallett is no longer at the company. Google and Apple haven't done enough in FIFA's eyes to earn a ticket to bid. Don't believe Microsoft is interested.)
John Ourand at Sports Business Journal is reporting that the games will break down as follows: 2 MLS regular season, 2 MLS post-season, and 2 US Men's National Team games appear on the NBC broadcast network. Versus (which will be the NBC Sports Network when the deal starts next year) will have 38 MLS regular season games, 3 MLS post-season games, and 2 US Men's National Team matches. The deal is for 3 seasons. (copied from another thread)
SUM is the marketer for the Gold Cup, is there any reason to think NBC took on the rights to the Gold Cup as well? (Fox's rights expired with the most recent cup) Also, will NBC even bother with CONCACAF Champion's League coverage, will Fox keep that (seems doubtful), or will anyone interested need a CONCACAFlive.com account?
Contenders for U.S. media rights to FIFA Properties in 2016-2023: Tale of the Tape 1. Comcast Corporation (NBC Sports Group and Telemundo Networks) - NBC (national free-to-air broadcast network in English) - NBC Sports Network (national cable sports network, full distribution) - Universal Sports (national free-to-air broadcast sports network) - Comcast SportsNet (regional sports networks in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, DC/Baltimore, Houston, Portland) - Telemundo (national free-to-air Spanish-language network) - mun2 (national Spanish-language cable network) Missing: radio networks (will have to syndicate with Westwood One, Futbol de Primera, or others) 2. ESPN, Inc. (The Walt Disney Company) - ABC (national broadcast network in English) - ESPN and ESPN2 (national cable networks, full distribution) - ESPNU (national cable network, university and youth sports) - ESPN Classic (national cable network, sports tier) - ESPN3.com (proprietary streaming video website) - ESPN Deportes (national cable network in Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese) - ESPN Radio - ESPN Deportes Radio Missing: Spanish-language free-to-air network 3. Univision Communications - Univision (Spanish-language free-to-air broadcast network with full distribution via cable/satellite) - TeleFutura (Spanish-language free-to-air broadcast network - overflow matches) - Univision Deportes Network (Spanish-language all-sports network) - Galavision (Spanish-language cable network - overflow) - Univision Radio Missing: English-language media outlets
ESPN, Inc. (The Walt Disney Company) and Univision Communications are still under contract with MLS/SUM through December 2014. Both are also under contract with FIFA through December 2015. Comcast Corporation (NBC Sports Group & Telemundo Networks) is the new player at the table, replacing News Corporation Limited (FOX Sports Media Group.)
your saying that FOX doesnt pull in $8 mill worth of ad revenue in that time period, during those broadcasts? i guess tv ads are cheap these days...
Just as we expected. Now it will be interesting to see how much more into the soccer game that Versus wants to get. So Now ... what's next for Fox? La Liga?
I would not be surprised if Univision were to attempt to bid for U.S. rights to La Liga. Univision Deportes Network will need to have some form of live programming on Saturday and Sunday afternoons prior to 6pm Eastern Time.
Here's a possible scenario: Someone tries to buy GOLTV. Fox could make it Fox Soccer 2 and get out of FS+. Or, Comcast buys it and turns it into 'GOLTV powered by NBC Sports' like it does with Golf Channel. Then it could have a ready made channel for the Olympic soccer tournament as well as acquiring the La Liga and Bundesliga rights.
The last time soccer video rights fees escalated, Setanta Sports Limited was the one that got squeezed out of business one market at a time (first in the U.K, then the U.S., and finally Canada.) This time around, GOLTV, Inc. is in the most vulnerable position in the U.S. market because: 1. Univision Deportes Network needs programming on weekend afternoons 2. Comcast (NBC Sports Group and Telemundo Networks) is on the prowl for more sports programming. 3. By walking away from MLS, FOX Soccer has freed up $8 million/year in expenses. == Video rights contracts for La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and UEFA Europa League all expire at the end of the 2011-2012 season, in May 2012. The contract for the Globo TV Sports Brazilian Football package expires in December 2011. Of the 5 properties above, the one that served as the cornerstone for GOLTV is La Liga. Without La Liga, GOLTV has no chance of earning an 0.2% household rating for any live program.
I can't see the sense in this. Unless News Corp is taking an absolute hammering because of flopped movies and the phone hacking scandal, there is no sense in saving $8 million just to be able to try to cobble a suicidally large bid for FIFA properties. Fox Soccer, you're a SOCCER NETWORK. You don't dump the U.S. domestic league just after you started a concept called "Soccer Night In America." What's next for this network? Reruns of F.C. Fox? Fox Soccer America? Dream Team? Fox Football Fone-In Classics? 24-hour EPL Fan Zone (which would be pretty damned funny)?
Noticias Univision will air on Univision and on Univision 24/7 (the new all-news network), NOT the new Univision Deportes Network.
I don't believe any of the blogs that claim that FOX bid $10 million a year for the secondary MLS/SUM package as well. Let's put it this way: if FOX Sports Media Group really wanted to keep MLS, FOX would have offered the FOX broadcast network and FX as outlets in order to match the number of households Comcast was offering (with NBC and NBC Sports Network.) I don't believe FOX Sports Media Group tried all that hard to keep MLS. The only thing I don't understand is this: why didn't FOX walk away from MLS last season instead of tossing another $8 million in a black hole by re-upping with MLS for 2011 knowing that the ratings were probably going to be poor?
Possibly a gamble that: 1. FOX's increased production expenditure across FSC/+ would get more hard core fans who watched ESPN and/or regional games to also watch FSC's MLS output. And/Or 2. Increased cross-promotion with the EPL, Serie A, UEFA Champions League, and obviously CONCACAF Champions League/2011 Gold Cup. And/Or 3. NBC/Comcast did not see any available soccer package as viable unless it included rights for and frankly appealed to Telemundo (the actual merger had already been approved by the time FSC renewed for 2011). And/Or 4. No other interested party would emerge, potentially leading to a reduced rights fee for 2012 and beyond.
Globo is supposed to market international rights again to a weekend package of Paulista and Brasileirao matches. Don't know whether GOLTV wants to keep the package for the U.S. and Canada. Brazilian football is strictly filler on GOLTV. The one product that GOLTV cannot afford to lose in the U.S. market is La Liga. Without La Liga, GOLTV could lose its remaining pay-TV carriage contracts especially since Univision Deportes Network is looking for carriage.
If GOLTV goes under, I can picture Ray Hudson ending up on the side of a Miami highway holding up a "WILL UTTER INAPPROPRIATE REMARKS IN A THICK GEORDIE ACCENT FOR FOOD" sign.