Copa del Rey Final Friday May 25 3:50pm ET - Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona - ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com (This match will NOT air on GOLTV U.S. according to the latest schedule grid released by GOLTV, Inc. I suspect that Santa Monica Sports sold the U.S. TV rights to ESPN Int'l directly.)
Please double check, I think GolTV U.S. also will be showing this game, it was announce by one of their broadcaster, but I am not sure if that change.
GOLTV did NOT buy the U.S. rights to this match. (Not a surprise to see GOLTV pass on this one. Friday afternoon before a long weekend with too many people traveling out of town. Not worth it because Real Madrid will NOT be involved. Having just Barcelona is no longer enough.) Santa Monica Sports did the deal with ESPN, Inc. directly.
Having just Barcelona isn't enough? What do you set the standard for "enough" as? Barcelona are easily one of the five most popular teams in the world. The teams competing are two of only three never to be relegated from La Liga. I'll give you the Friday afternoon part, but your whole "Spanish football is pointless unless it's El Classico" is BS.
Recently, Apple and Disney and in discussion to bring ESPNGO or WATCHESPN to apple tv, but if you can not wait, you can stream either from your iPhone or iPad to your Appletv and the picture is amazing. And starting in August there is going to be an ESPN+ for the internet, but since they no longer have rights to La Liga, but they are still in the hunt for the EPL. Nonetheless, all games on ESPN3 do not have the scoreline at the bottom so viewing the game is amazing.
I don't live in American anyway, so I can't stream anything from ESPN. I just hope GolTV Canada buys rights up here. In the past they've only shown it if GolTV US has.
Until FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF decide to share the wealth, Spanish football will continue to be viewed by a majority of international consumers as a pointless exercise with the exception of el Clasico. The decision to eliminate any type of revenue-sharing starting with the last TV contract cycle has turned the Primera Division into a 2-tier competition: Clasico Division - Barcelona, Real Madrid "Washington Generals" Division - the rest The likes of Casillas and Puyol actually understand this, but their bosses are too busy counting money to care.
Even if ESPN2 were to take this on short notice early next week, the telecast will probably be in Spanish under the "ESPN Deportes on ESPN2" label. Spanish football will NOT attract enough English-speaking consumers (and hence advertisers) in the U.S. as long as Barca and Real Madrid continue to choke the life out of the rest of the clubs. Notice that American investors who want to use soccer as a "China play" (i.e. Stanley Kroenke, John W. Henry, Malcolm Glazer) are not touching Spanish clubs. They are buying big English clubs.
think he's talking about the cost of buying the rights for that game which IIRC are separate from the league and the rest of the cup.
I love that Washington Generals line by Oliver. Great stuff, although I prefer to think about Valencia as hoovering somewhere between the Globetrotters and the Generals, but that could be blind faith. Is TVE International airing this game as well? It's always nice to avoid the ticker on Deportes and of course the woman screaming from the sideline every 30 seconds, which has been copied by Fox Deportes on some of the Libertadores broadcasts, adds an interesting twist.
Fernando Palomo and Mario Kempes will call the Copa del Rey Final on site from Estadio Vicente Calderon in Madrid for U.S. audience only. (Interesting to see ESPN Deportes willing to spend money to send Palomo and Kempes to Madrid instead of having Ramos and Pereyra call the match off tube from Coral Gables.) Copa del Rey Final Friday May 25 3:50pm ET - Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona - ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com Spanish-language audio only at ESPN3.com No English-language audio will be offered by ESPN, Inc. Palomo tweeted the following photo from the front door of the hotel where he is staying:
too lazy to add a english feed and let Darke/Macca call it off of moniter... too lazy to give a f*ck if this is the last time they call a big game like this thats ESPN, everybody. I'll watch in spanish, but come on, man...
Anyone who doesn't believe that ESPN, Inc. is waving a "white flag" in front of Qatar Media is not paying attention. Every "telling" action from ESPN, Inc., including every word spoken by John Skipper every time a reporter asked him about escalating rights fees during the 2012 NCTA Cable Show in Boston, indicates that ESPN, Inc. is prepared to concede the "international club soccer" genre in English in the U.S. market to Qatar Media Corporation and/or FOX Sports. Like it or not, Qatar Media is here in the U.S. to stay until 2022. Next event: how will Nasser and Youssef react when Comcast plays "GodFather" with them?
GOLTV Canada (MLSE) is now on its own with regards to Spanish futbol (La Liga, Copa del Rey, and SuperCopa). No connection with GOLTV USA going forward.
For what it is worth, Qatar Media does not have Canadian media rights to La Liga or Serie A and has no intention of buying those rights, according to the unofficial Twitter account @beINSportsUSA
Letterboxed inside a 4x3 screen inside a 16x9 withESPN Deportes bars on the sides? You have to be f****ing kidding me. Time to hook up the laptop for ESPN3.
I have a jailbroken Appletv with Plex on it, and that is how I am able to see the games on TV at almost HD quality without informercials at the bottom. Not HD, but is better than espndeportes in SD.
The world feed from Santa Monica Sports had a solo English-language commentator. GOLTV Canada took the world feed straight through. ESPN.com chose not to offer the world feed to save money and bandwidth.