FSC next season

FOX Sports Int'l has Serie A locked up through 2009-2010.

GolTV has La Liga through 2008-2009.

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Setanta Sports Limited is now "in play", with Goldman Sachs getting ready to entertain bids from Disney/ESPN among others.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23095927/for/cnbc

Until something changes, I predict that the majority of EPL matches in the next TV contract cycle (starting with 2010-2011 season) will end up on "ESPN World", which will be a $20-$25/month premium channel currently known as "Setanta Sports USA", with ESPN, Inc. tossing a bone or two to FSC, i.e. FSC will be able to sublicense one or two games each week (i.e. 2nd choice game on Saturday at 10am ET and/or Saturday at 12noon ET).

I just do see FOX Sports Int'l (FSI) getting into a bidding war against ESPN, Inc. for U.S. TV rights to niche international sports products such as EPL given that NewsCorp (FOX) and ESPN, Inc. have partnered to bid on EPL in other parts of the world (ESPN STAR Sports in Asia ex-Japan, J SPORTS in Japan, and ESPN in Brazil).

Another example: FSI stepped aside once ESPN, Inc. became interested in Caribbean winter baseball. FSI (FOX Sports en Espanol) was brought in by the organizers two years ago because ESPN Deportes didn't have enough households yet. Once ESPN Deportes got on Time Warner and Comcast, FSI was gone.

 

In this scenario, how is FSC going to survive?

 

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they survive because they are in sports packages that include other channels that people want like GolTV or NFL Network. If FSC doesn't have the premier league then I will be dropping them in a hurry if I'm going to have to pony up 20-25 bucks for Setanta.

 

The current EPL video rights deal in the U.S. is $57 million for 3 years.

Assuming that FSI is on the hook for 50%, then FSI is paying $9.5 million a year for up to 5 EPL matches each week.

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I expect the next EPL video rights deal for the U.S. to come in at about $90 million to $120 million for 3 years.

At $90 million for 3 years, FSI would be on the hook for $15 million a year if it were to keep 5 EPL matches each week.

If FSI were to keep only 2 EPL matches each week (with "ESPN World" getting the rest), then FSI would only be on the hook for $6 million a year.

 

FSW Canada dumped EPL for Serie A this season. FSW Canada survived by 1) keeping FA Cup, and 2) selling FOX Soccer Report to FSC.

FSC will survive as a sports pack channel by keeping one or two EPL game each week.

FSC has shown that it doesn't need to keep EPL exclusivity in order to survive.

Beginning in 2009, the FA Cup will be split between FSC and Setanta Sports USA.

 

I understand why this scenario might take place, and I know it's all about $, but from a fan's perspective this will not be a good thing. First, ESPN Intl. will likely mean more than just futbol. So what is now Setanta and 75%+ futbol will become a dumping ground for a variety of ESPN properties (e.g., some of the baseball matches that appear on Deportes). Second, unless ESPN buys into Setanta more generally, we will likely lose some of the programming we are getting because Setanta can cheaply beam it this way (e.g., Ligue 1 and Dutch futbol). I have to say that what we have right now in the US is probably as good as it could get. Take care.

 

I can see that happening.
ESPN will ruin European football in the US.

 

I'd love it if they showed less EPL and brought back rugby and Aussie rules.

 

MISL baby - catch the fever!

 

Why? They haven't ruined Cricinfo, or (to the best of my knowledge) Scrum.com. I think it's pretty wise of them to buy media outlets and leave them as is - just use their muscle to expand the audiences.

I see is as a bit like Nike buying Converse and Umbro (if that goes through). They don't want to change the product, they just want to make money off it.

 

I agree. It's not at all certain that ESPN will make things worse. For example, I suspect that ESPN will do a better job of getting the former Setanta Channel distribution on cable systems. I have Comcast and can't access Setanta, and b/c I live in an apartment building facing the wrong way, can't get satellite. (Of course, I say all this knowing Comcast doesn't carry ESPNU and that prevented me from seeing the under-20 World Cup). I did read in today's NY Times that Setanta has signed a distrib agreement w/ Verizon FiOS.

 

Have you seen any yet?
It's embarrassing. It's being produced for FSC by a company out of NJ for very little money and it shows.

 

Actually, I don't mean to be harsh, I actually like indoor soccer quite a bit and take a peek at it on FSC.

And yeah, the production seems pretty lame.

 

If Disney/ESPN, Inc. were to buy out Setanta Sports Limited (with the primary reason for the deal being ESPN's desire to go big in the UK market), the following MIGHT happen in order for ESPN, Inc. to save money via "synergy":

1. Fringe event products such as Ligue 1 and Dutch Eredivisie will be redundant in both the UK and North America. They can be chopped and replaced with much cheaper filler programming, i.e. newscasts and talk shows.

2. The following news operations can be consolidated into a single unit: Setanta Sports News (UK), SportsCenter Australia, SportsCenter South Africa. They can all be produced from the UK facility under the "SportsCentre" and "ESPNEWS" brand names.

3. The soccer talk shows produced in the UK and Connecticut can also be consolidated into a single operation. A single version of ESPN Soccernet Press Pass can be produced at the UK facility once or twice a week to replace all the other soccer talk shows.

4. Setanta's niche a-la-carte subscription channels in the U.S., Canada, and Australia can remain a-la-carte subscription channels i.e. "ESPN World", with the price jacked up from $15/month to around $20-25/month in order to pay for EPL, English FA, and FA Cup video rights. (USD$25/month is the current price for WinTV, the channel which has exclusive EPL coverage in mainland China.)

Of all the rumored potential bidders for Setanta Sports Limited (BT, Virgin, ITV, Disney/ESPN), the only one that makes any sense to me is Disney/ESPN.

 

ITV would also make sense for a few reasons:

1. They will split the England/FA Cup contract with Setanta from 2008-2012, and I wouldn't be shocked if they bid jointly for the UEFA Champions League for 2009-2011. I do personally suspect Sky will pay whatever it takes to keep its package, but it can't be ruled out.

2. ITN co-produces Setanta Sports News.

3. Multi-platform equivalent of the BBC's TV/radio/online strategy, which coupled with ITV and Setanta's ability to sell ads, might conceivably let them bid against the BBC and Sky for even more content.

Virgin and BT can use Setanta to help sell their overall services.

But if ESPN wants Setanta, no doubt they can outbid anybody except perhaps Richard Branson.

 

I agree both ITV and Virgin make sense from a UK perspective, as Virgin is the largest cable company in the UK and seems to have a "we wish we were sky" complex. They have an "equivalent" channel for every Sky branded channel except for sports. Buying Setanta would solve that one.

 

Does any single cable/satellite/broadband option show all the EPL games in this country? I was in Hong Kong over Christmas/New Year. The NOW broadband provider there showed every single EPL match. One evening, I had a choice of 7 matches that were all played at the same time.

 

This season there have been a couple of rounds where the schedule fell just right and all the games were broadcast at least on same-day delay, which is good enough since you couldn't watch all 4-5 games in the 3 p.m. GMT timeslot. These rounds were rare combinations of EPL scheduling (including a Monday night match and/or a 3 p.m. GMT Sunday match that was SDD) plus at least once the lack of Serie A and/or MLS games in a given weekend. Also, a late schedule shift of a game or two allowed all of the weeknight matches of Jan 29-30 to be broadcast at least SDD on FSC or Setanta.

 

No.

At most 3 EPL games are available live simultaneously on TV in the U.S., and ONLY to DirecTV satellite TV subscribers: one game on Setanta Sports USA, one game on FOX Soccer Channel, and one game on Setanta Sports USA Xtra.

On a typical weekend, the combination of Setanta Sports USA and FOX Soccer Channel will air 8 games out of 10, with up to 6 games live. There will be occasions when 9 or 10 games will be shown.

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The FA Cup is also split in the U.S. The current split: 2 games on pay-per-view, and up to 3 additional games on FOX Soccer Channel. In 2009, Setanta Sports USA will get up to 2 games per round with FOX Soccer Channel getting to 3 games.

(In Hong Kong, STAR Sports Hong Kong gets almost all FA Cup games unless two games are shown simultaneously, in which case ESPN Hong Kong will be used as the overflow channel.)