Hi, I am new here, this is my first post on the board. I just had some questions regarding FSW programming. I live in Canada- I am assuming that FSW & FSWC have the same programming?? First, I heard that the agreement for the Bundesliga is up at the end of this season. Does anyone know if FSW plan on renewing their agreement for the German League (This is what I am interested in most- big Bayern Fan!)? I read in another thread that they may drop the bundesliga, is it possible for the Canadian channel to negotiate their own deal or do they just show whatever FSW in the U.S. shows?? Would ESPN try and pick up the Bundesliga or are they only interested in Champions League? What would they replace the bundesliga with if they decided not to renew? Also, is the agreement for Dutch and French football just for this year? I hope they continue to show more European leagues (I was dissapointed to see that they didn't get the rights for La Liga- Spanish league). I don't currently subsribe to FSWC (can't afford it at the moment) as you may have wondered by my questions. I am just trying to see if its worth it. Looking at their schedule I see they repeat games 2 or 3 times, which I don't like. I can see repeating it once but over and over again?! Also the on the American channel, half the schedule is infomercials?! The Canadian channel isn't much better (repeat FSW Report over and over again). In the end though, its the best source of soccer coverage in North America so I guess you just take what you got. Nothing's perfect I guess. This is a great site and I look forward to participating in future discussions about the great game of Football!!
You might be happy to hear that Roger's Sportsnet have acquired the Canadian rights to La Liga. They start broadcasting games tomorrow. Check out their web site for details. I can't speak to your other questions about the Bundesliga. I don't follow it closely but I do appreciate the variety of leagues, so I hope they renew the contract as well.
Re: Re: FSW Programming Rights It's only avaliable on Sportsnet Digital. It may be some time before you see them on the main network, if at all.
Bundesliga probably won't be renewed. There aren't that many German ex-pats (relatively speaking) and not that many Brazilians and Argentines subscribe to FSW for Bundesliga. It doesn't sell ads because of this (not a large potential audience, racing and tennis sell German cars much more effectively), nor does it sell enough subscriptions to be profitable. Same pretty much applies for Dutch and French. FSW signed up for these because they felt they had too many programming gaps after they lost Scottish League and Real Madrid and Barcelona matches proved too expensive. Either they will just have more EPL matches (replays or delayed original games) in those time-slots next year or use the time for infomercials.
Re: Re: Re: FSW Programming Rights Sportsnet Digital is simply the rebroadcasting of all four regional networks. You have to have the digital feed of all four if you want all 30 games, but you will see a subset with the regular Sportnet on analogue cable. See: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/article.jsp?content=20031218_140827_1160
I'm no expert on this, and I certainly respect Oliver's (and others') assertions that leagues from places like Germany, Holland, and France may not directly sell ads or subscriptions. But my experience in the general world of business has taught me that many times decisions are made for reasons other than the cold hard bottom line. Sometimes, seemingly unprofitable decisions are made based on the personal feelings of the decision-makers, or for appearances/reputation, or a belief that a market can be cultivated. For example, while from a pure dollars-and-cents standpoint it may make FSW more money to drop everything but the EPL and South American leagues, their standing among other advertisers, cable/satellite carriers, and yes, even viewers, may be hurt if they merely show the same EPL match 6 times each week. Perhaps DirecTV could decide that if they only have bandwidth for one soccer-oriented channel, they could drop FSW in favor of GolTV when the latter's satellite exclusivity arrangement expires next year. I guess what I'm saying is that while it may be true that carrying leagues other than the EPL would make more short-term profit, that isn't always how these types of decisions get made.
FOX Sports World and FOX Sports World Canada are dropping both Futbol Mundial and Western Union World Football. That is to be expected since 1) neither show sells ads and 2) FSWorld and FSWC already pay SNTV (AP/TWI) and Reuters subscription fees for their highlights and features packages for use during FOX Sports World Report, which offers soccer news daily instead of weekly, and 3) neither show provides NewsCorp with "tax management" advantages. Other than the English Premier League, there is really no business reason why FOX Sports Int'l should have to buy any other soccer product for use on FOX Sports World (US). No pay TV provider (other than Comcast, which needs to protect Outdoor Life Network US) would want to drop the channel at this point. MLS/SUM needs to be careful in its dealings with FSI. FSI is dealing from a position of strength while MLS/SUM has very little leverage with FSI other than the Mexican "Interliga", which FSI desperately wants to have for its FOX Sports en Espanol (FSE) service so that FSE has "Futbol Mexicano" in some shape or form.
Trans World Sport has also been dropped. No big loss. Redundant programming. FOX Sports World Report covers everything in a more timely manner.
FSW's U.S. programing confuses the hell out of me. What happened to their live EPL Saturday matches and their Sunday night Brazil and Argentina matches? Do they have any live EPL matches anymore? Their online PDF file also seems to be a week behind most of the time.
If you are talking about the past several days, the English Premier League itself has a modified schedule around Christmas time to accomodate Boxing Day matches. This weekend there are also no EPL matches as teams are playing in the FA Cup. The Argentine and Brasilian leagues are on post-season breaks.
Does this mean MSG will be/have to license a different soccer show from FSI (they were licensing Western Union World Football)? Could it be the EPL Preview Show? Although I don't think they've sold any ads in NY for the Highlights Show this year.