GermanTV.info

Minnman · Aug 30, 2002

I ran accros this website recently. While I haven't looked through it in detail, it appears as though if your interests are for things German -including the Bundesliga - it's possible to get a satellite TV setup here in the States that's All Germany, All The Time. Seems, too, that they have various Bundesliga PPV options:

http://www.germantv.info/en_index.php

rangers00 · Aug 30, 2002

All these European leagues are going towards a pay TV subscription model in the U.S. That's nothing new. What's new is that each league is televised on a single-purpose platform, not a general platform like Dish Network, but a platform that only carries programming of that language, that requires a separate $300 receiver.

So far this season, there are three platforms for three different leagues.

- German TV (Bundesliga)
- SPT (Portugese 1a. Liga)
- DFH (Turkish Super Ligi)

I mean, if you are a native speaker of the language, you won't mind subscribing to the service. But for non-speakers who aren't interested in any of the programming but soccer, this is a complete turn-off. I can see a non-speaker subbing a Bundesliga PPV season package if it's on Dish Network (even if the commentary is in German), but I just can't see a fan subbing it on German TV, by buying one more receiver and putting up one more dish.

ElJefe · Aug 30, 2002

Originally posted by rangers00
All these European leagues are going towards a pay TV subscription model in the U.S. That's nothing new. What's new is that each league is televised on a single-purpose platform, not a general platform like Dish Network, but a platform that only carries programming of that language, that requires a separate $300 receiver.

So far this season, there are three platforms for three different leagues.

- German TV (Bundesliga)
- SPT (Portugese 1a. Liga)
- DFH (Turkish Super Ligi)

I mean, if you are a native speaker of the language, you won't mind subscribing to the service. But for non-speakers who aren't interested in any of the programming but soccer, this is a complete turn-off. I can see a non-speaker subbing a Bundesliga PPV season package if it's on Dish Network (even if the commentary is in German), but I just can't see a fan subbing it on German TV, by buying one more receiver and putting up one more dish.
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I'll put it to you this way:

This German TV is going to be a huge flop. I speak German, my dad is German, I follow the Bundesliga, but there is no way on Earth, I'm going to buy the hardware required for German TV. None. Heck, my pops (who lives in South Carolina) wouldn't even buy it, and I'm sure he'd like to see some programs from Germany.

It's not that we wouldn't like to see some of the programming that this outfit is offering, it's just that we're not about to spend hundreds of dollars for a new dish and a new receiver and a monthly programming fee to watch it.

Now, if German TV were get themselves carried along with all the other international programming on DISH Network, and we were just talking about a five or ten bucks a month to subscribe, that would be a different story. And I'd be very interested if DISH were to carry the Bundesliga PPV.