Wa! Wa! Wa! If Sky Sports was like Sportscenter well then you'd get people complaining because it's too much like Sportscenter...it's a vicious circle.... But what would the world be if people couldn't complain...There would be no posts in these threads about us....
I rather watch a show that is dull and professional, than watch a clown like Stuart Scott on tv every night.
The FSWReport is a pretty decent production. So it's low-budget. Big deal. Where else can you get soccer news and insights like that in North America? FWIW, the FSW Report can provide much better value for their audience if they can leverage their strengths. The first strength is Bobby McMahon. I've been away for some time, then I come back, I see the FIFA ref instead of Bobby. He's not bad, but the discussion's not as good without the Scot. Sign up Bobby for life!!!!! I think his insights are very good and clever. He injects just the right amount of wit and has good timing. Just as important, Bobby makes the Portuguese Cadaver come alive!!! The other strength is that the Report's niche is on soccer. I don't think any other program does that. Hey Jeremy, wanna produce the best program ever? Something that will be near and dear to BS fanatics? In 12 hours, produce a segment on Friday's MLS Superdraft. Nothing fancy, just speculation on the new faces, the places, etc. Get a discussion going with the Portuguese Cadaver. Then on Friday, do a wrap-up segment on that morning's goings-on in Charlotte. Wheelock and the other clowns may be doing something similar, but the Report OWES it to us to do a report on the draft. Just my $0.02.
MLS Draft We want to avoid too much repetition and stepping on the toes of Harkes and Wheelock with their schtick but we will touch on the first round of the MLS Superdraft on Friday's show. Thanks for bringing it up - I talked to the producers today and it will be done. For in-depth coverage you'll have to watch Harkes and Wheelock.
FSW Report seems like its a mix between them both which is a good thing. Their style is like local sports casts on the news, where they get to add their own humor yet still be professional (luckily San Diego has some of the best.) The guys at SportsCenter just joke around too much. By the way, FSW Report should show baseball highlights like the winter Mexican league and the Japanese league.
No Baseball The FSWR (to my understanding) is primarily a forum for sports you can't see on Sporstcenter on a regualr basis (ie: daily). That's why we show soccer, cricket, F1, rugby, euro tennis, euro golf, trials, sailing....baseball is too mainstream. We'll show Mexican soccer before we show Japanese baseball....plus the fact we don't get any hilites of baseball from Mexico or Japan and would likely spend any extra money to acquire more soccer - not baseball. Thank God for that....
Isn't Mexican Soccer kind of mainstream. All the Spanish-language networks have it on their national sportscasts. You can probably see F-1 news most days on Speed as they are considering making "Speed News" a 7-nights a week show starting this season. Unlike race coverage, it will not be blacked out in Canada (FYI I'm American but I do read motorsports websites). The highlights are mostly the same as with Sky because Sky provides the English-language pictures for EPL and many other soccer competitions. TWI/AP cuts the footage into highlights your sports/news program can show on TV (as opposed to the longer-form EPL Highlights Show).
Mexican soccer We've been featuring a weekly Mexican Soccer report up until the end of the season - Joe did it and it was a package of Mexican hilites that we would have sent to us. On top of that, we've also been featuring Interliga soccer hilites the past few weeks. I'm not sure what your point was but if it was we're not showing any Mexican soccer, you may not be watching the right show. The EPL is our bread & butter - it has the easiest access for us and it is the most popular (believe it or not). A lot of the soccer we DO NOT show isn't because we have a bias against it, it is because we don't have access to the pictures or the rights to show the games. We do get pictures from our feeds (like every other sports place in North America) but we alos cut a lot of the games ourselves. Plus, the hilites sent down are re-cut by us to meet time requirements and give viewers a more realistic account of the flow of the game.
Some of us don't speak Spanish, and it's not like the whole show is Mexican highlights anyway. Besides, need the English to understand that rediculous playoff scheme of theirs. No baseball please, I can get all the baseball I want (which isn't all that much) on ESPN. International basketball, hockey, and CFL (which FSW needs to get back) are good. Golf I can do without. Keep up the good work.
I wasn't talking about American baseball because people obviously have easy access to it. But the leagues in Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are impossible to find any information on. It's obviously not mainstream enough for SportsCenter to talk about it and since Fox shows "world sports" on it's station I figured people would have enough interest to watch highlights from other leagues around the world. Guess I figured wrong...
I watch the FSWR mostly for the European football highlights. I agree that it can use some improving, but I would definitely not take it off the air. I mean, where else would I be able to admire the delicate skills of superstars like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Ailton, Rafael Van der Vaart, Pavel Nedved, Andrii Shevchenko, and Zinedine Zidane on a daily basis? The US media as a whole have this inexplicable, well-documented antipathy for football (soccer) and the FSRW offers a ray of hope for any self-respecting fan. In my estimation, the biggest turn-off for American fans is that the show is uber professional with so little banter that one wonders whether the presenters are even allowed to relax every now and then. With that in mind, the argument that the show is about sports and should therefore be fun and lighthearted does have some merit. Given that most of the soccer news concerns an assortment of European, South American, and African players with challenging names for North American tongues, I can forgive the presenters the occasional pronunciation error. Growing up in France, I can clearly recall news anchors making a hash of American, British, or German names or places and the errant pronunciations had a negligible effect on my information-assimilating experience. I rate Michelle Lissell very highly. I find her to be rather attractive. Her sense of style is distinctly European. The show may not be perfect, but by all means, it must go on.
Sports "news" programs, from a business perspective, aren't really about providing "news". They are essentially infomercials for the programming on the channel. Because FOX Sports World and FOX Sports World Canada air mostly soccer and rugby, most of the international sports "news" covered on FOX Sports World Report (FSWR) will be on soccer and rugby. Notice that FSWR covers auto racing, yachting, cycling, tennis, cricket, golf, and international ice hockey as well. FSWR has access to both the SNTV and Reuters sports news video services. The FSWR producer can pick and choose which stories from the video services get on the air.
Re: Mexican soccer I'm glad that you show as much EPL as you can, that's the league that I enjoy the most. I dig the German league as well as the South American Leagues. I'm not a huge fan of the French League, I think it's generally boring. It'd be nice to have La Liga back, you guys had it in 2002, I believe, and I watched it all the time...then it was gone. It also would be nice to have the Serie A, but you can't have everything. What you guys air now is a pretty solid lineup. I just wish you'd show EPL matches early in the morning, ie: 1, 2, or 3 a.m. ET.
Sorry, just new to the Boards and reviewing some old threads. Liked this one! Here's the rub: FSW Report.......you are Wycombe Wanderers. Labouring in the lower divisions with a lack of quality throughout the squad. Poor play and basic mistakes are costing you games. You are struggling to stay afloat as a team with little or no support and your stadium is old and crumbling. Your only hope of survival is a couple of good Cup runs where some money can be made to keep your few fans happy. Your knowledge of the game is near non-existant and teams tactics are 10 men defending on your own penalty box and hoping for the odd counter-attack. SKY Sports News.......you are Arsenal. Playing in one of the toughest Leagues in the world. Challenging for every Cup and Championship you play in. You have top players in every position and your style of play is a joy to watch. You have millions and millions of pounds which enable you to sign top players every season and allow you to build a new stadium. Your future is well secure and hope for more success for many years to come. You understand every nuance of the game and you play the most breath-taking style of flowing football outside of Brazil. Question is: As a PAYING customer........which team would you rather pay to watch??????
i like them both. fox sports world report has more coverage of non-euro soccer, and sky sports's coverage of euro soccer is deeper including lower divisions. why not just have both. if you don't like a show, just change the channel to something else.
FSW is much better than SSN. Why? HIGHLIGHTS! SSN is nothing but talking heads. If we can get both great. Otherwise FSW everyday allday!
just to answer the question regarding this thread... DONT BUY THE CHANNEL YOU IDIOT! its a cable pay channel.. nobody forces you to watch it~ what a pointless thread
I would much rather watch FSW Report than Sky Sports. There are highlights on FSW Report which is nice. I also feel that the FSW Report connects with people better. Being in America or Canada, they are our connection to England and other European Leagues. In addition, when Bobby McMahon is on the show, he adds some insight to the show which Sky does not do.