Can anyone tell me what Gol TV is and who's it availbale to? I have direct tv and I don't think they offer this channel. Does it exist for Dish or cable?
right now its just C-band and Dish network...the only league really worth watching is the Serie A, the picture clarity is far superior than RAI...why i dont know. They were supposed to be doing SAP broadcasts in english, but this is available only thru C-band right now. The have other central american leagues also like Peru, Bolivia, Guatamala...they also have exerpts from Real Madrid TV. The biggest blow to the channel though is that ESPN exercised their rights for Goltv not to show any of the Real Madrid games on tape delay, that was a big factor of me getting the channel. Supposedly within the year they will be on Dish network top 150 in english. Although I think it will be very hard for this channel stay alive. Cantona---
So it's another FSW but it only shows soccer. I would love to get this channel but I have DirectTV. This might be another reason for me to switch to DISH.
Looking at Goltv's inventory, it's utter disappointment. I mean, if you are from Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Guatamala, etc. and you want to follow the league of your home country, then it may be good for you. But for neutral fans, especially fans from Europe or Asia, this is a channel that you can do without. I mean, how many Europeans do you think will be interested in the Uruguayan league? I am not talking about watching it once as a novelty, but following it week in week out like Americans/Asians following Man U/Juventus/Arsenal/Milan week in week out. More or less, the South American competitions have become 2nd fiddle as the top talent have been looted by the European clubs. This is very different from the 70s/80s when the likes of Zico, Maradona, Socrates, Passarella, Figueroa, Francesoli, Cubillas, Leao, etc. all stayed in South America. Goltv is essentially the same type of channel as FSW Espanol, or Univision/TV Azteca/Telemundo but with only soccer content. In other words, its content overlaps too much with the other Spanish channels in the U.S. market that you don't miss much as a neutral fan. Right now the only thing worth watching on Goltv is Serie A, 3 games per weekend. Unless it can build from this inventory, otherwise it will have a tough time to be just a Serie A network. I've said all along. A soccer channel is not going to be appealing to fans unless it has the premium competitions (Champions League, la Liga, Serie A, World Cup quals, European Championship quals, EPL, etc.). However, PSN tried to be that type of network, and went bankrupt because the premium competitions cost them a king's ransom. It's very tough to be a stand-alone soccer channel. It would be much easier to be a subsidiary of a big parent company (a la ESPN International under Disney, or FSW under News Corp.).