Troubling news for fans of Scottish clubs here in the US, it appears the Premiership matches will no longer be on fox. I sent an email to foxsoccer match pass (i think thats what its called) about the spfl matches and was told they wouldnt be on match pass. Assuming this means no fox soccer plus either? I wonder if Scottish martches will end up anywhere this season?
http://www.livesoccertv.com/competitions/scotland/premier-league/ doesn't list any American channels.
I am also concerned whether the EFL Championship and League Cup will be available and where. beIN's contract expired last season and there has been no announcement regarding either renewell or signing with another network. I have little information to go on so far...I have seen beIN's TV schedules for Fri, Aug 4th, the date of the first TV game, Sunderland v. Derby County. Both channels have the opening Ligue 1 game scheduled, which just may be their preference, but a year ago, the Friday Championship game would have then been shown on delay, but is not on this years schedule (yet). This should be clarified in the next week r so.
I wonder if the Football League's new live video subscription plan plays a role in all this. EFL clubs can now sell live video directly to international customers via a League sponsored plan (https://www.efl.com/iFollow/subscribe/) or through their own streaming plan. Of course these plans exclude globally televised matches (on Sky, beIN, etc) so there shouldn't be a huge impact to the status quo. I honestly don't care if beIN renews the Football League, but would like to know what's going to happen so those rights could be picked up by ESPN or FOX (which would provide some value on TV with the Cup and playoffs + streaming normal league fixtures). EFL site doesn't list global partners yet https://www.efl.com/-more/efl-media/efl-overseas-partners/ And the last Championship news stories on the beIN US site are from the end of the 16-17 season. http://www.beinsports.com/us/english-championship/
Just saw beIN TV schedules for Aug 5-11. News is that they do list two partial EFL telecasts, but the schedule is indeed weak. On Saturday, the 1230 pm Aston Villa v. Hull match is joined in progress at 12:55 pm following PSG v. Amiens match. Sunday they show a snippet of the Bolton v. Leeds match at 1 pm (Kickoff was at 11:30 am) following a friendly between Borussia Dortmund and Erfurt. Furthermore, while there is a full slate of League Cup games during Tue-Thu, beIN will be showing nothing. The connect schedule for these dates is yet to be released, but I expect that most coverage for the EFL and the Cup (incidentally, currently known as the Carabao Cup) will be via streming for now
No Scottish Premiership TV deal in USA means games will be available only via club websites https://t.co/lZID88UiF2— World Soccer Talk (@wsoccertalk) July 26, 2017 With the 2017/18 Scottish Premiership season scheduled to kick off on August 5, Scotland’s top-flight soccer league looks destined to miss out on television in the United States and only be available via streaming through paid subscriptions to each club website instead. In previous years, a few of the Scottish Premiership games were available each week on FOX Soccer 2GO as well as being televised in the morning hours on FOX Soccer Plus. The broadcasts were supplemented by FS1 and FS2 televising the Old Firm Derby between Celtic and Rangers. As of press time, FOX Sports has no plans to broadcast the Scottish Premiership to soccer fans in the United States.
The main reason why TV broadcasters in the United States are reluctant is because the majority of clubs in the league have now set up streaming packages on their websites to cater to supporters outside the UK and Ireland. For example, Rangers TV is charging $299 for access to every match during the season in addition to exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes programming. Celtic TV, as a comparison, is charging $196 for their similar service. Not every club in the Scottish Premiership is offering a streaming subscription, but as of press time, many of the other top clubs in Scotland had the streaming service in place such as Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts. While the cost of subscribing to your club’s streaming package is more expensive, it will provide soccer fans with more coverage of specific Scottish Premiership clubs than ever before similar to what iFollow promises to supporters of Football League clubs. It’s possible that a TV broadcaster in the United States could still acquire the rights to the Scottish Premiership at the last minute before the season begins, but with almost every match being made available directly via the clubs, the league is no longer as attractive of a proposition. The most-recent Old Firm Derby in the Scottish Premiership had a viewing audience of 73,000 for the March 12 match, which was televised live on FS1. World Soccer Talk reached out to the Scottish Premiership for comment, but they did not respond. http://worldsoccertalk.com/2017/07/...means-games-will-available-via-club-websites/