New Amsterdam? Michigan Stars? Lol. One might confuse the soccer club with the TV show. beIN is definitely not on all cable these days, even on streaming like on Sling or Youtube TV. beIN sports xtra is one of their freemium channels so it's basically mycujoo with a different network company. I'd argue that its slightly better, but.... https://beinsportsxtra.com/ - being placed between handball and futsal isn't a confidence booster.
I was intentionally picking the two with probably the least following. Nope, but it's on Dish. Nobody is arguing that it's the greatest thing ever, but the thought that NISA games would be broadcast live to like 50+ million people (of which of course only really Oakland will tune in to, but it will be there) is a whole hell of a lot better than MyCujoo, which pretty much everybody figured was what we needed to watch it on. MyCujoo isn't broadcast in any market, though. BeIN Sport Xtra is. I don't really see how this is really all that different than ESPN+? Except that it's free and even easier to tune into in some places.
I like to watch North American players competing in Europe. On ESPN+ I can track the progress of McKennie, Richards, Adams, Reyna, Dest and Davies along with MLS, USLC, USL L1 and college soccer. It also has the Championship and the Carabao Cup. That's pretty much all I need soccer wise along with the occasional Premier League match. I'm stuck with Hulu for now as it's the only way I can get YES for NYCFC games.
Right, but that's kind of my point. You're actively looking for this stuff, so you subscribe to ESPN+. That's a little different than clicking the "guide" button on your cable/dish remote and seeing a USL1 game (you won't, I guess). This isn't really about ESPN+ - it seems great, especially with the Hulu/Disney+ package, it's more that, for a D3 league with no history or pedigree and almost zero media exposure, BeIN - and it's non-subscription availability - isn't awful? Presumably, NISA would have had to have paid quite a bit of money to be on ESPN+, which seems like an ultra waste, given almost certainly negligible return. I'd rather them just MyCujoo than flush a ton of money down the toilet of ESPN+ right now.
Dish isn't cable, it's satellite. 50 million? Which hat that you pull that number up? People are cordcutting. Satellite and cable television subscriptions has been on a decline for awhile. beIN's has limited viewability than other streaming and cable networks. I don't see Dish on their official website, however. Then again who pays for satellite these days? Both are freemium streaming services. beIN xtra only broadcasts in very specific markets and apparently only a single market that a NISA club is in, Los Angeles. LOL.
$5.99 per month for ESPN+ seems like peanuts compared to the £30 per month I would have to pay in the UK for Sky Sports. BeIN used to be available more widely but a bunch of providers cut them in 2018. I assume they were asking for too much money. I think it's still on Spectrum.
Exactly. Which is you can get it OTA in all of these cities: (I assumed if it's broadcast OTA, the local cable providers have to carry as part of their local station coverage, but no idea if that's true, regardless, it's available to them and the cord cutters). And Oakland. The whole western conference is covered! ...and none of the east, but... Nobody is randomly tuning in anyway. Without a doubt. It makes you wonder what the hell cable subscriptions are going to. I meant it would have been too expensive for the league, who I am pretty sure would have to pay to broadcast on it (if ESPN would even be interested). How many people do you suppose tuned into CRW/Triumph on Saturday? Inter Miami2/Tormenta? Does it really make that big of a difference that those games were streamed from a Disney product if nobody is really watching them?
For D3 soccer. Glad we can agree. You tell me. ESPN seems satisfied the USL coverage, they have a broadcast rights deal with them until 2022/23. BeIN vs Disney is not up for discussion, sorry.
At the end of day 1: Group A Michigan Stars 2 - Detroit City 0 Stars continue their impressive season and Detroit continues to have no offense. I think both goals were headers off of set pieces (the game started at 5PM EDT and I wasn’t subjecting my family to it during dinner). Oakland Roots 3 - New Amsterdam FC 0 NAFC is consistent! They’ve given up 3 goals in every game this season. Which is a shame. Oakland was definitely the better team, but NAFC was not dominated or anything. Their defense is just terrible. Like horrible terribad. And also they can’t score when they have the opportunity. Both teams had the same number of shots on goal, the difference is that only one of them had Jack McKiernerny and Matt Fondy on it.
I’m not arguing that. I’m simply saying that it makes practically zero difference for D3 teams. Sure, but that’s because of the Championship. NISA doesn’t have a D2 league- or even a full season yet- to help strengthen their appeal.
They have 8 teams. It’s on PlutoTV, as well. That’s how I watched it. It’s also on Samsung TV and Redbox, but I don’t know what that last thing is besides the robot outside Walgreens that rents me movies.
Fees, obviously, but they're a fraction of USL's. But the individual clubs are responsible for their own broadcasts, so you have really slick productions, like DCFC's and Roots, with multiple cameras; decent ones, like CFC's and Cosmos'; and quite amateurish ones, like the Stars' with a terrible angle and slightly tilted... Eventually, I would want the league to get some minimum standards around broadcasting, but it's not the top priority to me, right now. Ideally, those clubs will begin to develop fan bases that demand more professionalism, but, honestly, the more important thing is attracting clubs and helping the ones already there to be better run for stability. I think if the barriers to entry are low enough, it's ok to have some annual turnover (especially once they've got their full season amateur league running), but it's vital to have scale for it to be less disruptive.
I'm in the SF/Oakland market and never heard of it being OTA until this thread. I just looked it up and it's on KEMO channel 50-2, but it doesn't appear to be on my cable system (Comcast). Probably being a secondary digital channel makes it exempt from "must-carry" rules. Channel 50-1 is the Azteca America affiliate, which is carried. If it's on PlutoTV, apparently I could still get it, as I have that app on my Roku, but that doesn't have anything to do with where I live, and nobody who's not already motivated is seeking that out.
That makes sense. I haven’t had cable for a really long time, so I have Since you have a Roku, it’s a channel on there as well. I guess my question would be, would it being on ESPN+ make much of a difference? This sort of feels like the sort of thing you'd only probably seek if you have some sort of emotional investment in the games?
I'd just say that ESPN+ is a more mainstream product. It has more properties, both in and out of soccer, that can serve as an entry point to get people to subscribe, plus it has the Hulu/Disney+ bundle adding subscribers, and then once people are in for one reason, they might find other content that they like. For example, I didn't subscribe to ESPN+ for the USL coverage, but it has turned out that USL is the the thing I watch most on the platform. Nonetheless, beIN Xtra seems like not a bad place for NISA to be. It's a free platform that's not that hard to find once you know about it, and it has some awareness among soccer fans. NISA is too small for TV/streaming to be a revenue driver, so the biggest deal is to have a way to keep fans connected and following their teams in road games (or for all games in the current 2020 situation).
Hey, speaking of Bein vs Disney comparability from one's totally biased perspective - News: The USL Championship final will air on ESPN for the 1st time in league history on Sunday, November 1. (It had been on ESPN2 the last 2 years.) It will be the league's 1st game ever on ESPN.— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) September 22, 2020 Does anyone know if NISA's final match of the fall season will be broadcasted on the regular beIN sports channel? @Expansion Franchise?
I saw a bit of Chattanooga vs. LA Force tonight, enough to see a straight red for LA in the 13th minute.