Preliminary EPL US TV Schedule

Looks good - hopefully Setanta will keep the Noon EST slot open for the live Championship matches.

 

There is only one Noon EST live match and it is on FSC as listed above.

Here is the generalized telecast schedule (from soccertv.com):

Last season, Setanta would show their second match from 10am EST at Noon EST, and FSC would show their second match from 10am EST at 2:15pm EST, and I don't seen any reason why that would change.

PS The above list of confirmed matches is simply all those fixtures where there is only one match being played in the time slot, and therefore Setanta and FSC have no choice. It's just a bit of adding 2 and 2 together to get 4, there is no announced TV broadcast schedules...

 

I will forever hold a grudge against FSC for selling half of their games to a channel that is not available on cable.

And before anybody (rangers, this means you) calls me an "unworthy fan" if I don't have dish, let me say that as a college student I am beholden to a package I don't pick out myself.

 

FSC has no choice. They do not receive enough revenue to pay for the entire EPL rights, and they only have one channel, so they cannot show the other half of the matches.

The Setanta deal is a win for everyone - FSC can afford the matches, and the half of the matches they cannot show get shown on another channel, rather than not shown at all.

And you can get Setanta over the Internet on ITVN...

 

I believe that QPR Kevin was referring to the second division games("the Championship"). Sky Sports in England, who in past seasons showed many of those games on a Friday or Monday night, are now scheduling telecasts of the Championship for the late game Saturday (noon hour here) where they formerly showed EPL games. This season the late game will be shown on Setanta in the UK.

At first glance, it looks like, due to the two networks (SKY and Setanta) selecting games in the UK, that FSC will have a better balance of "big" games this year. Setanta, in choosing what the late Saturday game is in the UK, is actually helping the FSC lineup over here.

Anyone complaining about the split of games should look at the situation in Canada this coming season to realize that things could be a lot worse. Fox Sports World Canada no longer has EPL games. A first-choice Saturday game appears on a network called "the Score", and Setanta Canada, a station yet to launch, has the rights to ALL OTHER games.

 

The Score is very widely available, so for that one game, the situation is better. But it is a big drop-off from last year, when there were usually three or four games a week available on expanded basic cable (two-digit channels rather than three-digit) through the Score and Rogers SportsNet.

 

I gotta ask, blackjack, as a fellow college student: where do you go that an affordable package includes fsc?

 

I guess I can be happy with it, seeing that I only have FSC. Too bad most of the Newcastle matches will be on Setanta. At least there'll be some Hammers matches for me.

 

Do you mean that it's against the law for college student to subscribe to a dish? or what?

Who "behold" you to a package?

 

Yes it looks like there will be more Villa games on this year!!! Say goodbye to Chinese TV!!

 

Yes! More Liverpool games on FSC. A more favorable schedule compared to last year. I can sleep in a little bit longer instead of watching their games at 7 in the morning. Hope everyone else got a favorable schedule.

 

Get a DVR and sleep late !

 

As a West Ham supporter, I hope that FSC is able to carry most of their matches. I was able to see over half of the matches last season on FSC.

 

Doesn't look like too much Arsenal on FSC
hello Chinese TV!!!

 

Arsenal could be on FSC any weekend they aren't listed for a Setanta match if FSC picks their match to show.

 

THIS IS LESS THAN HALF OF THE US TV SCHEDULE FOR the EPL.

It's only for the time slots that have only one match:

There are 4 other matches on Saturday which are not yet decided.

There is also usually a Monday match on Setanta, and many midweek matches on both FSC and Setanta.

The above list of confirmed matches is simply all those fixtures where there is only one match being played in the time slot, and therefore Setanta and FSC have no choice. It's just a bit of adding 2 and 2 together to get 4, there is no announced TV broadcast schedules...

 

Yeah I had one a while back. Also it ain't the same as seeing it live. Most importanly though don't you hate it when you are watching a game and the score scrolls on the bottom or someone tells you the score, thanks ESPN!

 

That doesn't happen if you DVR the match LIVE and then watch it later... since the match is live, the scroll cannot have the score - that's only on "tape delayed" matches (and yes I have been spoiled by the channel's scroll on a tape delayed match).

 

you ever heard of roomates, and for blackjack, roomates who may not care as much about EPL as he does?

 

Posts binned.

Mod Note: Let's keep it at a higher level, mmmmmmmkay?

 

Let's look at a few of the reasons why someone may not be able to afford paying for TV, even if it is only the cost of DirecTV's sports pack, basic programming, and Setanta.

• Textbooks, many of which can cost $80 or more, even used
• tuition
• rent (or dorm fees)
• social life money (parties, keggers, nights on the town)
• lab fees
• food
• transportation (some people drive to campus, throw in parking pass fees if that's the case)
• clothes
• tickets to concerts, sports, shows, etc.
• "rainy day funds" for things like parking fines, medical bills, or whatever else is unforeseen.

Plus, ya gotta throw some money at the girlfriend every now and again. Dinner, movies, gifts, and whatnot.

College life can be very expensive. Even with loans and scholarships, it can still be expensive. For many people, the only option may be whatever is standard in the dorm or apartment.

No, it's not illegal for a college student to own a dish, but it may be out of one's price range. For students in dorms, some colleges may frown upon attaching things to dormitory outsides. My friend had to hide a window air conditioner from street view so college authorities wouldn't see.

 

English soccer is not mainstream content in this country. As such, watching such niche content requires going the extra mile (i.e. a dish setup). Its (a dish package with Setanta/FSC) pricing may not even be much higher than a cable package without which, especially you are counting social life expense and tickets to concerts/sports/shows. But the key is, you don't, and shouldn't, expect a basic cable package to include such niche contents.

For students in dorms in this country, the mainstream contents are football, basketball and baseball, especially college football and college basketball. EPL hardly warrants such a status in American dorms. Should the dorms go the extra mile to install equipment to carry Setanta Sports USA just to satisfy a few (if at all) individuals' appetite? you tell me.

So this student's complaints are not that they don't have TV in dorm, but they are locked to a package (most probably cable) without Setanta Sports USA (especially for its Premiership contents). Do you think Setanta or even the Premiership attempt to address the mass market such that even students in the dorm with a basic cable package can watch them?

At this day and age, there are lots and lots and lots of niche soccer content in this country, much more than soccer deserves to be covered given its continuing "niche" status. The only condition is that you have to make special arrangement to get them (e.g. not living in a dorm) and pay for them. If you don't want to go this extra mile, there is always football, basketball and baseball.

What these people expect are EPL to be treated as mainstream content in this country, i.e. with a dorm package with ESPN/ESPN2/FSN, they should be able to watch Liverpool vs Chelsea on Saturday morning and Arsenal vs Tottenham late Sunday morning. That will not happen in the forseeable future...

 

Nice rant, but all blackjack said was that it sucked for him when FSC lost some Premier League matches. He didn't whine about lack of football coverage on mainstream American TV, etc, etc.

When I was in university no-way could I spend money on a cable package that included niche channels comparable to FSC in America, nevermind costly channels like Setanta. Fortunately, I lived in a country where I could watch Liverpool v Chelsea and Arsenal v Spurs on mainstream channels. Not that it helped much since I often didn't have time to watch the football (which is another reason why I didn't get an expensive cable package -- what's the point if I can't watch much TV?).

 

So what Premier League matches did FSC lose? Before Setanta, the Premiership was owned by FSI, putting them on PPV/season package. Did it suck for Blackjack because the games went from PPV/season package to Setanta? Why or why not?

I presume that his dorm has a dish/cable STB setup that allows the students to buy Premiership PPV, right?

Then what's the alternative when the Premiership raised the rights fees? We all know that FSC, as a niche channel on a at-best digital cable package, can't afford it by itself.

Does he expect GolTv (another niche channel) to snatch the exclusive rights? or does he expect the Golf Channel or the Speed channel to carry the whole EPL?