I'm a fan of Dutch soccer and was disappointed when the Eredivisie was replaced by La Liga, but it was hard for me to argue against it from FSW's perspective. When the season started and I found out FSW didn't have first pick on the choice of matches I was even more disappointed because there were no Barca or Real Madrid matches that would have justified the switch to me. Does anyone know and can compare the ratings La Liga go this year compared to the Eredivisie last year? I'd like to know if the switch was good for FSW and if not, would they consider switching back?
US TV rights to Dutch Football cost more than the product is worth. That's why FOX dropped it in favor of MLS. When ESPN2 had Dutch Football in the mid-1990's, the ratings were bad. The ratings became awful after all the Dutch stars left for the big money leagues in 1996. The La Liga deal is a 1-year sublicense from ESPN Int'l. Starting next season, La Liga will air in the US exclusively on ESPN Deportes. FOX simply got screwed over in the La Liga deal this season by not getting access to Real Madrid or Barca. I am willing to bet money that FOX would not have paid to get La Liga if FOX knew ahead of time that it would have gotten screwed. Say what you want about MLS: it gets ratings comparable to virtually everything else on FOX Sports World except English and Scottish Football. FOX Sports World now has over 5 years of viewership data to know exactly what leagues "sell" and what leagues do NOT sell. English football, Scottish Football, and MLS will work on FOX Sports World. The other leagues will not. From a business perspective, FOX Sports World shouldn't pay for any other soccer league product besides English, Scottish, and MLS because 1) not enough viewers watch those products, and 2) advertisers can't target a big enough immigrant group with other products. I am surprised that the Bundesliga is still on FOX Sports World given that it doesn't "sell" and no advertisers want anything to do with it. To see how FOX Sports World is now programming, look at what FOX Sports World is now doing on Friday nights: A-League or MISL indoor games as "time buys". FOX Sports World gets paid about $15000 per game in CASH to air those games, which are placed on FOX Sports World by A-League and MISL as infomercials. FOX Sports World gets to take cash to the bank without having to pay any production costs for the programming.
English and Scottish Leagues Are other Scottish games available that don't involve the Old Firm or is it the case that they wouldn't attraxct a sufficient sized audience?
Re: English and Scottish Leagues The SPL games involving the Old Firm are owned by Setanta, sold live to Rangers and Celtic supporters club all over the North America. Fans of these two teams are crazy enough to pay for these broadcasts. The games you see on FSW are simply the feeds Setanta sold on Saturday/Sunday, that FSW buys the delay rights. Fans of other teams? well, how many Dunfermline or Motherwell fans have you heard of in North America? The only non-old-firm team that could get on TV was Dundee a few years ago, when they signed Claudio Cannigia. ESPN International owned the SPL rights at that time. They also knew that Cannigia still had some attraction in South America, and thus broadcasted some Dundee games on ESPN Latin America.
Because about 70% of US Hispanics are Mexicans, the answer to what "sells" on FSE is easy: 1. Any meaningful futbol game involving the Mexican NATIONAL TEAM. 2. Any meaningful futbol game involving the big 2 Mexican clubs: Guadalajara and America. Note that there are 3 versions of FSE: FSE-National, FSE-Los Angeles, and FSE-Miami. Same programming, but different commercials. FSE makes most of its money on the FSE-Los Angeles feed. FSE-Los Angeles, in particular, has ads that target Mexicans living in Southern California. FSE-Los Angeles goes to at least 2 million Hispanic households with cable. FSE-Miami, on the other hand, tends to lean toward other countries in Latin America and Caribbean, though more and more Mexicans are moving to the Miami market.