http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ish-premier-league.ap/index.html?sct=sc_t2_a9 As expected, with apparently the Championship going to BeINSports, Fox Soccer Plus will continue to air SPL matches (honestly, they need to fill oodles of time), however, since there's no Old Firm derbies with Rangers down in the third division, there will be no matches on Fox Soccer.
Sad, but to be expected. Hopefully, something occasional will trickle down on a delayed basis, but I somehow doubt that.
The author of that article missed what I'm sure we'll hear any second now...$1 plus transmission fee. Good to see that Fox Soccer Plus will continue to air the SPL this season as it's just another option for people who enjoy watching the sport.
FOX Soccer paid "$1" plus transmission cost plus a share of FOXsoccer2go.com revenue after transmission costs were covered (which equate to ZERO) for Ligue 1 in 2010-2012. SPL during the next 3 season is essentially the same crappy product as Ligue 1. SPL is a glorified exhibition with the title already pre-determined. Celtic has no excuse NOT to go undefeated for 3 straight seasons of SPL play. The only saving grace for the SPL is the handful of pubs that cater to Celtic supporter groups even though very few Celtic supporters will actually watch SPL games involving Celtic at a pub setting during the next 3 SPL seasons. I would be surprised if SPL matches involving Celtic can draw more than 10000 viewers TOTAL on FOX Soccer Plus each week.
Ollie wanna cracker ollie wanna cracker...sqwauk sqwauk $1 plus transmission cost $1 plus transmission cost...shut up Olive!!!
again.. no change in CONTRACT.. it is the same.. there was not stipulation in this contract for relegation of any Old Firm club.. this was their standard broadcast contract..... Oliver wrong again.. Cantona---
And he'll never admit it. I would go from having 0% to like 5% respect for the guy if he just would admit to being wrong. Instead he'll talk about $1 plus transmission costs, TruTV, and "High Stakes Poker". So annoying. I watched the match this morning. I'm not a Celtic supporter. I just like football, like 99% of this board does.
I attended one EPL match in May 2002, and I did NOT have to pay for the ticket, the hotel room, or the flight between New York and the UK. I bartered advertising space for the trip (I did pay for a plane ticket between SFO and JFK.) There is ONLY club in EPL that I would make the trip to the UK to watch in person, even though the match I attended was completely meaningless as Arsenal had already won the EPL title by the time I departed SFO. (Hint: I missed the opening of this club's superstore at a casino/resort complex by about 3 months while on a business trip in November 2007, as that particular superstore opened in February 2008.) I have no idea when I will make another trip to Europe to watch any club football. No reason to make the trip anymore in my opinion (with HDTV or high quality video stream available for every big match) unless I have legitimate business to conduct so that the match would be a side trip. -- I don't waste my time with glorified exhibitions such as the SPL, which will be a completely meaningless competition for the next 3 seasons.
Your source fed you more bollocks. The likes of David Nathanson and Joshua Glassel are NOT that stupid to have signed a deal with SPORTFIVE Int'l without escape clauses. No Rangers = no Americans = no Old Firm Derby = "$1" in rights fee plus transmission costs.
In huhe's defense, let's look at the situation for Fox Soccer: A) They've lost a lot of their schedule padout. They've lost Serie A, Ligue 1, and now the Championship and the League Cup. In their place, they've added niche sports (Hey, I love rugby, aussie rules, etcetera, but no one can deny that the market for these sports are small in the USA). They've also added the Europa League, which will fill some of the time, but it won't be a week-in and week-out time filler. B) To make things worse, a lot of stuff they've added (English Super League Rugby, NRL from australia, etcetera) are summer/fall sports. They'll come to a conclusion just when the EPL etcetera are getting going. C) The english Premier League is an anchor for Fox Soccer, in two ways. It gives them something to show constantly (and fox soccer plus is a good value add for folks like most of us who want to see more than just the Big Four).. but that's coming up for rebid. Fox Soccer without FS+ is less valuable to make the bid (after all, you can say "85% of the games you play we can show live, the rest the same day", and that would be a big plus when it comes to negotiating). However, that Anchor is also keeping Fox Soccer from being drawn into the morass that is Fox Sports rebranding.. they lose that anchor, they might as well prepare to be sucked into the whirlpool, a soccer channel without any of the big four/five leagues is no soccer channel at all. D) So, they need to show something, ANYTHING that will keep people looking at FS+ (and Fox Soccer) as a viable channel going forward. I don't doubt that the SPL is selling low on rights, I won't say a league without Rangers is half the league it is with it, but it's probably 45%+ less valuable. It doesn't move the needle much, but most of the stuff they used to show (Darts for example), has already found new homes (NBC SN seems to have grabbed that as a viable low-cost late night programming). So, I'm sure it's not the best of situations for either the SPL or Fox Soccer, but they need each other. Fox Soccer needs the content, SPL needs the "Hey, we're still relevant" credit. My thoughts: Fox Soccer +, without getting new properties to pad its content, and by that I mean finding a way to sublicense existing content (such as the lost properties to BeIN, or perhaps the Bundesliga), will not be a viable concern in less than two years. And that's assuming that Fox maintains a majority or all of the EPL rights starting in 2013-14. Should they lose that, Fox Soccer itself will be in danger of being subsumed back into the Fox Sports network, and Fox Soccer would become "Fox Sports National 2 or 3", which might show some soccer, but certainly won't be a 24 hour soccer network.
Too bad it doesn't work that way. Any individual raise your theoretical bid to $3, put it on closed-circuit PPV and have the pubs enforce a $5 cover fee. Celtic fans would pay.
Celtic fans were willing to pay for an SPL with Old Firm Derbies because Celtic had a rival, which introduced drama into the SPL. Victory was NOT guaranteed. Without Old Firm Derbies, there is no drama left in the SPL, which becomes a glorifed exhibition with a pre-determined outcome. International TV networks such as FOX Soccer Plus adjusted their offers accordingly. Again: no Americans left in SPL + no Old Firm Derbies = no drama = lack of viewer interest = "$1" plus transmission cost (If FOX Soccer LLC decided to overpay in order to keep Celtic and/or SPORTFIVE happy, then that's the perogative of FOX Soccer LLC.) -- Scottish Football will regret the day it dumped Rangers into the 4th division. How many more clubs will fail as a result? We will soon find out.
Both the Celtic-Ross County and Dundee derby will be live on FOX Soccer Plus this weekend. Hopefully, the Rangers games will be picked up.