more than likely, it will be satellelite pay-per-view. The days of ESPN coverage were over after Euro '96. According to www.soccertv.com: Setanta Sport will offer Euro 2004 via pay-per-view and closed-circuit TV in the US.
They have a handy soccer bar locater that will find any locations that have purchased upcoming events on Setanta you can bookmark 'til the event. http://linux967.dn.net/setanta/jsp/NA_venues.jsp
The most important thing for the pay per view package is that they do it EXACTLY as it was done in 2000. Direct feed from BBC and ITV including pre game, half time and post game. That was EPIC It really was a fantastic package in 2000 and we can only hope it doesn't regress in 2004. Mike
I agree. The only problem I had back then was that all I had was Comcast analog cable and they didn't show any pregame show. They also cut off the end of the Portugal/France semifinal game because it went into overtime. The BBC coverage was top notch though. I especially like that there is no commercials at halftime. It was funny how all tournament long they were criticising the Italians for thier defensive tactics but by the last game they felt they deserved to win over France and finally praised Italy for thier great defensive display during the whole tournament.
i thought there were commercials. those carling commercials where they reenacted famous soccer events (i.e. maradona's "hand of god" goal) with amateurs. they were hilarious.
Anybody know if any of the foreign language channels on Dish network will be carrying the games. Between the Russian, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Polish channels there ought to be some coverage there. If I recall, the Setanta english-language PPV package cost $249 for the entire tournament in 2004. Subscribing to all of those channels for a month would run less than $50. Just curious who has the broadcast rights in those countries.
yes, but the thing is that the last games of the first round are at the same time. I wonder if they will have them on delay too. That way we can tape both games if we want to.
All these national channels in France (TF1), Italy (RAI), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP) would have the rights for local broadcasts only. They wouldn't be able to broadcast the games on their international feeds because the local carriers in other regions won't allow it. Setanta is the most vocal one on this. Thus because Setanta won't because Setanta won't allow RTPi to broadcast the games on their Americas feed, fans in the Carribeans, which is out of Setanta's reach, cannot watch the games on RTPi. In 2000, I think some channels (TV5 and/or RAI Intl.) tried to televise a couple of their respective games on those international channels, but got stopped rightaway. In 2000, Dutch channel BVN had to split their American feed into two. The one to North America (which include the Carribeans and Central America) couldn't carry the games, but the one to South America did, exactly because of Setanta's warning. That's exactly the reason why Setanta won't allow you to spend $50 to watch those games if you can milk you for $249. And they have the legal rights to do so because they are the exclusive carrier in the U.S. If you want to beat the hsit out of Setanta, get a Canadian satellite system. In Canada, the whole tournament will be available on TSN (Canada's ESPN). It's a simple cable channel like ESPN. No $249 PPV craps. You can get a package with TSN for something around CND $20 per month. I would refuse to give my money to Setanta as long as the U.S. government does not outlaw grey market DBS. I would love to see whether Setanta can extend their evil tenacles to Canada, by prohibiting all Canadians to watch Euro 04 because they got the exclusive ***USA*** rights...
Well, a descrambler should run you about $200, and that'll save you $50 right there. And you'll have it for AustriaSwitzerland 2008.
Well, you can get the EPL games on SportsNet at 10:00 ET on Saturday, and on FSW Canada at 11:00 ET on Sunday. A package like this cost about CDN $25.00 per month. In the U.S., these games are only available on the PPV package on DirecTV, Dish Network or cable. Guess how much money you can save there? And with FSW Canada, you can pretty much forget about subscribing Dish/DirecTV/digital cable for Fox Sports World, because the soccer games on these two channels pretty much overlap. Well, there is one thing you are certain to miss if you get the Canadian channels. For the J/K World Cup, TSN and CBC got the British feeds, and thus the British commentaries. It will be a loss for you if you are a big fan of Jack and Ty.
i just realized this thread was moot for me in the first place, as i'll be in london starting in june anyway...
Its even better than that. Sportsnet shows 2 games every Saturday (the second one at 12:30 following SoccerCentral - the best 30 minutes of North American TV), and FSWC shows 2 games most Sundays LIVE! During FA Cup weekends, Sportsnet shows upto 4 games per round! As far as I know FSWC does NOT show Copa Liberatadores(?), which is probably the biggest event that FSE shows!
Well, how would I go about making sure that I can view each game in my house, preferably live or close to? I live in NJ, USA. Who do I need to contact? I've searched all over the net and haven't found out much. Thx.
The whole tournament should be available on pay-per-view on cable and the dish. Most likely On Demand will offer the whole tournament as a package or game by game basis. No info yet but this is what I expect.
You have to emphasize, each game ***from start to finish***. Cable is so braindead that they don't know how to allocate time for a knock-out soccer game. Either they allocate: - 2 hours for the game, which means you'll miss any extra time, or - 2.5 hours for the game, which means you'll miss any penalty shootout. This is what left a bad taste to people's mouth when the extra time of France x Portugal was cut off in 2000. Now, you can't really blame them because cable does not allocate a separate channel for the game (PPV). That channel for the game is usually used for PPV movies. If the game does not go to extra time, cable is not going to allocate an extra 1/2 to 1 hour to the game showing a blank screen instead of cashing in on a movie... That's why DBS is the best avenue to view this type of tournament, because both DirecTV and Dish Network allocate a separate channel for the game. If the game runs long, so be it. If it ends, they'll simply show the blank screen.
Thx. I'm getting Dish Network soon, so sounds good. I've just been getting excited about the tournament, and got a little anxious when I couldn't find any info on ordering. Guess it's still a little early.
So I just moved to Seattle and very interested in getting hooked up with a gray-market system. Can anybody provide me with some insight on how to actually do this? How do I get around not having a Candian address? Thanks. vinod@bigbrownboy.com
spanish speaking stations? Does anyone know if they will show any games on Univision/Telefutura/Telemundo/Galavision?
Re: spanish speaking stations? Setanta owns the exclusive rights in the U.S. such that you are ***FORCED*** to pay $149 for all games, or $20 a pop in a bar to watch the tournament. Now, how do you think the games would be available in Spanish on Univision/Telefutura/Telemundo/Galavision such that you can catch the games for (relatively) free? In the 2000s, the carriers are way to clever not to let you watch the games for free simply because it's broadcasted in another language... Last time, the only way you could get the games for free was to move to a border (Mexican border) town such that you can receive some games from a local Mexican channel over the air... Don't ever forget this motto if you want premium European soccer: PAY, PAY, PAY, PAY, ...