I kept track of it and on average, FOX and CBS have a commercial break every 6 minutes during an NFL game. That is totally unbearable. The NFL is basically completely unwatchable. By the time you get your mind into the game they go to a commercial break, in which case you zone out, then it takes you a minute to zone back in when the game comes back on, then they go to another break. It's impossible to keep your mind in the game this way. I know this may sound strange, but this is one of the main reasons why I hope Soccer & Rugby don't become super popular in the US. Advertising rates are so high for NFL games because of its popularity, which gives the networks a huge incentive to fill up as much time as possible with commercial breaks. As long as Soccer & Rugby remain relatively niche in North America, this will not happen.
Amen brotha! Rep given. What took you so long to come to this conclusion? I mean, it's 2005 already. Welcome to the club which I founded 11 years ago.
So so true. It's really underlined once you become a FSW addict. If you watch FSW on a Saturday and see 2 live EPL matches, 1 live match from Germany and 1 delayed tape match from the EPL, you're getting at least six plus hours of commercial free uninterrupted action. That's amazing. So I guess we have to thank Bob (his wife & pals), that hard working healthy grandma, Connor and all the rest who make it possible. Maybe FSW should get a group picture of all of them just like they did with the FSW team?!
Since I got FSW a 1 1/2 years ago I've been really impressed by how they've been able to keep the commercial breaks to a minimum during game matches. This makes watching sports on television much better. In Canada, FSW is an incredibly cheap television station to get, only $1.99/month. When you consider that you are getting so many soccer, rugby and aussie rules matches that are basically commercial free you wonder how they stay in business. My feeling is that if FSW ever feels that it needs more revenue in order to keep operating, that they increase the price of the channel rather than resort to more advertising. I think most of us would rather have the price go up to $6-7/month rather than have more ads. In this way, FSW could position itself more as a premium cable service rather than a specialty cable network.
Don't know how Global markets FSWC but others on this board have said that FSW comes standard with some digital cable subscriptions (it does with my family's) or as part of a "Sports Pack" (DirecTV and Comcast). I recall hearing that the subscription fee is 50 cents a customer although nobody has confirmed it.
and the next time an NFL fanatic complains about how boring soccer is, volley them this stat: time taken up by actual ball movement on the field in the NFL averages about 8 minutes per game. 60 min clocktime = 3 hour broadcast 90 min clocktime = 2 hour broadcast it's just not right. there's a fundamental injustice in it that americans are asleep to, but which i feel FSW has helped awaken me to.
Tell me about it!, My cable co. (cox) just recently did one or their "tier re-adjustments" and FSW was going to go to an "All sports tier" where they threw in Fox sports Atlantic, Fox sports Central, and some extreme sports. This tier was going to cost me 5.00 more than i'm already paying for cable! at first my wife was like "looks like you're not going to sit all Saturday watching soccer anymore!" So I quickly reminded her that my happiness is worth paying 5.00 more a month, after all, it IS only the price of feeding an entire African village for one month!!...... I kid, I DO wish FSW would become a premium channel instead of a specialty one because it would keep the cable companies from playing with my emotions and extorting more money out of me!!!!
I've heard that in the USA the cable companies have resisted the idea of letting people pay per channel, obviously in an attempt to get more money out of the customer. In Canada most of the cable companies have tiers like the ones you describe but they also let you pay by the channel for the new digital channels and even let you design your own bundle of either 5, 10, or 20 channels of your choice. You end up getting a cheaper price per channel the larger the bundle you choose. This is handy because the so called "sports tiers" don't appeal to me for the same reason that you described. We have an extreme sports channel that is part of the sports pack bundle and it holds no appeal to me. FSW just seems like it should be positioned more as a premium service like HBO/Movie Central because it only holds a niche appeal, yet it is a strong niche that seems like it would be willing to keep it going.
And sort of continuing off the above... You know you're a FSW addict when... It's frikkin' frustrating that you can't give FSW $5 a month for live streaming video of their TV channel. I'd have to pay my cable company an additional $7 or so just to get FSW. And FSW wouldn't get all of that money. I'm sure they'd love to get $5 straight from us. But there's probably some clause or something in a contract somewhere forbidding it.
You're an addict if... ...you initially resisted the new (as of this year) Sky Sports 'Through the Night' intro music, but you now find it addicting and can't stop playing it in your head.
...you and your friends refer to it as FOX, as if that one channel with the Simpsons and NFL and 24 doesn't exist. On a side note If USA won the WC, would Football Friday still be the best soccer show we have, would it still be hosted by Brits, would the call-in system still be dodgy, and would it still look like Wayne's World? I think so.
...you've noticed a certain consistent & repetitive tone to Matt Brown's voice when he talks. Up-Down-Up-Down. ...it's 9am on a Sunday morning and you've shrugged off Church to drink pints with your mates at some random bar to watch EPL games live on FSW. ...you wonder what Michelle Lissel would look like with her glasses off.
You see, out there on basic cable, there is a much older and less wise channel called just 'fox', where you can catch various edited R-rated motion pictures. In Auburn, it's channel 8, and if your ever in town at 5:00, I'll show you The Simpsons, as long as you're out by 5:30.
... you wonder why Bob is tailgating at an American football game instead of inside a stadium at a footy match?
...when your 3 year old son starts saying "You're watching Fox Sports World, America's soccer channel" out of the blue....(yes it happens in my house)