Americans, what will happen if Fox Soccer loses Premier League rights? (football, channel)
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Living here in the United States, the majority of our televised soccer exposure, outside of the European and World Cup competitions, is through Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel.) I remember using that network to watch many Premier League matches, Serie A Matches, Ligue 1 matches, UEFA Champions League matches and even some CONCACAF League matches. There were many negatives with that network, the most notable being the absolutely horrendous commentary and low-budget studio shows, but it was a great outlet for soccer fans living in the United States.
However, this year, Fox Soccer has lost Ligue 1 and Serie A matches to a new network called BeIn Sport, a new network that is going to be launched in the U.S. and is owned by Al-Jazeera Sport. Now, I have no problems with another network picking up these leagues, but what concerns me is the availability of this channel. Now, all I can watch on Fox Soccer is the Premier League and the Champions League, and from what I hear Fox Soccer is on its final year of its Premier League deal. If Fox Soccer loses the league, what will happen to it? There's not much else in the way of programming, and I think if it loses that it will be a death knell to the network.
Also, what will happen with soccer's popularity in the U.S.? I am worried this new network won't reach as many providers as Fox Soccer does, and thus will limit our exposure.
ESPN shows Premier League ? I havent seen it on that.
I love Fox Soccer when the Premier League is on but off season its the worst channel possible. All they show is reruns which gets old quickly. Id much rather see live football from anywhere in the world than reruns of games.
I haven't had Fox soccer for a year now, don't really miss it.
ESPN shows all the Champions League games and weekly Premiership games.
ESPN does not have the rights anymore to show Champions League matches. They used to have them, but I think their rights ended after the 2008-09 tournament. They used to also show all the Champions League Final matches live, but FOX got the rights starting in 2009-10.
They do show weekly Premier League matches on the weekends and they will also show Monday matches as well. I like the ESPN broadcasts.
Besides, FOX never gave Ligue 1 that much attention. They would give Serie A attention, but it was clear that the Premiere League is the one they cared about most.
When is BeIn Sport supposed to launch?
Gol TV shows La Liga and Bundesliga matches live here in the US, as well as Europa League matches.
ESPN shows Premier League ? I havent seen it on that.
I love Fox Soccer when the Premier League is on but off season its the worst channel possible. All they show is reruns which gets old quickly. Id much rather see live football from anywhere in the world than reruns of games.
Yes, they do. ESPN2 usually shows the early morning Saturday games (as I live in the West Coast, that means a normal start time of 4:30 or 5:00 AM.) Occasionally, they will show marquee matches on weekdays, and even showed Manchester United vs. Manchester City on their main channel on a Monday. Ian Darke usually does play-by-play; he is extremely good.
You're right about Fox Soccer being a terrible offseason channel. To be honest, the channel itself is quite poor. Outside of live matches, there isn't much else worth watching on that channel. There are way too many informercials, the studio shows are terrible and as of now they barely hold the rights to any leagues. I would love to see Liga MX, Eredivisie and South American leagues.
Yeah, the ESPN broadcasts are my favorite as well. Much better commentary than Fox Soccer. I do like having Fox Soccer though because it allows me to see many more games than I would see if I only had the 1 game a week on ESPN.
Plus, as a United fan, I'm pretty much guaranteed that the United game will be televised every week on one of the 2 channels.
Yes, they do. ESPN2 usually shows the early morning Saturday games (as I live in the West Coast, that means a normal start time of 4:30 or 5:00 AM.) Occasionally, they will show marquee matches on weekdays, and even showed Manchester United vs. Manchester City on their main channel on a Monday. Ian Darke usually does play-by-play; he is extremely good.
You're right about Fox Soccer being a terrible offseason channel. To be honest, the channel itself is quite poor. Outside of live matches, there isn't much else worth watching on that channel. There are way too many informercials, the studio shows are terrible and as of now they barely hold the rights to any leagues. I would love to see Liga MX, Eredivisie and South American leagues.
ESPN does not have the rights anymore to show Champions League matches. They used to have them, but I think their rights ended after the 2008-09 tournament. They used to also show all the Champions League Final matches live, but FOX got the rights starting in 2009-10.
They do show weekly Premier League matches on the weekends and they will also show Monday matches as well. I like the ESPN broadcasts.
Besides, FOX never gave Ligue 1 that much attention. They would give Serie A attention, but it was clear that the Premiere League is the one they cared about most.
When is BeIn Sport supposed to launch?
Gol TV shows La Liga and Bundesliga matches live here in the US, as well as Europa League matches.
BeIN Sport has already launched, but I only think on satellite (not on cable, which is what I have.)
If the availability were to be improved, this network could be a huge hit and put Fox Soccer to shame. Fox Soccer, for all its worth and for all it has done for exposing Americans to European soccer, is a terrible channel. Each offseason they would promise improvement and rebranding (when they made the switch from Fox Soccer Channel to just Fox Soccer,) but it was always met with disappointment. I remember how excited I was when they were rebranding Fox Soccer Report to Fox Soccer News, but it turned out to be just another terrible show.
And as of this morning, I read an article about how Fox Soccer has a new studio. That's great and all, but all the shiny new features and sets cannot take away how bad the pundits are. Christian Miles is horrendous, and Rob Stone is just plain bad.
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