FSC beats ESPN for CL rights.

[Bobby]

Thank God.

FSC may not have the reach of ESPN, but seriously, THANK YOU GOD.

That is all.

 

[Run DMB]

FSC may not have the reach of ESPN...

It will now.

 

[night]

That is brilliant news!

 

[MaestroZidane]

Interesting news. Didn't even know that FSC was even trying to get the rights to the CL. I just wonder what that does to the current CL commentators of ESPN and how FSC will handle that. I guess they will probably do it as they do for the BPL.

 

[jani]

Is it really great news? ESPN show at least 3 games per matchday, two of them live. Live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes and a delayed one on ESPN Classic.

How will FSC do that with one channel?

I've been here less than a year though, is ESPN unreliable when it comes to the later stages or something?

 

[MaestroZidane]

Well, speaking from someone that has DirecTv and doesn't offer Espn Deportes, I'm only able to see two games from them, one live and the other on tape delay.

Yet you question is the same that we are all asking, in all likelyhood, they will probably do the same and offer one live game and all the rest afterwards.

As far as reliability is concerned, they have been improving in that department from years past. Though had it not been for the people, we would have been unable to watch the Inter-ManU second leg live.

 

[Eng4WorldCup]

Hopefully soon, with HD around the corner for FSC, and already having Fox Sports en Espanol, we might be able to have 2 games on live at once. That would be the smart thing to do for FSC at least. And if they could do that, that would be AWESOME!

 

[Xifio]

wait, Bobby, why is this something to rejoice for you?

I mean, I personally will be happy to no longer hear Derek Rae lick English balls every matchday ... and this mention of FSC HD in the near future would mean a guaranteed Champions League HD experience, which is great when it happens ...

but what else?

 

[Kibe Kru]

I just hope it doesn't affect ESPN in Brazil. Their commentators are decent, and, well... they're about the only sports channel worth watching...

 

[Bobby]

I expect them to sublet games out. Possibly to Setanta, maybe even GolTV.

Fox got the rights, not FSC. Fox also has Fox Sports en Espanol, and Fox Sports Net. You won't be losing any games.

ESPN is a poor sports network. It doesn't get called that because Vs. is so bad and that's it's only direct competition. Watch an event on ESPN, and watch an event from the same sport on something like Raycom. The difference is stark.

Sportscenter can be as unintentionally homoerotic as a frat house.

 

[Bobby]

ESPN subscribes to the "story telling" method of sports broadcasting, which works well for baseball, and American football (also cricket), but it doesn't work well for football and basketball. It annoys people when the sport they're watching is dumbed down by the announcers, it's as if they're telling you that they're smarter than you.

 

[Avalanche]

Watch an event on ESPN, and watch an event from the same sport on something like Raycom. The difference is stark.

I can't tell the difference between ESPN and Raycom. They both a.) are notorious for kissing front-runner ass and b.) brazenly wish that Boston College never joined the ACC. Seriously, every game that one or both outlets cover that involves the Eagles turns into a full-fledged hachet job against the only member of the conference that happens to be north of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[Run DMB]

ESPN subscribes to the "story telling" method of sports broadcasting, which works well for baseball, and American football (also cricket), but it doesn't work well for football and basketball. It annoys people when the sport they're watching is dumbed down by the announcers, it's as if they're telling you that they're smarter than you.

ESPN treats its viewers as if they all suffer from an extreme form of ADD. It's gotten really bad in their MLS and US National Team coverage the last couple of years. Not just the storytelling, but they keep experimenting with presentation techniques. The latest trend is to switch to a different camera every 3 seconds during a game. That simply doesn't work for soccer. It seems like they're saying "soccer is boring to watch, so we're going to keep switching between different shots to keep our viewers interested." It's distracting and degrading to the game.

I really hope FSC becomes a more prominent network and eventually takes over the coverage of all soccer events from the ABC family. Not that FSC doesn't have its own problems, but at least it believes in the product it's trying to sell.

 

[cfdemarco]

When will this go into effect?

I don't have FSC so this is pretty much horrible news in my eyes.

 

[thelordspawn]

i hve both channels not lliek it matters muc to me

i want a god damn HD FSC or HD Setanta sports or HD ESPN channel that shows HD CL games i'm sick of watching footy on my HD Reciever in SD.

what HD Channels show HD footy? only one i know for sure is Sky sports hd which i dont get

 

[coach]

Not that anyone really cares, but I wonder how this will affect Canadian Viewers.
TSN shows CL Matches, but they're owned by ESPN (well, they have a 20% stake in the channel.) and the last thing Canadian Soccer Fans need is to have Setanta claim the rights to ALL Champions League Matches in Canada!

 

[Help?]

meh they show curling here in canada anyway, so i have no choice but sopcast it.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

That's ******* bull****. I don't get FSC and I don't plan on paying for it. Not to mention fox sports doesn't have anything like ESPN360 in place.

 

[Rocky]

Same here, don't have FSC and it would cost me an extra 30 bucks a month because I would have to upgrade my satellite package. And no more untelevised games on ESPN360(I love Verizon) for me either. I don't see what was so wrong with ESPN. Who cares about storytelling and **** like that? If I can see the game, I can tune out the other bull**** which is probably why I never even gave the storytelling much thought. Yeah ESPN might be guilty of storytelling commentary but FSC is no saint either. I caught an online stream of FSC and their commentary was nauseating. Not so much storytelling, but still absolute bull**** was being spewed from their mouths. I think the ESPN commentators sound a little more knowledgeable, IMO, even if some of you might not agree with that. At least Tommy Smyth's accent provides some entertainment. An unnecessary change, seeing as ESPN' was adding more coverage and it's just a step in the wrong direction if American viewers want more CL coverage. Two live games every matchday on either ESPN or ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, a game on tape delay on ESPNClassic, and every other game live on ESPN360. Can FSC even match that coverage, probably not. They have nothing to match something like ESPN360, like ShiftyPowers stated. At best, FSC can show up to two games on one matchday and no more. With ESPN's regular programming plus ESPN360, you have access to all or at least most games not broadcast on national tv.

 

[Eng4WorldCup]

Same here, don't have FSC and it would cost me an extra 30 bucks a month because I would have to upgrade my satellite package. And no more untelevised games on ESPN360(I love Verizon) for me either. I don't see what was so wrong with ESPN. Who cares about storytelling and **** like that? If I can see the game, I can tune out the other bull**** which is probably why I never even gave the storytelling much thought. Yeah ESPN might be guilty of storytelling commentary but FSC is no saint either. I caught an online stream of FSC and their commentary was nauseating. Not so much storytelling, but still absolute bull**** was being spewed from their mouths. I think the ESPN commentators sound a little more knowledgeable, IMO, even if some of you might not agree with that. At least Tommy Smyth's accent provides some entertainment. An unnecessary change, seeing as ESPN' was adding more coverage and it's just a step in the wrong direction if American viewers want more CL coverage. Two live games every matchday on either ESPN or ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, a game on tape delay on ESPNClassic, and every other game live on ESPN360. Can FSC even match that coverage, probably not. They have nothing to match something like ESPN360, like ShiftyPowers stated. At best, FSC can show up to two games on one matchday and no more. With ESPN's regular programming plus ESPN360, you have access to all or at least most games not broadcast on national tv.

Personally, I hate ESPN. Tommy Smith is a complete moron, and almost all the time says things which are completely false. Derek Rae is ok since hes just giving you the information in front of him. What ESPN does that really pisses me off is they lower the crowd volume on the TV, which makes televised CL games sound so boring. On the other hand, when I watch FSC's PL games, they keep the English commentary and sometimes its Martin Tyler and Andy Gray which, although Andy Gray is biased, they give a lot more meaning and new interpretations which I don't see during games. Considering that I have both channels, I don't give a sh.it whether or not its bad for people who don't have FSC, which is why I'm pleased about the switch. Like Bobby said earlier, FOX bought the rights, which means they can show it on any of the 3 or more channels they have.