See article-nullifying update below
Well, as the Footy Blog inches its way to the digital side of the company ledger, we can begin our soccer media criticism in earnest (with a 10% bias in favour of Rogers Sportsnet, of course).
It’s been asked on the blog: What does the NBC Universal Premier League deal, which as Richard Deitsch writes, “was $250 million for a three-year agreement, a sum more than triple the $23 million per year that Fox currently pays for its deal” and kicks in for the 2013-2014 season, mean for the Premier League’s Canadian TV deal?
I don’t know really. Researching for this piece gave me a massive headache as interest in this subject seems limited to close loop forums entirely for the case of speculation. So all I can do is summarize current speculation.
Anyway, the current Canadian deal with Rogers and TSN goes through to the end of this season as well. The current thinking is that Rogers will obviously want back in the game, and their main rivals will be beIN Sport (and maybe TSN for the whole enchilada, I don’t know).
Now beIN Sports’ only route to Canadian TV apparently was via TeleLatino’s Euro World Sport. They can’t buy GolTV because Rogers won’t be willing to sell their stake, so EWS is the obvious partner. And some paywalled article has seemingly confirmed it. If they were to get the station, one thinks their unlimited capital would put pressure on Sportsnet as the deal frontrunners.
But apparently the deal for a sale is on hold while the CRTC dogs out some stuff which I’m not privy to, which is itself a rumour. And the deal is apparently overdue, so we should know fairly imminently. So in other words…patience.
UPDATE: Well, you don’t need patience after all:
Pleased to announce @sportsnet has secures a 3-year broadcast extension with English Premier League. 190 matches per year through to 2016
— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) October 29, 2012
Yay I guess! It’s shared 50/50 between Rogers and TSN, as Luke Wileman just informed me.
I think the main takeaway from all this is Darke and McManaman will no longer be ruining EPL games for us next year.
thank god…..”is this the goal that looses MAN city the title?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?” – Darke, after a goal in the first half in week 28.
But, this is good news, since it looks like they’ve added about a dozen more channels to SNW – all games should be live now. Too bad the can’t snag Serie A or La Liga from BeIn.
Are we going to see an article based on an unnamed source’s testimony that this will hinder TFC’s chances to buy a fourth DP?
Well that’s unfortunate if TSN is really going to carry 50% of the EPL. WIth only 2 channels compared to the 15 Sportsnet channels that appear on my cable box (12 if you count East, West, Pacific, and Ontario as 1), it’s hard to see how they’d do it. Combined with their lack of TSN content (using an entirely foreign broadcast) and frequent annoying ticker during the game, I’d prefer to see 100% on Rogers … or at least only have 1 game per day on TSN.
Though on the bright side, at least we don’t have The Score’s ticker to watch … but I do miss K.J. and James. (I don’t even know when the Footy Show airs anymore … must go find that).
We can forget about any games being on TSN during Curling season. They’ll probably be aired at 2AM if we’re lucky.
Monday and Thursday I think… Don’t quote me on that.
Hope this means more of KJ and Sharms though. The only reason I watch(ed) the Score.
Really? Great! I’ll have to set the PVR! I thought after the Wednesday show was cancelled, it was just weekends … which seemed far to focused on continental European leagues. And I haven’t seen that scheduled lately …
Seems like a bad decision my Rogers. With less games available I can see a lot of people dropping Sportsnet World. It is already an expenisve channel and with less games even less reason to keep it.
Sportsnet World doesnt even show replays of games anymore like they used too (not as many) all it is now is soccer central for the whole day
But you can get pretty much all the games on Sportsnet World Online, which is free if you already get the channel on cable.
Sorry just to clarify,SNW Online is basically on-demand, so you can watch the channel live,or watch the game whenever you like on replay.
Thank goodness beIN sports did not get these rights! Wish the theScore could get Serie A back.
Still ain’t worth the $25 a month for SNWL.
Nope, not when there are high quality streams
$25?? Rogers cable has all 12 channels for $18.17. But if you’ve got anything other than basic cable (say VIP), it’s easy enough to get a 30% discount out of them on all your channels, so $12.72 a month. Cost of a large beer a month at BMO Field.
Isnt Rogers buying you guys? So wouldn’t some content be available to be analyzed by the best in the canadian broadcasters in the game?!
Still not enough reason to get SNW…
I hate TSN’s coverage though….not that Rogers is great, but better than nothing. Dobson has gotten better but still tough to bear with.
For me personally, Sportsnet World is worth every penny of the $18/month I spend on it. I’ll watch about 5 premiership matches a weekend and now having the option to watch my preferred team live with SNW+ I am even more satisfied. I hope that the increase by TSN doesn’t hinder any of this.
Maybe it is because I am fairly undemanding, but I am just happy to be able to see this many games – networks, details, and McMannaman bashing be damned. I remember only getting games on a Saturday morning with Gerry and Craid, and that was pretty much it. Now I can watche 3-4 EPL games on a Saturday, another game or 2 on Sunday, Bundesliga games on Gol (as well as Mexican, etc.), and if there isn’t even an old Love Boat rerun, I can even watch TFC.
I guess what I am saying is… watching soccer is fun, don’t sweat the details.
(Though I do wish that the Score still had EPL rights – I loved watching the discussion/analysis of Sharmin and KJ).
Sounds good, I suppose…hate when TSN has games though cuz I don’t have their HD channel….lol. Always have to use the zoom function for some pseudo-HD
Thanks for the kind words regarding the coverage James & I provide. To clear up a couple of things – James & I will no longer be on this blog after the middle of November but you will be able to see us on the Footy Show – Mondays & Thursdays (check your listings) on TV until at least February until the official Rogers takeover happens. After that we will see…..