Liverpool FC (ENG) v Olympique Lyon-3:00 PM
Not too bad. The one real nice part is the fact that the Setanta games are the first replays being shown on FSC. A lot of people don’t have Setanta but they get second choice on the game they show, which means there is probably a large fan base of that team in the States that’s missing out on that game. There are a few matches missing from the list, but it’s not a lot. It’d probably be nice to get rid of some of the games that have two replays in favor of some of those matches that aren’t on the list, but then again you’re probably going to get more viewers for the 2nd replay of Liverpool v Lyon than you would for Unriea v Rangers so it does sort of make sense. (Note: this is only for the replays on FSC, there are some on FSE and FSN, but they’re more of the same thats here)
One programming note of interest is the fact that it still seems to be limited knowledge that there is a Tuesday game on FSN. I noticed on Twitter that the guy from
Empire of the Kop had purchased the $10 internet stream of the Liverpool game only to find out 10 minutes later that the match was in fact available on FSN. I’m sure he wasn’t the only one who was confused by this either. Some heavier cross promotion would help seeing as it’s all the same family of channels.
DirecTV Coverage
Again I’ve split this off as a separate section because many people don’t have DirecTV and the live experience with the two is totally different. On DirecTV you’re able to watch any of the matches (except the ones on channels you don’t have) and all the non normal broadcast games are in HD. This means you have the potential to sit down and watch any match thats going on. It’s excellent. Perhaps it’s a little too much because I’m constantly flipping through the channels and I’d probably be better off sitting down and focusing, but thats not my style.
The good news for me is that there is a Champions League Mix channel that shows all the games, at the same time, on the same screen and it is fantastic. The best part about it is that I’m able to click around and get the audio feed for each game and then switch to that game if I want. This works if you want to see all the goals, but it can also detract from the viewing experience a little bit as you’re jumping around so much. I calmed my ADD tendencies a little bit yesterday and mostly just flipped between one match and the mix channel just to check out the scores. The mix is incredibly helpful too if the match you’re watching is boring, there are at least 6 more you can flip to.
One downfall of the Mix is that it doesn’t show video of all the matches. In the box where the matches that are being televised regularly should be is a FSN, FSC, FSE, or Setanta logo saying you need to subscribe to this channel or check local listings. Well I subscribe to FSC, and I of course have FSN but it won’t show those on there. The only time I did see one of those channels on the mix was when Barca played Inter on FSE, but I was only able to watch it that way though because my FSE is screwed up and shows cartoons for some reason.
Odds and Ends
One of the nicest parts is that FSC has a one hour Highlight show that they do a pretty good recap of each day’s games. ESPN never had anything like that so often times you had to go back to FSC anyways and catch Sky news or Fox Soccer Report to see the highlights.
Another bonus is the
championsonfox twitter, Fox’s Jamie Trecker updates with every goal, card, lineup, etc. for every game. He’ll also give brief updates on how each game is going, and is easily the best spot for up to the minute updates on all the games.
Overall I’d say Fox has improved greatly upon ESPN’s Champions League coverage. While they still lack HD on FSC (something I’ve heard is coming by February) it still beats ESPN’s feed that wasn’t really HD most of the time anyways. Fox has exceeded the expectations I had for their coverage, and most of the bugs and kinks in it are very minor. Regardless of all that though, with the increased coverage we’re getting, it’s a great time to be a soccer fan in America.
You may remember back during the 3rd qualifying round, I took a look at how Fox had been running their Champions League coverage. Today I’m going to revisit that a bit now that FSC has had a chance to actually get some games under their belt and we’re into full on Champions League mode and not just in what was probably considered a bit of a “practice run” as they were when I first looked at it.
I don’t have Directv, but I’m very pleased with the CL effort from Fox. We’re getting much more CL football than before.
Agreed; I also can’t really fault them for the matches they don’t show too much, since the reality is that there’s 32 hours of soccer in 48 hours of real time; my DVR tells me that I record twelve games and end up watching maybe three before I delete them in favor of the weekend matchups.
So a Liverpool fan actually paid to watch that game? Wow…insult, meet injury!
I can second that info about HD on FSC in/near February. I tweeted the question to Jaime, and that was the answer he tweeted back. So I’m hopeful.
Nice post, btw.