Look familiar?
A week after EPL Talk first reported that Fox Soccer had registered trademarks for Fox Soccer Plus, the media company has confirmed that a new premium channel run by Fox Soccer will begin broadcasting on March 1, 2010 in high definition. The channel programming will be similar to the fair currently offered on Fox Soccer Channel: Barclay’s Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Serie A and English FA Cup games. The only caveat is that this will be for an additional cost beyond that already paid to receive FSC.
Edit: I should have said more clearly that I believe this new premium channel will be a subscription based channel just like Setanta.
There has been no confirmation or comment on the rumored discussions about acquiring Setanta US, which sublicenses some of its games from Fox Soccer. However, this announcement seems to make it much more likely that the acquisition will go through. Either that, or Fox Soccer has severely harmed its leverage in its negotiations by setting a deadline. The latter is likely not the situation, and the two may also be independent of each other.
Although, the acquisition of a company that has a premium soccer channel and the announcement of this new premium channel seems a bit too coincidental. The new channel will also allow Fox Soccer to increase its footprint without increasing its cost too significantly. Just look at the new logo and compare it FSC logo. Anybody with Photoshop could have changed the words and color. Plus, the company can use the same talking heads on both channels. Say it with me: Corporate Synergy!!!
The full release after the jump.
FOX CABLE NETWORKS TO LAUNCH NEW NETWORK FOX SOCCER PLUS
Channel to Feature Exclusive, Live Content in High Definition
(LOS ANGELES) – Fox Soccer Plus, a new network intended to complement Fox Soccer Channel and complete the ultimate soccer fan experience, is scheduled to launch in fan-friendly high definition on Monday, March 1, 2010, it was announced today by David Nathanson, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Fox Soccer Channel.
The channel will draw its exclusive match content from prominent soccer competitions, such as England’s Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, England’s FA Cup, and Italy’s Serie A. Fox Soccer Plus will be offered to video providers across the country and be available to viewers as a premium service.
“We are committed to bringing the best world-class soccer experience to fans.” said Nathanson. “As America’s interest in the world’s game is increasing, the launch of Fox Soccer Plus will complement and enhance our current programming on Fox Soccer Channel. Fox Soccer Plus builds on our position as the preferred television destination for American soccer fans as well as expatriates who want to keep in touch with their home teams.”
Fox Soccer Plus is scheduled to kick off with an impressive lineup of live soccer matches during the network’s first week. Barclays Premier League games are set to air March 6-7, the FA Cup quarterfinals are taking place, and Italy’s Serie A is in full swing. Specific teams and match times will be determined in the coming weeks.
I need someone to decode this for me. Is this leaning more towards PPV, or just the FSC in HD as I posited earlier? Or, I guess, something else entirely?
PPV.
[...] Unprofessional Foul. [...]
Alright. Online watching it is.
Are you Setanta in disguise….Are you Setanta…IN DISGUISE.
Yes.
is this going to be a via satelite thing as well
and when will these people start showing more La Liga instead of Serie A
@clemantona: I think the la liga rights are mostly (if not all) held by goltv who sublicenses some to espn and espn deportes.
correct, la liga rights are owned by goltv
and f**k you fsc and you’re “premium channel” bulls**t.
Well, I’m sure it will only be about 3 years from now when Comcast actually offers this in my neck of the woods.
It only took me 18 months of constantly emailing Comcast to get GolTV.
I want to know if they will carry the colaship and football league play offs like Setanta did!
@Whiz: Sorry, but I’m in charge of the grammar police this week. I assume you meant to say “your ‘premium channel’ bulls**t”. Unless you were trying to call FSC “premium channel bulls**t”. In that case the usage of “you’re” would be correct.
My 2 cents on this: I have paid the $14.95/month to Setanta during the footy season as I like to ensure I can see the games I want to see. Expensive, but I can’t stand watching games on the computer. There are several things about Setanta that I prefer to FSC currently:
1) Setanta’s pre & post game in-studio talking heads. Much better than the FSC morons (IMO).
2) The fact that FSC squeezes in every last commercial they can, and often misses flipping the switch to the on-camera commentators until 20-30 seconds into the game. A lot of this, I believe, has to do with the stupid American broadcasting “rules” that shows begin/end on the hour/half hour. Setanta will begin their coverage 5 minutes prior to kickoff.
3) Setanta has less commercials. Also, if you appreciate the cheese factor, they are better as well.
3) Premier League Review Show on Setanta is much more reliable. When I set my Tivo to do a season pass on FSC for the weekly show, I’d only get it about 50% of the time — and many times it started late. Setanta shows it when they say they will.
So those are my cons as far as Setanta turning into FSC+. However, if they get all the games in HD, and Fios picks it up, it’ll offset part of my anger.
Setanta wasn’t available in HD on my provider (FiOS) so are they planning on scuttling the change of regular FSC to HD in favor of this? I am confused. I will bet someone $15/month that FSC+ is the new home of Arsenal vs Tottenham (and the like) matches and FSC will get Birmingham vs Wigan. And ESPN2 will maintain its current stranglehold on the Saturday Burnley matches.
so to get fsc+ i have to pay an extra premium charge on top of theonei already pay to get the sports tier from comcast that provides me with fsc, goltv, nbatv, nfl network and nfl network redzone channel, espnu, espn deportes, and mlb tv? bollocks