NBC Treble Money For US Prem Rights

[McBridefan1]

I'm with you Don on this, I watch every Prem game each week, between Fox and ESPN. Not a good deal as far as I'm concerned for either ex-pats or US soccer lovers. The idea that it will become second to NFL is appalling, yes, I know this is the US, and NFL is THE national sport, but to buy exclusive rights to something just to demote it sounds too iffy to me.

If they are talking about charging above and beyond premium channels to PPV, then that will have the effect of reducing the viewing figures, not promoting the sport in the US.

The only good thing is that - perhaps - we'll get rid of those Fox presenters, including Barton, and the poison leprechaun, smyth, smith, smithe, whatever he calls himself, and above all, Wynalda (who apparently blames the hahas lack of form down to having too many nationalities in one team!!) As for Darke, ye gods, if the red poo ever got relegated I think he'd have a coronary!!!

Aaaah hello? If soccer even gets close to being second to the nfl it will have made a gargantuan leap forward. This is nothing but great news IMHO...

I would agree with you MB1, except the point I was making is that whilst on Fox, Soccer was the top sport on it's own 2 channels, and every Prem game was shown each week.

If NBC do not dedicate a non-PPV channel to soccer, or start placing some on PPV, or spread them out during the week to avoid clashing with any NFL games,  then the exposure will be less, hence the reduction.

NBC is looking to help grow the sport as that will increase profits. They are doing this to compete and are gambling quite a bit of dough. With NBC legitimizing soccer it has more potential for growth now than it ever has.

[McBridefan1]

The "everything will be shown live" will actually result in fewer matches available over all. I'm also not nuts about the "pay per view" for weekday matches. I usually watch every Fulham match -- yes, some tape delayed -- and 2-4 other matches each weekend. It's going to be tough to do that.

Let's just hope that NBC doesn't hire the abysmal Ian Darke. Arlo did a great job on our international match.

I thought we all agreed Ian darke was good? What happened? To be honest no one likes any commentators in any sport, it's a bit of a lost art, you know the whole being objective thing isn't what it used to be.

I liked him at the World Cup ... such a big improvement over the usual idiots we have. I really liked Efan Ekoku at the matches and Roberto Martinez in the studio. But Darke caught the American announcer disease and forgot how to shut up. His worst sin, is constantly asking his color man to confirm his opinion. The best sidekicks only talk when necessary. half of what McManaman says begins with, "Well, I suppose so, Ian."

Well I suppose so Ian... Lol that is too true. Classic.

[McBridefan1]

The "everything will be shown live" will actually result in fewer matches available over all. I'm also not nuts about the "pay per view" for weekday matches. I usually watch every Fulham match -- yes, some tape delayed -- and 2-4 other matches each weekend. It's going to be tough to do that.

Let's just hope that NBC doesn't hire the abysmal Ian Darke. Arlo did a great job on our international match.

I thought we all agreed Ian darke was good? What happened? To be honest no one likes any commentators in any sport, it's a bit of a lost art, you know the whole being objective thing isn't what it used to be.

I liked him at the World Cup ... such a big improvement over the usual idiots we have. I really liked Efan Ekoku at the matches and Roberto Martinez in the studio. But Darke caught the American announcer disease and forgot how to shut up. His worst sin, is constantly asking his color man to confirm his opinion. The best sidekicks only talk when necessary. half of what McManaman says begins with, "Well, I suppose so, Ian."

.. put that together with his love for all things North West Red, the way he drools over the red poo and manure, and puts forwards 'facts' that only show those teams in good light and everyone else in a poor light, then you have a good commentator gone bad. I was surprised they didn't have him on that tv show, Being Boring.

As I said being objective isn't what it used to be.

[YankeeJim]

The one thing that I would hope for is that they simply broadcast the game rather then be like ESPN or Fox which try to make themselves the show rather then the match. With constant graphics saying what the team colors are and numerous silly references to nothing of importance. During the USA v Guatemala qualifyer they must have mentioned the goal differential situation three dozen times. They both treat the spectator as if they are stupid. I often turn the sound down and just watch the video portion.

[MisfitKid]

I'm most worried about which cable/dish carrier will piss and moan over paying to add NBC Sports 10 or whatever additional channels are created/used to carry every game live. Which means it will take the first half of the season for the 1 million different cable and satellite providers in every separate region to figure out who is and isn't going to carry it, because you know "nobody cares about soccer". Went through this with the B10 Network and it was not fun.

Used to be Setanta and Fox. Now we have Fox, Fox+, Bein, Gol, ESPN and NBCSports carrying various leagues and competitions. Must be money to be made in this if everyone wants to be involved... which just leaves more ways for the fans to be screwed if you ask me.

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Sorry for the rant, but at least I get to use a new emoticon...

Well said W-FFC, you are dead-on.
I think some of it will be wait and see and the fan will always be thought of last...   :49:

[OHfulhamfan]

I am not sure what to think about this. Right now I watch almost every Fulham match even if it's usually on a delay. It's very easy to avoid the score. To be honest, even when Fulham is on live I just DVR it as Friday night can go on kind of late. As long as I can still watch each week I don't care which network covers it. The thing I will miss is the Premier League Review show on Sunday nights.  I love the fact that it has no anchor desk where a bunch of ex players sit around talking, and the focus is on showing condensed versions of most of the games and voice over highlights of the rest.
As for Ian Dark I think he does a good job calling the games. Yes he does seem to have a bias toward the big clubs, but then again that is the case with every game announcer and talking head on ESPN in every sport. In baseball it's blah,blah Yankees and Red Sox, in football it's blah, blah Cowboys, in college hoops it's blah, blah Duke and so on. I figured it was just Ian following his marching orders. 

[perry geyton]

i think this is bad news, Fox have been there since day one when know one gave a damn about premier league in this country, i feel they deserve the right to keep it.
in the long run though i think we shall be seeing less games on NBC, which means more time in front of my computer watching bad streams. saying that though i wont miss the like of Warren Barton and Eric Winaldo or whatever that tools name is !

[JHunter_Fulham4Life]

I like Ian Darke.

I like Darke with Steve McManaman, who takes absolutely no prisoners. I think he makes Darke better. I'm also hoping NBC steals Max Bretos, who has been utterly wasted at ESPN. He's much better as a PBPer than a studio host, and he just comes off as fake on ESPN News.