Fans of soccer in the United States will have yet another viewing outlet to get their fix. Fox has announced plans for a new soccer channel that will be launch in the next two months.
The new channel will be known as Fox Soccer Plus, and is scheduled to carry Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Serie A matches that are already broadcast on FSC. By bringing in a new channel, Fox will be able to increase the number of games available in America.
March 1 is the scheduled launch date for the new channel that will also be broadcast in high definition. No word yet on how the channel will be accessible.
What do you think of Fox Soccer Plus? Excited to see more European soccer on TV?
Share your thoughts below.
Anything as long it’s not NFL/CFL, baseball, basketball or hockey. North Americanspecific sports suck!
I sure hope its not a hockey mom channel..
Making a second FSC and HD “available” is one thing. Getting your cable/dish provider to pick it up, is something entirely different.
Excellent Fox! Way to go!!!
You betcha.
Giggity Giggity!
More importantly did they negotiate for the intellectual property rights for Special 1 TV?
Those puppets have to be pretty dusty by now.
bollucks.. mr john v here is right.. i want them to double my input of BPL and add a lot more fa cup clashes! maybe even some championship… this may just be a disappointment fellas
Setanta doesn’t show Cricket.
Uh, besides cable news, movies, and mtv, what channels dont have paid programming during the early AM?
Haha, its an acquired taste. Kinda like oxtail stew.
nice work on the link. I have submitted my request to Dish Network…
Yeah baby!!!!
If Rupert Murdoch is involved it most definitely is a money issue.
Yes to the J-League stuff, especially if it means getting rid of those crappy early morning infomercials. One of the bonuses of Setanta was not being subject to the restless ghost of Billy Mays when somewhere in the world a footy match was taking place.
FSReport is broadcast from Canada. It’s basically on the same level as Bob and Doug McKenzie.
However, I’m not sure a US-based show would be any better since it would probably be hosted by Christian Miles and Max Bretos.
well played 😉
Anyone else miss Fox Sports World? You could turn on FSW at any time of day and you would find competition of some sort. Aussie rules football at 4pm on a Monday was better than Dreamteam reruns. How could FSW afford to rarely have infomercials?
That would be Comcast 🙂
In my part of the East Coast, FSN is only available if you fork out $120 a month for their “Digital Premier” package. Which means it’s crappy streams for me.
Cricket, ewww! That’s worse than baseball
But not many show less than 18 per week of worthwhile programming when there is so much more out there.
Is this the channel Sarah Palin will be on?
I would rather them optimize the one channel they have before adding another one.
And if they’re going to add another one, why not call it FSC2 / FSC2HD
Why the ‘ + ‘, what’s going to be PLUS about about it? What are they adding.
Dumb.
So last weekend, for example, the Everton game would have been broadcast on FSC 2 instead of Setanta. Awesome.
Read part 1 again. I said I hope they acquire the requisite rights and make FSC1 more like the old FSW which carried rugby and cricket matches. Thus, it wouldnt only be a soccer channel anymore. Again just a personal hope.
Why do they need another channel. They don’t show enough games as it is….
Guys, just contact your service provider and tell them, as a customer, you expect them to carry it. For Cox Cable customers, state that you expect them to add this channel to the Sports Tier along with all the other “extra/premium” sports channels at no, or a slight, additional cost. Considering the tier is only $2, when I say slight, I mean <$1.
The point is, the cable companies need to be assured they will make money by paying Fox for these channels. Which means they need to hear from YOU.
Cox Cable charges $2 more per month for the Sport Tier, which includes FSC, GolTV, NBATV, MLBTV, NFLTV, etc.
Which company are you using where it is not affordable?
I doubt it’s a money issue. FSC wants thier customers to have the channel in HD because the customers are crying for it and the competition (ESPN) has it.
If there is any issue with the cable companies and satellite providers it is with providing the extra bandwidth necessary for HD broadcasts.
FSC is supposed to be broadcast in HD by the end of January although that does not mean that the cable companies or satellite providers will provide it that way.
YES, everyone, please do this!
they are. FSC will be in HD and a SECOND soccer channel run by Fox is being “released”…which will also be in HD. So, we are getting a second channel AND both channels will be in HD. just hope your cable provider decides to get them…
I bet that the cable providers and FSC are in a battle right now.
FSC: Give us more money and we will provide HD.
Cable company: No, we are making money on this already.
Who do you side with, the devil or satan ?
IF I am stating the obvious sorry…
Will FSC II be any different? Dont count on it.
But if the NFL network and others are any indication, they filter down so poor boys like me can get them eventually.
that isn’t going to change anything. the point of having a second channel is to show games LIVE that you would have not been previously able to show due to only having one channel. expect both channels to run paid programming late night…
I hope FSC+ = 24/7 Dreamteam network
last i read, MAR 2010.
Why would a soccer channel show rugby and cricket?
Not sure how they would get La Liga with ESPN and GolTV already holding the rights to those games.
Many, many “respectable” channels run paid programming at night and in early morning.
Doesn’t seem like FSC HD and FSC Plus will be available in all regions of the country. I think it’s only being bought up my certain providers who receive popular demand in certain areas of the U.S.
That’s what I hate about DISH, I have every channel I want for $70 a month but then I have to pay the $23 to upgrade to get FSC and another $15 for Setanta. It’d be nice if FSC and FSCHD got added to the Sports package I already pay $5 a month for.
Its going to show the Setanta time slots. Who wants to watch Stoke vs Wolves at 1am? Its better to have it live on a 2nd channel.
Skin Care Army!
Waht about the MLS? Any games in HD?
yeah – what’s with that??
Thanks goodness. Totally waiting to see what the little price tag is for carrying it at the soccer shop. Sure to be a wowzer…
I just didn’t understand what was meant by the term “respectable”. I wasn’t sure what that implied, and if you were looking for more so to speak “high brow” programs or something.
As for showing other leagues, yes, it would be awesome to be able to see games for all Yanks abroad, but it’s a cost benefit thing. Obviously, showing more games for contracts they already have, like the Premier League, would be cheaper than getting more contracts. Could they get a contract from Greece or Sweden or Denmark that would allow them to pick games involving Americans, the matches that would draw the highest ratings here, or would they only be able to get the nationally televised game, so to speak? And either way, would those games get high enough ratings to justify paying the rights fees, instead of showing paid programming or re-runs matches from the bigger leagues?
Obviously the highest ratings, and therefore highest revenue, will come from live games in the biggest leagues, so I can see why they’d want to be able to show more live and shortly delayed matches. Right now FSC comes ‘free’ with a sports pack (generally), the more they have to pay in rights fees, the more cost they have to forward onto the consumer.
I’d love to see games from other countries, but if FSC+ shows the same stuff that’s on Setanta now, nothing else, and it’s free, great. Showing the same stuff but you have to pay for it, then no change there really, and if they show just the Prem and maybe Championship matches from Setanta, but not the other stuff, and you have to pay extra for it, then it’s kind of a loss, actually.
So I’m in wait and see mode.
I GOTTA get my PIP function fixed on my TV now!!!!!!
Ugg I want them to pick up Championship games. I want to see my royals.