# Champions League on ESPN Deportes



## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

Note: spinning this off the Euro 2004 thread.



Art said:


> does anybody know if Dish are planning to carry ESPN Deportes in the nearest future?
> 
> Deportes will be covering soccer European Champions league games (tons of them) beginning this month. Any suggestions on what a Dishnetwork subscriber can do to get that channel?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


I emailed Q&A at echostar dot com, which is like the Charlie Chat email, asking when they were planning to put ESPN Deportes in their lineup. You might want to do the same or search http://dishnetwork.com for an email address where you can send programming requests. The more requests, the better chances we have of getting it. ESPNdeportes.com also has a link and a form on their site where you can put in your cable/sat provider and request the channel. Echostar just gave me the standard "don't have any info" answer, by the way.

The way I see it, it's only a matter of time until ESPN Deportes is all over hispanic programming packages, like Fox Sports Español is. That's their goal and I'm sure E* is included, but the channel is only a month old and they're probably negotiating with providers. DirecTV had the sunday-only version of ESPND, but according to the soccerTV.com newsletter, the 24-hour version of the channel is not on DirecTV yet, even though it shows on the guide.

One can pray for it, but I would not expect to see ESPN Deportes on E* until the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals (end of March?) and even that may be pushing it. Besides ALL games thru the final, ESPND will also have a half-hour biweekly CL magazine show and a half-hour CL highlights show. Meanwhile, ESPN2 will show 1 live game per round (in English), both semifinals, and the final.

Anyway, I still hope E* had ESPND in mind when they raised their Dish Latino prices by $3 earlier this month.


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## kevruth (Jan 7, 2004)

DISHjanitor said:


> Note: spinning this off the Euro 2004 thread.
> 
> I emailed Q&A at echostar dot com, which is like the Charlie Chat email, asking when they were planning to put ESPN Deportes in their lineup. You might want to do the same or search http://dishnetwork.com for an email address where you can send programming requests. The more requests, the better chances we have of getting it. ESPNdeportes.com also has a link and a form on their site where you can put in your cable/sat provider and request the channel. Echostar just gave me the standard "don't have any info" answer, by the way.
> 
> ...


I seen a post on the Big Soccer Forums from Oliver at SoccerTV.com that said that ESPN Deportes is in a whole lot of trouble. Cable and DBS (with the exception of D*) aren't signing up for it. I thought he mentioned it may go under.

I don't know how Deportes could survive as the only soccer league that they have the rights to is Champions League. I can't get excided about seeing continued replays of matches that are months old. Fox and GolTV have locked up almost all of the leagues. And the Mexican league is divided up amongst several broadcasters. Deportes just can't survive on CL alone and it looks like they are going to have a hard time bidding for replacements. ESPN let GolTV get the Spanish league and GolTV and Fox seems to have wrapped up all of the South American and Central American leagues. They've only got the one MLS match per week when it starts.

If you really want to see Champions League why not sign up for the UEFA.com Action Pass. All of the matches are online within a few hours after the match ends and you can watch them when you want. Six bucks per month is cheap to get "on demand" CL.

Just my 2 cents


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## Art (Sep 10, 2003)

kevruth said:


> Fox and GolTV have locked up almost all of the leagues.


but it's the CL that is the ultimate yearly soccer competition in the world. and it's rediculous with so many people wanting to see it not to make it available to the viewers in North America.
as for ESPN2 i am still keeping my fingers crossed they would change their original choice of broadcasting Chelseas - Stuttgart. With the match ups like Real - Bayern, MU - Porto, Arsenal - Celta what an idiot has decided to go with the worst pair possible? arghhhhhhhh.

thanks for your input, guys.


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

I thought they might be in trouble. Although just last week ESPN got decade-long contracts with Cox and Charter to start Deportes on March 1. If you could link to Oliver's post, I'd appreciate it. The thing is that ESPN wants to bundle Deportes with their other channels and renew the deal for the whole package. At least that's what I think. ESPN Deportes seems to be riding on sportscenter in spanish and other sports and shows which are already produced for Latin America for now. As you can see in their press release they hardly mention UCL and mention it last. Having the Spanish league probably wouldn't have helped them too much, as viewership is nearly non-existent in the US (which is probably why they dropped it).

Still, it takes awhile to get signed up. GolTV took awhile and then had to sign exclusively with Dish, for example. Now it's starting to show up on digital cable in some places.

Speaking of the UEFA live action, I've considered it, but you know the realplayer stream it's not comparable.


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## kevruth (Jan 7, 2004)

Art said:


> but it's the CL that is the ultimate yearly soccer competition in the world. and it's rediculous with so many people wanting to see it not to make it available to the viewers in North America.
> as for ESPN2 i am still keeping my fingers crossed they would change their original choice of broadcasting Chelseas - Stuttgart. With the match ups like Real - Bayern, MU - Porto, Arsenal - Celta what an idiot has decided to go with the worst pair possible? arghhhhhhhh.
> 
> thanks for your input, guys.


I agree that CL is one of the biggest competitions (and don't tell that to Latin Americans as the Copa Libertadores is there choice for the best competition). However, when the market you are in is 80% english-speaking why would you opt to put it a spanish channel with almost no market? ESPN would be better off showing their one match per match day and selling the rest to Setanta for PPV (and I hate Setanta -- no bars within an hours drive from here carry it).

As for the Chelsea -Stuttgart match, it is much better than MU - Porto or, especially, Arsenal - Celta. Celta just got out of the relegation zone in Spain and Porto isn way behind the leader in their league. Both of these matches are going to be too one-sided.

Chelsea -Stuttgart is match between two clubs in the top three of their respective leagues. This should be a great match. Plenty of pace and offense.

I won't argue about Real and Bayern. That should be something to see. But it is a Tuesday match and not Wednesday so there is not much that can be done there.

Anyway, enjoy the matches we've got. There are some great UEFA Cup matches on Thursday on FSW and GolTV.


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## jrbdmb (Sep 5, 2002)

> *From soccertv.com: *soccerTV.com expects ESPN Deportes to eventually become the exclusive residential US TV distribution outlet for the UEFA Champions League sometime in the future when ESPN Deportes becomes widely available.
> 
> ESPN2 will continue to have limited coverage of the UEFA Champions League through May 2004.


So let's see, ESPN had bought all rights to CL games, and will soon move all games to Deportes. D*/E* haven't picked up this channel yet, and if they ever do it will likely be part of the Spanish language package only. So I'll either see no CL games at all, or be forced to pay $20 - $30/mo. extra to see CL games not in my native language. Meanwhile, those for who Spanish is their native language are more likely to want FSESP / Gol TV for their La Liga / South American soccer coverage anyway.

Yeah, that makes sense. :icon_stup

(I wonder why ESPN doesn't sell the English-language rights to the CL to FSW or Gol TV in the U.S., since they apparently have no interest in it themselves anymore.)


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

kevruth said:


> Chelsea -Stuttgart is match between two clubs in the top three of their respective leagues. This should be a great match. Plenty of pace and offense.


Agreed. However, the ESPN2 match has been changed today to Deportivo La Coruña - Juventus because, including Real Soc. - Lyon, they would've had to produce 3 live telecasts at once for Chelsea - Stuttgart to be on ESPN2. The D - J match-up has history in the Champions League and usually yields a few goals. Last time they played in Spain it was 2-2 and Juve won 3-2 when they last played in Italy. I don't particularly like Juventus, but there is always Nedved and Del Piero to watch and Depor is a solid squad.


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

jrbdmb said:


> So let's see, ESPN had bought all rights to CL games, and will soon move all games to Deportes. D*/E* haven't picked up this channel yet, and if they ever do it will likely be part of the Spanish language package only. So I'll either see no CL games at all, or be forced to pay $20 - $30/mo. extra to see CL games not in my native language. Meanwhile, those for who Spanish is their native language are more likely to want FSESP / Gol TV for their La Liga / South American soccer coverage anyway.
> 
> Yeah, that makes sense. :icon_stup
> 
> (I wonder why ESPN doesn't sell the English-language rights to the CL to FSW or Gol TV in the U.S., since they apparently have no interest in it themselves anymore.)


We KNOW both E* and D* will pick up ESPN Deportes sooner or later. Maybe a month, maybe a year, maybe only when they have to renew their contracts for ESPN HD or whatever.

About CL exclusively on ESPND, sounds like speculation from SoccerTV. ESPN would be trying to play a "if you want CL, you need to get Deportes" angle. Apparently, ESPND acts as a US outlet for a bunch programming that ESPN International already produces, aka programming amortization. My question is whether ESPN's contract with UEFA would allow them to broadcast the Champions League only in Spanish in a country where English is the primary language by far. We already know that ESPN2 is obligated to broadcast 1 match per matchday according their contract. What if there are language restrictions in place for the rights as well?

Here's the UEFA press release for ESPN's rights renewal to Champions League. It mentions Deportes briefly.


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## Soccernut (Jan 20, 2004)

kevruth said:


> I agree that CL is one of the biggest competitions (and don't tell that to Latin Americans as the Copa Libertadores is there choice for the best competition). However, when the market you are in is 80% english-speaking why would you opt to put it a spanish channel with almost no market? ESPN would be better off showing their one match per match day and selling the rest to Setanta for PPV (and I hate Setanta -- no bars within an hours drive from here carry it).
> 
> As for the Chelsea -Stuttgart match, it is much better than MU - Porto or, especially, Arsenal - Celta. Celta just got out of the relegation zone in Spain and Porto isn way behind the leader in their league. Both of these matches are going to be too one-sided.
> 
> ...


Just a quick correction, O Porto is actually in first place in Portugal, 7 points ahead of second place Sporting, I agree MU should win but it won't be easy.


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## F Sanderson (Dec 17, 2003)

What a shame only one game per matchday. ESPN would rather show The Winter X Games, Poker, Fishing or Pocket Pool.


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## Art (Sep 10, 2003)

kevruth, no arguments whether Chelsea - Stuttgart should be a good game and an even match up. I was simply referring to a much wider fan base when it comes to clubs like MU, Real, etc. so more people would rather watch those teams play, me thinks.
and besides, there is no easy teams at this stage of the competiton as all 4 yesterday's games proved once again.

as for the Wed. games only, they are showing the second leg Depor - Juve game on... Tuesday .

so, if they show anything, why not to show what everybody likes, why not to show in a language the vast majority of people are accustommed with, why make all the soccer from the planet (including some of the worst kind) accessible and hide la cream de la cream? And I mean it! after what we witnessed at the latest world cup is there anybody who can compare the level of soccer played in CL matches with the below par performances at WC? i mean c'mon! not even close! My impression was that except for US, Turkey and Korea nobody gives a hoot about the WC anymore.

but the bottomline - we all gonna miss the beatiful game and watch poker and Xgames instead. Apparently much more viewers will be glued to their TV sets watching the excitment of fishing game. sounds fishy, isn't it?


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## kevruth (Jan 7, 2004)

After seeing the results from today I don't think we missed very much. I did watch the Man Utd. match on Korean channel broadcast on the internet and it wasn't much to see. United were less than poor. Just a bad day of CL.


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

it looked like the best game yesterday was Celta - Arsenal, then Lokomotiv - Monaco, of all games. Stuttgart - Chelsea was tragic. 0-1 with an own goal?!! Those are two good teams that are not playing well at the moment. Stuttgart would've whooped Chelsea in that game if they actually had the will to score or a little more luck. As for Man. U., they better watch out. Porto is a good team.

During all of today's broadcast on ESPN2 there was no mention of ESPN Deportes at all. Nada. The announcers on ESPN2 said a "special hello" to US viewers, but nothing else, whereas back in December they even showed highlights in Spanish with the ESPN Deportes logo before the 2nd half and announced the launch date. What gives? Is the channel dead? At least when they advertised the delayed showing of Porto - Man. U. on ESPN international, it showed eastern and pacific times. Maybe they'll drop a couple more hints during the next match since Deportes will be more available (Cox, Charter) by then.

Anyway, if I had to pick a 2nd leg to watch on March 9th, my first choice would be Juventus - Deportivo. Second choice Man. United - Porto.


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## Art (Sep 10, 2003)

MU - Porto would be my choice. Both teams play attacking football. would love to see Real _ Bayern also... ahh...
why don't they make it at least available on PPV ?


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

Art said:


> MU - Porto would be my choice. Both teams play attacking football. would love to see Real _ Bayern also... ahh...
> why don't they make it at least available on PPV ?


Man. United - Porto it'll be. Live on ESPN2, Tuesday March 9. ESPND will have Juventus - Deportivo simultaneously.


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

Posted on the Big Soccer forums:


> I called Dish network and they said on the phone that they expected to have Deportes up by May.


I guess it's a good idea to keep sending Dish some emails, although May will only see leg 2 of the semifinals (both semifinals will be on ESPN2) and the final. At least ESPND also has the CL magazine and highlights shows.


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## DISHjanitor (Jul 17, 2003)

How about that Milan, huh? Steamrolled La Coruña right out last night.

Sent DISH another email today. This time asked them to show Euro 2004 as well. 

ESPND will show the Netherlands vs France friendly match in preparation for Euro 2004 live next Wednesday 3/31.


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