Christmas has arrived early thanks to Fox Soccer Channel with the exclusive news that the knockout stages of the Champions League on FSC and FSN, as well as the final on FX, will feature the two-person commentary teams from Sky Sports instead
of the UEFA/international commentary teams.
Some of you observant Fox Soccer Channel viewers may have noticed that Martin Tyler and Andy Gray commentated the Wolfsburg against Manchester United game earlier this week, while Alan Parry and Don Goodman were behind the mics for the Olympiakos against Arsenal match. That’s just a taste of the top-notch commentary you can expect to hear for the remainder of the Champions League season.
This is brilliant news. The quantity and quality of Champions League coverage Fox Soccer Channel has provided so far this season has been exemplary, but the only disappointment has been the abysmal commentating provided by UEFA’s team of commentators ran by Tim White Media Consultancy. The commentating has been so woeful that Tim White and his colleagues have become a running joke on EPL Talk.
Thankfully, Fox has corrected the issue by replacing the feed with the commentator feed directly from Sky Sports which features some of the best experts in the world such as Tyler, Gray, Parry, Ian Darke and many others.
A big thank you to Fox Soccer Channel for listening to its viewers and making the wise decision. Au revoir Tim White. Bienvenue Sky Sports.
Nice, I notcied Martin and Andy doing the Manchester United game…it was nice…I really like them two commentating…cant wait for Martin at the WC…but anyhow..thats good news…thanks for letting us know.
It’s about time FSC spends a little bit of money to use BSkyB commentary on UEFA CL telecast.
FSC’s NewsCorp corporate sister networks in Asia which operated by Singapore-based ESPN STAR Sports Limited have been using BSkyB commentators on their soccer broadcasts for many years.
I wish sky would have brought thier company here…
I noticed this too. About time!
Terrific! Arsenal still in the Cup and now we are going to get decent commentary to complement their instudio coverage! Cheers!
They’re broadcasting from a studio right? Not on site…until the final.
No the ones with the Big 4 English clubs and Rangers are on-site.
The rest are off a studio monitor.
With Liverpool and Rangers out I suspect they’ll have their commentators on-site for say…Barcelona.
THANKFULLY they didn’t listen to the dolt here on EPL Talk who published a commentary begging Fox Soccer Channel to switch to their own buffoons (Max Bretos, et al) for Champions League commentary.
But he did beg for a change and that’s what happened. Asking for Sky Sports at the time was probably not even an option, and I do believe the FSC guys would have been better than Tim White. But you can continue on being a jerk if you must with your further posts.
Will the next stage of the Champions League bring HD coverage on FSC as promised? We could do with an FSC/HD update Gaffer. Will there be HD EPL coverage after the festive period? If so, for all three EPL time slots FSC has rights to? Thanks in advance!
This is excellent news. Now, if we could only get rid of the dreadful whining voice of Tommy Smyth on ESPN we’d all be happy. And whilst on the subject, the Irish gentleman doing many of the Setanta games these days is exceptionally lightweight. If only they could also use the Sky team.
Finally, a Xmas wish that Setanta would improve their non-HD signal on DirecTV. It really is quite abominable, far inferior to FSC’s. With Setanta’s lack of cash an HD feed is probably never going to happen, but please, please improve the video quality.
It is great news indeed, when I complained that the single commentary feed made the world’s premier club competition feel like an intertoto cup qualifier, many here said it didn’t matter, I’m glad that Fox felt it did, just in time for the knockout stage, coupled with HD it’s gonna be an enjoyable 2010.
C’mon FSC, where’s the HIGH-DEF??? You’re woefully inferior to ESPN, even with Ol’ Onion Bag, until you deliver HD to your viewers.
Get with the program, already!
Jan 1st…if your cable company will carry it. I’m sure DirecTV will have it immediately.
I find it hilarious that a little rain here in Los Angeles caused them to have technical difficulties on Monday night.
I hope you are correct. It would be nice to see at least some advertising of this on FSC. You would think that there would be a COMING JAN 1 HD FSC! promo by now.
Brilliant news indeed. Panda, you siad it right though, I have comcast and I doubt I’ll have FSC HD until 2018…..
Hell, I’d be happy to have even Comcast, I have an even worse provider, MediaCom — a cable company apparently created to make other cable companies not look so bad.
I’ll have FSC in HD…uh, never.
I have a question for anyone…….
I watch the CL games on DirectTv UEFA channels that they have devoted for the CL. Most of them in HD which is sweet. But I noticed that none/most of the coverage has a channel ID, or a sports ticker on the screen during the game. This is great as I can see the whole game without obstructions! But, a bit annoying as I never know how much time is left (as they only put up the clock ocassionally throughout the game) for first/second half. Is this whats called the World Feed? So other stations that carry the game can super-impose their info?
Thanks
They did it!…
no more complaints here.. the best football on the planet with the best commentary teams on earth.. great job fox!!! again .. YOU LISTENED..
thanks!
Cantona
How much content will actually be in HD once they get it? Will Sky Sports News be in HD? Not even everything on ESPN is in HD…..
Jay, definitely Premier League and Champions League games. Not sure about the rest right now.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
I did notice Tyler and Grey were doing the United vs. Wolfsburg game and it was amazing. It was the first Champions league game all year that I did not fall asleep for.
Hey Gaffer,
Is it still definite that FSC will be HD by January 1st? How come they have not advertised for it?
Jeff, yep definitely January 1st. Not sure why they’re not advertising it, but they’ve mentioned it a few times in interviews they’ve done with the media.
Cheers,
The Gaffer