EPL Talk » ESPN2

Top 10 Things Every Premier League TV Viewer Must Have

The Gaffer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:17:20 +0000

Having followed the top flight of English league soccer for 32 years and having spent 26 of those years in the United States scrambling to find the best and most reliable sources of soccer news and information, I have the experience necessary to share with you what every supporter of a Premier League club should have to survive a season and enjoy it in style.

Whether you’re a veteran soccer fan or a newbie, you’ll find several helpful tips for you in this article. Consider it your Swiss Army knife guide to following the Premier League.

Here are my top 10 picks for what every supporter should have:

If you live in the United States, you need to subscribe to Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus, ESPN2 and GolTV. Some of you may argue that GolTV isn’t as necessary, but the channel does show some Europa League games and offers a lot of La Liga and Bundesliga games if you ever feel burned out from watching too much Premier League soccer. And be sure to follow EPL Talk’s Premier League TV Schedule to stay up-to-date on which Premier League teams are going to be on television in the States.
HD television and HD service from your TV provider. The beautiful game was meant to be enjoyed in HD. And now that more Premier League games are being shown in HD than ever before, it’s important you get the equipment necessary as well as check to see if the TV networks you need (see above) are available in HD on your provider. As of press time, DISH Network is the only one showing Fox Soccer Channel in HD in the United States. No TV providers are yet broadcasting Fox Soccer Plus in HD (SD only, for now). And GolTV may be in HD later this year.
A DVR (digital video recorder). This is an absolute must-have for any soccer fan. There are so many games on each week featuring Premier League teams that you have to tape many of them for viewing at a later date.
Subscribe to FoxSoccer.tv, if you’re in the States. While the relaunched broadband site experienced a few growing pains since it’s relaunch last week, the sheer volume of live Premier League games it features makes it a must-have. This coming Saturday alone, it has four live games being featured at 10am ET. If you want to see as much Premier League as possible, you need FoxSoccer.tv
Get ESPN3. ESPN360, which will be renamed ESPN3 in April, is another must-have specifically because of the broadband matches it’ll show such as the Carling Cup, summer friendly tournaments and World Cup. ESPN360.com is a free service but it’s available through most ISPs in the United States. Visit ESPN360.com to see if you have it.
Get an iPhone or Android phone. You’re not always going to be near a computer or television set to stay on top of the news about your favorite Premier League team, so be sure to have a mobile phone such as the Apple iPhone or any of the Android phones which will give you the edge when you’re trying to stay on top of things. For the Apple iPhone, must-have apps include iCarRadio Lite (for live radio broadcasts of Premier League matches from the BBC), EPL Live! or iFooty World (for up-to-the minute latest scores), ESPN 2010 World Cup (for everything World Cup related) and a Twitter app such as Twitterrific for the latest EPL news and discussion. Of course, there’s also the free EPL Talk iPhone app which features blog posts, comments, podcast episodes and more.
Subscribe to podcasts via iTunes. Be sure to subscribe to the best Premier League-related podcasts such as The Guardian’s Football Weekly, the EPL Talk Podcast, TheGame Podcast, BBC’s World Football Phone-In Show, the official Barclays Premier League Podcast and more than 50 others.
Buy Soccernomics, the book. I’m re-reading Soccernomics for the second time and it is without a doubt one of the best soccer books I’ve ever read. The reason why I feel it should be part of your survival kit is because the way it discusses globalization and the impact that has had on soccer and primarily the Premier League. It’s a fascinating read and it really feels as if it was written for the Internet age in terms of how it combines amazing facts with the way it makes you see soccer in a whole new way.
Sign up for Twitter. No, Twitter isn’t just for kids. And no, Twitter isn’t just for telling your friends what you’re eating for dinner. For soccerholics such as us, it’s an incredibly useful tool to find out late breaking news and to participate in an underground soccer culture that spans the globe (at least it feels like we’re in the underground at times in the States). After you’ve signed up for Twitter, be sure to follow EPL Talk.
Bookmark 101 Great Goals. While there have been significant advances in technology and the quantity of games available on television and the Internet, there remains one last bastion where the Premier League and its partners don’t serve us well and that’s in the form of goal highlights. Yes, there is a weekly highlights show from the Premier League and TWI. And yes, there are often nightly news shows that feature highlights. But there isn’t anything legal for immediate on-demand access to goal highlights. Thankfully, 101GreatGoals.com is the best alternate source available.

Optional:

Slingbox. With Slingbox, you can watch programming from your television on the Internet or a mobile device. Imagine you’re at work but you want to “tune” into your TV from your work computer and watch a live or pre-recorded Champions League game, you can do this with Slingbox.
Audible. A great way to expand your knowledge of the Premier League is by listening to audiobooks of several soccer titles on Audible. Get a free audiobook from Audible today.
Fantasy Premier League. To make the season more interesting, I highly recommend that you enroll for free and play the Fantasy Premier League game with hundreds of thousands of soccer fans from around the world. It’s even more fun when you play in a private league such as the EPL Talk Fantasy Premier League, which is in the top 50 of the best leagues in the world.
Pub Finder. Last, but by no means least, it’s important to go see a Premier League match on television in a nearby pub every once in a while so you can get a completely different perspective on the beautiful game. Use Setanta US’s handy-dandy pub finder tool which still works.

Other than the list of the best soccer blogs and news sites, what did I miss? What things do you feel should be a part of a survival kit for soccer fans who watch Premier League matches on TV that aren’t listed above? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Analysis of ESPN2’s EPL TV Viewing Figures, 2009-10

LD Montejo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:09 +0000

Editor’s note: As a follow-up to the recent article about ESPN2’s number of viewers for Premier League games it has shown so far this season, I asked EPL Talk readers if anyone would be interested in analyzing the data more closely. New York City resident LD Montejo responded to the call and has produced these very eyeopening observations and charts below. Soccernomics, eat your heart out!

Notes: For the charts, click on any of them for a larger version of the image.

Here are the observations and insight into ESPN2’s Premier League TV ratings for the season thus far:

Comparing ratings between different Day/Time broadcasts:

It is pretty clear the broadcast at 10:00 AM on Saturdays has performed better overall. The early morning broadcasts on Saturday (7:30 AM) have seen a constant increase in ratings over the past 2 months (up from about 200k to 350k). In general, rating for Monday afternoon broadcasts have steadily declined from its initial rating (from about 400k to about 140k). The only broadcast on Saturday at 8:45 did relatively well (about 325k).

The general trends suggest that the 7:30 AM broadcast on Saturday morning is becoming increasingly popular and should become the most highly rated broadcast of EPL on ESPN2.

Comparing ratings between teams in the top 4 and those outside the top 4:

So far there have been 16 broadcasts where at least one of the teams is one of the traditional top 4, and 14 broadcasts where both teams are outside the same top 4. Matches featuring top 4 teams have done only slightly better on average (average=283k) than matches of teams outside the top 4 (average=240k). However, the variation in rating is much larger among matches featuring top 4 teams (standard deviation = 71k) than among matches not featuring a top 4 team (standard deviation = 53k). In fact, performing an ANOVA statistical test on the data shows that the ratings between these two type of broadcasts are not statistically significant, which is unexpected.

Rating when a high profile American is playing:

The average rating from matches featuring a high profile American (i.e. Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, etc.) is 266k, whereas the rating for those matches without at least one high profile American is 261k. Based on statistical test we can safely say there is not a correlation between rating and the presence of at least one high profile American.

ESPN2 EPL TV Ratings: August ‘09 to February ‘10

The Gaffer — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:53 +0000

It’s been several weeks since I’ve shared the Nielsen Ratings with you for the latest Premier League games televised live on ESPN2, so there’s plenty of news to cover.

Overall, what is very evident is that the 10am ET timeslot on ESPN2 garners much higher ratings than the 7:45am ET one. Some of you will say “Of course,” especially those of you on the west coast, but out of the top five ratings ESPN2 has seen this season, three of the games have been in the Saturday 10am ET timeslot.

I’ve highlighted the new ratings that haven’t been shared thus far in yellow. Here are the viewing figures for August 2009 to February 2010:

Reviewing the above numbers, the viewing figures for Sunderland against Stoke was atrocious despite being on a Monday afternoon when most people are working.

The big surprise for me was how well the Fulham against Aston Villa match did especially since both teams are not in the Big Four.

What, for you, are some of the interesting observations you see? Click the comments link below to share your feedback.

By the way, if anyone is interested in slicing the data to analyze the information and see what other things we can learn (such as a timeline since the season began with a line chart showing the rise and fall of the TV ratings), please contact me at thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com and I’ll send you the spreadsheet.

Poll: Which US Soccer TV Network Is The Best Value For Money?

The Gaffer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:04:02 +0000

Which US soccer TV network represents the best value for money? Vote in the poll above and share your opinions in the comments section below. Yes, ESPN2 is not a US soccer network, but it does show a lot of soccer throughout the season. But tell us who you think is the best value. It’ll be interesting to see which network gets the most votes!

ESPN2 Will Televise Man United v Chelsea in April

The Gaffer — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:44:07 +0000

ESPN2 received some good news Friday when the Premier League announced the list of games that have had their kickoff times moved to be shown during key television times.

During April, ESPN2 will televise what many believe will be the Premier League title decider between Manchester United and Chelsea on Saturday, April 3 at 7:45am ET.

Even more good news for ESPN2 are some of the other fixtures in April including the north London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal on Saturday, April 10 at 7:45am ET. And also the Manchester derby on Saturday, April 17 at 7:45am ET between Manchester City and Manchester United.

To be fair, ESPN2 hasn’t had the best schedule of games to show for most of this season during the early Saturday kickoff slot. But with the run in to the end of the Premier League, it’ll be very interesting to see what the TV ratings are for these three marquee matches with so much on the line for each team.

View the latest US TV schedule featuring Premier League games.

ABC to Televise England Against USA World Cup Match On US TV

The Gaffer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:10:14 +0000

The TV schedule for the 2010 World Cup has been released for viewers in the United States, and the most highly anticipated match of the opening round featuring England against the United States of America will be televised live on ABC on Saturday, June 12 beginning at 2pm ET.

In England’s second game of the tournament, the match against Algeria will be shown live on ESPN2 on Friday, June 16 with coverage beginning at 2pm ET. England’s last game of the opening round, against Slovenia, will be televised on Wednesday, June 23. Coverage that day begins at 9:30am ET.

All games will be televised in HD and will feature pre-game, half-time and post-game analysis. Plus, ESPN has announced that they will show the complete national anthems for both teams before each game.

All 64 games will be televised live. The breakdown of the games will be as follows: ESPN will show 44 games. ABC will show 10, while ESPN2 will show 10. The World Cup final will be broadcast live on Sunday, July 11th at 1:30pm ET on ABC.

In addition to the television coverage, all of the games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 will also be shown live on ESPN360.com. That means that the England against United States game, and all others on ABC, will not be available via ESPN360. However, all 64 tournament games will be available on archive for the remainder of 2010.

Lastly, ESPN Classic will re-air all 64 World Cup matches. Each matchday, between 6pm and midnight ET, the network will present all matches played earlier that day. Plus, ESPN and ESPN2 will air the best match of the day on select nights throughout the tournament.

I think you’ll agree with me that ESPN is, so far, making all the right moves and is planning on making this the best possible World Cup experience ever. Plus, to me, showing the national anthems of both teams is a big deal and it’s something that wasn’t shown in many previous World Cup tournaments. Or, if it was shown, the United States national anthem was shown live and as soon as it was the turn of the opponent’s national anthem, the networks involved often broke for a commercial.

For the complete TV schedule of all World Cup games, visit our sister site World Cup Buzz.

ESPN2 TV Ratings For 2009-2010 English Premier League: Aug to Jan

The Gaffer — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:30:51 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to share the TV ratings for ESPN2’s coverage of the Barclay’s Premier League 2009-2010 season, so here are the most recent ratings from late December 2009 through last week.

The new ratings are bolded. See below.

Nielsen Ratings for Premier League Games on ESPN2: August through January 16, 2010:

Liverpool v Aston Villa, 8/24/2009, Monday, 3pm ET, 398,391 viewers
Portsmouth v Manchester United, 11/28/2009, Saturday, 10am, 396,995
Wigan v Man United, 8/22/2009, Saturday, 10am, 374,799
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/31/2009, Saturday, 8:45am, 325,187
Manchester City v West Ham United, 9/28/2009, Monday, 3pm, 293,600
Portsmouth v Burnley, 12/5/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 278,078
Portsmouth v Liverpool, 12/12/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 276,160
Stoke City v Liverpool, 1/16/2010, Saturday, 7:45am, 273,000
Portsmouth v Everton, 9/26/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 270,927
Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/3/2009, Saturday, 10am, 265,508
Tottenham v Sunderland, 11/7/2009, Saturday, 10am, 259,831
Chelsea v Burnley, 8/29/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 253,934
Liverpool v Burnley, 9/12/2009, Saturday, 10am, 253,779
Aston Villa v Manchester City, 10/5/2009, Monday, 3pm, 248,956
Birmingham City v Chelsea, 12/26/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 246,000
Liverpool v Manchester City, 11/21/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 236,247
Wolves v Manchester City, 12/28.2009, Monday, 2:45pm, 219,000
Manchester City v Blackburn Rovers, 1/11/2010, Monday, 3pm, 209,547
Fulham v Hull City, 10/19/2009, Monday, 3pm, 209,207
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 10/17/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 206,886
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 10/24/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 204,882
Stoke City v Wigan Athletic, 12/12/09, Saturday, 7:45am, 202,000
Burnley v Sunderland, 9/19/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 199,380
Liverpool v Birmingham City, 11/9/2009, Monday, 3pm, 182,138
Chelsea v Hull City, 8/15/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 164,485

The new ratings are disappointing in that they didn’t break the 300,000 barrier for number of viewers. However, the games shown haven’t featured clashes between the big sides.

Better news for ESPN (and soccer fans Stateside) is that the Disney owned channel will be featuring some more attractive games within the next couple of months including Liverpool v Everton (February 6), Everton v Manchester United (February 20), Chelsea v Manchester City (February 27), Manchester City v Spurs (March 6) and Manchester United v Fulham (March 13).

Nielsen Ratings for Portsmouth v Liverpool on ESPN2

The Gaffer — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:35:11 +0000

If you’ve watched a lot of Premier League football on television this season, you’ve seen plenty of matches involving Burnley and Portsmouth in addition to the Big Four and other teams. Surprisingly, the games involving Burnley and Portsmouth have done quite well in the TV ratings game as we again see from last weekend’s match between Portsmouth and Liverpool, which was shown on ESPN2.

Here are the TV ratings for all of the Premier League games shown on ESPN2 so far this season:

Top Nielsen Ratings for Premier League Games on ESPN2: August through December 12, 2009:

Liverpool v Aston Villa, 8/24/2009, Monday, 3pm ET, 398391 viewers
Portsmouth v Manchester United, 11/28/2009, Saturday, 10am, 396995
Wigan v Man United, 8/22/2009, Saturday, 10am, 374799
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/31/2009, Saturday, 8:45am, 325187
Manchester City v West Ham United, 9/28/2009, Monday, 3pm, 293600
Portsmouth v Burnley, 12/5/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 278,078
Portsmouth v Liverpool, 12/12/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 276,160
Portsmouth v Everton, 9/26/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 270927
Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur, 10/3/2009, Saturday, 10am, 265508
Tottenham v Sunderland, 11/7/2009, Saturday, 10am, 259831
Chelsea v Burnley, 8/29/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 253934
Liverpool v Burnley, 9/12/2009, Saturday, 10am, 253779
Aston Villa v Manchester City, 10/5/2009, Monday, 3pm, 248956
Liverpool v Manchester City, 11/21/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 236247
Fulham v Hull City, 10/19/2009, Monday, 3pm, 209207
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 10/17/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 206886
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 10/24/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 204882
Stoke City v Wigan Athletic, 12/12/09, Saturday, 7:45am, 202,000
Burnley v Sunderland, 9/19/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 199380
Liverpool v Birmingham City, 11/9/2009, Monday, 3pm, 182138
Chelsea v Hull City, 8/15/2009, Saturday, 7:45am, 164485

Throughout the season, stay on top of the TV schedule for games featuring Premier League clubs by visiting the Premier League TV guide, which is updated every week.

Are The Days Of Cable and Satellite Providers Numbered?

The Gaffer — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:30:10 +0000

In the past decade, we’ve seen plenty of changes but one of the biggest ones has been that middle men have seen their power stripped away because of the Internet. Record companies are no longer as powerful as they used to be. Authors are self-publishing their books. Filmmakers are releasing their movies online.

The next giant to fall, I believe, will be the cable and satellite providers.

Out of the 300 plus channels that you have on your television, how many of them do you watch regularly? For me, the answer is seven (Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, ESPN2, BBC America, Comedy Central, TBS and HBO). Instead of paying more than $50 per month to my cable company who provides me a wire to bring channels into my home, what if I could make a deal directly with HBO, Fox Soccer Channel or any of the other networks to watch their content for a monthly fee over the Internet to my TV set or computer?

And how much would you pay for each channel per month? Five dollars sounds fair to me. Plus by dealing directly with Fox Soccer Channel, HBO and other channels, I’m not stuck in a one-year or two-year contract with my satellite provider. Plus I don’t have to pay a monthly fee to rent a DVR or a remote control from my cable company. And with the a la carte option, I get the self satisfaction in paying for what I want instead of paying for boring channels that don’t interest me at all.

This future isn’t going to happen overnight, but it’s definitely heading that way. It’s one of the reasons why I believe Comcast bought NBC so that instead of just being the cable company, they now have quality assets that people actually want — programming. Even ABC and CBS are reportedly contemplating a deal with Apple to provide their programming via a subscription model over the Internet.

For networks such as Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV, cutting out the middle man allows them to not being held hostage by Time Warner Cable and DISH Network respectively.

Plus with Setanta Sports, who have been trying to expand their reach for years and still haven’t been able to get on as many cable providers as they would like, this would help bring Setanta Sports directly to consumers instead of dealing with the archaic multiple system operator (MSO) set-up that cable companies have where they’re structured on a regional basis instead of being nationwide. Imagine how much further along Setanta would be as a business if they didn’t have to expend so much energy just trying to get on a cable platform for people to watch their channel.

Would you be in favor of a system where you could pick and choose only those networks you’d like to subscribe to and then deal directly with those providers to subscribe to their programming? Or not? Click the comments link below to share your feedback. I’m very interested in what you have to say on the matter.

Poll: Should ESPN Display A Ticker During Premier League Matches?

The Gaffer — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:30:21 +0000

Love it or hate it, ESPN2 has been featuring their BottomLine ticker on the bottom of their Premier League broadcasts during the 2009-2010 season. But should it stay or should it go? Click the above poll to vote and click the comments link below to share your opinion on whether ESPN should display a ticker during Premier League matches.