To say Americans rely on quality television stations and reliable broadcasts for our fix of the Premier League and other avenues of the beautiful game is a vast understatement. No, “rely” is simply too small a word to describe the lifeline, the oxygen, the blood and the water that is cable, satellite, or Internet broadcasting of soccer matches.

When it’s all you have, one can soon see why such a hefty number of articles hit this and other sites on a regular basis. I continue to find it odd that I don’t consider myself a couch potato, yet I watched some 15-20 hours of football on TV this past weekend. After countless hours stooped in a state of transfixed vegetation, one can develop quite the analytical eye when it comes to how our football is served.

Because of their colossal importance, I’d like to conduct a compare and contrast, point-based analysis on the two main stations available to soccer fans in the States – ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel. Having full access to both channels for quite some time, you tend to develop certain likes and dislikes of the channels. With EPL Talk as my platform, I’ll attempt to figure out which channel I like better and why.

1. Number of Premier League Games Shown – During the Premier League season, American viewers will most likely get no more than 2 games per week on ESPN2. The Saturday early match and a Monday evening match, if applicable. FSC and FSC+ carry almost every other match of the weekend. If you’re looking for shear number of matches, FSC wins in a landslide. 1 Point to FSC

2. Production Value – It’s hard to compare this variable as the ESPN family of networks has much deeper pockets than the Fox family has allotted to FSC. In all honesty, FSC simply can’t compete with the production value the likes of ESPN. ESPN wins in this category with their graphics, credits, promotional pieces, and overall expertise in the field. We must also keep in mind that FSC has only been in existence since 2005. 1 Point to ESPN

3. Competitions Available – Depending on the month you watch each channel could sway your vote on this one. Allow me to explain. Both channels offer the Barclays Premier League, while they cement their coverage with other competitions and leagues around the world. In addition to the EPL, ESPN offers Spain’s La Liga, decent coverage of the USMNT and of course this summer, the World Cup. As stated, FSC shows more Premier League matches and has the all important US rights to the UEFA Champions League. Also on offer at FSC is MLS, the Championship, Women’s Professional Soccer, Serie A, and quality programs such as The Contenders, The Greatest, UEFA Champions League Magazine and the Fox Soccer Report. FSC even airs an hour of Sky Sports News. Still though, I refuse to shot myself in the foot with this one by deciding a winner when two incredibly important competitions, the World Cup and the Champions League, are shown on different stations but will never air in the same months. Verdict – Draw, 0 points awarded.

4. Streaming Internet sites – More specifically, FoxSoccer.tv vs ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360). For full product review of each site, visit story here. FoxSoccer.tv has had it’s fair share of problems in the recent past. If they can work out the kinks, the site itself has plenty of great matches and enough diverse leagues on offer each week to make it a leader in the field of legal Internet streaming football sites. ESPN3 has been around the block for a bit longer and never seems to have any streaming, loading or buffering problems. ESPN3′s one downfall is their availability of football competitions and leagues. As many good ones as they do offer (Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A), they don’t currently offer the Premier League or the Champions League. As much as I do in fact like ESPN3, a very, very slight advantage goes to FoxSoccer.tv. 1 Point to FSC.

5. HD v HD – Slowly becoming the single most important variable in the soccer snob’s list of likes and dislikes. This is an easy one. All matches on ESPN are in full HD (except when the odd replay airs on ESPN Classic), where FSC is only available in HD on Dish Network in the States. Until DirecTV and other cable providers pick up the feed, ESPN will have the market cornered. For those who have only ever seen the beautiful game in standard definition, trust me, HD makes all the difference in the world. 1 Point to ESPN.

6. Tickers – Let my grave stone when I’m dead and gone say something along the lines of, ‘he loved his wife and family, he loved football, he died never having seen Radiohead live, and he hated tickers’. For me, the single most annoying aspect of watching any sport I can think of. Such it is though that ESPN deem it appropriate to let you know about the Ben Roethlisberger assault scandal or that the Tigers are leading the Indians 2-1 in the 5th inning while you’re trying to watch football. This debate is sure to rage on into the wee hours of the night, but with football, where you need to see the whole pitch at all times, tickers have no rightful place on TV. Save the updates for halftime or full time, or not at all. Doesn’t everyone have a phone that can check news and scores anyway? FSC is no longer able to claim innocence in the ticker debate. They seem to run their tickers less frequently, but whoever writes the thing should take a class in creative writing, the thing is simply bloody terrible. I’ve even heard ridiculous stories of the ticker running later in the day when FSC replays Premier League matches only for the ticker to give away the score of the very game being replayed. Sorry folks, tickers have no rightful place in football. Verdict – Draw, 0 Points awarded.

7. Commentators/Analysts- In America, both sites use the same format consisting of a team of pre and post match analysts and pundits. On Saturday’s, ESPN uses an interesting combination of Robbie Mustoe, Adrian Healey and now Alexi Lalas. Mustoe and Healey are quality while I’m unsure of what Lalas adds to the knowledge of the aforementioned two. He seems to say the most obvious words or will often have a bemused but excited look on his face as he blandly describes how “great” everything is. FSC employs the always happy, always smiling and always perky Christain Miles who epitomizes a corporate suit. Along with Miles is the well spoken and knowledgeable Warren Barton and typically Keith Costigan for the later match. All this said, both American stations broadcast the English commentary feed of the matches which is 9 times out of 10 pretty fantastic. Especially when we get the likes of Martin Tyler and Jon Champion. Since the match commentary itself is the same, I’m going to go with the strength of ESPN’s Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe and give the slight edge to ESPN. 1 Point to ESPN.

In the smallest of margins, ESPN barely edges out FSC, 3-2. The result would definitely ring true for those that are more interested in quality rather than quantity. Still, I love FSC and admire what they’ve done for football in this country. HD and other improvements are sure to come soon. They are a great station who continually force themselves to change for the better and to the satisfaction of the American soccer fan.

Let’s face it footie fans, if we could somehow combine the incredible HD and production value of ESPN with the ’round the clock’ selection, programming and passion for football of FSC and FSC+, minus the dreaded ticker, soccer perfection would await our every waking second.

Until that day arrives, we’ll be forced to deal with two pretty darn good stations to keep us going. After we rush home from school or work to switch on the DVR, and at the end of the day, it’s still about the rush of excitement we get from watching 11 v 11 chase a little round ball around a slab of grass. I guess as long as you enjoy your football, it really doesn’t matter where you get it from.

Vote in the poll below and leave a comment on what you like or dislike about either station.

I recently got the opportunity to sit down and spend some time reviewing a few products that are integral to the football viewing public across the globe. FoxSoccer.tv and ESPN360.com are both online broadband sites that bring the beautiful game to the masses. ESPN360 is available only to customers whose Internet Service Providers have paid ESPN for the service, thus making the service free to certain cable and Internet customers. Outside of the US, the service is available to both subscribing and non subscribing ISP’s and available as a monthly subscription.

FoxSoccer.tv is currently only available for purchase in the United States. Cost for full access to the site varies due to the time a potential subscriber wishes to view matches on the site. The three tiers available are day passes, monthly passes and full season passes. Visit the FoxSoccer.tv website for full information on rates.

One obvious difference between the two sites are the amount of sports on offer. ESPN360.com offers a variety of different sports including but not limited to, college basketball, American football, cricket, golf, tennis, horse racing and even yacht racing. For me, the one downfall to ESPN360.com is that although there is a wide amount of football available to members of the site, ESPN360.com currently doesn’t offer the Barclays Premier League.

Some of the competitions available on ESPN360.com are, Carling Cup, Serie A, La Liga, German Bundesliga, Eredivisie, International Friendlies, the Football League and loads more.  While recently watching the Ruhr Derby, which features German clubs Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04, I was impressed in how much prematch and halftime footage is shown. The footage itself really allows the viewer to get a good feel for the atmosphere around the grounds without hearing voice overs from commentators just looking to fill space. The footage also allows viewers to watch players warming up, taking their pre match kick abouts, and the recent International Friendly featuring USA v Netherlands featured the entire pre-show broadcast.

FoxSoccer.tv offers a wide selection of only football and rugby. There may be a little give and take if you’re a football fan of all the major European leagues as neither site offers them all. For instance, FoxSoccer.tv offers the Premier League, Serie A, UEFA Champions League, Coca-Cola Championship, FA Cup and more, but doesn’t offer Spain’s La Liga or the German Bundesliga like ESPN360.com does. However, FoxSoccer.tv does in fact offer the Argentinian league, CONCACAF Champions League and the Hyundai A-League, which is Australia’s top-flight soccer league.

One of my favorite features that both sites offer is the ability to watch matches on demand. It would be odd that I’d forget to set my DVR, but on the outside chance the match in question was a casualty of my memory, I could easily access either site and search for what I’ve missed.

For Rugby fans, the Heineken Cup, Guinness Premiership and Magners League are all available on FoxSoccer.tv (did anyone get the odd but immediate thought of a beer there?). The availability of Rugby at FoxSoccer.tv coincides with the recent launch of Fox Soccer Plus and the channels ability to grow their customer base by offering the highly popular sport of Rugby.

I’m new to both of these online football sites since I’ve subscribed to DirecTV for a number of years. I’ve got all the football I can handle with the channels the satellite service offers. However, due to the easy access and user friendly navigation both sites offer, I’ll be sure to use both again in the future.

If you’ve been a fan or long time user of either site currently or in the past, feel free to leave a comment below telling us your thoughts, likes, dislikes and opinions. As always, enjoy your football.

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.

ESPN and Setanta announced last week that both networks will immediately begin sharing the broadband rights in the United States for the Carling Cup, Coca-Cola Championship and Football League. But how exactly will games be split between Setanta Broadband and ESPN360? Here’s how:

• ESPN360 will have the first pick of Carling Cup matches from round 1 through round 5,
• ESPN360 has non-exclusive rights to the Carling Cup semi-final and final,
• ESPN360 has the first pick of any Coca-Cola Championship games,
• Starting next season, ESPN360 will have the first pick of any Coca-Cola Championship games except for Saturday’s 12:15pm ET game where Setanta will have first rights, and
• ESPN360 will have second selection of semi-final playoffs from the Coca-Cola Championship, League One and League Two.

As we head into the final weekend of Euro 2008, ESPN decided to take the occasion yesterday to put out a new press release talking about how the tournament is doing viewership wise through the quarterfinal round.  So, what did they have to say?

As noted in the headline, the Spain v Italy quarterfinal shown on ESPN Sunday was the most watched Euro 2008 match before the semifinals.  The game scored a 1.4 rating, with 1.39 million homes and 1.91 million viewers tuning in.  Given these were two of the highest-profile teams in the tournament, the result doesn’t come as much of a surprise.  Overall, in six matches shown on the ESPN, the average rating is a .9, with 835,000 homes and 1.1 million viewers.  Compared to the same time slot (2:30-5PM eastern) on ESPN in 2007, this represents an 80% increase in rating, a 90% increase in households, and a 116% increase in total viewers from the network average.

Meanwhile, ESPN2 in 16 matches aired has a .5 rating with 506,000 homes and 635,000 viewers, which respectively represent a 67%, 59%, and 75% increase on ESPN2′s average for the same time slot in 2007.  And the online video service ESPN360 has had it’s biggest month in history between Euro 2008, the US Open, and Wimbledon, with eight of the 10 most viewed single events being Euro matches.

As for the one game broadcast on ABC, the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal finished with a 1.2 rating and 1.84 million viewers according to ratings site TV by the Numbers.  Compared to other Saturday afternoon sports broadcasts, it roughly fell in the middle of the pack.  The match finished well behind FOX Saturday Baseball and the Men’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials on NBC, but it did finish ahead of the rest of NBC’s afternoon sports lineup and the PGA Tour on CBS.

Overall, the ratings seem fairly positive given this is an event without an obvious American interest and with most of its matches falling in the middle of the workday. Positive enough to ensure its return in four years time, or to cause ESPN to bring in more European soccer? We will have to wait and see. For now, the focus will be on a big finish with Sunday’s soccer doubleheader on ABC, with the LA Galaxy playing DC United in MLS action before the Germany v Spain final.

If you happen to notice a sense of relief coming from ESPN in the last few days, there is a reason for it.  It’s because, while they are not coming in World Cup numbers, viewers are tuning in to the network’s broadcasts of Euro 2008.

ESPN announced today that, for the 15 Euro 2008 matches shown on ESPN2 through Tuesday, June 17th, the average rating for the tournament is .5, with 521,000 homes tuning in and 655,000 viewers.  Compared to the network average for the same time block (Noon to 5PM eastern) in 2007, this represents a 64% increase in households tuned in to ESPN2 (2007 average of 318,000 homes), a 67% increase in rating, and an 81% increase in viewers (2007 average of 362,000 viewers).  The most watched match of the tournament on ESPN2 was this past Saturday between Sweden and Spain.  The match netted a .9 rating from 831,000 homes and 1.01 million viewers.

In addition to ESPN2, the Spanish-language broadcasts on ESPN Deportes have been averaging an additional 74,000 Hispanic homes per match.  This puts the combined household average of ESPN2 and Deportes for each match at just shy of 600,000 homes.  Interestingly, the most watched match on Deportes so far is the opening-day broadcast of Portugal v Turkey, seen in 123,000 Hispanic homes.

Along with the viewership on TV, ESPN is also getting more eyeballs online.  ESPN’s Soccernet website has averaged over 1 million daily visits during the tournament, an 82 percent increase over the same period during Euro 2004.  The tournament is also contributing to ESPN360′s most watched month online since it’s relaunch in September of last year.

With increased viewership being seen on cable, ESPN will now be hoping for a successful jump to broadcast TV with the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal this Saturday and the final next Sunday on ABC.  But for now, programmers will be breathing a little easier at the worldwide leader in sports.