EPL Talk » Fox Soccer Channel

Behind the Scenes at Fox Soccer Channel

Eric Altshule — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:00:43 +0000

Miles and Barton in the Studio

As Fox Soccer Channel’s Nick Webster told me, “Americans have more access to soccer from around the world than in any other country on earth.” That is undoubtedly true. On any given weekend, you can flip around the dial and find the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, the MLS, the Bundesliga, the Mexican leagues, French Ligue 1 and an odd assortment of other broadcasts from around the world, not to mention the weekday Champions league games.

Much of that bounty is provided by Fox Soccer Channel, which has become the most valuable kitchen to feed America’s expanding soccer diet. This last Saturday, they were nice enough to let me be a fly on the wall to see how their Saturday EPL package is put together. Working out of a fairly non-descript office building in West LA, FSC employs a mere couple hundred people (compare that to the names the scroll by for the credits of any single NFL broadcast) who put out a variety of original programs and broadcast feeds coming in from all over the world.

For their Saturday broadcasts, the process starts earlier in the week putting together the clips and animation for their Saturday preview show. Fox will request from Sky in England tapes of the managers’ weekly press conferences, game highlights and other recordings, and cut and animate that footage for the commentators to discuss.

For the Saturday pre-game show, those commentators are Christian Miles and Warren Barton. One of the “pleasures” of the having FSC headquartered in Los Angeles is that they are eight time zones away from England, which means their pre-game show begins at 6:30 am. Call time for Miles, Barton and the crew is 4:30 am. If that sounds a wee bit early, consider the relief that the crew must have felt when ESPN picked up the lunchtime EPL game on Saturdays. When FSC had that game, the crew had to be in their seats and ready to go at 3:30 in the morning.

From 4:30 until 6:30, producer Jaime Trujillo, Miles, Barton and the rest of the broadcast team analyze their video packages, discuss and refine their commentary and rehearse their on-air banter. These rehearsals are as valuable to Jamie and his team in the control room as they are to the on-air talent. They plan when to roll their video and animation, time the commentary to make sure their commercials fit, and properly teleprompt the commercials that Miles reads live.

The FSC Control Room

The studio is a surprisingly small room, made smaller by the set of Super Sunday Plus, which is pushed up against a side wall. It is kept cold to prevent the commentators from sweating under the hot TV lights, and has several big screen TVs dotted around the room so that the commentators can see the video and animation that they need to talk over. The control room down the hall is also small, and is right across from the new control room that will be activated in January when FSC begins broadcasting in high-def.

For this week, FSC’s game was Sunderland v Liverpool, so that meant lots of “Rafa on the brink” discussion as they talked about how Gerrard and Torres were missing and the team’s poor run of form on the 6:30 pre-game show. Aston Villa’s upset of Chelsea was completed just before broadcast so Miles and Barton had to quickly plan their comments on that game right before going on the air.

Of course, the one thing they cannot rehearse or pre-animate is the teams’ starting lineups, which becomes available about five minutes into the broadcast. For the production team, the line-ups drive a sense of concentrated urgency. Once the production team gets the lineups off the internet, one graphic producer has to quickly and accurately put all the names and positions onto an animation piece, and he finished his work with just seconds to spare. Miles and Barton are seeing the lineups for the first time at the same moment we at home are – and have to provide their insights (Liverpool started Jay Spearing?!) on the fly.

The pre-game show ends with Miles providing his last comments as the teams come out of the tunnel and the tense no-nonsense mood becomes suddenly jovial. Some of the production team meanders into an adjoining room where a bank of TVs is broadcasting all the games from England and staffers are taking notes on the timing of the important plays and goals so the clips can be retrieved for later use. Miles and Barton are watching the Sunderland v Liverpool game so they can provide their comments at halftime, and Darren Bent’s goal off the balloon becomes the obvious talking point.

FSC Crew Keeping Track of the EPL Games

Meanwhile, down the hall, in one of a half dozen little phone-booth like rooms, two commentators are huddled in front of a television calling the Sunderland v Liverpool game in Spanish for the FOX Sports en Español broadcast. During the mid-week Champions League broadcast, all the booths are being used to tape the broadcasts in Spanish for either live broadcasts or replays of the games in Spanish. Those are the same booths that Christian Miles ducks into to provide commentary for games from Spain, Italy, Germany and other non-English speaking countries.

Play by Play Booth for Calling Games for US Audience

The halftime commentary is trickier to produce than the pre-game show. There are no rehearsals and because of the more frequent commercials, the time for commentary is far more compressed. Timing is everything. In the NFL, the referee is not allowed to blow the whistle to start the second half until the TV people give him permission. There is no such luxury for the folks at FSC. If the commentary runs over for just a few seconds, they can’t cut the commercials and are liable to rejoin the game just after the kickoff or run the game with a few seconds delay – neither choice is really all that great for a crew that prides itself on its production technique. That is exactly what happened on Saturday, and just as he was about to organize the delay, producer Jaime Trujillo caught a lucky break – Sunderland started the second half with a substitution which delayed the kickoff just enough for them to broadcast everything in real time.

After the final whistle blows in Sunderland, Miles provides a voice over for the result and Barton heads off for a quick taping for the foxscoccer.com website. As busy as this all seems, this is actually an easier day because the normal wrap-up show has been pre-empted by a Serie A game.

Throughout the day, one thing becomes clear: all the FSC employees seem to have a real passion for soccer. As Trujillo emphasized, he takes pride in the way his production team “respect the game.” I asked several different people at FSC about the new investment ESPN is making in the EPL, and while they admire ESPN’s technical ability, the FSC team takes pride in their ability to authoritatively deliver soccer in a focused way that ESPN never will.

Respect the Game!

Canadians Enjoy Chaos-Free Premiership, Champions League Broadcasts

Richard Whittall — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:49:43 +0000

Photo by deegs

Amid all the murmurings about ESPN losing Champions League rights in the US, Canadians, with some notable exceptions, have emerged relative winners in the last few years, even with the initially disruptive introduction of Setanta Sports in the latter part of 2007.

In a perfect world, all the football we’d ever want to watch would be split between three basic cable channels forever and ever, amen. But as long as the Premier League and the Champions League remain as popular, that will never be the case—although Canada comes pretty close.

As it stands now, Setanta gets the early and late matches on Saturdays and pick of the litter for the 10:00 AM EST slot. It also gets the early Sunday PL fixture. While annoyed Canadians have to pay a premium fee ($14.99 a month on Cable providers Bell and Rogers), the trade off is getting to watch weekday, holiday and repeated fixtures that used to go begging on Canadian television, in addition to live Champions League games, SPL matches, on and off Eredivisie and regular Sunday French Ligue 1, plus staple shows like Football Matters and the Friday Football Show (the less said about Rugby and GAA the better), no broadband, no fuss, no muss.

Meanwhile Rogers Sportsnet (basic cable) gets the second 10 AM Saturday pick, and the Score gets the marquee 11 am Sunday morning fixture, so drive-by supporters who don’t mind sifting through the dregs of Justin TV once in a while are okay. In addition to the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga fans can get their fix on GolTV (3 bucks a month and no carrier lawsuits!) and Serie A supporters can catch games (and Bobby McMahon) both on Fox Sports Canada (3 bucks a month) and Telelatino (basic cable). The main sports channel, TSN (basic cable) carries quarterfinal-final Champions League fixtures.

These prices vary of course if you decide to go with a premium package. It’s not ideal, but with one or two exceptions the quality of coverage is very good and the amount of football available without having to go beyond basic cable is substantial. Amid the turgid mess of rights’ acquisitions, it’s nice to enjoy a bit of stability.

What If Fox Soccer Channel Loses Its EPL TV Rights Deal?

Christopher Kull — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:24:57 +0000

Within the next two months, we’ll learn who will win the bid for the US TV rights to the Premier League for the 2010-2013 seasons. What if Fox Soccer Channel loses its EPL TV rights deal to ESPN and/or Setanta. What should they do to make up for the massive loss?

If Fox Soccer Channel loses out on the TV rights deal, FSC should make a play for Man United TV, Chelsea TV, Arsenal TV, or Liverpool TV and whatever programming they offer in England. From what I understand they offer replays of games 48 hours after they happen along with a propaganda news program show, classic games, and youth games. Would it make sense for a FSC to go after 2 of the teams rights for their re-airs where they can play them on Tuesday and Wednesday Night, get the filler of classic games, along with youth team games which would be fun to watch if you want to see guys work their way up the reserve team? I could see it as a viable option.

I could see a club love to get as much publicity as possible on a channel like FSC which is in more households than Setanta and/or GOL TV over here in the States. I really think the best that FSC can hope for is the 12pm Saturday Game and either the 2nd or 3rd choice 10am game on Saturday if ESPN is serious about getting the rights to the Prem. With the American influence of ownership groups of Liverpool, United, Villa, as well what ownership Kroenke has in Arsenal they have realize that FSC does reach soccer fans and could use the Club TV shows as a way to push their club/brand in America.

FSC hasn’t shied away from airing Milan TV before and currently air Barca games on delay. I think in a perfect world United would be one of the clubs they would focus on since they just seem to be most friendly with their current and past success to target. I know that they are on Setanta now but I wonder if the money saved on getting all of the packages that FSC before could be used to prise United’s TV shows from Setanta giving the the club more exposure here in the States.

Myself, I am hoping that ESPN2 ends up with the Premier League rights to the 7:45am ET game and the 1st choice game on Saturdays at 10am ET along with the double header on Sunday and Monday Games with FSC getting the 2nd choice game on Saturday and the noon ET kick off here in the States.

Poll: Who Will Win The US Premier League TV Rights?

The Gaffer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:55:45 +0000

Once the final two TV packages are finalized in the United Kingdom, the Premier League will focus next on the bidding for TV rights in the US. While the rights in the UK will still primarily be owned by Sky Sports, there may be more revolutionary changes in the United States. But who will win? Vote now.

ESPN and Setanta To Team Up To Beat Fox?

The Gaffer — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:15:46 +0000

The Guardian newspaper is reporting that ESPN and Setanta Sports are expected to team up to try to win the U.S. TV rights to the Premier League from Fox Soccer Channel for the 2010-2013 seasons.

The relationship between Setanta and ESPN is already close. In October 2008, Setanta Sports sub-licensed some of its internet rights to ESPN 360 for its coverage of the Carling Cup, Coca-Cola Championship and Football League matches. In Europe, Setanta sold its NASN network to ESPN in 2006. Just this week, there were reports in the British press that Setanta and ESPN have held talks to discuss teaming up to share the TV rights in the UK. Plus, there was plenty of speculation from 2007 onwards that ESPN was interested in buying Setanta Sports.

With the cost of the TV rights expected to rise in the US TV market, it would be very difficult for one TV network to be able to justify the expense of paying for the exclusive rights to the Premier League. It’s very possible that two networks will share the costs, just as Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports currently do.

The challenge with a Setanta and ESPN partnership in the United States is that Setanta still isn’t available on most major cable networks, while ESPN currently doesn’t have room on its networks for additional soccer coverage. The formation of an ESPN 3 seems possible.

If Setanta and ESPN were able to prise the Premier League coverage away from Fox, that would be a severe blow to Fox Soccer Channel’s programming. The Premier League matches are the highest rated programs on its network, and the TV ratings for Major League Soccer and Serie A games pale in comparison. If Fox did lose the Premier League, I would imagine they would make a big push to pick up coverage of La Liga, but current rights holder GolTV would have a lot to say about that. Plus, there’s the possibility that ESPN and Setanta Sports may team up to bid on the TV rights to La Liga too.

What are your thoughts about a potential ESPN and Setanta partnering to bring you Premier League TV coverage? Click the comments link below and share your thoughts.