Sky Sports often make a fool of themselves by hyping their own programming to such an extent that they can hardly ever live up to their promises. But, they recently released a new promo in the United Kingdom which caught my eye because it’s extremely well done, irreverent, creative and conjures up great memories of childhood.

So, take a gander at the above video to see how Sky Sports is promoting its upcoming season of soccer. And to see what Martin Tyler, Richard Keys, Andy Gray and other pundits get up to.

Thanks to EPL Talk reader John Griffin for the news tip. Send your tips to thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com

Love or hate West Ham United’s performances on the pitch this season, you have to admire Gianfranco Zola. He’s always been the perfect gentleman both on the pitch — where he graced the Stamford Bridge pitch — and off the pitch, where he dealt with the pressure well at Upton Park

And now Tuesday, when Sky Sports reporters descended on his house to interview the Italian legend, Zola didn’t scowl at the media but instead served them coffee on a tray. Watch the video above.

Hat tip: Dirty Tackle

It’s party time for Tottenham supporters around the world and especially in North London after Spurs beat Manchester City in a thoroughly entertaining game.

In the post match interview on Sky Sports, the Tottenham players crept up on Harry Redknapp and drenched him with the contents of an ice bucket while ‘Arry was being interviewed. Watch the hilarious interview in the video above.

• Yeah, It’s a lot of money again for the Premier League

Having reported last week that Yahoo won the exclusive UK online highlights rights, it’s also been confirmed that the only other outstanding contract for the 2010 to 2013 round, the “long form” highlights package, has again been won by Sky. Sky will utilize these rights again for their highly popular review show Football First.

After the Premier League tied up loose ends on home soil and wrapped up deals with Russia and Albania, the Premier League will have banked, even with expenses added in, some £3.3bn from it’s combined media contracts. It’s a pretty impressive number for the world’s most popular sporting league considering it’s up from £2.7bn last time around. Again, overseas rights are cited as the main reason for the increased revenue.

So what does this mean for the 20 Premier League clubs?

In short, not much but the same, at least not yet. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is reportedly already under pressure from clubs to not splash blankets of cash upon Premier League participants as to hopefully avoid another round of damaging wage inflating scenarios that threatened to destroy all in it’s path this season. See under Portsmouth, Hull City, West Ham and others.

In addition to the continued developments with Sky, ESPN has secured a deal allowing them to show Premier League highlights via mobile phones from Sky. Sky originally picked up the mobile rights from Vodafone and 3. ESPN hasn’t settled on a model for the service just yet, but look set to release details, which are sure to include rates, fees and subscription information in the coming weeks. The service itself will be available from next season through 2013.

Feel free to share any thoughts on the continuing developments from the cash-soaked Premier League, Sky and ESPN in the comments section below.

Who can handle their nerve in the final weeks of the Premier League?

Last weekend the Premier League was full of drama, the story of ‘when 3 became 2′ as finally, Arsenal’s legs went in the final stretch, United gained a ‘leg up’ and Chelsea looked as if they were start to roast theirs.  It all seemed to be going well for Arsenal, 2-0 up, looking comfortable and in control with Wigan not posing any real threat, but lack of concentration, professionalism and just old fashioned ‘grit and determination’ give Wigan an inch and then for them to take a mile.

Arsenal’s problems are all to clear to see. In the summer, Wenger (who will still be in charge) must buy a top class goalkeeper. If you look back at history, teams who have been successful have always had top class goalkeepers. United had Schmeichel, Liverpool had Grobbelaar, Everton had Southall and Arsenal had Seaman. In a nutshell Almunia and Fabianski are not in their league. Two centre backs are needed as Gallas, Campbell and Silvestre are all out of contract and up front as good a job as Bendtner has done over the last few months, Arsenal need another top class goal-scorer – someone who can score 25+ a season and work alongside Robin Van Persie. Could it be Chamakh? Only time will tell.

Up the M1 motorway it is a very different matter – Manchester United are still in the hunt following another late, late show in the Manchester Derby (that’s twice this season). In an un-enthralling match Paul Scholes squeezed a superb placed header in the 4th minute of injury time for three precious points.

A result that galvanised Tottenham and took the wind out of Chelsea’s sails. Why? Tottenham realised that with a win they would be two points clear of City in the race for fourth place, and all the pressure had been put back on Chelsea as the gap was down to a single point.

It clearly showed as Chelsea, as in midweek against Bolton, looked nervous and edgy, as for the first 45 minutes they were completely outthought and outclassed by a more determined Spurs side.

Now as we reach the climax of the Premier League season, get used to seeing a little ‘cat and mouse’ between Chelsea and Manchester United due to our friends Sky Sports showing all games live – each will be fighting to apply pressure to the other. First it will be United vs. Tottenham in Saturday lunch-time kick-off 12:45 BST. If United win the spot light, pressure on Chelsea (who play Sunday 4pm BST) will be magnified to an exponential level having looked odds on favourites.

With three games remaining, the key weekend could be when Chelsea plays Liverpool and United go to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland – one thing for sure is that this Premier League goose hasn’t cooked just yet.

The hype about 3-D in recent weeks has been immense. First it was ESPN announcing it would unveil the first 3-D television network this summer and would show up to 25 World Cup games in 3-D. Second, Sky Sports debuted the first Premier League game in 3-D when it broadcasted Arsenal against Manchester United in three dimension at select locations around England. And then, of course, there was this little film named Avatar that became the highest grossing movie worldwide of all time.

I’ve held back from offering my opinion on the subject until now. So, speaking on behalf of soccer fans, here’s what “we” think:

We never asked for it. We never wanted it. We don’t want to watch TV with goggles on. We don’t want to buy a special TV to watch games in 3-D. We don’t want gimmicks. We just want quality soccer broadcasts.

There, I’ve said it. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, you can see why I haven’t written about the topic until now because I didn’t want to join in the hype. Rather than invest enormous time, money and resources into developing 3-D technology, companies such as ESPN and Sky Sports would be better suited in developing technology to enhance the 2-D presentation of its current soccer matches. Find new and innovative ways to show the viewer whether an attacker was offside. Give viewers a birds-eye view of what it’s like to watch the game from a seat in the stadium (and how much better the TV picture is). Provide us new and interesting camera angles. Improve the quality of the TV production so it’s more like the Bundesliga where pundits are on the field before a game begins and you get to really feel the passion and hear the noise from the stadium.

Sorry folks but 3-D television is not for me. I don’t want a headache while watching a game and I don’t want to spill beer over myself when the goggles mess with my depth perception.

This is a product that has been created where there is zero pent-up demand for it. It’s 2010 and we’re still clamoring for HD broadcasts let alone games in 3-D. Let’s revisit the technology in a few years from now when the technology has improved, the costs for 3-D television sets have dropped and when there’s actually an interest and demand for it, and then – maybe then – we’ll be ready for it. But not now.

Fox Soccer Channel is adding Sky Sports personalities Andy Gray and Richard Keys to its summer coverage of the World Cup, according to Multichannel News.

The move is surprising because few anticipated Fox would feature such high-profile talent to host its World Cup program, “Ticket To South Africa,” especially since Fox Soccer Channel will not be showing any of the games. Four years ago, during World Cup 2006, Fox Soccer Channel hosted a similar show from its studio in Los Angeles and included talent such as Cobi Jones, Christopher Sullivan, Bobby McMahon and Nick Webster in its build-up and analysis of that World Cup.

In 2010, “Ticket To South Africa” will feature Richard Keys in his customary role as host of the program (he also hosts Super Sunday in England for Sky Sports) which kicks off on June 10, the opening day of the World Cup and will be broadcast live each night after the final game of the day concludes.

Alongside Keys will be a familiar face (and voice) to both US and British soccer viewers, and that’s Andy Gray – the Scottish co-commentator who is best known for his role alongside Martin Tyler on the preeminent Premier League matches. During Euro 2008, ESPN hired Gray to provide expert coverage of the tournament.

Together with Keys and Gray will be pundits Christopher Sullivan and Warren Barton. The article in Multichannel News is vague in terms of whether Gray and Keys will be conducting their part of the show from South Africa, but the story does allude to the fact that some FSC personalities will be at the World Cup.

Complementing “Ticket To South Africa” on Fox Soccer Channel will be a new program named “Passport To South Africa.” According to Multichannel news, the nine-episode series of 30-minute studio talks shows will focus on the 32 nations competing for the FIFA title, breaking down each country’s group, how it qualified and its chances to take home the crown.

While “Ticket To South Africa” will analyze each day of the World Cup and preview the next matches, “Passport to South Africa” will debut January 18 at 9:30 pm ET and will feature in-depth analysis, features and predictions from FSC’s commentators, including Sullivan, Barton and Bobby McMahon, plus special guests.

A key piece of news regarding both programs is that they’ll both be recorded in high-definition. Does that mean that Fox Soccer Channel may be available on DirecTV or other satellite or cable providers in time for the debut of “Passport To South Africa” on January 18? We’ll have to wait and see.

What’s your opinion about Gray and Keys being added to Fox Soccer Channel’s line-up? And will you watch the daily program now that these two personalities are included? Click the comments link below to share your feedback.

UPDATE: According to a Fox Soccer Channel representative, Andy Gray and Richard Keys will be in the Los Angeles studio, while there will be a team of Fox Soccer Channel staff on site in South Africa reporting on the World Cup.

So the countdown to this years Carling Cup Final enters the final week of tension as Tottenham fans nervously await Sundays final, whilst Manchester United’s supporters will be as calm as anything. This year though, Carling have decided to give up 32 minutes of digital perimeter board advertising to allow supporters to create their own banners to be displayed. 

I doubt Carling couldn’t find sponsors for the boards in the time they’ve given up to allow the fans banners to be displayed, the game is shown live in several countries, so anyone wanting to reach the football fans of three continents can do so a lot cheaper than sponsoring the Champions League or F.A. Cup final. It’s been developing as a more fan orientated final over the last few years, with scarfs, wands and flags being given away before the game.

The 32 minutes will be split into two 16 minute busts and fans are allowed to send a design in through Carlings website to be in for a chance of having their banner displayed throughout the game. The 100 banners that are deemed the best will be displayed. I think this is a fantastic idea and really allows fans a chance to be more involved in the course of the game. One banner will even be displayed in the dressing rooms for both teams before, giving added kudos for any fan wanting to send a message to their beloved players.

Whilst the League Cup final is classed as secondary to the F.A.Cup Final, it certainly gives us a far better game than any recent F.A. Cup Final has delivered in the last few years. The atmosphere seems more raucous, the fans seem more involved, the fireworks and celebrations seem a little less restrained and it seems to be the final that rewards the fan more than the F.A. Cup does.  There always seems to be too much riding on the F.A. Cup and teams seem to be wanting not to lose it more than actually trying to win it these days.  With this also being the last League Cup Final solely on Sky Sports in the UK, no doubt they’ll be hoping it matches the last 3 or 4 years too before coverage becomes shared with the BBC next season. The League Cup Final tends to give us a more open and attacking game and I hope we’ll be rewarded with another cracking match.

Whilst I appreciate the lack of interest from some of the bigger clubs, it still pulls in decent crowds as it allows some fans an opportunity to watch their team when they may be unable to attend league fixtures. Most clubs charge considerable less in the early rounds and promote themselves as fan friendly events more than just football matches.

It’s the kind of thing more clubs should do, especially on non televised games. Gone are the days of quickly scrolling messages in small graphics being displayed on a scoreboard in a far flung corner of the ground. Why not give up a digital board on each border to personalise the game even more for fans. Or do as Carling are and have a special period on all the boards displaying messages for fixed moments in the match.

To try and get your own banner shown on worldwide TV, use the link below:

http://www.carling.com/football/carlingcup/banners/

Question is, just how many marriage proposals will be screened around the world?

If you were to pick an industry which has been revolutionized by the explosion of the Internet, soccer would be it. The irony is that the authorities such as FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League had nothing to do with the sport’s success online. This was entirely a movement by the people, for the people.

Premier League officials would not probably admit it, but the league owes much of its global success to the World Wide Web. When the fledgling league began in 1992, the Internet wasn’t even a consideration. Satellite TV was the impetus, and it still continues to be a driving factor in 2009, understandably so due to the vast fortunes of revenue from TV money that is pumped into the 20 clubs. But the Internet was the Tipping Point that transformed a mere passing interest in English football into legions of cult fans around the world, spending their time becoming increasingly infatuated with the league thanks to hundreds of fan-created message forums and blogs. Satellite TV has been a enormous factor, but the role of the Internet has largely been overlooked by many, including mass media.

Trouble is, based on the imbecile actions of the Premier League thus far, it’s obvious the league has little understanding of how the Internet is changing and how it can generate massive sums of new revenue. They’re too blinded by the short-term benefits of TV license rights that total £1.782 billion for 2010-2013, and that’s just from the United Kingdom. As long as the Premier League continues to focus on the ritual, every three years, of collecting as much TV revenue as possible, the league, to its detriment, will miss out on the much bigger picture, how the Internet is revolutionizing the entertainment industry. And, let’s not kid ourselves, the Premier League is in the business of entertaining.

Rather than focusing on many of the inane decisions the Premier League is making to try to protect its rights, let’s fast forward to three years from now when the Premier League will next accept bids for the TV license rights to its matches. Here are a few examples of how the Internet will have changed most things we know today:

• Television will be unlike anything we experience now. Most movies, TV shows and sport events will be experienced either on mobile devices, flat-screen monitors showing high-definition video streamed over the Internet, or sliver-thin wireless tablets that can be affixed to car dashboards, refrigerators or under desks at work.
• Middle men, such as major music labels and movie companies, will be practically extinct. Why have middle men when you can get what you need directly from the source? Nine Inch Nails has already been a pioneer in the music business by changing the future of the industry. The question is, which soccer club will be the first to adopt similar marketing ideas as Trent Reznor?
• The Premier League will be bigger and more profitable overseas than in England. TV revenues for the 2013-2016 seasons will be greater overseas than TV rights revenue generated from England. If the English public feel removed from the league today, they have no idea how much worse it’s going to get over the next few years.

These three cataclysmic changes — TV being experienced on the Internet, the Premier League being bigger overseas than in England and the extinction of the middle men — will mean that the Internet in 2013-2016 will be the be-all and end-all for the Premier League. Or at least it should be.

The decisions the Premier League take in the next few months when new media rights for the league will be sold around the world will have a enormous impact on the future strength of the world’s most popular sports league. Just this week in Germany, the Bundesliga announced a deal to provide live matches online via pay-per-view. The Premier League and the new media right holders better act fast and responsibly. Otherwise, it’ll find itself trying to catch up with the marketing mavens from the Bundesliga. The challenge for the Premier League, however, will be keeping the 20 clubs happy and not trying to overstep their boundaries by cannabalizing revenue that the clubs could earn themselves from streaming live matches via their websites. But the Premier League clubs can’t have their cake and eat it too. Just as the Premier League is able to generate massive sums of TV revenue by presenting itself as one unified force to TV companies instead of being fractious, the Premier League should be able to collectively generate more revenue from mobile rights instead of having each club fend for themselves.

But, the dilemma is that the Premier League, as of today, doesn’t have the vision or understanding of how to harness the Internet to generate massive amounts of new revenue even during an economic recession. The Premier League has hardly shown itself to be leaders in Internet marketing. Its website, while aesthetically pleasing, has no outlet for fans to congregate online and create a community. The Premier League isn’t investing in communicating with its followers on Twitter. Instead, the league has created a brochureware website and ends up giving the power to the clubs to do a much better job at marketing themselves and the league than the league can do itself.

Breaking news: The Premier League has announced that out of the six TV packages available for bidding in the UK for the 2010-2013 seasons, Sky Sports won five of those packages with Setanta getting the sixth and final one. That means that ESPN’s attempt to bid on the rights ended in failure — in the UK, at least.

This is a huge win for Sky Sports who have increased their number of packages from four (for the 2007-2010 seasons) to five. Setanta Sports will be showing less games because they’ll be moving from two packages (2007-2010 seasons) to one. But the biggest loser is ESPN who despite a lot of the chatter about the Disney-owned company making an aggressive raid on rights to the UK EPL TV market ended up empty handed.

Now that we know who will own the UK TV rights for the Premier League for 2010-2013, the next step for the Premier League is to allow broadcasters to begin bidding on the US TV rights to the Premiership. We should expect to hear who wins that battle in 1-2 months from now. Stay tuned to EPL Talk for all of the latest developments.