Wayne Rooney is flying right at you!

January 29, 2010

Beer and football go together like, well, beer and anything else, but add in a pair of plastic stereoscopic spectacles plus the inevitability of someone taking a camera phone picture of you looking ridiculous and I can see the combination wearing a bit thin.

Still, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people happy to give it a try on Sunday when the Premier League goes all Avatar on us.

Pubs in nine British cities, kitted out with expensive new TVs and all manner of electronic jiggery-pokery, will be screening the Arsenal v Manchester United game in 3D. So before the ink is even dry on that HD contract you signed over Christmas, there’s a chance for a peak at what broadcasters must be praying will be The Next Big Thing.

How do you like the idea?

I guess that might depend on how appealing you find the prospect of vein-popping, mud-splattered, spittle-flecked young athletes leaping out of a 50-inch screen and coming straight at you.

Me? I’m holding out for football in 4D, where you can take time back and make sure your goalkeeper was in the right place to save that winning penalty. Now that’d be a must-have service.

PHOTO: France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon wear a pair of special 3D glasses for use in a virtual environment during a presentation at Dassault Systemes in Velizy near Paris January 18, 2010. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

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Tags: 3d glasses, 4d, british cities, broadcasters, Charles Platiau, D. So, dassault systemes, France, francois fillon, Goalkeeper, inevitability, Manchester, manchester united, mud, Photo, photo france, premier league, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, reuters, service photo, spectacles, spittle, velizy, virtual environment, wayne rooney, young athletes

All and nothing for U.S soccer fans

October 10, 2009

This weekend soccer fans in the United States will, as usual, be able to take their pick from scores of games, from all over the world, broadcast on television. The country has two soccer-only television channels – Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV, as well as soccer providing sports networks such as ESPN and Setanta (still alive in North America) and of course Spanish language broadcasters keep the Hispanic communities well supplied with soccer from south of the border.

So, from Saturday’s World Cup qualifying games, the U.S. based fan with cable or satellite could pick from Bahrain v New Zealand, Russia v Germany, Portugal v Hungary, Mexico v El Salvador, Greece v Latvia etc etc. Add in pay-per-view internet providers such as Omnisport and you can catch plenty more games from Europe and South America.

There is one game you won’t be able to watch in America though — the United States’ penultimate World Cup qualifier away to Honduras on Saturday. If the U.S win they qualify for South Africa but amazingly the game is not available on television or (legally at least) on the internet.

The bizarre situation has come about due to the decision of the holders of the rights to Honduras’ home games to sell the U.S rights to a provider of closed circuit television. The result is that if you want to watch the game you will have to find a bar or a club that has paid the rights fee and has the closed circuit feed. (A list of those venues is here)

“We are certainly disappointed for our fans,” said U.S coach Bob Bradley, “We’re very fortunate that whenever we go anywhere there are passionate U.S. supporters wearing colors. Certainly the idea that this match is not on regular TV is disappointing for all of them, and we understand and feel badly about that.”

The players at training camp this week have been careful not to speak out too strongly about the situation — rightly or wrongly the affair doesn’t look good for the U.S Soccer Federation even though they don’t have control of the rights to away games. But the players must be hugely disappointed to be battling for qualification against a talented Honduran team knowing that just a tiny fraction of their fan base is able to watch them.

Some England fans have been up in arms about their team’s game in Ukraine only being available (for less than the price of two pints of flat London beer) on the internet. England have, of course, already qualified for the World Cup but can you imagine the outcry if that game was decisive and was not even viewable on the web?

Of course, if soccer had a stronger standing in the U.S, the television networks would have fought for the rights to the game and outbid the closed circuit operator and the problem wouldn’t have arisen.

While it is harsh to blame anyone in U.S soccer for an affair that is out of their control, the farcical situation is a reminder that for all the progress the sport has made in the country in the past decade there is still a long way to go before the game is truly mass market.

But is there not a question for FIFA here? Should the sports’ global governing body not have a ruling that World Cup games at least be available on easily accessible television? The only winners in this situation are a little known closed circuit tv provider – it can’t be good for the game.

In the meantime, for this reporter in Miami, a re-run of Burnley v Birmingham City is about to start on Setanta and I’ll have to find out if that Honduran social club, 30 minutes drive away, is definitely going to be showing the U.S game….

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Tags: bob bradley, broadcasters, closed circuit television, coach bob, espn, fox soccer, gol tv, hispanic communities, home games, internet providers, omnisport, pay per view, soccer fans, soccer federation, south of the border, spanish language, sports networks, television channels, training camp, world cup qualifying games

Serie A: Lega Calcio accepting media rights bids

July 14, 2009

Serie A governing body, Lega Calcio has officially started accepting bids for the media rights of the Italian top flight football league.

Lega Calcio which is working in conjunction with the Infront Sports & Media agency, as noted by sportbusiness.com, will be accepting bids for the domestic television rights on behalf of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti (LNP) tender for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

The tender was previously authorized by the Italian Anti-trust Authority and the Italian Communication Authority.

As a result, four pay television packages and one free-to-air package are being offered as part of the tender.

A deadline of July 27 has been set, giving interested broadcasters just two weeks to submit their best offers.

Non-exclusive domestic rights that include the Coppa Italia and Super Coppa will be addressed during the fourth quarter of the current year, with an international tender planned for the Autumn months.

By: Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: autumn, behalf, best offers, body, broadcasters, Calcio, Communication, communication authority, conjunction, Coppa, coppa italia, domestic television, flight football, football league, fourth quarter, infront sports, international tender, Italian, lega calcio, lega nazionale, Nazionale, Non-exclusive, pay television, Professionisti, rajput, result, Serie A, television packages, television rights, trust authority

FIFA to earn 2.7 Bil dlrs from World Cup TV rights

April 21, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – World football’s governing body FIFA will earn 25 billion rands (2.7 billion dollars, 2.1 billion euros) on television rights to broadcast the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the organisation said on Monday.

The announcement was made by FIFA TV director Niclas Ericson (EDS: correct) during a press conference in Johannesburg, according to the SAPA news agency.

FIFA will also broadcast the games to hundreds of millions of cell phones worldwide, and has entered special agreements with African TV networks across the continent, he added.

“We have entered an agreement with the African Union of Broadcasters to place the TV rights in 41 sub-Saharan countries before the end of 2009,” Ericson said.

“The dream would be for an African team to reach the final, which would boost TV viewership,” said Ericson.

FIFA will spend 1.5 billion rand on their TV production of the world’s biggest sporting tournament – with over 26 billion worldwide spectators.

It will be the first time that the World Cup is held in Africa.