I'm no tv expert but how far are we from these companies offering their channels independently? Like can beIN sell direct to consumer for like $5/mo and create an ap for smartphones/ps4/however else people watch and an in-ap Chromecast option (as opposed to mirroring a browser which is **** quality on a tv for sports)?

BeIN watch live wasn't even available in Google Chrome last season. Wtf

I'll happily pay it but anytime you go from free to $ people are gonna be pissed. I always knew this was coming. Also it's $50 for internet streaming only afaik and not for actual tv channels (Lol cable)

So hang on, I now need to actually pay to watch the games? Up to this point I simply borrowed a friend of mine's Optimum log in and watched on the NBC sports app through my Chromecast while occasionally buying her a drink, I now need to do something else?

6 people will face criminal charges for Hillsborough.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-40431930

Hope those bastards charged with perverting the course of justice get a long time in prison.

That won't happen because rights are solid to countries individually.

The dream would be ppv premier league in the U.K. for all games. If a company can get a way around that for 3pm saturdays. They'll be laughing.

Gradually we will get to the stage with few if any games played at 3pm

We're basically already there, don't think there's been a single game played at 3 on a Saturday in the last 5 years that would be classified as a "big" game.

I meant it as in the 10 fixtures being:

Friday 7:45
Saturday 12:45, 17.45
Sunday 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 - perhaps a double that isn't just a move from a 3pm Saturday that can actually be broadcast
Monday 8:00

That would leave 2 at the 3pm and 1 if they double up on the Sunday.

However they may double up on the early or late Saturday as they aren't great time slots.

Will be interesting to see how it goes for the next bidding package.

Currently there are 168 non 3pm Saturday kick offs - or TV games if you will as game weeks can be played mid week. That's up 14

I know I'm late as a dead horse ridden by fat sam, but...Great great OP. really well done Cina

Loved the fact that it was full of enjoyable jokes for thread regulars.

also this is probably the greatest comment ever:

THIS.

From August through May, when I set my alarm for some gawdawful time each Saturday and Sunday morning so I can wake up before the sun rises just so I can watch LIVE English Footie, the last thing I want to do is have to fire up my laptop and watch some internet stream. I want to watch it lying on my couch on my big screen, just like I have been able to do for years, thanks to the great NBCs coverage, which included all the Extra Time channels. I never missed a game I wanted to see.

I would be more than happy to pay a measly $50 for the season, if all the games would continue to be broadcast on the NBC affiliates and Extra Time..but it appears the Extra Time channels will be going away, and we will be stuck with just 3-4 games each weekend, instead of the usual full allotment of 10..just the nut low..

MS Paint week really was one of the finest moments this thread has seen over the years.

Agree, even though I was lucky to understand half of them.

MS PAINT WEEK 2017 could be the first week in September (Int'l Break 1)..

Not just this thread, one of the finest moments in internet history. Made up for the 1,000,000 other mind numbing international breaks

Everytime I see this particular MS Paint sprinkler wtf man looks exactly like Neil Warnock to me

Not particularly English, but looking at highlights of a Real Madrid legends game yesterday it seems as if fat Ronaldo is getting fatter

Last I saw him was at the 2014 world cup, if he got fatter from there, he must be approaching peak weight Maradona levels

1) 0th minute/1th minute debate aka the great debate of our time

big gap

2) who cares

Big fan of Sugar Nut on Bayern shirts/LEVERAGE! myself.

PBAL's game of SHEEP was peak thread IMO. That was back in the day though.

Yeah so I'm grunching but I talked about this at work yesterday. This is correct

The random 50 bucks is only for games that are not being played on television that you could previously stream. It does not include the televised (bigger) matches. Just the other x amt of matches

So in order to have access to all the games you have to have cable + this 50 dollar package

I pay 200/mo as it is so yes, I'm rustled that I have to tack onto that.

It's like $5-6 a month though. Not a huge sum by any means.

Thanks for the insight. I haven't seen a good alternative either. Didn't know about the sling intl thing though so I will look into it.

Wish Vue would just offer more channels as add ons. I think they are avoiding it because actually letting people pay for only what they use would hurt their business model.

That would be ideal for the consumer. The big sports networks bring in all the money. Espn pretty much carries the other networks in cable packages. Most of the networks bring in little compared to ESPN and a few others.

Even better if the professional leagues can pull themselves away from the networks and sell the streaming packages independently. Like mlb tv without blackouts. But I think there's too much money in the deals right now. Like when the NFL keeps paying absurd sums for Monday night football.

People like to envision "cutting out the middle man" with sports leagues distributing content but the way it's set up now, it's the leagues that act like the middle man. Atm for product like gamepass or mlb.tv the only thing they have to do is provide some server space and tech people? While networks carry all the broadcast production cost. Seems like a very comfortable position to be in for the leagues and if they're at some point forced to produce their own content because of cable companies going belly up, there'd be a decent price hike for these streaming packages.

Would I need an american adress to buy the streaming package or would it be enough to use a vpn to get an american IP? I already get all the televised games but have been relying on dodgy streams to watch most of the games