La Liga Talk offers a GREAT behind-the-scenes look at GolTV courtesy of this video. Any and all regular viewers of GolTV must watch this. We all knew it was a live feed…this is how it works.
I’m not to turn this blog into a Ray Hudson-only venue, but catch GolTV commentators Ray Hudson and Phil Schoen at 1:55 as well as a short interview with Ray himself at the end.
Also, La Liga Talk is Coolsite as well.
With Wesley Sneijder out for an approximate six months, the talk about Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United for Real Madrid is back in full force, which is pretty much where it was already. Both Fox Sports and the Times Online are reporting.
Another story in the GolTV/Dish Network drama, but this one has comments from both sides of the table. (Courtesy Multichannel News)
Goal.com did a nice write-up on Giovanni dos Santos and his move to Tottenahm Hotspur. He’s saying that would like to follow in Cristiano Ronaldo’s footsteps, which is a good goal to have. He may not hit that mark but he’ll have some breathing room to do so at his new club, which I think will have a REALLY good year. They may not win the the Leaugue cup but they’ll have an impressive showing. (Courtesy Goal.com)
Also at Goal.com is a nice season preview of Bundesliga super power Bayern Munich, with Jürgen Klinsmann a focal point of the article. After winning the League title earlier this year, Bayern felt the need to sign a powerhouse manager. I’m going to throw this move in with Inter Milan’s signing of Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid’s hot pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo and other moves made clubs attempting to secure a Champions League trophy. (Courtesy Goal.com)
After calling the Dish Network and actually watching it appears that Dish Network is indeed no longer carrying GolTV. My previous post stated that I still had it, but when I tuned in, some tele-commercials for some Viagra-type product were running. I assumed that this was just temporary until at the top of the hour, a Fox Sports Espanol banner flashed across my screen, so it seems that they have taken the Gol’s channel space on Dish.
Then I called Dish for some more info. I got a nice customer service rep who stated that GolTV is off the network due to a contract dispute. According to him, GolTV wants Dish to pony up more cash for the rights to carry them and a pretty heated thread at EPL Talk seems to confirm this.
GolTV may be acting a little greedy but they do have a point. From the little that I know about the footie biz, the teams (particularly in Europe) own the TV rights to their games unlike here the States where the leagues like the NFL and NBA own them, meaning networks like GolTV have to pay fees to each indivudal team in order to broadcast the matches. And since GolTV broadcasts games from La Liga, Bundesliga, and all over South America, it costs them a pretty penny to keep the lights on.
Now because this is has to do with money, I have hope that this will be resolved eventually. Contract disputes over TV rights happen all the time and all at levels. Last year, GolTV had to renegotiate their agreement with a lot of La Liga teams, including FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. They and couldn’t do it time for the opening day and the end result was GolTV didn’t broadcast an FCB or RM games for about the first three weeks. And GolTV will lose some serious ad dollars if they don’t broadcast on Dish. There are very few footie fans in the U.S. in comparison to other sports and denying them access to one of the most accessible soccer channels will be sacrilege. I think they know this.
Still, I’m preparing for a potential exit from the Dish Network. While on the phone with them, I asked them what the penalty fee would be for canceling and it was affordable. I’m leaning towards Direct which would get me GolTV along with Setanta, the Fox Soccer Channel and extreme sport network Fuel TV which would be a nice bonus. I may or may not switch if Dish gets rid of GolTV but I think whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo goes to Real Madrid will be the deciding factor for me.
GolTV has a list of distributors here if you decide to make the switch.