An earlier post on this blog about FSC moving on DirecTV prompted a comment today:

Tough1 // Aug 9, 2008 at 1:59 am
Could this be a possible lead in for FSC HD? Channel 617 and 617 have been cleared. Maybe there is a football god.

Well, don’t go getting baptized yet.

While HD is coming eventually, it’s safe to say that FSC, which really has three homes — L.A. for admin, Winnipeg for the Report and Europe for most of its content, will have to go through more hoops than a normal network to make the move to HD.

Also, remember that while much of FSC’s matches come from Sky, the timetable for Europe to switch to all digital lasts until 2012.

So while it’s great to watch matches in HD (I actually missed the Community Shield for the U.S. Netherlands match), it’s going to be years, not months, before we get all of our football in high-def.

An earlier post on this blog about FSC moving on DirecTV prompted a comment today:

Tough1 // Aug 9, 2008 at 1:59 am
Could this be a possible lead in for FSC HD? Channel 617 and 617 have been cleared. Maybe there is a football god.

Well, don’t go getting baptized yet.

While HD is coming eventually, it’s safe to say that FSC, which really has three homes — L.A. for admin, Winnipeg for the Report and Europe for most of its content, will have to go through more hoops than a normal network to make the move to HD.

Also, remember that while much of FSC’s matches come from Sky, the timetable for Europe to switch to all digital lasts until 2012.

So while it’s great to watch matches in HD (I actually missed the Community Shield for the U.S. Netherlands match), it’s going to be years, not months, before we get all of our football in high-def.

The Spanish Supercopa, which matches the winner of La Liga against the winner of the Copa del Rey in a home and home series, is heading to FSC for the first time.

The matchup pits Real Madrid against Valencia on Aug. 17 and 24 at 4 p.m. EDT. The first leg is at Valencia, with the return at the Bernabeu.

This is a nice pickup for FSC, as they really could stand to expand beyond England. The Serie A matches last season were a nice addition, and while France isn’t the best in Europe for club matches, it’s always nice to have more.

Considering the battle between Dish Network and GolTV, which owns the rights to La Liga in the U.S., this provides a nice little bonus for those 13 million households.

Now, if only we could get games in HD…

I got a nice little treat today while surfing the channels on Dish Network. Sure, I don’t have GolTV anymore (although I do now have Fox Sports en Espanol, so it’s not like I’m totally without soccer on channel 407), but now I have 24 hours a day of Olympic soccer.
As part of the 10 billion hours of coverage by the Peacock net here in the U.S., there is a 24-hour soccer channel in HD. It’s ONLY in HD, so if you’re old-school, you’re out of luck. When there isn’t a game live, there are highlights of qualifiers, and Dish says there will be rebroadcasts throughout the day.

The Olympic Soccer channel is on channel 98 or 367, depending on your system. So far, it’s been showing the women’s qualifying rounds, including the U.S. women vs. Norway (yeah, nice result).Over on DirecTV, instead of having dedicated channels for soccer and basketball, they’re putting events, including all gold-medal games, on demand. I don’t know what the timeframe will be for getting a game online, but it should be interesting to watch.
Comcast originally was planning to offer the Olympic Soccer channel to its customers, but it appears that it will only be available to its highest-tier customers. If you know any different, please let me know!
Cable customers, what are you getting for Olympic soccer? Sure, it’s not the Premier League, but it should be fun to watch until the big boys start again next week!
UPDATE: Comcast nationally did sign a deal with NBC, according to a network statement, but it is up to individual Comcast systems to launch the channels. So if you’re not getting Olympic soccer, call your Comcast system! Also, it’s confirmed that Cablevision does NOT have the channels. 

As of August 1, GolTV – the 24/7 soccer network – has been removed from DISH Network due to a contract dispute.

According to GolTV, “this occurs despite efforts to continue GolTV’s availability to Dish customers.” DISH Network, in retort, inserted this message when you hit the INFO button where GolTV’s channel used to be: “GolTV has removed this channel after asking for unreasonable terms to renew the contract and we’re working to solve the problem.”

In the meantime, DISH Network is offering free previews of both Setanta Sports and Fox Sports Espanol to its customers. However, even if DISH Network customers subscribed to Setanta and Fox Sports Espanol, that won’t replace the void that’s left with GolTV gone because GolTV has exclusive license rights in the United States to La Liga and Bundesliga, as well as many 2010 World Cup qualifiers and this weekend’s Emirates Cup featuring Real Madrid, Hamburg, Juventus and Arsenal.

For DISH Network, the decision to remove GolTV is idiotic. Hopefully this a short-term disagreement between GolTV and DISH Network that will be resolved soon, but the timing couldn’t be worse and soccer fans will want to make a decision soon whether to leave DISH Network before the new seasons begin. My gut instinct says that this issue won’t be resolved soon especially when GolTV tells readers on its homepage that “You can find GolTV on our current distribution partners,” which includes DirecTV.

If you love GolTV, my recommendation would be to simply cancel your DISH Network subscription and move to DirecTV where you get GolTV there instead. If you’re upset about the situtation, vote with your dollars by leaving DISH but don’t forget to send them an e-mail too to let them know why you’re cancelling and moving to their biggest competitor.

DISH Network can be contacted here.

As we look toward Euro 2008 on mostly main-tier channels (with the exception of games on ESPN Classic), I’m sure most people are giddy about the idea of seeing the matches live and in HD (again, with the exception of games on ESPN Classic).

But it got me to thinking: What is the breaking point for finding soccer on my dish? 

For instance, I refuse to pay for the Copa Libertadores ($299) package. I also used to refuse to pay for the FA Cup final ($24.99 on Dish, TBA on DirecTV). I held off with Setanta until it became clear that in my part of the U.S., they had the best games in the EPL consistently.

But would you pay $9.99 for RAI International to see Serie A matches live and in Italian? Coppa Italia? How about the Bundesliga’s home network in Germany for $9.99? Such are the decisions a dish owner has to make.

A few years ago, I paid the money for the Major League Baseball package when it was available on Dish. I loved it, and when it went away, I spent the $7.99 a month for the “Superstation Package” to see the occasional Red Sox, Mets or Dodgers game (only to hear Vin Scully). But I dropped it when I added HD because my bill was north of $100 a month.

So I ask you, readers, how much is too much? Both in terms of cost and in terms of quantity. $100 a month? $150 a month? Are FSC and ESPN enough? Would you die without GolTV? Or do you need soccer 24/7 from every country in the world? Let me know. And by the way, I would pay $10 a month JUST to get old reruns of “Soccer Made in Germany.” Maybe that will be part of the next package. 

Well, I do pay for Dish Network, Setanta and the tier with GolTV and FSC.

So I guess I pay a lot. 

My name’s Ian. I’m the new contributor over here at Soccer on Dish. In the coming days, weeks and months, I’ll be talking a lot about what’s on, what’s not and how it’s broadcast over the space-waves.

A little history: I’ve had Dish since 1999. I used to buy the Premier League package religiously. I finally broke down and got Setanta just a few months ago. I watch on a 50-inch Samsung DLP machine that makes me yearn for Man U games in HD. I’ll also post about ESPN and the family of networks and how they take on Euro 2008. This should be fun.

As a starter, I want to ask for help: Have you seen the weekly Euro 2008 preview show that ESPN is producing on Deportes? If so, let me know what you think. Deportes is not available on my tier of Dish (only on Dish latino). it should be, but I know the money isn’t there to make it more wide-spread. Oh well, if you see it, pass it along.

For more about what I think, check out my first post over at EPL Talk. And watch for me. And tell me what you want to see and hear.

Soccer On Dish brings you the latest news about soccer coverage on satellite dishes. Expect to read articles and insight about DirecTV, DISH Network, IPTV and other satellite and IPTV carriers around North America and the world.

If you have story ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact me at thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com