http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/paok-on-espn-140911.html Thursday night's Europa League group stage opener at PAOK will be televised live by ESPN. We're part of a double-bill on ESPN alongside Atletico Madrid against Celtic. Remember, we kick-off at 6pm UK time at the Toumba Stadium. This season ESPN will continue to show a host of top-class football from around the globe every week, including the Barclays Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Europa League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Eredivisie and International Fixtures. ------------ What happened to Ch5 or ITV4?
There is a worse chant - Saturday afternoon, 3pm. The kick-off time for the also-rans (right, Liverpool?)
I thought the one advantage of EL to CL was that all games would be shown on 'free' channels and you wouldn't need Sky Sports or ESPN to watch them.
I thought the same. Clearly UEFA are trying to squeeze every penny out of the public as possible... No surprises there though.
Is that on all packages or just the XL one mate? I don't really watch TV much so I wouldn't know (I have the middle package if that's any good???), I only watch MOTD and movies really... Spurs wise, I go to all home games and if I'm not at the away games I'll either be down the pub or watch 'em on the net so I don't bother buying the sports channels.
Why would anyone think that EL games would be automatically be free to air, I know of no such contractual arrangement? Maybe someone else does? Presumably ESPN bid the most for our game. Far from being unloved, it's more likely that as a bigger club than Stoke/Brum/Fulham we attracted a bigger bid from ESPN. And why are UEFA at fault, it's clubs like ours that try to squeeze the money out of fans, far more than UEFA. Why would UEFA dictate which channel we're on? It seems a bizarre and unfounded criticism. I will almost guarantee the reason we are on ESPN is that Spurs/PAOK sold the rights to the highest bidder. As the home club presumably it was PAOK's decision, let's see which channel the Lane game is on.
Surely like the CL it's down to UEFA to sort out the tv rights? They sort the fee out and then clubs get a cut?
ESPN showed UEFA Cup games last year (and possibly the year before) as well. Another possible reason to play the game on ESPN and not C5 or ITV4 is logistical. Our kick off time isn't the usual 7:45 / 8:00 and so that could mess up the schedule of ITV4 and C5. I acknowledge that on occasion both channels have aired games that have played earlier than usual, but in the case when there are a surplus of English teams to air (Fulham, Stoke, Spurs and Brum, the last of which isn't even on TV), it would make sense for ESPN to air the most awkward fixture. We will probably have the away game against Rubin Kazan on ESPN as well for the same reason. If any of our other 4 games are on ESPN, then I will eat my words! What's more annoying is that I just moved out of my house to Uni and we have ESPN on our Virgin. What's even more annoying is that a week before I moved, we *just* got Sky Sports......
