It's a shame Eurosport's Bundesliga rights can't be extended to the UK. ESPN do a good job as far as their commentators and highlights are concerned but as their schedule only allows them to screen roughly one or two of the four stand-alone Bundesliga fixtures each weekend, plus maybe one more as-live, their coverage will never be as complete as Eurosport's is in mainland Europe.
Just to avoid confusion: Eurosport only has Bundesliga rights for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, not for any of the big Western markets. They probably couldn't afford them.
I haven't been able to watch Eurosport 2's Bundesliga coverage yet, but I agree that (in its extensiveness alone) they're doing a great job. 5 top flight matches plus one 2nd division match and loads of replays every week in over 20 countries - the contract with Eurosport is a huge boost for the foreign rights marketing of the German Bundesliga. But of course we're still miles behind the Premier League in this respect.
In austria they have a free sports channel: orf sport plus and it shows all of these kinds of sports as said above, obv just the austrian ones but also some european/world ones, eg i remember watching european female handball. Indeed it even shows world ballroom dancing etc.
However, this channel is a success because:
1. it's state funded
2. people in austria, I found, were not just interested in football, rugby and golf, which it seems like here, they try lots of different sports.
Free eurosport would be nice but I don't think it would get the audience needed
Eurosport is more than fine as it is. Having been paid to watch French Football in the past through work, I have no idea why anyone would be that desperate for any broadcaster to pick it up, and if they were desperate enough, and posting on internet fora, I'm sure they'd be able to find the pictures easily enough!
Do any of these countries have other domestic broadcasters who cover the league as well?
I gather that Eurosport has bought exclusive rights for all 22 countries. But I remember that last season, they sub-licenced a number of matches to DigiSport in Romania and Hungary because the coverage collided with live Premiership matches which were shown on Eurosport 2 in these countries. But Eurosport's Premier League contract seems to have expired now, so they can show the full number of Bundesliga matches in all countries.
It depends what sports you like, doesn't it? If you like cycling, women's tennis or winter sports, then Eurosport is more or less your only option, and they cater for those sports pretty well. If you only like football or rugby, well you already have Sky Sports, so why should Eurosport even bother competing when they have no chance of winning?
A lot of people like football and rugby, but don't have Sky, including me. I can afford it, but choose not to waste money on Sky.
They DO update the Sky EPG now, Red Bee Media handle this on their behalf. I have personally seen a massive improvement in this area, and have had my recordings "saved" from missing the end of GP2 races as a result of them updating the Sky EPG.
Maybe the problem is confined to Eurosport HD? The ski jumping which was due to be on now on both HD and BE has been postponed by at least an hour and so they've switched to the curling. The EPG entry for BE has updated to reflect this but HD hasn't. I'm sure this happened last weekend too on HD when the mens downhill got cancelled and it didn't update.
Thanks for the details about which countries take Eurosport's Bundesliga coverage, Karl.
To be honest I'm surprised they have exclusivity over the Bundesliga in Scandinavia, particularly in Germany's northern neighbour Denmark, as it's a league I would expect the pan-Nordic Viasat Sport channels would have an interest in.
I see Eurosport's deal runs through until the end of the 2011/12 season so it will be interesting to see what happens beyond then.
A lot of people like football and rugby, but don't have Sky, including me. I can afford it, but choose not to waste money on Sky.
That's not really a reason for Eurosport to show even more of something other channels are showing at the expense of stuff no-one else shows. Their coverage of winter sports, cycling, billiards, tennis etc. is brilliant as it's not wall-to-wall football!
Indeed but when Setanta went into administration they had plenty of picking on much of the rights before ESPN got them. The best they done was a temporary deal for PGA before Sky swooped it for a ten year deal.
Just wondering if anybody knows the difference between the UK venture and Eurosport Europe anyway? Many will remember Eurosport International which was before the UK one was it not? Bit like Viacom and MTV?
Sadly Eurosport is yet another channel frozen in time.
Yes - British E/S makes an appalling mess of the end of year WTA Tour Championships and the French Open with a terrible presenter-based format (a la Sky/BBC) while E/S Intl (available on HD) does not.
It depends what sports you like, doesn't it? If you like cycling, women's tennis or winter sports, then Eurosport is more or less your only option, and they cater for those sports pretty well. If you only like football or rugby, well you already have Sky Sports, so why should Eurosport even bother competing when they have no chance of winning?
Exactly - all these excellent sports, WTA tour, cycling & winter sports are done very well.
They may not have the rights to bigger events but there's little reason why they can't make some kind of magazine shows maybe in conjunction with Sky? Maybe an Ice Hockey segment? English Football talk show?
As I say if the channel was free on Freesat/Freeview less people may moan.
That's not really a reason for Eurosport to show even more of something other channels are showing at the expense of stuff no-one else shows. Their coverage of winter sports, cycling, billiards, tennis etc. is brilliant as it's not wall-to-wall football!
Well said. Sky/Sky News etc are completely obsessed with football... how could anyone want more. They should rename the Sky News sports news slots football news.
It depends what sports you like, doesn't it? If you like cycling, women's tennis or winter sports, then Eurosport is more or less your only option, and they cater for those sports pretty well. If you only like football or rugby, well you already have Sky Sports, so why should Eurosport even bother competing when they have no chance of winning?
Exactly. Excellent coverage of these excellent sports: WTA tour, cycling & winter sports.
Eurosport have been at it again, this time labling every stage so far of this years 'tour de ski' as HD when it quite clearly wasn't. Then tonights Biathlon (men's relay) which was in HD, isn't labled as such. Mistakes were both on screen and in the EPG (Sky digital platform).
Should any of our friends from Europsport be reading, please, sort this out!
Well said. Sky/Sky News etc are completely obsessed with football... how could anyone want more. They should rename the Sky News sports news slots football news.
I've said this before - I think Sky Sports News (the channel) should just be renamed as Sky Football News.
Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta, the one-day classics, World and European Athletics, World and European Swimming, Australian Open, French Open, US Open, World Snooker, Moto GP, Winter Olympics, Summer Olympics, World Championship and World Cup skiing, biathlon etc etc etc... and often with superior commentary and less chatter than BBC and Sky? I'll go for that.
Eurosport in my opinion do a good job when covering the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Although sadly it's still a shadow of what Motors TV offered with practically flag to flag coverage and Radio Le Mans commentary.
Their coverage of the Le Mans Series is absolutely shocking though. I realise it's a minority sport even compared to some of the other stuff they show but they'd be doing fans a big favour by perhaps co-opting their motorsports shows to MotorsTV who at least don't have to juggle 12 sports into one timeslot like Eurosport seem to.
Indeed but when Setanta went into administration...
And there is the answer as to why Eurosport is what it is.
It if it went around trying to snap up rights to Premiership Football and Rugby, PGA Tour Golf etc. it too would soon end up in administration. Instead, they wisely choose a different range of sports to cover, and in fairness do alright with them considering the resources available to them (sharing with other channels a £1/month mix rather than £20/month for Sky Sports alone)
Eurosport is not a premium channel but it covers wide variety of sport, yes the lack of studio coverage is annoying, but for the sports it shows etc, It's not failing.
I know in Ireland football isn't the most popular sport, but simply in most of the UK this is what they want to see.
There's enough watching it though, a lot of my friends watch and my university's student bar often has Sky Sports on or another channel showing footie. On nights when there's a big match on the place is full! I sometimes watch it myself in there and might start a conversation with someone by talking about the match and asking someone what they think of the score so far..
Comments
Oh yes, that is just what everyone needs. Another English football programme.
I haven't been able to watch Eurosport 2's Bundesliga coverage yet, but I agree that (in its extensiveness alone) they're doing a great job. 5 top flight matches plus one 2nd division match and loads of replays every week in over 20 countries - the contract with Eurosport is a huge boost for the foreign rights marketing of the German Bundesliga. But of course we're still miles behind the Premier League in this respect.
Do any of these countries have other domestic broadcasters who cover the league as well?
However, this channel is a success because:
1. it's state funded
2. people in austria, I found, were not just interested in football, rugby and golf, which it seems like here, they try lots of different sports.
Free eurosport would be nice but I don't think it would get the audience needed
I also enjoyed the Asian cup coverage a few years ago. I hope they carry it on with coverage of the 2011 Asian cup but it seems unlikely:(
Eurosport will be showing the 2011 Asian Cup apparently, someone on this forum posted it was in the Digiguide listings
Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland (these countries get 10 additional live matches per season on Eurosport 1),
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegowina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania.
http://sport.t-online.de/eurosport-zeigt-fussball-bundesliga-in-22-laendern/id_16577974/index
Eurosport allegedly paid 35m Euros for three years which makes up about one third of the Bundesliga's total foreign rights revenue.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/sport/fussball/eurosport-kauft-bundesliga-rechte-fuer-osteuropa-und-skandinavien;2068907
I gather that Eurosport has bought exclusive rights for all 22 countries. But I remember that last season, they sub-licenced a number of matches to DigiSport in Romania and Hungary because the coverage collided with live Premiership matches which were shown on Eurosport 2 in these countries. But Eurosport's Premier League contract seems to have expired now, so they can show the full number of Bundesliga matches in all countries.
http://uk-tv-guide.com/list/British+Eurosport/7+January+2011/
A lot of people like football and rugby, but don't have Sky, including me. I can afford it, but choose not to waste money on Sky.
To be honest I'm surprised they have exclusivity over the Bundesliga in Scandinavia, particularly in Germany's northern neighbour Denmark, as it's a league I would expect the pan-Nordic Viasat Sport channels would have an interest in.
I see Eurosport's deal runs through until the end of the 2011/12 season so it will be interesting to see what happens beyond then.
That's not really a reason for Eurosport to show even more of something other channels are showing at the expense of stuff no-one else shows. Their coverage of winter sports, cycling, billiards, tennis etc. is brilliant as it's not wall-to-wall football!
Yes - British E/S makes an appalling mess of the end of year WTA Tour Championships and the French Open with a terrible presenter-based format (a la Sky/BBC) while E/S Intl (available on HD) does not.
Exactly - all these excellent sports, WTA tour, cycling & winter sports are done very well.
As above.
:eek:
Well said. Sky/Sky News etc are completely obsessed with football... how could anyone want more. They should rename the Sky News sports news slots football news.
Exactly. Excellent coverage of these excellent sports: WTA tour, cycling & winter sports.
As above.
Should any of our friends from Europsport be reading, please, sort this out!
I've said this before - I think Sky Sports News (the channel) should just be renamed as Sky Football News.
I know in Ireland football isn't the most popular sport, but simply in most of the UK this is what they want to see.
Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta, the one-day classics, World and European Athletics, World and European Swimming, Australian Open, French Open, US Open, World Snooker, Moto GP, Winter Olympics, Summer Olympics, World Championship and World Cup skiing, biathlon etc etc etc... and often with superior commentary and less chatter than BBC and Sky? I'll go for that.
Although sadly it's still a shadow of what Motors TV offered with practically flag to flag coverage and Radio Le Mans commentary.
Their coverage of the Le Mans Series is absolutely shocking though. I realise it's a minority sport even compared to some of the other stuff they show but they'd be doing fans a big favour by perhaps co-opting their motorsports shows to MotorsTV who at least don't have to juggle 12 sports into one timeslot like Eurosport seem to.
And there is the answer as to why Eurosport is what it is.
It if it went around trying to snap up rights to Premiership Football and Rugby, PGA Tour Golf etc. it too would soon end up in administration. Instead, they wisely choose a different range of sports to cover, and in fairness do alright with them considering the resources available to them (sharing with other channels a £1/month mix rather than £20/month for Sky Sports alone)
There's enough watching it though, a lot of my friends watch and my university's student bar often has Sky Sports on or another channel showing footie. On nights when there's a big match on the place is full! I sometimes watch it myself in there and might start a conversation with someone by talking about the match and asking someone what they think of the score so far..