AFANA Footy BBS

Based on the latest AFANA newsletter am I right in assuming that Fox Sports World Canada's source for these apparant "live or tape delayed" games will probably be the satellite feed for Setanta USA?

Therefore if Setanta USA is carrying live coverage, is it the case that FSWC is planning to simply use their feed to offer live matches as well?

> am I right in assuming that Fox Sports World
> Canada's source for these apparant "live or tape delayed" games will
> probably be the satellite feed for Setanta USA?
> ... is it the case that FSWC is
> planning to simply use their feed to offer live matches as well?

That would be a reasonable conclusion and the one I would take however they aren't saying, probably because negotiations between FSWC, Setanta, the AFL, etc. aren't finalized. Based on the announced schedule, I am betting on tape delayed (Friday night to Sunday afternoon).

On another point, I am concerned about the long term future of FSWC given that most of their contracts for coverage of other sports expire this year and there are plenty of hints that FOX won't renew the deal that allows them to take lots of soccer off FSC in the US and use the FSW name tag. (Canwest Global owns FSWC).

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA Newsletters - Subscribe Here

> That would be a reasonable conclusion and the one I would take however they
> aren't saying, probably because negotiations between FSWC, Setanta, the AFL, etc.
> aren't finalized. Based on the announced schedule, I am betting on tape delayed
> (Friday night to Sunday afternoon).

> On another point, I am concerned about the long term future of FSWC given that most
> of their contracts for coverage of other sports expire this year and there are
> plenty of hints that FOX won't renew the deal that allows them to take lots of
> soccer off FSC in the US and use the FSW name tag. (Canwest Global owns
> FSWC).

There is an application before the CRTC for a new channel called "RCS Canada " (Rugby Cricket Soccer). It sounds like a practical clone of FSWC and is rumored to be "Setanta Canada".
FSWC didn't even file an intervention to the CRTC regarding this one which seems rather odd. It almost sounds as though Global plans to fold FSWC.

> There is an application before the CRTC for a new channel called "RCS Canada
> " (Rugby Cricket Soccer). It sounds like a practical clone of FSWC and is
> rumored to be "Setanta Canada".
> FSWC didn't even file an intervention to the CRTC regarding this one which seems
> rather odd. It almost sounds as though Global plans to fold FSWC.

You have the situation exactly right. RCS is "Setanta Canada" for all practical purposes. FSI seems to be in bed with other companies in Canada now and once they pull the plug on the FSW nightly sports news, it's curtains for FSWC. So, yes, my sources tell me that Global may plan to close FSWC sometime after September this year.

Ratings have been abysmal for some time. You can't survive on average viewership in the single digit thousands for long.

-Rob de Santos
AFANA Chairman

AFANA Newsletters - Subscribe Here

> There is an application before the CRTC for a new channel called "RCS Canada
> " (Rugby Cricket Soccer). It sounds like a practical clone of FSWC and is
> rumored to be "Setanta Canada".
> FSWC didn't even file an intervention to the CRTC regarding this one which seems
> rather odd. It almost sounds as though Global plans to fold FSWC.

The writing is on the wall.

TeleLatino Networks has applied for 4 Digital Category 2 TV licences with the CRTC:

"RCS Television" = Setanta Sports Canada

"Spanish Sports TV 1" = ESPN Deportes Canada

"Spanish Sports TV 2" = FOX Sports en Espanol Canada

"Soccer Television" = --- Soccer ------- Canada

There is no mystery what the brand name for "Soccer Television" will be.

No one in Canada has filed interventions against TeleLatino for any of the 4 licence applications.

--

Canwest Global's CRTC licence for FOX Sports World Canada expires 31 August 2007.

Canwest Global also has a contract to supply the sports news program FOX Sports World Report to FOX Sports International network around the world, including FOX Soccer Channel US, through 30 September 2007.

However, Canwest Global's programming licence agreement with FOX Sports International expires on 30 September 2006.

You draw your own conclusions as to what is happening among FOX Sports International, Canwest Global, and TeleLatino.

soccerTV.com

> However, Canwest Global's programming licence agreement with FOX Sports
> International expires on 30 September 2006.

> You draw your own conclusions as to what is happening among FOX Sports
> International, Canwest Global, and TeleLatino.

Well as long as someone else, "Telelatino" is willing to give a shot at the whole "niche sports television" idea then I say good ridence to FSWC.

I don't want to turn this into a Canwest Global bashing thread, but they certainly do set a new standard for the terms "shrewd business practices".

Hopefully with Telelatino, things might improve (they can't get much worse) for TV coverage in the future. Maybe by some luck, we might end up with a broadcaster that *gasp* actually realizes that sometimes you have to "spend money to make money".