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Somewhere down the lane, a licky boom boom down
Meanwhile we show at least 5 games every weekend in Iceland. Fecking joke indeed.
Maybe they mean they didn't bid enough? Who knows.Either DailyMail are talking pish or article is worded wrong as Premier Sports mentioned many times they bid.
Not sure, but when it states 'Offers for the rights were due on July 25 but no UK-based company came forward' that suggests nobody bid?Maybe they mean they didn't bid enough? Who knows.
Suppose we will find out eventually, but I will not be paying another subscription. I have just given up Sky Sport to get the costs down.Not sure, but when it states 'Offers for the rights were due on July 25 but no UK-based company came forward' that suggests nobody bid?
Sky especially are a shambles. Lose rights to many PL games, CL, Golf majors, La Liga, Tennis, WWE etc and still charge higher price for their channels.Suppose we will find out eventually, but I will not be paying another subscription. I have just given up Sky Sport to get the costs down.
God knows. No F.A. Cup either. They show the Chinese league and MLS, not exclusively, who care about those leagues? I still have BT for some football, but their PL commentators are awful and their co-commentators are worse.Sky especially are a shambles. Lose rights to many PL games, CL, Golf majors, La Liga, Tennis, WWE etc and still charge higher price for their channels.
Decreased service increased cost. How does that work?
I wished a UK broadcaster would pick up Brasilerao as that’s an exciting league with some talented young players there at the momentCrazy really that probably the 2nd biggest league in the world with some of the greatest players cannot find a home in the UK.
I am really not interested in watching washed up players in the MLS or any other league out of the top 4 or 5 in Europe. Eleven sports really fecked it up when they came in last season streaming only without a channel on Sky or Virgin.
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I think that's the crunch really. A lot of us are already annoyed about having to have a Sky and a BT sub just to (legally) watch the PL/CL. Having to subscribe to a third system, like Premier or whoever, for La Liga is just pushing people's commitment too far.Watched it last year once I realised it was on ITV4. It’s nice to get it free to air. I really appreciated that.
I think that's the crunch really. A lot of us are already annoyed about having to have a Sky and a BT sub just to (legally) watch the PL/CL. Having to subscribe to a third system, like Premier or whoever, for La Liga is just pushing people's commitment too far.
I like La Liga, but not enough to pay for another subscription service.
It was. The initial request for tender yielded no "acceptable" bids (i.e. no UK network was prepared to pay a decent amount for the rights). And the whole process was only set in motion because Sky let their contract lapse after it became clear that La Liga was unprofitable.Pretty sure the cost of La Liga rights was quite low.
Great analysis you have just wrote and I am the same as loved a good Spanish game on a Sunday night to finish the weekend off. Really think ITV have missed a trick here as they are trying to get into sports with crappy box office boxing where they could be portfolioing some other sports on a dedicated channel and bringing quality football to the freeview market as they do with some darts and snooker.It was. The initial request for tender yielded no "acceptable" bids (i.e. no UK network was prepared to pay a decent amount for the rights). And the whole process was only set in motion because Sky let their contract lapse after it became clear that La Liga was unprofitable.
La Liga execs have clearly come to their senses since then and realised that a little money and some exposure is better than no money and no exposure, so they reduced the rights to a bargain basement price for clearance.
This reduction would've been the reason ITV was able to afford the deal and, indeed, bothered with it. AFAIK, ITV weren't even in for the rights during the earlier bidding, illustrating how far the cost must've fallen.
Overall, the obvious impression is that La Liga is not a popular or especially desirable product here in the UK. To be fair, it must be hard selling foreign football rights to the home of football with multiple strong domestic leagues to follow. People with jobs who can afford modern sports packages don't generally have enough free time to keep up with everything in England, let alone leagues in other countries.
Still, I miss Sundays on Sky Sports when there would be two or even three PL games followed by a La Liga game. You could chill and watch good quality football all day if you wanted. I used to have a TV next to my computer and just play slow-paced RPGs while watching the footie. Comfy.
ITV did also show one hour highlights package on ITV 1 at about half 11 once they got the rights. Think it will be shown again for first 3 games and hopefully after. Can watch it to see how Ken Omeruo gets on at Leganes.I used to watch several games a week as well as Revista La Liga back when it was on Sky, especially during the Pep vs Jose years. It wouldn’t just be Barca/Real/Atleti either, pretty much any game would be worth watching. Nearly all of my football friends were the same, none of them follow it now.
It’s a shame Sky didn’t renew before, I’m not sure I could name a player outside of of the top three teams now. One game a week on ITV isn’t enough to maintain interest for me when there’s so much going on you can’t see.
And as much as I enjoyed having games after the PL matches there was always the sense that they were the desert to the PL’s main course. Enjoyable but not imperative, and not worth paying extra for when spending so much on Sky and BT.
If they’re really not getting much money then surely maximum exposure is the way to go? Get all the games on ITV or Sky somehow.
Great analysis you have just wrote and I am the same as loved a good Spanish game on a Sunday night to finish the weekend off. Really think ITV have missed a trick here as they are trying to get into sports with crappy box office boxing where they could be portfolioing some other sports on a dedicated channel and bringing quality football to the freeview market as they do with some darts and snooker.
Cheers, my Port Vale amigo. Glad to know I'm not the only one who enjoyed those late Sunday Liga games! (I know others did, just nowhere near enough for Sky to justify continuing to pay "real" money for the rights)I am surprised BT didn’t go for it. It might not be amazingly popular to Sky customers who have so much Premier League and Championship football to watch but with a little bit of a marketing push I could see it finding a good home on BT. It’d also strengthen their football offering on what is a far cheaper product than Sky Sports and yet provides much more variation.
Agreed. Another good point that concurs with the general consensus we're building (see above).If they’re really not getting much money then surely maximum exposure is the way to go? Get all the games on ITV or Sky somehow.
But enough about the EPLAs long as it doesn't affect You've Been Framed re-runs, I don't mind them showing matches from an uncompetetive league.