The joy of being a fan in Canada
The 2007-08 Premiership season is fast approaching. This would be far more exciting if I could actually look forward to seeing my beloved Gunners in action. Unfortunately at this point it appears that exactly one Arsenal game will be shown on any station that I can get. After last season when six EPL games per week were shown (3 games live Saturday morning on Sportsnet, 1 tape-delayed Saturday afternoon of FSWC, 1 live Sunday morning on the Score and 1 mid-week on FSWC) we are down to the one Sunday game per week on the Score. Just three months to go until Arsenal plays Liverpool on Oct. 28.
Basically Sportsnet's rights ended after last season and they found themselves actually needing to compete for what was formerly low value programming. The Score won the full EPL rights for the next three (?) years and has now sold off most of the games to Setanta Sports. Setanta of course is a new channel which claims it will start broadcasting prior to the EPL season beginning (which is doubtful), but will only be available on Rogers cable or Bell ExpressVu. So, being a condo-dwelling Western Canadian, I'm SOL unless Shaw starts carrying Setanta (which, given their history will probably happen next May when the season finishes).
Thank God (or more accurately the Chinese), I'll still have TVU, TVAnts, Sopcast, etc.
posted by CanadianGooner @ 2:01 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
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To update the situation: one source is claiming that Sportsnet has picked up one Saturday game (10:00 Eastern). They have second choice with Setanta getting the first, third, fourth, fifth, etc. Also Setanta is still claiming they will be on the air before the 11th on Rogers, Bell and Cogeco and that they will be charging $15 per month.
Also, I've heard rumours that TSN won't have the Champions League this year as they usually were showing the ESPN feed and ESPN lost the rights to Setanta USA.
I'd hate to pay $15 for a single channel, but if Shaw picks up Setanta I'll probably get it.
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