General Football 23/24

[Phoenix07]

It's frustrating, because Sky keep ramping up their prices, and even though they're losing the Champions League rights, they'll keep, or increase their pricing further. BT want to get in on the mix, and they'll begin to add extra costs too. Is it any wonder people resort to other means for watching games?

[dom9]

It's frustrating, because Sky keep ramping up their prices, and even though they're losing the Champions League rights, they'll keep, or increase their pricing further. BT want to get in on the mix, and they'll begin to add extra costs too. Is it any wonder people resort to other means for watching games?

And yet people still stump up for it.

[Doc_Piptorious]

This picture makes me want to chunder:

What a mix of the dull and thick.


How idiots like Danny Murphy, Robbie Savage, Rio Ferdinand etc keep getting plum tv roles is beyond me.

They have **** all personality and their "expert" opinion on the sport they played is embarrassingly poor.

[Hollowman]

Don't think ITV can compete with Sky and BT for any of the live game packages.

Why? In the current deal there were two 12 game packages - the Sky Saturday evening one and the BT Bank Holiday/midweek package. They were about 200m each. Presumably the ten game Friday package will be 200-230m this time.

BBC paid just over 200m for a highlights package that ITV were expected to bid on, so the money isn't outlandish.

[Paddy]

10 game package? Is this Championship or what?

[Hollowman]

There are going to be up to ten Friday night Premier League games in this deal.

That said, looking at the auction packages, they aren't hived off in a ten game package. They're part of a larger twenty-eight game package that includes Monday night games, so that might be out of ITV's reach unless they go totally loopy.

[Hollowman]

Of course, this might all be moot if OFCOM wade into the fray in the next few days.

[Liverpool]

Dear me. That is pretty disgraceful on UEFA's part.

So to watch the final, you will have to pay? How is that good for anyone?

Football is beyond obnoxious.

They will show each english team and the final free to air on a bt channel

[Hollowman]

That's still doesn't provide access to a large audience though. The reason they had to promise free to air games was because the money UEFA are paid doesn't matter to their sponsors. The sponsors want eyeballs, which ITV provided.

There has been talk of some kind of sublet deal to show games on ITV (or even C4 as a long shot - they have an ambitious new commissioning editor for sport).

[RedProf]

So at the moment the average man in the street looks set to have to stump up a **** load more a month to watch the PL (on Sky - prices will go up as has been said) and to watch the CL (shelling out however much to buy the BT package). Total joke. The ethics of football are shocking (or lack of!)

[Boogs]

Hatem Ben Arfa: Nice player ineligible for rest of season

Midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa is not allowed to play for Nice this season, after Fifa ruled a Newcastle Under-21 game counted as a competitive match.
The 27-year-old joined Nice from Newcastle earlier this month after cutting short a loan spell at Hull.
However Fifa says players can only play "official matches" for two clubs in a season and has ruled that the Under-21 Professional Development League counts.
Nice, who signed Ben Arfa on an 18-month deal, plan to take it to court.
France international Ben Arfa scored in a 5-2 win over Reading Under-21s in August before going on loan to Hull, where he played nine times.
His loan spell with the Tigers was cut short after falling out with manager Steve Bruce and he moved to Nice on a free transfer.
The French league (LFP) asked football's world governing body for clarification on the status of the Under-21 Professional Development League, where three over-aged outfield players are allowed, before making an announcement.
"In application of the decision, the LFP has no other choice but to ban Hatem Ben Arfa from playing official matches with Nice until the end of the season," a statement said.

http://bbc.in/1tGfXxp

[Red_Polo]

Easy to misread that headline

[Daffy Duck]

Wolfsburg 4 - 1 Bayern

[Keyser Soze]

BeIN sport and Eurosport (Discovery channels) also rumoured to be looking to bid for Premier League football. Imagine if all 4 broadcasters got some tv rights?

Does anybody think Ayre was on to something where he said PL teams should sell their own clubs TV rights.

[ChesterDave]

Why is a 27 year old allowed to play in an under 21 match?