Soccer on TV Update: GolTV In L.A., MLS Direct Kick on Sale
Trying to stay away from the computer this weekend, but it seems appropriate to pass along a couple of programming notes that have accumulated in my e-mail the past few days as I watch the Manchester United-Newcastle United game on Fox Soccer Channel.
Actually, this serves to remind me mostly that if you're a soccer fan in L.A. the best service to get is DirecTV. Here's why:
*In the last week Time Warner Cable has finally gotten around to adding bilingual soccer channel GolTV to their Spanish language channel lineup in Southern California (you have to wonder what took them so long in this of all markets) on Channel 856. However, it is NOT available to English-language subscribers, according to their Web site, although they did add it to their English channel lineup in New York last week.
*Now of course DISH Network has just dropped GolTV (as of Aug. 1) in a carriage dispute with the satellite provider. So naturally DirecTV dropped me a line last week crowing about the fact it's now the sole satellite television outlet for GolTV (and in most of Southern California apparently the ONLY English-language provider of the channel).
GolTV will carry the La Liga season openers Aug. 31 between Deportivo La Coruña and Real Madrid or Numancia and Barcelona, by the way.
*GolTV is also the new home of the German Bundesliga, which kicked off this weekend. Consequently, the channel has added two new shows - a 5:30 p.m. Friday weekend preview called Bundesliga Magazine and a 5 p.m. Tuesday recap of the weekend's action dubbed Hallo Bundesliga. The latter show premiers Tuesday.
*Finally, the Direct Kick MLS package is now available for $49 for the rest of the season on DirecTV, Dish and iNDEMAND, a savings of $30 over the full season price I paid if I recall correctly
I'll be back later today with the latest on the U.S.-Japan Olympic semifinal, which airs at 6 a.m. Monday on MSNBC.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
I'm baffled. I am on Time Warner and the channel changed to English last year which made me very happy, now they are back to Spanish. I don't know why they don't offer both streams as GolTV broadcasts on both audio channels. It's silly.
I hope they get the English stream back on.
Oh and Bundesliga has been on Gol for a little while now, it's not new to the lineup this year.
I have Time Warner and pay $5 for the Espanol package. It's the best for a futbol fan. I get ESPN Deportes, GolTV, and Fox Sports En Espanol.
I'm actually planning to cancel the extra sports package on DirectTV due to the fact that, while it may work for those who are happy to watch *any* soccer, it really didn't work for me as a Liverpool fan. Half the matches that made it to TV were on Setanta, which costs extra no matter what package you have. I don't like having to pay for a bunch of basic channels I never use, and then paying more to get the channels with programming I want, but still incomplete.
Nick replies: Interesting perspective. So what are you going to do? Pay $14.99 A MONTH for Sentanta and see half the Liverpool games? Or buy the club's on-line subscription?
You know what's funny about Time Warner's GolTV language feed. I have it in Santa Monica on the Spanish language tier, but up until last Friday, I was able to get the English language feed by simply selecting the English language option in the audio set-up portion of my digital box. However, I can no longer do this. Selecting English doesn't change the Spanish language stream now. Did Time Warner Cacle change something, and if so, why?
I just Hate dish network, they are so arrogant.