FIFA International Date: February 6

For some reason FIFA has decided to set an international date tomorrow as a bunch of teams will play meaningless friendlies in preparation for the next round of 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Here is the Canadian TV schedule. Note that Sportnet has recently made a change, moving England v Brazil to Sportsnet ONE for some reason. Considering they are two of the most popular teams in the world, I really don’t understand it.

Here is the complete schedule. All times Eastern.

1:00pm, Spain vs. Uruguay (from Doha) – Sportsnet
2:30pm, England vs. Brazil (from London) – Sportsnet ONE (encore: 10pm)
2:30pm, Holland vs. Italy (from Amsterdam) – Sportsnet World
2:30pm, Sweden vs. Argentina (from Stockholm) – GolTV (encore: 11pm)
3:00pm, France vs. Germany (from Paris) – Sportsnet
4:30pm, Ireland vs. Poland (from Dublin) – GolTV

Canadian Soccer Broadcasting Rights: Who Has What?

In the past 18 months most major soccer properties have changed hands or at the least reached a new broadcast contract with the incumbant broadcaster in Canada. With all of the moves, many are probably wondering who has what? And for how long. I hope this will clear things up a bit.

FIFA – CBC/Sportsnet through 2014; Bell Media (CTV/TSN/RDS) from 2015-2022
UEFA – TSN through Euro 2016
Champions League/Europa League – Sportsnet through 2014-15
Premier League – TSN/Sportsnet (50/50 split) from 2013-14 through 2015-16
Serie A – beIN Sports through 2014-15
La Liga – beIN Sports through 2014-15
Bundesliga – GolTV through 2014-15
Ligue 1 – beIN Sports through 2014-15
SPL – Sportsnet World (unknown term length)
Football League – beIN Sports (unknown term length)
FA Cup – Sportsnet though 2017-18

beIN Sports also has Coppa Italia, Copa del Ray (except the final) and Football League Cup. Sportsnet World also has DFB Pokal and the Charity Shield. GolTV also has the Copa del Ray Final and the German and Spanish Supercups.

beIN Sports is currently not available in Canada. It sounds like they are working on a deal with TLN that would bring their matches to Canadians.

I think that covers mostly everything. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

TSN and Sportsnet Win 2013-16 Premiership Rights in Canada

The new broadcast contracts with Bell and Rogers will ensure that Canadians will be able to see Canadian stars, such as Norwich’s Simeon Jackson, in the Premier League through 2016.

The Barclays Premier League announced a new rights deal for Canada this afternoon. TSN and Sportsnet, the current broadcasters of England’s top domestic football league, will continue to broadcast all games to Canadians. The biggest difference in the new contract is TSN and Sportsnet will each get 50% of the matches. Over the past three years Sportsnet has broadcast most matches, with TSN sub-licensing around 50 per season.

In the new deals the Premiership has sold two seperate 190 match packages. Rogers bought one, which will see 190 games air on Sportsnet, Sportsnet World, Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet World Plus. TSN bought the other package, with matches set to air on TSN, TSN2, RDS and RDS2. It is unclear at this time just how TSN and Sportsnet will divide the 380 matches. However, both Rogers and Bell will get equal selections based on timeslots and/or matchups.

The Canadian announcement comes a day after NBCUniversal revealed that they have picked up American broadcast rights beginning next fall. The new US deal sees an end to ESPN’s Premiership broadcasts, which have set the gold standard for soccer broadcasting in North America. NBC will broadcast all 380 league matches per season, marking the first time every game is shown live in America.

Steaming will play an important role in the new broadcast contracts. NBC will use online streaming service to offer around four Saturday 10am eastern kickoffs per week. TSN also has stated that TSN.ca is part of the plan to deliver games to Canadians. Sportsnet World’s streaming service and mobile TV platforms for both Bell and Rogers will also play a role. This really is the first time that online rights have been considered an essential, valuable part of a Premiership broadcast contract. In the past they were just an afterthought.

Here is a quote from Navaid Mansuri, Vice-President of Finance & Sports Programming, Sportsnet.

Sportsnet is proud to continue our strong partnership with the Premiere League, furthering our commitment to providing Canadians with unparalleled access to world class soccer content. The BPL is one of the world’s most prominent soccer leagues and this new agreement has positioned Sportsnet to continue our already unprecedented schedule of soccer programming across multiple platforms in the years to come.

And Shawn Redmond, Vice-President of Programming, TSN.

The Premier League is home to the world’s most popular teams and biggest stars in soccer. With a dedicated and growing fan base in Canada we are looking forward to giving fans even more Premier League coverage with more games on TSN than ever before. The BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE package is a perfect complement to our slate of world-class soccer programming.

It is also unclear if beIN Sport, which doesn’t yet have distribution in the Canadian market, launched a serious bid for the Canadian rights. beIN Sport, owned by Qatar Media, was expected to challenge the status quo in the British and American markets as well. As it turns out, their bids fizzled towards the end in both of those markets. New broadcasters did take over Premiership broadcasting, but it was British Telecom and NBC, not beIN Sport.

This deal is probably about as good as this was going to turn out for Canadians. Between TSN, TSN2, Sportsnet, Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet World, it is possible to broadcast up to five games live at one time. The Premier League will use the following timeslots for matches over the next three seasons (all times Eastern and number of matches is approximate)

Saturday 7:45am – 28-30 matches
Saturday 10:00am – ~190 matches
Saturday 12:30pm – 28-30 matches
Sunday 8:30am – 32 matches
Sunday 11:00am – 33 matches
Monday 3:00pm – 18-20 matches

Usually a Premier League season consists 33 weekend rounds and 7 holiday/midweek rounds. The 33 weekend rounds will see around 140 matches played in unique timeslots. The other 190 matches played on the weekend will be on Saturday at 10:00am or Sunday at 10:00am (when a team plays in the Europa League the Thursday before).

Weekday rounds will account for the other 7 rounds, with a total of 70 matches. 12 of these matches are slated for television in the UK. Usually (when it’s not a holiday), the matches are split between Tuesday and Wednesday with consistant start times.

UEFA Schedule: October 22-24

It is matchday 3 in the Champions League and Europa League this week. Here is the broadcast schedule for Canada.

Tuesday October 23
11:45am, Spartak Moscow v. Benfica – Sportsnet World
2:30pm, Manchester United v. Braga – Sportsnet (encore: 7pm, SN1)
2:30pm, Barcelona v. Celtic – Sportsnet ONE
2:30pm, Shakhtar Donetsk v. Chelsea – Sportsnet World
5:00pm, Lille v. Bayern Munich – Sportsnet World (delay)

Wednesday October 24
11:45am, Zenit v. Anderlecht – Sportsnet World
2:30pm, Dortmund v. Real Madrid – Sportsnet
2:30pm, Arsenal v. Schalke 04 – Sportsnet ONE
2:30pm, Ajax v. Manchester City – Sportsnet World
5:00pm, Malaga v. AC Milan – Sportsnet World (delay)

Thursday October 25
1:00pm, Maribor v. Tottenham – Sportsnet
1:00pm, Internazionale v. Partizan – Sportsnet ONE
1:00pm, Panathinaikos v. Lazio – Sportsnet World
3:00pm, Liverpool v. Anzhi – Sportsnet
3:00pm, Newcastle v. Brugge – Sportsnet World
3:00pm, Atletico Madrid v. Academia – Sportsnet ONE
5:30pm, Rubin Kazan v. Neftichi – Sportsnet World (delay)
7:30pm, Sparta Praha v. Shamona – Sportsnet World (delay)

FIFA World Cup Qualifying Schedule: October 16

A bit of misinformation out there on Sportsnet’s World Cup Qualifying schedule, again. However, the correct schedule is now available thanks to the guys in Sportsnet’s soccer department. Ignore any previous information that states otherwise as well as your on-screen guides. They probably won’t update until tomorrow, if they do at all.

I’ve included live and delayed games. Delayed games are marked by an asterisk.

12:00pm – Ukraine v. Montenegro – GolTV
2:45pm – Austria v. Kazakhstan – GolTV
3:00pm – Poland v. England – Sportsnet ONE
3:00pm – Spain v. France – Sportsnet World
4:00pm – Honduras v. Canada – Sportsnet
5:00pm* – Portugal v. Northern Ireland – Sportsnet World
7:00pm* – Italy v. Denmark – Sportsnet World
9:00pm* – Romania v. Holland – Sportsnet World

On Wednesday October 17, Sportsnet World will also show these delayed matches
3:00am* – Croatia v. Wales
2:00pm* – Slovakia v. Greece
4:00pm* – Belgium v. Scotland
7:00pm* – Germany v. Sweden

Also of note, with Soccer on Canadian TV recently shutting down, I’ve attempted to revive the long-term Premiership schedule on here.

Don’t be surprised if there is news involving beIN Sport Canada and TLN soon. Stay tuned…

GolTV Release on La Liga Broadcasts

A month has passed since Bein Sports launched in America. Because Bein owns Canadian rights to La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Football League, non of these leagues are on Canadian TV. Yet. I haven’t really heard anything about these leagues airing in Canada anytime soon. A few weeks ago GolTV released this general, somewhat incorrect, response to fans’ concerns about La Liga on Canadian TV.

As you may be aware, there is still some uncertainty generally about La Liga’s international broadcast intentions for the upcoming season. This has been reported on extensively in the press. At this time, we continue to monitor the situation and the implications and opportunities as they apply to GOL TV Canada.

We understand and share your concern about La Liga rights in Canada, and will let you know of developments as they can be confirmed.

Now, in this release GolTV correlated two things that simply are not related: the lack of La Liga broadcasting in Canada and the domestic TV tensions between the major domestic broadcasters in Spain. I don’t want to say that they intentionally misled fans and viewers to confuse them; however, it is obvious they wanted to deflect attention from themselves  the Spanish stations who Canadians wouldn’t contact.

Only now has GolTV Canada released a statement that accurately reflects the situation. Note that I have added information to this release in brackets to clarify it because there are certain things GolTV can’t say publicly.

We appreciate your concern with regards to La Liga game telecasts. We share it. We continue to talk to the rights holder (Bein Sports) about opportunities (a sub-licensing deal, most likely) which would see La Liga games return to air in the Canadian marketplace. The nature of those conversations are confidential, but we hope to have some news very soon. We ask for your patience as this situation is resolved.

Canada’s 2014 World Cup Qualifying Campaign

I was always a cynic on World Cup Qualifying, and even the World Cup itself, to be honest. Even though I first saw soccer during the 2002 World Cup, I’ve always preferred the club game. Maybe its because Canadian TV coverage of the Premiership, Serie A and Champions League has always been more comprehensive than World Cup Qualifying coverage. Or maybe its simply because watching Canada lose early in qualifying to Central American teams in front of just a few thousand supporters was boring. Or more than likely it was a combination of both.

In 2006 qualifying Canada played in front of 8000 fans at the 60, 000 seat Commonwealth Stadium for an important home match against Honduras. Swanguard Stadium in Burnaby hosted Canada’s other two matches, hosting 6500 and 4000 fans respectively. Hardly a difficult atmosphere to come and play in. Canada managed only five points in those games, finishing last in their group.

Fast Forward seven years and soccer has grown drastically in Canada. BMO Field is now the home to most all of Canada’s national team games. It is a beautiful 21, 000 seat stadium on the shores of Lake Ontario. And Friday night was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in Canadian soccer. 17, 500 fans making noise. A lot of it. And for Canada, not their opposition. Canada had a better attendance than many of the teams who played at home in Europe on Friday.

And it is with this growing popularity that Canadian soccer will hit a new high on Tuesday evening when Citytv will broadcast our away World Cup qualifying match in Panama. I don’t remember ever seeing a senior men’s national team game on over-the-air television in my lifetime. The match will also air on Sportsnet One for those without access to City. Coincidently Shaw Direct recently added Citytv HD to their channel lineup. Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest will call the match. It is one of seven World Cup Qualifying matches airing live on Canadian TV on Tuesday. Many others will air on tape delay and/or Sportsnet World Plus on Rogers Cable.

FIFA TV Schedule: September 6-11

The new World Cup cycle has began as European World Cup 2014 Qualifying kicks-off this weekend. Between Sportsnet and GolTV, it seems there is unprecedented coverage this cycle. Here is the complete TV schedule. All times are Eastern.

Thursday September 6
International Friendlies
1:00pm, Sweden v. China (from Helsingborg) – GolTV

Friday September 7
World Cup Qualifying
12:00pm, Russia v. Northern Ireland (from Moscow) – Sportsnet
12:00pm, Kazakhstan v. Ireland (from Astana) – GolTV
12:00pm, Azerbaijan v. Israel (from Baku) – SN1
2:15pm, Croatia v. Macedonia (from Zagreb) – SN World+
2:30pm, Slovenia v. Suisse (from Ljubljana) – SN World+
2:30pm, Finland v. France (from Helsinki) – SN World+
2:30pm, Latvia v. Greece (from Riga) – SN World+
2:45pm, Moldova v. England (from Chisinau) – Sportsnet
2:45pm, Luxembourg v. Portugal (from Luxembourg City) – SN1
2:45pm, Bulgaria v. Italy (from Sofia) – SN World
2:45pm, Germany v. Faroe Islands (from Hanover) – SN World+
5:00pm, Holland v. Turkey (from Amsterdam) – SN World
7:00pm, Montenegro v. Poland (from Podgorcia) – GolTV
7:30pm, Canada v. Panama (from Toronto) – SN1

International Friendlies
2:45pm, Brazil v. South Africa (from Sao Paulo) – GolTV
7:00pm, Spain v. Saudi Arabia (from Ponteverda) – SN World

Saturday September 8
World Cup Qualifying
10:00am, Scotland v. Serbia (from Glasgow) – Sportsnet

Tuesday September 11
World Cup Qualifying
1:00pm, Israel v. Russia (from Ramat Gan) – Sportsnet
1:30pm, Georgia v. Spain (from Tbilisi) – SN1
1:30pm, Romania v. Andorra (from Bucharest) – SN World+
2:30pm, Austria v. Germany (from Vienna) – GolTV
2:30pm, Serbia v. Wales (from Novi Sad) – SN World+
2:30pm, Hungary v. Holland (from Budapest) – SN World
2:45pm, Belgium v. Croatia (from Brussels) – SN World+
2:45pm, Greece v. Lithuania (from Athens) – SN World+
2:45pm, Poland v. Moldova (from Wroclaw) – SN World+
3:00pm, England v. Ukraine (from London) – Sportsnet
3:00pm, France v. Belarus (from Paris) – SN World+
3:15pm, Portugal v. Azerbaijan (from Braga) – SN World+
3:30pm, Italy v. Malta (from Modena) – SN1
4:30pm, Sweden v. Kazakhstan (from Malmo) – GolTV
9:00pm, Panama v. Canada (from Panama City) – Sportsnet

European Soccer TV Schedule: August 31-September 2

There’s still no news on Serie A and La Liga TV coverage in Canada for this season. RAI does have Italian Serie A coverage, so I’ll include their schedule here until an English broadcaster begins showing games. However, there is lots of Premier League and Bundesliga this weekend. Also the UEFA Super Cup on Friday afternoon.

Friday August 31
Bundesliga
2:30pm, Mainz v. Greuther Furth – GolTV

UEFA Super Cup
2:45pm, Chelsea v. Atletico Madrid – Sportsnet

Saturday September 1
Premier League
7:45am, West Ham v. Fulham – TSN2
10:00am, West Bromwich v. Everton – Sportsnet
10:00am, Tottenham v. Norwich City – SN World
10:00am, Swansea City v. Sunderland – SN World+ (encore: 6pm)
10:00am, Wigan Athletic v. Stoke City – SN World+ (encore: 4pm)
12:30pm, Manchester City v. QPR – SN1

Bundesliga
9:30am, Nurnburg v. Dortmund – GolTV
12:30pm, Dusseldorf v. Monchengladbach – GolTV

Serie A
12:00pm, Torino v. Pescara – RAI
2:45pm, Bologna v. Milan – RAI

Ligue 1
11:00am, Lyon v. Valenciennes – TV5

Scottish Premier League
12:00pm, Celtic v. Hibernian – SN World

Sunday September 2
Premier League
8:30am, Arsenal v. Liverpool – SN World
11:00am, Southampton v. Manchester United – SN World
3:00pm, Newcastle v. Aston Villa – SN World

Bundesliga
9:30am, Wolfsburg v. Hannover – GolTV
11:30am, Bayen Munich v. Stuttgart – GolTV

Serie A
12:00pm, Udinese v. Juventus – RAI
2:45pm, Internazionale v. Roma – RAI

La Liga’s Loss is Bundesliga’s Gain

Olivier Occean led the 2nd Division of the Bundesliga in scoring last season. Now he is playing in the top flight for newly-promote Frankfurt.

A couple of years ago I subscribed to GolTV to catch the final month of the La Liga season. Barcelona and Real Madrid battled right down to the wire for the title. I tuned into the Bundesliga to catch a couple matches. I was immediately a fan. Sure, FC Bayern won the title by a clear five points. However, I was immediately enthralled with the league. The football was exciting, with an average of 2.83 goals per game, the highest among the major leagues. The crowds were large, the largest in the world in fact. And anything could happen. Hertha BSC went from a European spot to last between 2008 and 2009. Germany became the only country in Europe without a team from its capital in the top division of its football pyramid. I quickly became a fan of Schalke 04, Bayern’s main competitor that season. My fandom of Schalke grew with their semifinal run in the Champions League the next season.

I watched a bit more Bundesliga the next season. Even with Schalke dropping to 14th, just four points clear of the relegation playoff. And then last season I watched almost a game every week. Even though GolTV isn’t available (to me at least) in HD I found it was a far superior league to my usual secondary league, Serie A. I was now subscribing to GolTV to see Bundesliga instead of El Classico. I still had a hard time getting into the league with only two games per week, out of a possible five, on TV.

This season, without La Liga, GolTV is showing all five possible GolTV games per week. The only other league that has ever received full coverage every weekend here is the Premier League.

For those interested in the Canadian men’s national team, three Canadian internationals play in the Bundesliga. They are Olivier Occean and Rob Friend (Frankfurt), and Marcel de Jong (Augsburg). The closest the Premier League comes to Canadian internationals are Junior Hoilett (who hasn’t played for Canada yet and could choose Jamaica instead); and Asmir Begovic and Jonathan de Guzman (both of whom rejected Canada for other countries). To my knowledge there are no Canadians playing in Serie A or La Liga.

So for those looking for something to fill the void of La Liga and/or Serie A, I’d highly suggest the Bundesliga. I know from a personal standpoint, I couldn’t be more happy that GolTV Canada has lost La Liga, and committed to Bundesliga for three years.

UEFA TV Schedule: August 29-31

The second legs of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League take place over the next three days. Coverage of the Champions League will air on Sportsnet, while the Europa League match between Liverpool and Hearts will air on theScore. There is also midweek football in Spain as Barcelona and Real Madrid play in the Super Cup. Here is the complete TV schedule.

Tuesday August 28
UEFA Champions League
2:45pm, Udinese v. Braga (1-1) – Sportsnet
2:45pm, Panathinaikos v. Malaga (0-2) – SN1
2:45pm, Anderlecht v. AEL Limassol (1-2) – SN World
2:45pm, Maribor v. Dynamo Zagreb (1-2) – SN World+
2:45pm, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona v. BATE (0-2) – SN World+

Wednesday August 29
UEFA Champions League
2:45pm, Lille v. Copenhagen (0-1) – SN1
2:45pm, Fenerbahce v. Spartak Moscow (1-2) – SN World
2:45pm, Dynamo Kyiv v. Monchengladbach (3-1) – SN World+
2:45pm, Cluj v. Basel (2-1) – SN World+
9:00pm, Celtic v. Helsingborg (2-0) – SN West

Spanish Super Cup
4:30pm, Real Madrid v. Barcelona (2-3) – GolTV

Thursday August 30
UEFA Europa League
3:00pm, Liverpool v. Hearts (1-0) – theScore

CBC, Sportsnet Combine to Show FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup

The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup begins this weekend in Japan. The tournament features the next generation of international women’s soccer stars. Expect some of the Canadian players to move on to the senior national team before the 2015 World Cup here in Canada. The Canadian team qualified by finishing 2nd in CONCACAF qualifying, losing to the United States in the final. Canada plays in Group D with North Korea, Norway and Argentina.

CBC will show all Canadian matches, as well as the final on tape delay. Sportsnet will re-broadcast Canadian matches in primetime. Sportsnet World will show 4 exclusive group stage matches. The TV schedule for the knockout stage is still to-be-confirmed.

Here is CBC’s press release, followed by the schedule after the break.

Sixteen under-20 women’s national teams are heading to Japan this month to stake their claim as the world’s best, and CBC has Canada covered with live broadcasts of all Team Canada games starting with the national team’s group play. Live coverage is available on CBC-TV and streaming live at cbcsports.ca.

CBC’s live coverage of Canada’s group play includes all three matches against their Group C opponents.

Andi Petrillo (@andipHNIC) hosts CBC’s coverage from the studio alongside analysts Nigel Reed (@Nigel_Reed) and former Canadian women’s national team member, Clare Rustad.

In addition to live streaming of each of team Canada’s matches on cbcsports.ca, Canadian fans can join the online conversation through Facebook and Twitter. Viewers can interact at facebook.com/cbcsports and by following @cbcsports and using the hashtag #CanFIFAU20.

All team Canada matches will be seen live on CBC-TV which concludes its FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup coverage with the Championship match on Saturday, September 8, 2012 . Check cbcsports.ca for up-to-date broadcast details.

This year marks Canada’s fifth participation at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The next FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will take place in Canada in 2014.

Breaking: Sportsnet World Launches New Soccer Central

This news has been brewing for some months now. Sportsnet and Fox Soccer are partnering to launch a new nightly soccer highlights program. To me., it seems this takes former Canadian soccer shows like Fox Soccer Report and Setanta Connected to a whole new level. Sportsnet will produce two versions of the show. Fox Soccer News will air at 10pm ET on Fox Soccer in America. Soccer Central will air at 11pm ET on Sportsnet World in Canada.

Brendon Dunlop will host the new show. Analysts will include former Fox Soccer Report analyst Bobby McMahon, Kara Lang, Colin Miller and Thomas Rongen.

Here is the press release.

Sportsnet, in partnership with FOX Soccer, today announced it will be launching Soccer Central, a new nightly one-hour soccer news show beginning Friday, Aug. 17 at 11 p.m. ET on Sportsnet World – on the eve prior to the start of the highly anticipated 2012-13 Barclays Premier League campaign.

Fuelling footy fans with news, highlights and analysis from the world’s best soccer leagues and events, Soccer Central will air every night at 11 p.m. ET on Sportsnet World, 365 days a year. Sportsnet will also produce Fox Soccer News, a separate edition of the one-hour soccer news program that will air nightly at 10 p.m. ET on FOX Soccer in the US.

“The launch of Soccer Central bolsters Sportsnet’s already robust portfolio of soccer programming and solidifies our commitment to delivering viewers premium soccer content,” said Scott Woodgate, Vice-President of News and Information Programming, Sportsnet. “We are thrilled to partner with Fox Soccer as we continue to serve as Canada’s premiere destination for soccer news, opinion and highlights.”

“With the increased resources we are devoting to Fox Soccer News, we look forward to the show reaching new heights as America’s nightly soccer destination,” said FOX Soccer Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager Dermot McQuarrie. “We’ve committed to make this show the one-stop shop for soccer news and highlights from home and around the globe.”

Brendan Dunlop –former co-host of The Footy Show on The Score and The Hardcore Footy Show on Hardcore Sports Radio on Sirius XM – will host Soccer Central, alongside a line-up of soccer’s top analysts including Thomas Rongen, former professional player and coach; Colin Miller, former captain of Canada’s men’s national soccer team; Kara Lang, former member of Canada’s women’s national soccer team; and Bobby McMahon, known for his analysis on the Fox Soccer Report.

In addition to covering the world’s best soccer competitions such as UEFA Champions League, Europa League and La Liga, Soccer Central will feature a bureau in London led by Paul Burland and Paul Belverstone filing daily reports on England’s most prominent clubs.

More information regarding new on-air personality additions for Soccer Central will be announced in the coming weeks

Where Will My Favourite Soccer League Air in 2012?

It’s a question soccer fans across the county have asked themselves all summer. As I reported in the spring, Canadian television contracts for the Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Europa League would all possibly change hands this summer. Turns out they all did. Sportsnet picked up rights to the Europa League back in the spring. It will air on Sportsnet World and Sportsnet One. The other three domestic leagues are still up in the air. More on that later. But, let’s start with what’s stayed the same. Here is a quick league-by-league rundown.

International Matches – Sportsnet owns rights to the vast majority of international friendlies and World Cup qualifiers, including all of Canada’s home qualifying matches. Canada’s away games must be purchased from another company. Sportsnet also owns rights to the home matches of Spain, Germany, Holland, France, Portugal, England, Croatia, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic. GolTV owns rights to some matches marketed by Kentaro. These could possibly include Austria, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Wales, Faroe Islands and Kazahkstan home matches, as well as some friendlies. GolTV Canada also owns rights to Brazil’s neutral site and home matches.

UEFA Champions League – Sportsnet is now in the first year of a new three year contract, but coverage remains largely unchanged. Sportsnet, Sportsnet World and Sportsnet One will continue to air 6 matches live each matchday during the group stage (1 Tuesday and 1 Wednesday on each channel). Other matches will air on tape-delay on Sportsnet World. All knockout stage matches will air live, with the final on Sportsnet (and Fox).

Europa League – Sportsnet is also the new exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the Europa League. Sportsnet One and Sportsnet World will each broadcast two matches each matchday. One will air at 1pm ET, with the other following at 3pm ET. Coverage begins with the group stage. I hope to have more information on Sportsnet’s Europa League coverage later this summer.

Premier League – The Premier League is entering the final year of its current three-year contract with Sportsnet. Coverage remains unchanged from last year. TSN2 will have a Saturday morning game. Sportsnet will have a doubleheader on Saturday morning/afternoon. Sportsnet World will show a 10am ET game on Saturday morning, plus all Sunday games. Weekday games will mostly air on TSN2 or Sportsnet World.

F.A. Cup – Sportsnet is entering a new contract with the Football Association to broadcast the FA Cup. The new deals is for six years. They can show up to 59 matches per year beginning with the 5th round proper. It is not clear is matches will only air on Sportsnet World (as in the past), or on the main Sportsnet channel as well. Again, I hope to have more information later in the summer.

Championship/League Cup – Contrary to unverified reports, Sportsnet still owns Canadian broadcast rights to the Football League package. This includes Championship, League Cup and Promotion Playoffs matches for Sportsnet World. Coverage will be similar to last season.

It seems that Sportsnet World has in fact lost rights to the Football League. Most likely to Bein Sports.

La Liga – Bein Sports (owned by the same company as Al Jazeera) owns Canadian rights to La Liga beginning this season. They currently have no channel to show them on here; however, VP of Programming Antonio Briceno said in June that they plan to show those matches here. There is a lot of speculation and mis-information about La Liga airing in Canada. Other than Bein Sports owning the rights, nothing has been confirmed a week from the start of the season.

Serie A – As far as I know, Serie A won’t be returning to theScore. It is likely that Bein Sports has picked up the rights to this league as well. Again, they currently have no channel to show matches on in Canada. It has also been reported in Italy that RAI might drop international rights to Serie A in Italian due to cost-cutting measures from the Italian government.

Ligue 1 – Bein Sports owns worldwide rights to Ligue 1. It falls under the same category as La Liga in that they have no channel to show it on in Canada. One match per week will air in French on TV5.

Note: As I said, there is a lot of misinformation, and speculation on where Bein’s matches will air in Canada. They could buy-in to a current channel, simply sub-license rights to the highest bidder, or even not show the matches at all. I do understand that, to some degree at least, the usual suspects for showing these leagues are interested in the rights. Whether a deal will get done before the La Liga and Serie A seasons kick off over the next couple of weeks, I don’t know. Once I know more about the situation, I will update.

Bundesliga – GolTV Canada still owns rights to the top league in Germany. They can air 2-3 matches per week, as with GolTV in America. GolTV is no longer using international feed commentary for these games. It is now their own commentators calling the matches off a monitor in Florida.

There are plenty of changes for soccer news shows as well. Fox Soccer Report is done. Analyst Bobby McMahon says Thursday will be the last show. So, fans of the show who get Euroworld Sport, tune-in while you still can.

On Fox Soccer in America, Fox Soccer Report is being replaced by a new highlights show produced by another Canadian network. Sportsnet is also launching a new soccer highlights show on Friday night. Put 2 and 2 together… The new show will originate from Toronto. Sportsnet is calling it Soccer Central, while Fox is using Fox Soccer News as the name (no idea which will be used on-air, maybe both). It will air at 11:00pm ET every night on Sportsnet World, with encores the next day at 1pm ET/MT/PT on the regional channels. With Thomas Dobby leaving theScore, I think it’s likely he will land here as the producer. I’ve also heard that Brendon Dunlop may leave theScore to join the show. Otherwise, Sportsnet personalities like Gerry Dobson, Craig Forrest and Kara Lang could appear. To be clear, I’m just speculating on this. Expect an official announcement sometime before the show launches Friday.

The Footy Show is back on theScore as well. The vodcast returns this week and will be on YouTube from Monday through Thursday. It will also air on theScore television on Mondays and Thursdays starting in September. James Sharman and Kristian Jack will continue to host.

Sportsnet is also launching a new series of overflow channels on Rogers Cable (channels 370 through 381). These will carry bonus live UEFA Europa League, UEFA Champions League and World Cup Qualifying matches live.

Thanks to Andy at CanadaSoccerTV for the tip on Sportsnet World’s new overflow channels. Check out his site for the latest soccer TV schedules.

CBC Sub-Licenses FIFA Soccer to Sportsnet

CBC and Sportsnet have a bit of history in teaming up to show international soccer. The two combined to broadcast last year’s Women’s World Cup from Germany. CBC has now signed a deal with Sportsnet that makes Sportsnet an official FIFA broadcast through 2014. Sportsnet is now the cable home to the upcoming 2012 Women’s U20, 2013 Confederations Cup, 2013 Men’s U20 World Cup, 2014 Women’s U20 (in Canada) and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Here is the press release.

CBC today announced an agreement with Sportsnet which will provide Canadians with an unprecedented level of coverage of upcoming international soccer events including the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.

The sub-licensing deal will see Sportsnet carry matches of the competitions for which CBC holds Canadian broadcast rights under its agreement with FIFA. These include the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Azerbaijan 2012, the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012, the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013, the FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013, the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013, the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2014, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilTM.

“This is an exciting arrangement which will ensure that Canadians are able to enjoy all of the action of ‘the beautiful game’ at its most prestigious level,” said Jeffrey Orridge, CBC’s Executive Director of Sports Properties. “CBC is committed to sharing the best in Canadian and international sporting events with viewers across the country, and this new agreement allows for broader coverage of these marquee FIFA tournaments.”

“Sportsnet is committed to providing fans with access to premium soccer content, and providing viewers with exceptional broadcast coverage,” said Scott Moore, President, Broadcast, Rogers Media. “We are thrilled to be part of bringing Canadians comprehensive coverage of the 2014 World Cup and other world-class FIFA events over the next three years.”

Under the agreement, Sportsnet officially becomes a licensed broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilTM.

This month, CBC connects Canadians to FIFA World Cup soccer as Team Canada’s first round of group play matches from the upcoming FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup from Japan will be broadcast live on the network. Complete broadcast details are available online with completed matches available on demand via cbcsports.ca. Sportsnet will also be broadcasting matches from FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, beginning August 20. Please visit Sportsnet.ca for broadcast schedule.