| Fox Soccer | |
|---|---|
| Launched | November 1, 1997 |
| Owned by | Fox Entertainment Group (News Corporation) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Slogan | Live It Here |
| Formerly called | Fox Sports World (1997-2005) Fox Soccer Channel (2005-2011) |
| Sister channel(s) | Fox Soccer Plus |
| Website | FoxSoccer.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 619 (SD/HD) |
| Dish Network | 406 (SD/HD) |
| Cable | |
| Available on select cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
| Verizon FiOS | 84 (SD) 584 (HD) |
| IPTV | |
| AT&T U-verse | 654 (SD) 1654 (HD) |
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel) is an American television specialty channel, owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group, that specializes in soccer. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian rules football, but is now dedicated strictly to soccer. Launched on November 1, 1997, when it was originally known as Fox Sports World, the channel took its current name in 2005, later dropping the word "channel" from its name on August 13, 2011. In 2006, all non-soccer programming (other than Sky Sports News - see below) was dropped.
Contents |
The channel focuses on soccer throughout the world. Among the countries whose matches it currently televises:
In the past, Fox Soccer also aired the following:
Fox Soccer HD is a 720p high definition simulcast of Fox Soccer that launched in January 2010. On February 10, 2010, Fox Soccer HD became available on Dish Network.[3] DirecTV added it on August 11, 2010.[4] Verizon FIOS added Fox Soccer HD on April 14, 2011.[5] Comcast started rolling out Fox Soccer HD in June, 2011 but to only a very few selected markets.[6]
Fox Soccer picks up the feed from its corporate cousin, Sky Sports News in the United Kingdom. In 2007, Fox Soccer began running the feed live at 2 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. Eastern Time (the 7 p.m. edition moved to Fox Soccer Plus effective September 2010). This arrangement dates back to its days as Fox Sports World, and offers updated soccer news throughout the day (along with coverage of other international sports such as rugby, cricket and British horse racing.)
During the international off-season from May–August 2010 the 2am simulcast of the 7am GMT hour was replaced with a tape-delayed broadcast of Sky News at Ten from SSN & Fox Soccer sister network Sky News, which features a comprehensive recap of the day in sports; likely this was due to 2010 World Cup highlights exclusivity by American rightsholder ESPN, in addition to Sky Sports News converting their operations to high definition. The 2am simulcast of Sky Sports News was restored in August 2010 with the start of the European season.
Fox Soccer's flagship studio program is the Fox Soccer Report, anchored by Derek Taylor, Michelle Lissel, and Eoin O'Callaghan. The show is produced by Fox Sports World Canada, a Canadian international sports network owned by Shaw Media. The show was formerly called Global Sportslink as well as the Fox Sports World Report, which also featured occasional news and highlights of Formula One, Rugby, and other sports prior to the format change. It airs nightly at 10 p.m. Eastern (or after a live prime-time match- though highlights of that game are not included because the show is taped), with a few re-airs overnight and during the morning.
Fox Soccer offers its own game programming for United States soccer leagues through arrangements with outside production companies. Its primary broadcasting team for Major League Soccer, Women's Professional Soccer, the U.S. national soccer teams (men's and women's), and CONCACAF Champions League, consists of play-by-play announcer JP Dellacamera or Mark Rogondino, and color commentator Kyle Martino, with Brian Dunseth, Christian Miles, or Steve Bell as sideline reporters, and Eric Wynalda hosting the studio shows. Wynalda is joined by Christopher Sullivan. Dunseth usually serves as the second color commentator if Fox Soccer has several men's matches in a given week, while Jenn Hildreth fills this role for women's matches.
Most of Fox Soccer's coverage which originates outside the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America, Caribbean) consists of picking up international broadcast feeds to which Fox Soccer has the U.S. broadcast rights. For example, the Argentine League matches and highlights are voiced by Fox Soccer announcers from the channel's studio (having originally been produced in Spanish by Fox Sports International and Torneos y Competencias). The A-League broadcasts are produced by Fox Sports' Australian-unit. The English coverage generally comes to Fox Soccer direct from TWI and Input Media, who produce the Premier League and FA Cup/England national team world feed broadcasts, respectively.
The network's soccer coverage is not limited to game play; Fox Soccer airs reruns of Dream Team, a British soap opera that aired in the UK on Fox Soccer's corporate cousin Sky One until 2007 and focused on a fictional Premiership team. The channel also televises a live soccer talk-show, Fox Football Fone-in, featuring viewer calls and predictions for that weekend's Premier League matches. During the Premier League term, Fox Soccer also produces and airs a couple of studio-based shows surrounding its game coverage.[7]
In 2006, Fox Soccer announced that they had dropped coverage of other sports other than soccer. Amongst the leagues dropped were Super 14 rugby union, the Australian Football League (the principal Australian rules football league), and the Australian National Rugby League. The Super 14 games resided on Setanta Sports USA until it went off the air in early 2010, while ESPN offers the AFL. In return, Setanta gave Fox Soccer the rights to some national team matches that would not otherwise air live. After Setanta's demise in the US, News Corporation acquired most of Setanta USA's former rights and created the new Fox Soccer Plus as a second broadcast outlet.
Fox Sports World originally filled out its schedule with an eclectic mix of programming; among the sports featured (either in anthology form or actual events) were motorsports (prior to News Corporation's acquisition of SPEED), cricket, pool, darts, and extreme sports. It also aired the Final Four of the Euroleague in basketball; that league is now more extensively covered by NBA TV.
However, Fox Soccer has not yet filled out its day with sports programming; the morning hours are usually filled with infomercials as well as the random half-hour in between games on some days.
Since its relaunch in 2007, the channel has had various well-known people in and out of the soccer world do promos. The first of these aired on the Fox network pregame show for Super Bowl XXXIX. It featured Freddy Adu, Clint Mathis and Mia Hamm giving the channel's slogan: "Your world, your life, your game." Since then, other celebrities have popped up doing Fox Soccer promos including David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Jon Stewart, Kobe Bryant, Simon LeBon and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, Andrew Fletcher and Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, Ziggy Marley and even Paris Hilton. Two additional spots featured Eddie Pope and Chris Albright of the U.S. national team, but they were no longer aired after the conclusion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Ethan Zohn, winner of Survivor: Africa in 2001, hosted FC Fox, a show mostly focused on youth soccer which debuted in 2006 and aired for less than a year. The show has now been retitled and is generally done with voice-over narration.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||