A few years ago, Fox Soccer Channel offered a cornucopia of live action from the top leagues in Europe and Latin America. My how times change. This morning, when I went to turn on the TV, I got...nothing? Yet at this very moment, Premiership and Bundesliga teams were in action on GolTV, which, as a New York City-based hostage subscriber to Jim Dolan's Time Warner Cable I can't get even if I were to pay extra for it (trust me, I've tried).
As I write this, GolTV is showing the Hamburg vs. Schalke clash live and in its entirety. Later, GolTV subscribers get the other top Bundesliga game of the day (Stuttgart-Bayern) and Spanish league action (Getafe vs. Barcelona and Valenci vs. Murcia). All live. Me? I get the replay of an FA Cup match between Leeds United and Hereford. Oh, and FSC just did a deal to broadcast the Friday night Major Indoor Soccer League game of the week!
Okay, okay so FSC is also showing Liverpool vs. Fulham live at noon and they have Serie A games as well. (You might also argue that it is not always in my best interests to watch soccer all day every day, at least if I want to maybe get a life at some point, but that's another issue altogether). And yes, if I want to break the law I can probably find a way to watch these and other games on my computer. But I would never do that. Too much work. Besides, the wireless connection I am stealing from my neighbor can't handle it anyway.
All, uh, joking aside I really do not understand why GolTV continues to not be an option for TWC subscribers in the Big Apple. I have on two occasions spoken to people at TWC about this and both times they assured me a move to add the channel was imminent. The last time was this summer and the guy told me it would be happening "within a few months." Yet here we are, almost six months later and unless I'm mistaken, there has been absolutely no news on the issue.
Oh well, what can you do? There are far greater injustices in this world. A decade ago, this would have been a luxury problem for any U.S.-based soccer fan. A few years before that the only way to get European soccer scores was to spend a fortune calling a friend over there or heading to the library to peruse foreign newspapers--three days after the games were played. Things sure have come a long way since then. But for NYC-based soccer fans, they are sadly heading back downhill. It doesn't need to be this way. Mr. Dolan: Tear down that wall! I want my GolTV!
Nov 10, 2007
I Want My GolTV!
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That's too bad. It's half-time in the Bundesliga as I write this and while I don't want to spoil results for you, it would indeed be worthwhile to have GolTV access at this moment. Something's happening.:-)
ReplyDeleteYou need to get Setanta Sports on DirecTV, DISH Network or ITVN. If you had it, you would have been able to watch Sunderland v Newcastle and Derby v West Ham.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
The Gaffer
http://www.epltalk.com
Mr. Dolan runs Cablevision, not Time Warner.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, you are right about Time Warner not offering GolTV. The only thing to do is get as many people as possible to write, call and email Time Warner asking for GolTV. Get your friends, family co-workers, the high soccer team to do it. That is our only hope.