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Yesterday we posted the following: There are a couple of interesting TV notes surrounding US soccer this week. The most significant is the announcement that the English rights to the USA/Mexico World Cup qualifier belong to……Telemundo. According to Mr. Goff, Telemundo will show the game in Spanish on its main channel and in English on “mun2″ a station available in only 30 million households. Telemundo is owned by NBC. According to Goff, ESPN attmpted to purchase the game from Telemundo, but the rights were not for sale. Given the strange start time (4:00 p.m. ET) for the midweek game, the match will likely not be a ratings dynamo. Yet, the lack of availability in English will dramatically impact the ability of the work crowd to catch the game at a bar and of the college/school crowd to watch the game at home. This is the biggest World Cup qualifier in years, and Telemundo’s power play will likely deny millions of American sports fans the opportunity to watch the game. In the last 24 hours, the issue has generated a substantial amount of publicity.
Here is another post from Match Fit USA on the issue.
There is an online petition circulating in order to convince Telemundo and its parent NBC to move the game to a more traditional english langugage network. Go here to participate. The American run in the Confederations Cup generated a substantial amount of interest in American soccer and there is no bigger US soccer event than then a World Cup Qualifier against Mexico. Given that confluence of factors, it is a shame that the game will not be on traditional US TV. While the benefit of online petitions is dubious, we recommend that you participate.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
