<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/directv-storm2.jpg" alt="directv-storm2.jpg" vspace="15" hspace="15"></figure></div>
Sometimes readers ask me why I don’t have DirecTV or DISH Network. One of the main reasons why was on display today, and it’s definitely one of the pitfalls of watching soccer on satellite television.The culprit is the weather in South Florida. During the summer here, you can almost guarantee that by 2pm that the major thunderstorms will roll in and the rain comes pouring down. When that happens, you lose the satellite signal and you have to wait for the storm to pass before the TV programming returns. Sometimes that can be 20 minutes or more.
When your satellite signal is at the mercy of the weather, there’s no telling when it’ll ruin your soccer watching experience. This is exactly what happened today. Watching the Russia against Holland quarter-final in a local pub, the DirecTV signal was lost two to three times during the match, leaving us with blank screens for several minutes during the match.
The worst part of this is that we missed a key moment in the match near the end of the 90 minutes. When we frustratingly lost the DirecTV signal around the 80th minute mark, several of the pub patrons pulled out their Blackberry’s to give us updates on the game as we waited for the ABC signal to return. One of the customers yelped that Ruud van Nistelrooy just scored an equalizer. It’s one thing to see the goal in person, but when you hear someone blurt it out after reading it on a Blackberry, it pissed me off because I wasn’t able to see it on TV.
Hurricane season in Florida is from June 1st to November 30. So for six months out of the year, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to watch your soccer matches when you want to.
Cable is definitely the better option but Setanta Sports isn’t available on Comcast. Unless a major announcement will be made this summer, I may sign up for Setanta Broadband instead.

The Pitfalls Of Watching Soccer On Satellite TV

The Pitfalls Of Watching Soccer On Satellite TV - World Soccer Talk

If you happen to notice a sense of relief coming from ESPN in the last few days, there is a reason for it.&nbsp; It’s because, while they are not coming in World Cup numbers, viewers are tuning in to the network’s broadcasts of Euro 2008.
<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/espn-logo.gif" alt="espn-logo.gif"></figure></div>
ESPN announced today that, for the 15 Euro 2008 matches shown on ESPN2 through Tuesday, June 17th, the average rating for the tournament is .5, with 521,000 homes tuning in and 655,000 viewers.&nbsp; Compared to the network average for the same time block (Noon to 5PM eastern) in 2007, this represents a 64% increase in households tuned in to ESPN2 (2007 average of 318,000 homes), a 67% increase in rating, and an 81% increase in viewers (2007 average of 362,000 viewers).&nbsp; The most watched match of the tournament on ESPN2 was this past Saturday between Sweden and Spain.&nbsp; The match netted a .9 rating from 831,000 homes and 1.01 million viewers.
In addition to ESPN2, the Spanish-language broadcasts on ESPN Deportes have been averaging an additional 74,000 Hispanic homes per match.&nbsp; This puts the combined household average of ESPN2 and Deportes for each match at just shy of 600,000 homes.&nbsp; Interestingly, the most watched match on Deportes so far is the opening-day broadcast of Portugal v Turkey, seen in 123,000 Hispanic homes.
Along with the viewership on TV, ESPN is also getting more eyeballs online.&nbsp; ESPN’s Soccernet website has averaged over 1 million daily visits during the tournament, an 82 percent increase over the same period during Euro 2004.&nbsp; The tournament is also contributing to ESPN360’s most watched month online since it’s relaunch in September of last year.
With increased viewership being seen on cable, ESPN will now be hoping for a successful jump to broadcast TV with the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal this Saturday and the final next Sunday on ABC.&nbsp; But for now, programmers will be breathing a little easier at the worldwide leader in sports.

ESPN2 Sees 64% Increase in Households For Euro &#039;08 Over Network Average

ESPN2 Sees 64% Increase in Households For Euro &#039;08 Over Network Average - World Soccer Talk

ESPN2 Sees 64% Increase in Households For Euro '08 Over Network Average

Latest news from ABC. Find out about all the news related to ABC on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "ABC - Page 2"

News

The Pitfalls Of Watching Soccer On Satellite TV

News

ESPN2 Sees 64% Increase in Households For Euro '08 Over Network Average