Relegation and the Football Media Wars

as an overseas supporter - and someone who blogs on english football from an international perspective - the medium by which i receive matches is all important, and is therefore more than just passing subject matter in my journey into - and literary assessments and pronouncements on - west bromwich albion the current state of the "beautiful game" in england. i won't wait until the last game to summarize the season... the baggies are going back to the championship and SETANTA has lost half its premier league schedule to SKYSPORTS; and very little is apt to change with the BBC online or otherwise. since these facts are pre-determined and inevitable, at this point, there is nothing that can be changed by the last day away to blackburn, except the number of wins, losses and draws chalked up on the season's record.

it has been 2 years now (hence, 2 seasons of football), where i have had a subscriptions to SETANTA SPORTS CANADA, as well as a "sports-pack" - which includes GOLTV, FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA, TSN and SPORTSNET. this is the optimum amount of international football that i can subscribe to through my current cable provider. a basic "no-frills" cable subscription gets you 2 or 3 live premier league games a week through SPORTSNET, but there are no repeats. likewise, there is 1 or 2 broadcasts of the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE matches on game-days; and again, there are few or no repeats. this includes independent, local italian and spanish language broadcasts of CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, as well. so the only way to comprehensively follow english football via cable TV in toronto is to have a subscription to SETANTA.

this year, there was no english football on FOX SPORTSWORLD; as opposed to last year when they broadcast half the FA CUP games, as well as a weekly premier league or championship game. for example, i remember getting up at 7.30 AM on one occasion to watch the "steel-city derby" at hillsborough won 2-1 by the wednesday, on FOX. at this point in time i had not seen sheffield wedneday play since their relegation from the premier league. just as i had realized that i had not seen an FA CUP game since the inception of the premier league. in fact, the last final i remember seeing (probably on TSN) is the wimbledon victory of 1988. after that - and with the formation of the premier league a few years later - the competition seems to have been relegated to the outer-limits of specialty cable sports broadcasting and its TV licensing agreements. i know, for example, that like last year i will be watching the final on SETANTA; but, i have no idea where it has been broadcast before that... i never saw the chelsea win of 2 years ago...

i started following english football at around the age of 11 through the newspaper box scores that appeared with the league tables in the monday morning paper, and my first exposure to the excitement of the game was a live radio broadcast of the liverpool/arsenal cup final in 1971. i have been a fan, in varying degrees - and as the communications media has afforded me - ever since.

i have been watching english football, here in canada (barring the week delayed CBC TV broadcasts of the FA CUP finals in the early 70s), ever since a fledgling, local independent TV station started broadcasting week old reruns of MATCH OF THE DAY in the early 1980s. this was also the last of the live FA CUP finals seen on broadcast (as opposed to cable) TV. After this, the FA CUP final disappeared completely. even the live broadcast on CBC radio had long gone, and the effects of cross-licensing derived from the creation of "specialty" channels on cable TV was felt very quickly and profoundly. i remember as recently as 1990, that i took it for granted that the FA CUP final would be live on CBC radio, tuning in only to find an early morning jazz show on the main network.

there is no doubt that the premiership - and most especially its use of television as a medium - has had the most profound effect on football, not only in england, but in the rest of the world, as well. FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA seems to have serie A as its centrepiece. the only thing that ever got my attenton on GOLTV was their bundesliga matches... la liga never really grabs my interest; south american football is pretty awful compared to what it used to be and i can't tune in with any interest wherever and whenever i see it. i watch the ligue 1 matches from france - even sometimes on the french language broadcast later on saturday afternoons. of course, there are two league matches on weekly offer from SENTANTA, one each on saturday and sunday respectively - and after the premier league broadcasts have finished. i like watching the french matches - but have no real emotional attachments like i do with english football.

i don't know what next year will bring - or how much or what kind of football i'll be seeing (never mind listening to) with SETANTA losing half its schedule to SKYSPORTS; and the BBC unlikely to change its policies in regards to the online streaming of radio broadcasts and their international restrictions. this year, the only thing that i know i can say that i really missed (as in "didn't see") was the Masters Indoor tournament and somewhere between 5-10 championship matches - which, was - without a doubt - the result of some TV licensing deal or lack thereof. As may have been the case with the League 2 playoff-final - which was listed as being broadcast "live" on SETANTA at 10.00 AM EST. surprisingly, this did not happen and SETANTA couldn't show the match here, except on 8 hour delay. i couldn't find out why this was, but when i tuned in for the live broadcast in the morning, they were showing super 14 rugby from new zealand!!!

this is pretty minor stuff compared with what we might be getting next year. all i know - and as far as the baggies are concerned - after sunday when i will watch their last game against blackburn on an 8 hour delay - and depending on what is being planned for SETANTA CANADA, it is more than likely that i will not see the albion play again until i make my pilgrimage to the hawthorns on my visit to england in september.