Why can't I watch the English Premier League on my computer in the US?
March 5, 2012 4:33 PM   Subscribe

Why doesn't the English Premier League (soccer/ football) offer a service similar to the NBA's League Pass or MLB's MLB.tv? Or does it? (I'm in the U.S.)

I'd really love to cut the cable TV cord (I'm in the US) and still have some English football in my life, and a service like League Pass or MLB.tv would be ideal in my book.

But I can't find it. Why is that?

And to be clear, I've found many dodgy live-stream sites, but I'd love something that's EPL-licensed, HD-quality, and I'm willing to pay for it. Given the huge overseas fanbase for the EPL, I'm sure others are, as well.

Is this another case of stupid legacy media contracts getting in the way? Am I missing something? Are there other options I'm not considering for seeing the EPL in the USA? Any guidance or links to commentary on the subject much appreciated.
posted by hwickline to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Foxsoccer.tv?
posted by josher71 at 4:52 PM on March 5, 2012


Foxsoccer2go carries (most) EPL, French Ligue 1, and at least some Serie A games, along with Champions League. I think they aren't allowed to carry the games that are on ESPN2. Games are available live, or are archived for 1-2 weeks. 1-3 games a week are only available for replay after 24 hours.

Quality is decent although there are some quirks - for some reason, the archived games have a tendency to start halfway through about 10% of the time for me. Still, I've been happy enough with it, although I'm not terribly sensitive to image quality so your mileage may vary.
posted by five toed sloth at 4:53 PM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


It's a bit an apples/oranges comparison: in American big-league sports, "the league" has significantly greater power as an entity than any professional football league, even though the Premier League has more power in negotiating league-wide TV contracts than, say, La Liga.

There are some legacy contracts, but the main reason is that the league prefers to split its offerings into separate packages -- a bit like the AFC/NFC/Sunday/Monday packages for the NFL -- to encourage broadcasters to compete on the packages within their budget, and those packages include streaming rights. In the US, that means Fox Soccer (which inherited Setanta's US rights) and ESPN, which shows its matches on ESPN3.

The rights are up for renegotiation this year, for deals starting with the 2013-4 season, but it doesn't look like the league is going to carve out an online space for a full-league pass, even though there were rumours in January that Apple might be interested in placing a bid.
posted by holgate at 5:00 PM on March 5, 2012


I routinely hook my iPad up to my TV to watch games. Have not had a problem with Fox Soccer this season. Last season, though, woooof.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:59 PM on March 5, 2012


Anything on ESPN is also available on ESPN3 - which you may have access to if your ISP is a partner with ESPN 3.
posted by COD at 7:55 PM on March 5, 2012


ESPN3 has a list of affiliated providers so you can see if yours is on the list.
posted by bookdragoness at 8:45 AM on March 6, 2012


Response by poster: Belated thanks to everyone who answered. I really appreciate it, and learned a lot. I'm thinking it's time to cut the cable cord, and Fox Soccer Net is what I was looking for. Thanks!
posted by hwickline at 7:43 AM on March 10, 2012


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