Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly known as the Euro
2008, in both English and Spanish-language broadcasts starting on Saturday, June 7th.Sirius will air every match of the Euro 2008 with live play-by-play coverage of Switzerland v. Czech Republic at 12pm ET, followed by Portugal v. Turkey at 2:45pm ET.
Euro 2008 will take place in Austria and Switzerland from June 7th to June 29th. A total of 16 national teams - the two host nations and 14 other qualifiers - from around Europe participate in the tournament with the winner representing the UEFA at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Euro 2008 will feature Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
The Euro 2008 matches will air on Sirius' ESPN All Access (ch 121) throughout the tournament. On days when two matches are played simultaneously, the second match will air live on Sirius channel 125. Spanish-language broadcasts of Euro 2008 matches will be carried on ESPN Deportes Radio, (ch 181).
Soccer on the radio. Fascinating!
So we now know where Hugh "the cheaper the content the better" Panero has gone. I hired Nate to open a big can of WHOOP ASS on Hugh, between the daily beating and the office smelling of chicken wings Hugh didn't last very long at xm, seems he's using his his scary talent helping Mel with sirius's programming. Euro soccer on North American sat radio? WTF? This is NOT "the best radio on radio" Following xm's steller path of blue light special content on sat radio is NOT going cut it.
Lame Sirius... between this and the cook and bull "merge" aka MONOPOLY aka management cash grab plans the future looks bright with CHURN, IF CHURN can happen before both sat radio company's implode.
What are you talking about soccer is the world's biggest sport. I love watching the world cup, but I'm not a fan of watching MLS. I did enjoy the match between chelsea FC and Manchester United. This is a great addition all things considering. It's just another addition to a lineup of VARIETY. Satellite is for a wide range of people, if you don't like it, tough shit, there is still stuff you can listen to I'm sure. That's the point.
Ryan, this is America and we've already voted on soccer
"I love watching the world cup, but I'm not a fan of watching MLS." WATCHING or LISTENING?
This is crap programming aka a Panero for a corporation which claims its "the best radio on radio"
Before pooh-poohing Sirius' soccer offering, you might want to take a look at the ratings.
Sirius 125 is all soccer from 10am-3pm M-F (a replay of the previous days World Soccer Daily until 11, a replay of a game from 11-1 Eastern and then the live edition of World Soccer Daily until 3pm eastern... for the west coast, it's live WSD from 10am-noon then depending on the day, a replay of a game, rarely a live game, or the Football Show and a replay of WSD from 2pm).
And how did that channel do against other sports channels?
ESPN Radio (both services... likely to be little dual-sub effect here): 22700 AQH, 212200 Cume
NFL Radio: 9700 AQH, 88200 Cume
NASCAR Radio: 10700 AQH, 58100 Cume
Fox Sports Radio: 2600 AQH, 31700 Cume
ESPNEWS (both services): 1000 AQH, 30100 Cume
MLB Home Plate: 3800 AQH, 29400 Cume
Sirius 125: 1400 AQH, 10700 Cume
XM Sports Nation: 1000 AQH, 10500 Cume
Home Ice: 1300 AQH, 9100 Cume
PGA Tour Network: 400 AQH, 8000 Cume
Sirius Sports Central: 700 AQH, 6400 Cume
NBA Radio: 100 AQH, 500 Cume
Considering that all of the channels listed normally only feature sports talk/information during these (I doubt that many listen to the game replays, tbh), talking about soccer is bigger than talking about hockey, golf, or the NBA. And somehow, I don't think Sirius is paying anywhere near for soccer what XM is paying for hockey or golf or what Sirius is paying for the NBA. I'd be surprised if they're paying more than $2 mill a year for the Premier League, another million tops for the Champions League, maybe a million combined for Chelsea and Celtic, and probably less than half a million for Euro 2008... for background: 2 guys in their figurative garage (Steven Cohen and Nick Geber) were the previous holders of US radio rights to the Premier League.
Cohen and Geber are of course the owners of World Soccer Daily. In email conversations with Cohen, he's stated that, thanks to the plugging Sirius gets on their show (which is ten biggest sports podcasts in America), over 30 thousand Sirius subscribers signed up through the affiliate link on their site over the three years that it was active (until this past fall, when the affiliate arrangement was ended with a greater upfront payment for satellite rights to the show making up the difference). If those 30 thousand who signed up for soccer are anything to go by, then Sirius is getting roughly $3 million a year in subscriptions... soccer may be the only sport that's profitable on satellite radio.
What a great addition to the Sirius 125 lineup. Like the guy said Oprah, if you dont like it.. dont listen to it. Sirius 125 (known more recently as the soccer channel) has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. First broadcasting Premier League Matches 3 to 4 years ago.
Then 2 years ago beginning to broadcast Champions League Matches, .. adding onto that full coverage of Chelsea FC every league game, and then Celtic FC every league game.
Combine that with the daily talk show World Soccer Daily (who now by the way gets 250,000 downloads on itunes a day) and the Football show on wednesdays and you have a very formidable channel.
Euro 2008 is only going to kick the channel even further into high gear. Oprah said... duh a european sport in North America. What a stupid statement considering the fact this country has millions upon millions of people from EUROPE LIVING HERE.
Like it or not the sport of soccer is growing in this country and Sirius is jumping on that train big time.
Bla Bla Bla more WASTE of bandwidth and consumers subscription $
How is it a waste of bandwidth since these channels are already broadcasting daily anyway? Its only a waste if they add a new channel just for this. Get your facts straight and go back to the truth waste of bandwidth on Sirius, Howard Stern!
Nick hit it on the spot. Soccer is growing, whether you like it or not. I don't see what the big deal is for getting this considering they aren't adding a new channel to the rotation. Satellite Radio's biggest draw is being able to attract a wide variety of consumers and listeners. Obviously you don't like listening to the games Oprah, and quite frankly I will probably never tune into a soccer game ever on the radio, but I can still support this addition. You my friend are an idiot.
Joe you are a moron. Howard is one of the bigger draws Sirius has. I don't personally listen to him, but lots of people do. Go die in a fire with that comment. You can't deny the fact he attracts alot of subscribers.
As a gay American, I can proud to say that I listen to Howard and love it. Enough said. Peace Out