No Nfl On Espn For Thailand This Season!

[patsfangr]

It looks like we expat NFL fans are considered of no importance by ESPN. If you have Truevision, you should have received your September TV Schedule mag by now. And, if you're a real NFL fan, you should have already noticed that there are NO NFL GAMES scheduled for broadcast on ESPN! That means we'll be limited to a maximum of 2 games on the True Sports channels. Those would be the Sunday afternoon games. We get NO PRIME TIME GAMES here!

I don't know about you, but this really pisses me off! I have no idea whether protests will make any difference; but I intend to try, and hope that all of you will do the same.

I am not sure if this is something that Truevision decided, or if it's an ESPN International decision. I say that because somebody in another thread said that the ESPN channel carried on the Dream (Agila satellite) service from the Phillipines does have NFL games scheduled. Are there different ESPN feeds here in Asia? Does anybody have certain knowledge of this? If so, then we should complain to Truevision, and request that they switch to the feed that includes NFL games. If not, then the decision must have been made by ESPN International, and it is they who should feel our wrath!

I know that ESPN has lost the Monday Night Football contract in the USA to NBC. So I'm wondering if that could be the reason why they've dropped the games from international coverage. Perhaps it's not even a "choice" they made, but a legal/contractual issue. If that's the case, we're screwed. The only way we could get these games would be if Truevision had a deal with NBC, I would guess. Knowing how "quickly" things are done here in Thailand, that would probably take at least a couple of years to happen!

Since the NFL is literally my only sports interest, this situation really bums me out. It's exacerbated by the fact that I can't get a high speed internet line into my house, eliminating the option to go for streaming video via NFL.com's subscription service, which I'd do in a heartbeat, despite the cost. As it stands, I'm stuck with the poor quality radio feed (on my 40 kbps connection!) from NFL.com's "Field Pass" for my Patriots games. All in all, life sucks in Thailand for an NFL fan. (Not that the NFL is the only reason for that!)

Anybody with additional information and/or suggestions for action that will help us, please post it.

[mackayae]

NBC has Sunday Night Football. ESPN has MNF. Ch. 63 has 2 live Sunday afternoon games. Ch. 64 has the rebroadcast. No word on SNF and MNF from True. I have asked, but got no info.

[patsfangr]

I called Truevisions, and ran into a wall of ignorance. I tried at least 6 times to get the girl to understand that I KNOW that they broadcast American football; but that they ONLY have it scheduled on True Sport 3, with NONE on ESPN. She just kept telling me that I could find the schedule on the website. "I have the schedule. I got it in the mail. It doesn't show any NFL games on ESPN. Is that correct? Will there be any games on ESPN?" In reply: "Yes, we have American football. You can look up the schedule on the website." ... sigh!

So, I went to the website, and linked to the promo they have on their "new" sports channels. There I saw the name of their senior director of something or other. I also picked up their email address for customer service ([email protected]), and sent this note:

________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

ATTENTION - Please forward this message to Mr. Thiti Nantapatsiri.

Dear Mr. Nantapatsiri,

I am an American citizen, now living in Thailand with my Thai wife, Suwanna. We moved here in April of 2006, following my retirement.

My primary form of enjoyment, both now, and when I was in the USA, is watching the NFL -American professional football. I can assure you that this sport is the MOST POPULAR SPORT in the United States. While it is true that many people enjoy baseball and basketball, American football is the most popular sport in my country. If you can check the TV viewing ratings in the USA, you would see that this is true.

Last year, UBC showed 2 games per week on SuperSport; AND 2 games per week on ESPN. The SuperSport games were those played on Sunday afternoons in the USA. The ESPN games were those played on Sunday and Monday nights in the USA.

This year, according to my September Truevisions schedule, Truevisions will be broadcasting only TWO games per week, both on True Sport 3. These are the games played on Sunday afternoon in the USA. There are NO (prime time) night games scheduled for broadcast on ESPN, or any other Truevisions sports channel.

I, and most other Americans living here in Thailand, am VERY disappointed in this reduction in coverage of our favorite sport! Truevisions broadcasts soccer nearly 24 hours a day, often on 2 or 3 channels at the same time. Why are you so disrespectful to American sports fans?

I request that you take whatever action necessary to provide broadcast the NFL games that are played at night in the USA. These would be shown early on Monday and Tuesday mornings here.

Please reply to my request, and be certain that I, and all Americans in Thailand, will appreciate your efforts to give back the coverage you provided for us last year.

________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

All of you who are going to miss those primetime NFL games as much as I will, please take a couple of minutes to also send a note to them at the email address I gave. It may not help at all, but it's the ONLY chance we've got of getting back our NFL night games.

[Simmo]

What's the bet these angry expat farang emails get forwarded around the TRUE offices for a laugh

If you want to watch your national sport that noone cares about outside it's borders .. .. simple answer ... go home..

[patsfangr]

What's the bet these angry expat farang emails get forwarded around the TRUE offices for a laugh

If you want to watch your national sport that noone cares about outside it's borders .. .. simple answer ... go home..

Thank you for your typical anti-American courtesy and understanding.

If the USA had the same attitude about everything within your borders, and worried only about everything within ours, we'd be a lot happier, and a lot richer; and you'd be subjects of some dictator.

[mackayae]

What's the bet these angry expat farang emails get forwarded around the TRUE offices for a laugh

If you want to watch your national sport that noone cares about outside it's borders .. .. simple answer ... go home..

Gee, thanks. I can tell you're a real swell guy.

[Netfan]

What's the bet these angry expat farang emails get forwarded around the TRUE offices for a laugh

If you want to watch your national sport that noone cares about outside it's borders .. .. simple answer ... go home..

Moron. I'm sure that avatar is an accurate depiction of you. We (Americans) could slag your little sissy soccer players who fall and cry every time another player looks at them like they want to date them, or your sweet cricket boys with their cute white cream and lovely hats who take break for TEA ( ), or all of your boxing champions. But we don't. Usually.

[Jimjim]

Careful, Netsfan, a lot of Americans these days like soccer too. And the English are far from the biggest divers.

Patsfangr, why a second thread about this? I'd like to respond here, again, but differently. As for ESPN in Philippines, if you do some research (look at this link), you'll find it's still ESPN Asia, but they do "13 customized feeds" to 25 different countries. It appears they have a different one for Philippines than they do from Southeast Asia, as viewers in Philippines are unique and not soccer fanatics at all.

[Thaigreg]

What's the bet these angry expat farang emails get forwarded around the TRUE offices for a laugh

If you want to watch your national sport that noone cares about outside it's borders .. .. simple answer ... go home..

Moron. I'm sure that avatar is an accurate depiction of you. We (Americans) could slag your little sissy soccer players who fall and cry every time another player looks at them like they want to date them, or your sweet cricket boys with their cute white cream and lovely hats who take break for TEA ( ), or all of your boxing champions. But we don't. Usually.

Last season I was able to receive ESPN from South Africa (Multichoice), which was broadcasted directly from the states. I was able to watch both Sunday & Monday night games and some Thursday Night games. I can no longer receive this because the card sharing server no longer exist for mu satellite receivers. If you have a satellite system and broadband internet, you can receive the Mutlichoice channel with a Dreambox receiver.

I just checked the Multichoice listings (http://www.mnet.co.za/) on ESPN and they will be showing Saints vs Colts on 7 Sept ( 6 Sept in the US). Their listings currently don't go beyond 7 Sep, so I can't verify the showing of the Mon & Sun games.

[sbk]

already covered here

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