World Cup On Tv

[scotsman]

You have to buy a satellite system from jsat or dynasat to get this have a look on the web page jsat.tv or dynasat.com. but is it worth it just for the english sound.

[rainman]

This is f**king <deleted>!!!

UBC are a bunch of tossers, they can have my rented equipment back in a thousand pieces.

I hope someone can find an English video stream.

Does anyone know which bars in BKK will be showing live England games with English comentary?

lets all get a few things straight. while i'm a little dissapointed not to hear english soundtrack on the world cup coverage, its not really something that bothers me too much. english is not my native language, but i've been speaking it for more years of my life than my native language. i would prefer listening english to thai, but i'm not wrecking my UBC equipment into a thousand pieces over it.

while english is a major world language, its not the only language and its certainly not the official language of thailand. if you're a french living in the UK, you can't expect french commentary on british channels. if you're a belgian in china, you can't expect belgian commentary, so on. you're in thailand, they're giving you full coverage of the world cup, but just in their language.

please respect that other countries have other languages. if you want to listen to it in english, just get a ticket and go to a country broadcasting it in english, problem solved. but don't whine when you find out not every country in the world is english-speaking.

[mcfester]

This is f**king <deleted>!!!

UBC are a bunch of tossers, they can have my rented equipment back in a thousand pieces.

I hope someone can find an English video stream.

Does anyone know which bars in BKK will be showing live England games with English comentary?

lets all get a few things straight. while i'm a little dissapointed not to hear english soundtrack on the world cup coverage, its not really something that bothers me too much. english is not my native language, but i've been speaking it for more years of my life than my native language. i would prefer listening english to thai, but i'm not wrecking my UBC equipment into a thousand pieces over it.

while english is a major world language, its not the only language and its certainly not the official language of thailand. if you're a french living in the UK, you can't expect french commentary on british channels. if you're a belgian in china, you can't expect belgian commentary, so on. you're in thailand, they're giving you full coverage of the world cup, but just in their language.

please respect that other countries have other languages. if you want to listen to it in english, just get a ticket and go to a country broadcasting it in english, problem solved. but don't whine when you find out not every country in the world is english-speaking.

Full coverage, where? Its should be on now but all I see is the King recieving gifts.

[wazza69]

Hi guys and gals.

The Sun newspaper on-line edition is doing live audio streaming of all the games. Go to the folowing link to get the audio:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006260665,00.html

I couldn't find a video stream, but I'll keep looking. Missed half the first half of Englands game with the Thai celebrations for the king and then lost some more with the rain.

Peace!

[Sunderland]

This is f**king <deleted>!!!

UBC are a bunch of tossers, they can have my rented equipment back in a thousand pieces.

I hope someone can find an English video stream.

Does anyone know which bars in BKK will be showing live England games with English comentary?

lets all get a few things straight. while i'm a little dissapointed not to hear english soundtrack on the world cup coverage, its not really something that bothers me too much. english is not my native language, but i've been speaking it for more years of my life than my native language. i would prefer listening english to thai, but i'm not wrecking my UBC equipment into a thousand pieces over it.

while english is a major world language, its not the only language and its certainly not the official language of thailand. if you're a french living in the UK, you can't expect french commentary on british channels. if you're a belgian in china, you can't expect belgian commentary, so on. you're in thailand, they're giving you full coverage of the world cup, but just in their language.

please respect that other countries have other languages. if you want to listen to it in english, just get a ticket and go to a country broadcasting it in english, problem solved. but don't whine when you find out not every country in the world is english-speaking.

Good post. I concur. As frustrating as it is, I am in Thailand, not England. I have NEVER seen the World Cup in England with anything other than English commentary. I am sure you'd be hard pressed to find an English commentary on mainstream French channels, Italian channels, Spanish channels, etc. So I don't really understand the complaints. Thailand isn't the only country that caters to tourists and I am sure the others are not all bending over backwards to provide commentaries in a multitude of foreign languages.

Enjoy the World Cup ... you're watching the same game as everyone around the world after all.

[jackr]

This is f**king <deleted>!!!

UBC are a bunch of tossers, they can have my rented equipment back in a thousand pieces.

I hope someone can find an English video stream.

Does anyone know which bars in BKK will be showing live England games with English comentary?

while english is a major world language, its not the only language and its certainly not the official language of thailand.

English is the world and business language mate.

While I have no gripe whatsoever with the Thais not having English commentary on their terrestrial channels, UBC should do so for their customers... <deleted> state of affairs.

[Backpack_thailand]

In UK I bet you could find a Muslim language feed from somewhere and also Hindu/Irdu etc. etc.

With respect, the Thai media community know there is a MASSIVE expat community plus all the tourists. Even if they charged a pay-per-view fee we would all pay it...!!!

Missed a trick there UBC...!!!

[dantilley]

This is f**king <deleted>!!!

UBC are a bunch of tossers, they can have my rented equipment back in a thousand pieces.

I hope someone can find an English video stream.

Does anyone know which bars in BKK will be showing live England games with English comentary?

lets all get a few things straight. while i'm a little dissapointed not to hear english soundtrack on the world cup coverage, its not really something that bothers me too much. english is not my native language, but i've been speaking it for more years of my life than my native language. i would prefer listening english to thai, but i'm not wrecking my UBC equipment into a thousand pieces over it.

while english is a major world language, its not the only language and its certainly not the official language of thailand. if you're a french living in the UK, you can't expect french commentary on british channels. if you're a belgian in china, you can't expect belgian commentary, so on. you're in thailand, they're giving you full coverage of the world cup, but just in their language.

please respect that other countries have other languages. if you want to listen to it in english, just get a ticket and go to a country broadcasting it in english, problem solved. but don't whine when you find out not every country in the world is english-speaking.

Good post. I concur. As frustrating as it is, I am in Thailand, not England. I have NEVER seen the World Cup in England with anything other than English commentary. I am sure you'd be hard pressed to find an English commentary on mainstream French channels, Italian channels, Spanish channels, etc. So I don't really understand the complaints. Thailand isn't the only country that caters to tourists and I am sure the others are not all bending over backwards to provide commentaries in a multitude of foreign languages.

Enjoy the World Cup ... you're watching the same game as everyone around the world after all.

It's not really an appropriate comparison for hearing Belgian commentary in China, French in the UK, etc. as there's no way they'd do that; because then they be obliged to provide Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch and all other major languages too. Similarly, you won't find football commentary in French, Spanish, German, etc. in Thailand because then you'd have to provide for the other dozens of nationalities' native languages also.

However, with English you have the ability to reach all the non-Thai people in Thailand because whether you're French, German, Swedish, Icelandic, Japanese or Indian you will, 99.9% of the time, also speak English. I've never met one expat in Thailand who couldn't speak English, so you can please everyone by just broadcasting in this one alternative language, rather than the headache of trying to do this in a European country where a foreigner could be fluent in any one of maybe a dozen or so languages.

Moreover, Thai TV and UBC already has a multi-lingual option for the exact purpose of being able to switch over to English (again, there's no need to also have further language options as they know that anyone who's not Thai will be able to understand English), so it would therefore be very easy to simply pipe through the English language which can be accessed by pressing the I/II button on the remote. It strikes me as a very strange and frustrating decision for them not to do this.

Edited June 11, 2006 by dantilley

[rainman]

like i said, its dissapointing, but its just the way it is. thailand speaks thai, not english.

[Axel]

I am a bit amused about this discussion. What for do we need a commentator? We all can see on TV what happened.

When we don't know what happened, a commentator might explain the he neither can understand the referee's decision. Great. Even better, he might comment that there just was a goal, perhaps as beautiful as the one Maradoona shot in 19...., err must have been before my time.

Come on, enjoy the game and discuss with friends, much more fun than to listen to some moron who might have not half the knowledge of yourself but get's paid for his wrong comments.

[Sing_Sling]

I am a bit amused about this discussion. What for do we need a commentator? We all can see on TV what happened.

When we don't know what happened, a commentator might explain the he neither can understand the referee's decision. Great. Even better, he might comment that there just was a goal, perhaps as beautiful as the one Maradoona shot in 19...., err must have been before my time.

Come on, enjoy the game and discuss with friends, much more fun than to listen to some moron who might have not half the knowledge of yourself but get's paid for his wrong comments.

[Ned]

And to rub sand in,it looks like the first half hour of every 8pm game will not be shown till at least the end of this coming week. WHere in Chiang Mai can I watch Aus v Japan tomorrow? ...the full 90 minutes that is. Please, somebody help!

[Plus]

There will be Mexico against Iran in about two minutes. Two teams I know nothing about, so I'd appreciate an English commentary.

It's that cheap Chang - sponsors of WC broadcast in Thailand. Big thank you to them.

They paid 250 mil for their rights. Do you think we, farangs can outbid that? It's about 500 baht from each UBC subcriber. Most of them are Thai and won't pay for what they get free.

[Mobi]

There will be Mexico against Iran in about two minutes. Two teams I know nothing about, so I'd appreciate an English commentary.

It's that cheap Chang - sponsors of WC broadcast in Thailand. Big thank you to them.

They paid 250 mil for their rights. Do you think we, farangs can outbid that? It's about 500 baht from each UBC subcriber. Most of them are Thai and won't pay for what they get free.

Precisely, that's why UBC weren't interested in outbidding Chang. Although they are pissing off all the farang subsribers, they don't really care, because even if they lose a few subscribers, most of their business comes from Thais. They also have a LEGAL monopoly on cable/satellite TV so they know that for most farang cutomers, they have no where else to go. It aint pretty, but that's the way it is, I'm afraid.

Ive' been trying the Sun radio lnk -it works!!!, and sound quality is good. Not very good commnetary but at least it's in English and you can a bit more background info. The only problem is that it's about 30 seconds behind the TV picture.

But I've got a cunning plan

I have a DVD recorder, with a facility to "chase the programme" This means I can start recording, and after 30 seconds I can watch the DVD as it records - with a 30 second delay. I'll experiment tomorrrow - might work, you never know.

I'll beat the bastards yet.

[Backpack_thailand]

like i said, its dissapointing, but its just the way it is. thailand speaks thai, not english.

Agree - to a certain extent!

However, it's not like we're moaning about something which is impossible, there is precedent. Any other time during the year we can switch language if watching Thai TV through UBC. Not only for sport but also foreign movies etc.

I just don't understand why we don't get it for the tournaments (Euro's, WC). If it's soooo expensive why do we get it for "ordinary" games???

T.I.T

[Plus]

Ordinary games - Premier League, Serie A, La Liga - UBC buys them off ESPN, for example, and they are not expensive comparing to World Cup.

ESPN broadcasts games in the region where English is widely spoken - Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines. Beer Chang's Dosapak bought the rigths for Thailand only.

Sun commentary is ok for background information on teams and players, but you can't follow the game with such a big time delay. Though you can take pride in that you know what's going to happen while chat about half a minute ago developments. Two late Mexican goals were precious as they came out of nothing.

[Mobi]

like i said, its dissapointing, but its just the way it is. thailand speaks thai, not english.

Agree - to a certain extent!

However, it's not like we're moaning about something which is impossible, there is precedent. Any other time during the year we can switch language if watching Thai TV through UBC. Not only for sport but also foreign movies etc.

I just don't understand why we don't get it for the tournaments (Euro's, WC). If it's soooo expensive why do we get it for "ordinary" games???T.I.T

I will try to explain.

Let's take the premiership games, for example. Sky TV in the Uk has the rights to to the premiership, and they also have the rights to sell their transmission to Asia. UBC buys the the rights from ESPN/STAR, who either have done a deal with Sky, or Star (which is Murdoch company anyway) or was included in the original rights deal. Either way it doesn't matter. The main point is, that the games already contain the Sky English language commentary, so no problem to transmit it along with the picture.

Now let's take Wimbledon tennis. This is an interesting one, and will help you see what's going on. I think you will find that ESPN do a deal with wimbledon authorities (or maybe the tennis authorities) to get live TV pictures. But the deal does not include any commentary, because Wimbledon, through the BBC, sell the TV relay all over the world, and individual countries bring in their own commentary team - American. English, French etc. There is only one set of cameras. Now ESPN, for the past few years, has paid to use the BBC commentary team in the early rounds, but when it gets to about the 4th round, they use their own people. (Vijay Armitraj and an English guy). the reason for this is that the BBC fees go up as the rounds progress, and ESPN do not want to pay the price. It is cheaper for them to use their own people. I am told that in the past there was no commentary at all for ther later rounds, as ESPN wouldn't pay for it. Got it so far?

Now we come to the World Cup. Same as Wimbledon - only one set of cameras, one set of TV pictures for the whole world. Each country, if they pay FIFA, can bring in their own commentary team and relay it back to their country. BBC and ITV for England, ABC or whoever for the USA, and so on.

The guy from Chang just bought the TV rights. There is no commentary that goes with the rights. If he wants English commentary, he has to do a seperate deal with BBC or another national broadcaster to buy a feed from them. But why shgould he do that - it is obviously quite expensive (witness ESPN and Wimbledon), and 99 percent of his audience are Thai.

It has absolutely nothing to do with UBC, because they don't have the tv rights and and have no way to negotiate any sound rights. Ok maybe they could get the Chang guy to negotiate on their behalf, but even though I have no love for UBC, it is patently ridiculous to expect them to pay for sound rights when they don't even have the TV rights, and are unable to advertise etc etc.

So to summarise, the FIFA rights do not come with a commentary, whereas most football matches do, because the rights for Thailand are usually bought from a national and/or a commercial broadcaster not a world sporting body.

I hope that clarifies the situation, and if I am wrong on any of the above, some expert is welcome to correct me.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Mobi D'Ark

[dantilley]

Well, I think that just about sums it up then - thanks for the insight!

[Backpack_thailand]

So to summarise, the FIFA rights do not come with a commentary, whereas most football matches do, because the rights for Thailand are usually bought from a national and/or a commercial broadcaster not a world sporting body.

I hope that clarifies the situation, and if I am wrong on any of the above, some expert is welcome to correct me.

Good post Mobi, I understand 100%.

However it goes back to my point, why couldn't UBC, or even Thai TV for that matter, employ two English commentators on a pay-per-view basis, even on a game-by-game basis. They would have made a fortune with the number of expats/tourists here!

There's certainly enough English journos in the region who could set up in a booth and describe the games.

Missed a trick UBC. With True taking over they had a real chance to impress there customers!

The Thai commentary is annoying, and even though I speak good Thai it just comes across as two Thai geezers having a chat with the inconvenience of a footbal match in the background...!!!

[Backpack_thailand]

Just been watching Thaksin give a really good speach honouring the King's 60th Anniversary in front of other world leaders....

...in ENGLISH!

Anyone else see the irony here...???

Edited June 12, 2006 by Backpack_thailand

[OneeyedJohn]

Perfect irony or ironic perfection,,,,f%%cked if I know

[Sunderland]

How do we turn off the commentary and maintain the stadium atmosphere. English commentators get on my nerves ...

[agsnowdon]

How do we turn off the commentary and maintain the stadium atmosphere. English commentators get on my nerves ...

Depends on how your watching the game!

[tourleadersi]

Well, I think that just about sums it up then - thanks for the insight!

What a monster posting mate, 10 pages and still going strong!

Saturday night? There's a monkey burning a hole in my pocket so its time to get our freak on!

[madmitch]

Good post Dantilley.

UBC is owned by MCOT, who are, I believe, a state controlled entity. With a bit more thought, and who is to say it wasn't considered, maybe they could have changed the bid so that all games could also have been shown on pay per view with English commentary available . However, the bidders would have had to take the following into account:

How much would people be willing to pay?

How many subscribers would have paid? Are there enough expats to cover the commentary costs even if they all bought the package?

How could the sponsors have got any value from this deal? Remember advertising is illegal on UBC.

Basically it would have cost more and the sponsors would gain nothing out of it.

Anoter point, it is surprising that Chang is being advertised before the 10pm alcohol advertising watershed. Things may be very different in 4 years time if alcohol advertisiing is banned completely. Pay per view here we come............hopefully with English commentary!

[Mobi]

UBC is owned by MCOT, who are, I believe, a state controlled entity.!

I think you will find that UBC are not owned by MCOT.

UBC are a privately owned company who were recently taken over by another privately owned company - True.

MCOT is the Mass Communications Authority of Thailand, a State organisation that controlls and grants licences to private commercial organisations to broadcast in Thailand.

UBC-True has a contract with MCOT for the LEGAL transmission of satellite programmes in Thailand. all other satellite and cable transmsions are ILLEGAL. So UBC has a LEGAL monopoly, which is another reason why they don't care too much about pissing off their farang customers.

At the end of the day Chang got the deal for the world cup, and UBC were left in the cold, as they weren't prepared to up the anti and make a higher bid. As I said previously, it is riciculous to expect any private organisation to worry about farangs getting English commentary, given the circumstances. It would be a bit like expecting ITV to provide a sound track in a particular language, because BBC held the rights and weren't going to provide it.

[Backpack_thailand]

Shouldn't we change the title of this thread to "World Cup NOT On TV".

Where the <deleted> is it...???

Moaning about the cost of the TV rights and they don't even show the f*cking thing!

[dantilley]

Yeah, today it really is taking the piss...

[alex_4000]

Shouldn't we change the title of this thread to "World Cup NOT On TV".

Where the <deleted> is it...???

Moaning about the cost of the TV rights and they don't even show the f*cking thing!

celebrations are over - its on now!

[dantilley]

Actually, if truth be told, I'm not too bothered by missing this one. I thought it had 0-0 written all over it from the outset and looks like I was right! If I was French or Swiss though I'd be pretty peeved...