ESPN PR Viewers: Rate & Review the 2005 Season Coverage

[Andrew]

gutted....I thought that would probably be the case....I wish they could have it so that you could customise what channels you get and pay based on that....so if you don't want a channel then you don't have to pay....

ah well....I'll have to think about it....probably will get it though around October or so....will just wait until they have a promo with free installation and some other perks I guess....I like other channels like music channels, Discovery and National Geographic....

but I'm glad there's plenty of Sportscentre....and some college bball....a definite bonus for me....

Yeah that would be great. There's a few channels I'd choose not to have if it would save me a little each month. I got Foxtel last September when they had a free installation deal going, they'll probably have another one before too long.

Isn't the Sky in NZ is the same as australia's?

We don't get Sky, we've got Foxtel and Austar. They've each got different channels, though they've got a couple of things in common (international sports coverage and plenty of Simpsons).

[MaD_hAND1e]

Isn't the Sky in NZ is the same as australia's?

I have a feeling this is supposed to be a joke?

[koberulz]

it was reallly annoying how they never showed the secondgame of the double headers. the commentators would always talk about it but theyd cut off to goto UEFA champs league, which was a pain, since soccers boring an the lakers were on in 99% of the second games

Foxtel should get NBA TV

[Strike Freedom]

Isn't the Sky in NZ is the same as australia's?

I have a feeling this is supposed to be a joke?

no..
i heard sky's HQ is in Australia..
and for channel 0.. the people who are introducing the movies and etcs..
are aussies..
so i thought.. we're receiving stuff from aussie..

[The X]

Isn't the Sky in NZ is the same as australia's?

since I've lived in both countries and seen both, I can answer your question....

Sky Digital is essentially the same as Foxtel Digital....

roughly the same number of channels....both have your couple of footy channels, ESPN Pacific Rim (although Sky Digital has ESPN2 which Foxtel doesn't, Foxtel has an extra Footy channel), National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet....I think with Sky Digital you get an extra movie channel or two than Foxtel Digital....both have Pay Per View events (like wrestling, boxing matches, Extreme Fighting, etc) that you can book....I'm know with Foxtel Digital for latest movies, you have to Pay Per View those....

Foxtel Digital has 2 music channels (Channel V and that Max one)....I believe Sky Digital had Juice....can't remember if there was a 2nd one or not....both play Scribe so it's all the same....

both are similarly priced....basically same product, different name....although IMHO, I think Sky Digital was slightly better because he had ESPN2 which showed a couple of college basketball games per week....

enough rambling

[Andrew]

Foxtel's also got MTV and a couple of VH1 channels. There's about five movie channels, though I'm not subscribed to those, I just have access to Foxtel Box Office.

Foxtel should get NBA TV

Definitely. I actually asked them about it a while ago, they hadn't anything about it coming to Australia. Shame.

[Andrew]

With the season finally over, I thought I'd update my grade.

Regular Season: B

A fairly good variety of games, though I was a little disappointed that some weeks they didn't show any games at all, and of course the lack of the All-Star Weekend drops my grade down a little. A wider variety of teams, the All-Star Weekend and at least one game per week would get an A from me - make that at least two games a week and I have little to complain about. Get rid of the Poker Challenge, World Juggling Federation and Tractor Pulling if you must. (My opinion? They must.)

Playoffs: A-

I'm tempted to give an A and would if I included the NBA Finals, but I'm grading that coverage seperately. Marks taken off because they didn't show enough of all the first round series, no games from the Eastern Conference Finals and there was that incident with Game 6 of the Suns/Mavericks series. Still, they had good bonus coverage in the early rounds and they had committed to show the entire Western Conference Finals. Pretty decent.

Finals: A+

Every single minute of every single game, no ESPN International commentary, halftime report or voiceovers (as they sometimes do when it's not an ESPN presentation) to be found - all ABC. No cutting to commercials when they shouldn't, no showing of unscheduled programs in the middle of the broadcast. No complaints.

Overall: A-

Slightly higher than my original B+ grade because the showed the Finals without any problems. I'd like to see some improvement next year, but all in all it's been well worth the money.

[Drex]

I'd give them a C, a B-, and, well...a Z, I guess, they didn't show the freakin Finals...God bless the argentinian channels

[Andrew]

Sounds like ESPN Latin America really need to lift their game even more than ESPN Australia/Pacific Rim.

[Drex]

We had really good broadcast some years ago. We had 2 games a week (sometimes we even had double-headers on Friday), the full ASW, and plenty of Playoffs games, of both Conferences. Now, when we're lucky, we get one game per week, we got no ASW, no Finals, just a couple of Playoffs games...I'm really dissappointed about this year...

[Andrew]

That sucks. I thought the coverage here could have been better but was still satisfactory at the least.

[koberulz]

Foxtel should get NBA TV

Definitely. I actually asked them about it a while ago, they hadn't anything about it coming to Australia. Shame.

what do you mean?

[Andrew]

NBA TV is a 24/7 NBA channel that's available in the States. I asked a Foxtel "entertainment consultant" about it a while ago, but it's not available here in Australia.

[MaD_hAND1e]

On the topic of television channels on cable, Discovery, National Geographic and Animal Planet always seem to recycle each others programs

[Andrew]

A lot of the entertainment channels do that as well. "Normal, Ohio" was being shown on the Comedy Channel a few months back but it's been moved to FOX8 recently.