Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[Lord Nibbler]

Sweet.

Virgin Media and ESPN announce channel deal ahead of Premier League football season

Sports fans can now get ESPN channels as part of Virgin Media’s XL pack for no extra cost

Virgin Media (NASDAQ: VMED) and ESPN today announced that the new ESPN channel will be available in both standard and High Definition (HD) to Virgin Media’s 3.5 million digital TV customers from 3rd August. The ESPN channel will offer live Barclays Premier League and Clydesdale Bank Premier League football as well a wide range of international football and top quality sports.

Customers who subscribe to Virgin Media’s XL TV pack will be able to watch ESPN and ESPN HD at no additional cost. As part of the deal, these subscribers will also receive ESPN Classic, featuring the greatest moments of UK and European sport.

Dedicated sports fans who are on Virgin Media’s M or L pack will be able to subscribe to ESPN and ESPN HD for a great value price of £8 a month if they already subscribe to any combination of the Sky Sports channels, or £10 a month if not.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?...&highlight=

[stokeriño]

Exactly the same deal they had with Setanta, then.

Still won't be bothered to get it.

[Lord Nibbler]

Exactly the same deal they had with Setanta, then.

Still won't be bothered to get it.

Yes, except with an HD channel too.

[stokeriño]

I already pay over the odds for Virgin Media without the HD box (I could get a slightly better package AND an HD box for £20 less per month with Sky...but I'm not allowed to install a mini-dish outside our flat :@).

So...fuck VM, ESPN, and their HD channel. I guess.

[IAceI]

Wow.. HD.. wow. Suppose the benfit of it not being Sky is you don't get to see Richard Key's hairy mitts? Other than that.. yeah, awesome.

[Clawson]

I dunno, we don't get football in HD over here a lot (Madrid vs. TFC will be), but I can see it being the other sport along with hockey that is even better in HD.

[Lord Nibbler]

Football does look great in HD. The BBC are showing the Championship games in HD (I think) which is nice.

[TCO]

Sky Sports HD is magnificent alright, the annoying thing is, even with Sky HD over here, we don't get BBC HD, which is weird.

[stokeriño]

BBC HD isn't part of the Freeview package yet, so I imagine it depends whether the rest of your TV package covers it or not.

[cmb211087]

Football does look great in HD. The BBC are showing the Championship games in HD (I think) which is nice.

Wish they would hurry up and do motd in hd. looks piss poor watching sky sports in hd then seeing the other matches in sd (Yeah I know, football first, but I prefer seeing the highlights instead of watching 60mins of one game)

[Dynamite]

Goals On Sunday is the answer (if you have 2 hours free >_>).

[Lord Nibbler]

Wish they would hurry up and do motd in hd. looks piss poor watching sky sports in hd then seeing the other matches in sd (Yeah I know, football first, but I prefer seeing the highlights instead of watching 60mins of one game)

I don't know if I want to look at Marl Lawrenson in HD.

[TCO]

Football does look great in HD. The BBC are showing the Championship games in HD (I think) which is nice.

Wish they would hurry up and do motd in hd. looks piss poor watching sky sports in hd then seeing the other matches in sd (Yeah I know, football first, but I prefer seeing the highlights instead of watching 60mins of one game)

I doubt BBC have HD cameras in all Premier League grounds and I highly doubt they'd go to that expense ot show 10 minute highlights in HD, considering everyone will watch MOTD anyway.

[cmb211087]

They do have the cameras at every game, it was mentioned in an article on their site last year, they just dont have the production facilities to get it produced in hd from 5pm in time for 10pm

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Tottenham win the Asia Cup with a 3-0 victory over Hull in the final. FEAR US!

The kit without the sponsor is awesomeness!

[alldaws1]

Get rid of the yellow crap or make those bits blue and it's a half decent shirt

Modric was fantastic in today's game. Even better than O'Hara was against West Ham.

Edited July 31, 2009 by AD

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Edwin van der Sar is facing up to eight weeks on the sidelines after undergoing finger surgery.

The Manchester United goalkeeper has gone under the knife after breaking a bone in his left hand.

The 38-year-old sustained the injury during United's Audi Cup defeat against Bayern Munich in Germany.

Saving Danijel Pranjic's spot-kick in a 7-6 penalty shootout reverse saw the Dutchman pick up the knock.

He will now be unavailable to Sir Alex Ferguson for the start of the new Premier League season.

That will enable either Ben Foster of Tomasz Kuszczak to stake a claim for a regular starting berth.

Not exactly the news that I needed to be hearing. Haven't heard much more on the defensive front either, it seems like half our fucking team is injured right now. I guess the plus that can come out of this is a big chance for Foster, possibly playing a good run of games if VDS is out for about the first two months.

Edited August 5, 2009 by JohnnyPerfect

[Crybaby Bunting]

It doesn't really matter, I mean Van Der Sar isn't THAT good, it's just he has such a solid defensive line that he doesn't have to make as many saves, thus ends up conceding less.

It might be a deciding factor in a big match, but I get the feeling he'll be back before something like that... whether he likes it or not ¬_¬

[Dynamite]

I got the feeling VDS was going to be phased out of the team this season with Foster getting more chances, especially considering it's a World Cup year. It will be good for Foster to get a prolonged run in the first-team and he could really flourish as first choice. Having said that, it's a shame Edwin's injured but it would be much worse for the defence if it was Vidic or Rio getting a serious injury.

[Pesci]

I hope Foster gets a chance and does well because England could do with a good, solid prospect in goal. Saying that I don't want Man United to be picking up many points so I guess an impotent strikeforce would help that.