[World Cup] England vs Denmark (No Spoilers Before ABC Tape-Delay)

jtwcornell91 · June 15, 2002, 07:56:42 AM

[For the benefit of those waiting until 3pm to watch the game in English, let's not discuss the result on this thread until it's been broadcast on ABC]

The game is being shown live on Univision, which is DirecTV channel 402, in addition to KNVO, which appears to be Mexican despite its call letters.

I've just sent the following email to ABC sports via http://espn.go.com/abcsports/askabcsports/
[Q]
I'm writing in regard to your coverage of the FIFA World Cup. First, I'd like to express my pleasure and gratitude to ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 for presenting live broadcasts every game of the last World Cup (France 1998). Especially when compared with other networks' coverage of the Olympics, it's encouraging to see a US broadcast network and its affiliates give such an international sporting event the coverage it deserves.

That said, I have to complain about a programming decision regarding the current World Cup (Korea/Japan 2002), namely the lack of live ESPN/ESPN2 coverage of this weekend's England/Denmark and Ireland/Spain elimination games, which are being shown tape-delayed on ABC. I'm sure there is a financial justification for this in terms of "protecting" ABC's tape-delayed coverage, but it is a disservice to sports fans in the US, and unworthy of a family of networks which has provided admirable sports coverage in the recent past.
[/Q]

Al DeFlorio · June 15, 2002, 08:14:38 AM

Bravo, John. Impeccably written.

ugarte · June 15, 2002, 07:49:31 PM

I was pretty angry that there was no live coverage also. On the other hand, there is nothing like Andres Cantor - and ABC got me to listen to him again.

GOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! GOL GOL GOL GOL GOL!

Greg Berge · June 15, 2002, 09:45:21 PM

Is Cantor the guy on UNI doing the Spanish 'casts, cuz even without the goooooooooooooooooal calls that guy is a trip! (And I don't have a clue what he's saying.)

ugarte · June 15, 2002, 10:21:18 PM

Greg - yes. I don't speak any Spanish (C in high school) but I have been listening to him since the 1986 World Cup.

rhovorka · June 15, 2002, 11:27:48 PM

I was in LA during the 1998 World Cup, and the joke my friends and I shared was that the instantaneous ratings for UNI, and all the other Spanish stations airing the games went through the roof the minute following each GooooooooooooooooooooooooAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!

jtwcornell91 · June 16, 2002, 03:10:41 AM

Darn, my Univision feed is about 10 seconds ahead of my ESPN feed on DirecTV, so I can't switch over fast enough for the goooooolllll calls in Sweden-Senegal (at least not with my 2am reaction time).

Erica · June 17, 2002, 09:29:38 AM

But I'm confused. I know I watched Ireland/Spain live on TV, because I stayed up until about 3:30 Sat night/Sun morning watching it, and then looked on the sports news on Sunday to find the score but couldn't find out what happened until Sunday night. It had to have been live, because it said "live" on the TV and I definitely don't think I was dreaming. I don't know what channel it was on, though. And I don't have DirecTV

jtwcornell91 · June 17, 2002, 10:02:32 AM

The late night game Saturday Night/Sunday Morning (1:30am CDT start) was Sweden-Senegal, and was live on ESPN. The Spain-Ireland game was Sunday morning at 6:30am CDT, and was shown live on Mexican TV and the Spanish-Language Univision network, but not on any English-language US network before the ABC tape broadcast Sunday afternoon. It may also have been live in Canada, for all I know.

To their credit, ESPNews did put the result on their sports ticker. Or rather they gave the 1-1 final score, but didn't mention who won the shootout.