OK, OK, I know the Olympics are on and all that, and the Aussies actually think they might beat the USA on the medal tally (and the sport is on nearly 24 hours a day here) but far far more importantly - are SBS going to show the Premiership highlights this week?
Even though my team got stuffed, would be nice to see how and why they are so dam awful!

Regards
UM (Saints fan)

Hate to disappoint, but I don't think SBS have got the coverage this year. FOXTEL decided to charge them the earth to show one live game and the monday highlights show. Life was all that much more bearable with a weekly dose of english prem. This is from the AGE.



"Premier League in doubt for SBS
By Michael Lynch
August 11, 2004


Australian fans will have to pay hundreds of dollars a season to see Socceroos Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer on television if, as looks likely, all coverage of English Premier League action moves to pay-TV channel Foxtel.

SBS has had the free-to-air rights for the Premiership for several years through a deal it struck with Foxtel, which owns all the Australian broadcast rights to the competition.

SBS has shown a live match from the world's most popular league once a week for the past few years as well as a high-rating highlights package for close to a decade.

But it cannot afford to pay what rights-holder Foxtel is asking for the free-to-air package for this season. And unless an unlikely last-ditch compromise is hammered out, fans who barrack for the dozen or so Australian stars in the Premier League will not see their idols unless they shell out the minimum $48.95-a-month charge for the basic Foxtel service.

Soccer fans greeted the prospect with outrage, claiming ordinary supporters would be marginalised and that the Federal Government should amend its current anti-siphoning laws, which virtually ignore soccer.

Kieran Dunleavy, head of the Manchester United supporters club in Victoria, said the loss of free-to-air coverage was a "kick in the teeth to average fans. It will become a monopoly that forces fans - those that can afford it - to buy it because of their love for football".

John Caniglia, the former South Melbourne marketing manager, has set up a website - GiveMeSoccer.com - that is collecting signatures Australia-wide in a bid to force the Government to amend its anti-siphoning legislation so that tournaments such as Euro 2004 are protected. He said the loss of free-to-air scheduling would be disastrous for ordinary supporters.

"This is the most popular sport in the country by a long way. There are more than 1.2 million people playing it, and a move to pay TV only would deny hundreds of thousands of youngsters the chance to access their idols," Caniglia said.

"The anti-siphoning laws are meant to protect sports events of cultural significance. Soccer has now become a significant part of the Australian cultural landscape, for those millions involved in participation as players or parents, and for the 30 per cent of the population born overseas."

While SBS may lose the English game, it will not be bereft of soccer. The network will concentrate on the Italian Serie A, is negotiating for a highlights package from Spain's Primera Liga, and will increase its coverage of the UEFA Champions League.

SBS head of sport Les Murray said the Monday night highlights package was regularly in SBS' top-five-rating shows. He said the network was still attempting to negotiate with Fox Sport, but he did not sound confident."

One of the reasons im going to oz is to get away from the stress of watching my team live on TV ....

Don't know how long that is going to last though

Well... How gutted am I?
Only this weekend I asked my aussie wife about the footie and she assured me it was on SBS... Is Foxtel owned by that B*$%^~d Murdoch?? Better soak it all up then before we fly in October... More expense!