bobsnodgrass

We are emigrating in February 2003 to Houston. What are the options for UK sports coverage eg Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3? Is it possible to receive them by cable/satellite? Approximate costs? Any advice is appreciated, many thanks.

nathan barley

Highly (and I mean Everest highly) unlikely that you will be able to get Sky Sports via satellite in the US, as the Astra satellites only have a footprint that covers the UK and small portions of Spain & France. Even if you had a dish the size of Arecebo.
I've never seen them offered on cable here either, though there may be specialist satellite channels which carry European sports (think Irish bars, etc).

southcoast

Hi,

I am from the uk, now living in Dallas TX, and there is NO chance of getting sky sports here. There are a few channels (I think fox sports) that show english football (or soccer if your a yank) rugby, Formula one etc, but there are usually on at strange times at night etc. Also for the European cup you have to pay for a subscription (about $150.00), but luckily for the 2002 world cup the games was free, as long as you didn't mind watching them at 2.30 in the morning.
There is one particular show on fox sports that caters for the premiership football that has both american and english commentators that is very sky sports minded. Hope this helps you out!

Rob S

A small compensation I know, but BBC radio (including 5live) is broadcast on the web. Also UEFA has some web deal (it includes BBC World and CNN- try www.bbcworld.com for details) for about $9 a month. The scores are available along with running web 'commentary' on BBC on-line.

If you're going to live in the states and want to maintain an interest in sports I advise learning the rules of US sports - there's no shortage.

IanR

Fox Sports World carries a lot of UK/European Sports mostly a day or so late.
I believe that there is an ability to pay to receive Premier league matches live but the cost is very high like $15-20 per match so I don't bother. Fox and ESPN etc show quite a few matches even some live European Matches.
I don't know who your Cable Tv provider will be but Satelite is provided by Echostar and DiretcTv they have a good range of channels.
Also there is BBCAmerica but it's not quite as up-to-date as many might want because the BBC sells newer stuff to PBS channels of A & E Channel.
Stangely you can get live satellite feeds from many European Countries but not the UK because the BBC and ITV etc want to sell programming to other American Networks. Maybe one day the Internet will provide us with access.
The BBC has great websites and many provide Radio live but bigger events are still blocked at times.
Cricket (International tests) are available on season passes via satellite (I forget whether Echostar or Directtv provide this)
Start for satellite at http://dbsforums.com
Hope this helps for a start. Enjoy the move....

bobsnodgrass

Thanks for all the info folks. Looks like I will need to do a bit of fishing around when I get there, to find out exactly what is on offer and where in Houston!

IanR

This link will give you a good idea of the Tv Channels available by Dish or Directv. Note the charge for live Premier league games on a subscription basis.
http://steve.dbstalk.com/charts/package_comparison.htm

DaveC

Moving to Fort Worth,Tx as soon as the visa arrives - I know that a company called Setanta broadcasts live Scottish/Premiership/European football matches and various.other sports. Does anyone know if any cable / satellite providers have this channel? I know a lot of the supporters clubs in Houston meet up in pubs e.g. to watch Old Firm games.

suebo

You get Comcast as a cable company in the majority of states here. There are several different sports channels, but most of them is American sport. Generally here unless the Yanks are not playing any one out of USA, you will not see it. Occasionally you will get a game of something from another country. If you are looking at cricket, forget about it - what is cricket, please explain!!!!! Get little, very little soccer or rugby or anything else for that fact. Used to get the GP (motorbikes), but haven't seen that in ages. I gave up and am starting to adapt to American Football as that is what you will see the most of.

Jo Brayne

Dave C, I am moving to FW too (me and UKC hubby)! My mother lives there.

She uses Charter for her cable. I dont know what their sports channels are like but I think we might be limited to BBC website coverage.

southcoast

Got to agree with you on this one.
Its frustrating trying to find any english football/rugby/F1 etc, on any sat system here in the states, I've pretty much given up. I love to watch american football, especially monday night games, baseball is boring though (bit like cricket).

I have had to swap my Man Utd shirt for a Dallas Cowboy one instead.

"COME ON YOU COWBOYS"

The great thing about living in Dallas, you can get to watch Football, Baseball, Basketball, Ice hockey, soccer etc and all the stadiums are just a few miles from each other. When I wanted to watch a football game in the U.K, I had to drive to Southampton (80 miles) and sit in a old, tired, cold horse shed. (although I hear they have now built a new one!).

Cheers.

nathan barley

Theres actually a channel or two on TimeWarner digital cable (Tristate NY area) that shows Premiership football every couple of days. Generally the bigger matches, Man Utd v Newcastle, ect.

DaveC

Thanks for that Jo, I checked Charter's website out and they don't seem to have Setanta - on further investigation, looks like you can only subscriber to that in Expat Theme Pubs (as suggested by Nathan earlier in the thread). So I'll either have to start up my own Irish Bar, or try persuade the Blarney Stone in FW to pay for it!