bro..the point is there is no more EPL on ESPN STAR SPORTS..astro actually won the rights together with ESPNSTAR to show EPL..while EPL will still be on ESPN STAR Sports in most Asian countries like usual (except for Sinagpore that is) we are not gonna get the same feed..Astro has decided to produce their own shows and everything related to EPL..so what u might get on ESPN STAR is highlights on Sportscenter and if we're lucky, Football Focus and Football Forecast..

But the big fact and issue here is there is no EPL matches whether LIVE or delayed on ESPN STAR..all will be on Supersport..so where does that leave us? 5 big European league crammed into 3channels..

Bro... You got it all wrong... I just check the August's AstroView magazine... All EPL matches are shown ESPN-Star... Nothing is on Supersports during EPL matches time... Football Focus has been replaced by Barclay's Express or something like that... Mon - Fri @ 8 pm if I'm not mistaken...

When they said Astro won the rights, it meant that ESPN-Star won the rights... The reason why its a victory for Astro is because Astro have an "Exclusivity Contractual Agreement" with ESPN-Star... The only other bidder for EPL rights for South-East Asia is TM Unifi... Astro represented ESPN-Star during the bidding process... lol!

lol so much drama for something that did not happen ><

Admittedly, I haven't been following any football news since Inter lifted the Champions League but news that John Dykes has left the EPL is sad. He's the face of Astro's EPL coverage. I'll be happy if McMahon stays if it means I do without Andrew Leci. Please, for the love of God, drop Andrew Leci. He's like the male Stephanie Meyer of hosting. He's diabolical!

And if Astro ever stop getting SkySports feed, I'll unsubscribe the sports package and just listen to BFM 89.9.

most definitely right bout other leagues..i would love to see the Scottish Premier League and Eredivise come to Astro..
We Malaysians are already spoon fed with all the EPL now plus the all 280 matches next season..
That is y i think astro could probab;y start a football package where we could chose the league we would want in our package..
I think astro could make it compulsory for us to take the EPL since its on ESPN N Star Sports and the most money come in from EPL..
Then we could at least pick a minimum of one more league..so we could probably take a legaue we went than pay for league matches we dont want..

Can anyone here help me out add a poll to this thread? Teach me how to do it..I want to start a poll on what league should astro offer to football fans..

1 - EPL
2 - LA LIGA
3 - SERIE A
4 - FRENCH LIGUE 1
5 - GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
6 - SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
7 - DUTCH EREDIVISE
8 - ENGLISH COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
9 - USA MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
10 - JAPANESE J -LEAGUE
11 - OTHERS

Astro planning to beam all 380 games of upcoming season
By TEH ENG HOCK
enghock@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: For the first time, Astro All Asia Networks (Astro) is planning to beam all 380 English Premier League games of the upcoming 2010/11 season live into the homes of its sports package subscribers.

After the month-long FIFA World Cup “live” galore, the stage is now being set for a Barclays Premier League (BPL) “feast”.

The move will be significant, if it comes through, as only 120 BPL matches are shown live over a season, even in England.

Astro CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan, who disclosed this to The Star, said the network was preparing to broadcast all BPL games live.

This would mean that local supporters of the lower-ranked teams in the BPL would get to see their teams in action every week.

The spotlight is now on glamour teams – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool – with six matches shown live over the weekend and four delayed telecasts.

“Our aim is to show all 380 matches live. We’ll decide from those matches which teams to broadcast in HD (high definition).

“The big games will be shown in HD and maybe some in 3D,” Rohana said.

Rohana said the BPL matches would be aired over ESPN, StarSports, SuperSports 1 and SuperSports 2.

She said that Astro was also planning to create a SuperSports 3 channel for the purpose.

“Some matches would be streamed online as well as on Astro Arena, to allow access to our three million subscribers,’’ she added.

Rohana said there would be no issue over broadcast rights as Astro and ESPN StarSports had been successful after making a joint bid.

On whether there would be an increase in the sports package monthly subscription charges, Rohana said that would be “the last consideration.”

“We have to understand the fact that we have to make it affordable and customers must see value in that. Now we have to balance it against content cost,” she said.

Sixty per cent of Astro’s 2.94 million subscriber base are subscribers of the sports package, with RM66.95 being the minimum charge.

As for the other major European football leagues, Astro will air four matches each from the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga live each weekend, while Spanish Serie A fans will get to enjoy five live matches.

Aside from Spurs, I won't say the rest have a "huge" following. Of that list, only Spurs have an official supporters club here in Malaysia. Think maybe Everton as well but it's a relative small following. Of all the football fans I know, 1 supports Everton, maybe 8 support Spurs but none support Newcastle, Villa or Man City. I reckon the latter has gained a small spike in following since they turned rich over night. The majority of fans I know, don't watch games not involving their teams which is why you often hear half assed comments and wonder if they were watching another team. I once had someone from ASTRO come to pitch a Premier League programme to us and he verified that Man Utd and Liverpool are ahead in terms of viewership. Chelsea have closed that gap recently while Arsenal are still lagging behind. Unless the other clubs you mentioned play against one of the "Big Four", they don't get much viewership. This is my understanding of it anyway.

The vast majority of Malaysian's still only watch games involving the "Big Four". Your definition of the "Big 4" is based on current form but Liverpool whilst not the giants we were before is still a big name and still have millions of supporters around the world. Hence, TV coverage of our games is still lucrative. Man U are struggling? They finished 2nd in the league. Arsenal are still constantly in the top four and English sides still consistently go far in Europe. Only recently have the likes of Man City, Villa and Spurs sneaked into the top 4. I therefore do not agree with your reasoning.

Well, I did see ads that say ESPN will also be bringing in some EPL content, so maybe it is really a collaboration between Astro and ESPN for the rights.  The only thing I can think of is that they will try to bring up to 5 to 6 games LIVE (ch 811, 812, 813, 816, 831, 832, etc) all at once, so that this frees up time for other league's games.  Maybe those not brought LIVE would be delayed or screened at a later time then.  My 2 cents la.

UPDATE:

LIVERPOOL vs ARSENAL
15 AUGUST 2010
11.00PM
LIVE ON ASTRO SUPERSPORT 3

NEW CHANNEL ON THE WAY IT SEEMS..

Maybe we shud just let Astro try & air all EPL matches for this season & see the response. Once they see it's pointless to show ALL matches involving ALL teams, maybe they'll stop... maybe they'll stop in the middle of the season even.... As much as I like watching football, I ain't gonna watch ALL matches....

Sorry bro but pointless to u might not be the same to others..it aint pointless coz i would live to see all teams instead of only the same old big teams..as much as u like watching football, I bet u others here are more football lovers than u..might as well get the chance to see all matches than paying the high sports package fees just to watch the same man u chelsea aresenal and liverpool team play week in week out..

My only worry is the commentary....if its really local production im gonna shoot my brains out...
can satelite get live football ah? lol

I am watching the CSI Trilogy rite now on AXN HD..
n during commercial break, they aired a new EPL Promo..
Not the usual Torres promo..
It a new one that they say more goals, more action and more games..
Weird that they say more games and not say all games or all matches LIVE like the Astro CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan said in the article below..
But more importantly, at the end of the promo, they said EPL 2010/2011 on Astro Supersport, Supersport 2 and Supersport HD..
No mention of ESPN STAR Sports or Superport 3 like what was said..
Apart from one person who said EPL was listed on ESPN STAR in the AstroView magazine, its hard to find any other source..  

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...1316&sec=nation