Fox Sports 2015-16 Bundesliga television schedule – Philly.com (blog)

Here’s your viewer’s guide to TV coverage of Germany’s Bundesliga.

This season marks the long-awaited debut of Fox’s multi-year rights deal that finally brings one of the world’s best and most popular soccer leagues into mainstream American homes. For some years now, the Bundesliga has drawn the biggest crowds and produced among the highest goals-per-game averages in Europe. I’ve been a fan of the league for a long time, and I have no doubt we’ll all be quite entertained.

Coverage is spread across Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes. If you’re keeping score of distribution, the plan is for FS1 to carry 58 live games, FS2 to carry 60 and Fox Deportes to carry 105 in Spanish. Fox Soccer Plus will carry other contests both live and on tape-delay.

Live broadcasts on all channels except Fox Soccer Plus are streamed online through Fox Sports Go, which is free of charge with authentication through participating pay-TV providers. You must have a given channel in your package to be able to stream it. So, for example, you can’t stream a Fox Sports 2 game if you can’t watch the channel on TV.

Fox Soccer Plus is a premium channel that will cost you extra on top of whatever cable or satellite package you have. Most providers charge $10 to $15 per month for it, but not all carry it in high definition.

In addition to the aforementioned coverage, every game of the entire season is streamed through the Fox Soccer 2 Go subscription service. It costs $19.99 per month or $99 for a full year.

That is not cheap, but you get a lot for the money. Fox Soccer 2 Go has every Bundesliga game, UEFA Champions League and Europa League game, every CONCACAF Champions League game, every FA Cup game that is produced for television broadcast (not all are), the Scottish Premier League, Australia’s A-League, a wide range of rugby tournaments and Australian football.

As for studio programming, the centerpiece will be pregame and halftime shows anchored by Ian Joy and Eric Wynalda. Both men are familiar voices, and both bring playing experience in both the Bundesliga and Major League Soccer during their careers. There will be other contributors involved on a rotating basis. 

Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before kickoff for Fox Sports 1 broadcasts and select Fox Sports 2 broadcasts, five minutes before kickoff for all other televised games, and 10 minutes before kickoff for Fox Soccer 2 Go streams.

It’s worth noting here that Fox’s U.S. deal is part of a worldwide rights deal between 21st Century Fox and the Bundesliga that spans North and South America, Asia and much of Europe. The corporate parent also owns Sky Deutschland, the Bundesliga’s big domestic broadcaster. So Fox will have great access to pre-packaged and custom-produced content. 

You’ll see highlight shows during the week, and you’ll be kept up to speed with the many Americans playing in the league. In terms of quality, the Bundesliga has a longstanding reputation for being among Europe’s best at production.

The man responsible for making the broadcasts you’ll see at home and online is Jonty Whitehead, Fox Sports’ executive producer for soccer. His expectations are as high as yours.

“Where the Bundesliga is in terms of organization, in terms of world feed running orders, the ability to book on-site facilities to put our own reporters in there, it’s exceptional,” he told me. “And the quality of the product – I’m talking about the first replay of a goal, that needs to be right. You want to see the guy that won the tackle and the ball over the top instead of just the super slow-mo. They are the best at that, they’ve got it down to a fine art.”

Whitehead is well aware that Fox’s Bundesliga coverage will go head-to-head with NBC’s English Premier League juggernaut. But don’t underestimate Americans’ appetite for the many U.S. national team players in Germany, Bayern Munich’s stars, and Borussia Dortmund’s legendary gameday atmosphere.

“Our viewers do know a couple of these clubs – they know Bayern Munich and they do well on our air,” Whitehead said, citing UEFA Champions League viewership as proof. “They know [Franck] Ribéry, [Arjen] Robben, Manuel Neuer. There’s an appetite for those guys, and there’s an opportunity for us to not just tell them about Bayern and Dortmund.”

So you’ll see Wolfsburg, which finished second last year thanks to cult hero striker Bas Dost. You’ll see Fabian Johnson’s Borussia Mönchengladbach and Alfredo Morales’ FC Ingolstadt.

One last note: Fox’s global deal covers Canada too, but since it has no presence there, it has sublicensed games to Sportsnet. The network’s schedule is here.

Let’s get to the games. Fox has set listings for the first seven weeks of the season, and will decide channel assignments on a week-by-week basis after that.

All times listed are Eastern, and are kickoff times.

Saturday, August 1

German Super Cup

2:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes: Bayern Munich vs. VfL Wolfsburg

In addition to the TV coverage, there is expanded online streaming access through FoxSoccer.com. Specific details are still being worked out; I’ll post them when they are confirmed.

Friday, August 14

2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports Net affiliates and Fox Deportes: Bayern Munich vs. Hamburg SV

In addition to expanded TV coverage, Fox will stream the game live on its YouTube channel free of charge. It will only be available to viewers within the United States.

Saturday, August 15

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes: Bayer Leverkusen vs. TSG Hoffenheim
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Werder Bremen vs. Schalke 04
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: Darmstadt vs. Hannover 96, FC Augsburg vs. Hertha Berlin, Mainz vs. FC Ingolstadt, 
12:30 p.m., Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes: Borussia Dortmund vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

Sunday, August 16

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: VfL Wolfsburg vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
11:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes: VfB Stuttgart vs. FC Köln

Friday, August 21

2:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Hertha Berlin vs. Werder Bremen

Saturday, August 22

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: TSG Hoffenheim vs. Bayern Munich
9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes: FC Köln vs. VfL Wolfsburg
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. FC Augsburg
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: Hannover 96 vs. Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04 vs. Darmstadt
12:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1: Hamburg SV vs. VfB Stuttgart

Sunday, August 23

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes: FC Ingolstadt vs. Borussia Dortmund
11:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes: Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Mainz

Friday, August 28

2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes: VfL Wolfsburg vs. Schalke 04

Saturday, August 29

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: VfB Stuttgart vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Mainz vs. Hannover 96
9:30 a.m., Fox Deportes: FC Köln vs. Hamburg SV
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: Darmstadt vs. TSG Hoffenheim, FC Augsburg vs. FC Ingolstadt 
12:30 p.m., Fox Sports 2: Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Sunday, August 30

9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Borussia Dortmund vs. Hertha Berlin
11:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes: Werder Bremen vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

Friday, September 11

2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1: Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Hamburg SV

Saturday, September 12

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: Bayern Munich vs. FC Augsburg
9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: Bayer Leverkusen vs. Darmstadt
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Hannover 96 vs. Borussia Dortmund
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: FC Ingolstadt vs. VfL Wolfsburg, Hertha Berlin vs. VfB Stuttgart 
12:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. FC Köln

Sunday, September 13

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: TSG Hoffenheim vs. Werder Bremen
11:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: Schalke 04 vs. Mainz

Friday, September 18

2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1: Mainz vs. TSG Hoffenheim

Saturday, September 19

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: Darmstadt vs. Bayern Munich
9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: VfL Wolfsburg vs. Hertha Berlin
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: FC Köln vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: Hamburg vs. Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen vs. FC Ingolstadt 

Sunday, September 20

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: VfB Stuttgart vs. Schalke 04
11:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer Leverkusen
11:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: FC Augsburg vs. Hannover 96

Tuesday, September 22

2:00 p.m., Fox Sports 1: Bayern Munich vs. VfL Wolfsburg
2:00 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Darmstadt vs. Werder Bremen
2:00 p.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: FC Ingolstadt vs. Hamburg SV, Hertha Berlin vs. FC Köln

Wednesday, September 23

2:00 p.m., Fox Sports 1: Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. FC Augsburg
2:00 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus: Schalke 04 vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
2:00 p.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: Bayer Leverkusen vs. Mainz, Hannover 96 vs. VfB Stuttgart, TSG Hoffenheim vs. Borussia Dortmund 

Friday, September 25

2:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus: FC Köln vs. FC Ingolstadt

Saturday, September 26

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: Mainz vs. Bayern Munich
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus: VfB Stuttgart vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
9:30 a.m., Fox Soccer 2 Go: FC Augsburg vs. TSG Hoffenheim, Hamburg SV vs. Schalke 04, VfL Wolfsburg vs. Hannover 96, Werder Bremen vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Sunday, September 29

9:30 a.m., Fox Sports 1: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hertha Berlin
11:30 a.m., Fox Sports 2: Borussia Dortmund vs. Darmstadt