One thing that kind of surprises me is how many people actually base their decision about whether to move to the Philippines on how much (or little) American Football they can catch on TV here. Two or three times per month, I get e-mails from people asking me how many games per week they can catch on TV. Usually, people ask about NFL football, but recently I’ve also gotten several inquiries regarding College Football too.
I used to be a big football fan back in the 1980’s and before, but around 1990 or so I kind of lost interest in the game. As I recall, the players went on strike one year around that time, and after that I just couldn’t get back into the game, I guess. Oh, from time to time I will watch a game on TV, if it is on, but I am not like I was when I was a rabid fan. Back in those days, I knew all the players, and would look forward to games with great anticipation. Now, I might watch one or two games per year, and sometimes I have to force myself to pay attention.
For those of you who are big football fans, though, I have some good news. This year, the new football season is much more widely covered on Philippine TV, at least on Cable TV here. Starting on January 1, 2008, we got a new sports channel called Balls TV and they have a fair amount of football coverage. Currently, while typing this article (I am writing it on Monay morning, Philippine time, but it will be published on Wednesday) I am watching NFL Sunday Night Football on Balls (NBC coverage). One thing that kind of excites me is that one of the announcers is somebody that I have always liked, John Madden. In the past, we never got the “real” announcers that you would hear on US TV coverage, we always got announcers that you had never heard of.
Over the past weeks since the new football season got underway, I have noticed that we are getting 3 or 4 NFL games and 3 or 4 College games every week! Some games are covered live (Sunday Night and Monday Night NFL games), and others are on tape delay. Sometimes it is Wednesday or Thursday before we see games from last weekend (except the live games), but at least the games can be seen. The game that I am watching now (Monday morning, 9am Philippine time) is Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles, and it is currently tied at 7 in the 2nd quarter (this is the Sunday Night NFL game, so I am watching it live).
So, anyway, I just thought that I would let you guys know that the situation as far as seeing football games on TV is improving in the Philippines. I know that this is important to some of you guys!
What could be better than watching the NFL with a cold San Miguel on the table next to you? Well, maybe we could add some balut for a snack during the game!
Hi Bob- With all due respect thats not football as we know it its glorified rugby with padding lol.
Hi Jim – Please note, I specifically said in the first paragraph "American Football".
"Go Pats" although the season looks grimn with Tom Brady out for the season 😥
Jim : I have done the Rugby thing and was fortunate to come out of it with all my teeth not a sport for a "Girlie Man"
Step up to my sport Folkstyle/Freestyle Wrestling and you will experience the toughest sport of all.
Hi Neal in RI – I was always a Rams fan – it lead to many years of disappointment! That, however, was back when they were in LA.
what channel is Balls broadcast on? All the channel lineups say it's 34 but when I turn on 34 all I get is NickSplat (Nickelodeon Kids). I do miss watching the Ravens Games on Sundays, I was never a rabid fan but I did have my sunday football parties.
Hi BrSpiritus – when you see that channel listing, it is for Manila. Here in Davao, Balls is on Channel 20. Sometimes 23 also shows Football games, and shows the Balls logo, they are both owned by the same people.
I love the game…especially when its tied in the bottom of the ninth !!
😉
Hi brian – You are going to confuse all of our non-American readers! 😯
Bob, my thoughts exactly – I was a HUGE Rams as a kid growing up in L.A. My Dad used to take me to the games at the Coliseum and I remember the fearsome foursome, Roman Gabriel (half-Pinoy) and Jack Snow. We went to the playoff games, and I was lucky enough to attend the 1980 Superbowl – it was a great game until Pittsburgh stomped the Rams in the 4th quarter.
I could take it or leave it now – if a game's on I'll watch, but I could really care less. L.A. doesn't even have a team, nor Orange County. Currently I live in Dallas – football central. High school games get T.V. coverage here on Friday nights. Citizens of Arlington are paying for the mother of all stadiums – passengers circling DFW are referring to it as the Death Star (watch out Lucas might sue).
It's not just football, it's all sports really . I could give two hoots – that includes the Olympics. Not that I'm anti-sports, I love sports. But at that level it seems that sport and sportsmanship are secondary, it's all about the dollar, marketing, branding – stuff it!!
That being said – I will watch a Pacman fight 🙂
My two cents: I am no longer a sports fan (for fanatic) as I was in years past. With all the scandals in sports and the overpaid athletes who don't give a hoot about "average Joe and Jane." It's just games. What really matters is life and death, real life issues and the economic collapse of the U.S. I had thought of starting my own website and making T-shirts for starters called "No Scandals.com." Don't have the time or the know-how. I have yet to watch an NFL game except a few plays. The college kids always, repeat, always let you down and now so do the pros.
Hi Bob,It is just as well that i'm not much of a English football fan,as i assume very little of that is televised in Phils,regards Chas.
How about dem Bucs 🙂 hold the balut Bob thank you 😉
There is another way to watch all NFL games at your convenience anywhere in the Philippines. Yahoo Asia offers all of the games (for a fee). I can't watch it here in the U.S. but I have been told by others that the picture quality is good. You also can do the sling box and there is another service through DirectTV. You subscribe here in the U.S. through a provider that sends the entire schedule of shows to you anywhere in the world via the internet. I doubt that any of these services are inexpensive-however if it means a lot to you then its worth it. If your interested in the DirectTV set up I will go into my notes and provide the information.
Hi Gary – I bet that we were in the Coliseum at the same time for some of those games, because I lived in Orange County from 1972 until 1976 and attended a number of Rams home games. Sad thing was that my Dad was a 49ers fan, and they were always our nemesis!
Hi Ed Griffin – I'm like you, not too much of a sports fan at all these days. I used to follow football, basketball and baseball, but don't follow any of them too seriously these days.
Thanks Bob, I already had this on my list to maybe blog about. Glad you got there first. This year has definetly shown a big improvement in sports availability. Balls seems like it will be a worthwhile addition.
re: BrSpiritus and possibly others questions … Philippine cable servic eis all localized. What is on one channel in one city is not the same channel elsewhere. here in my location I have a choice of three different cable companies, all offer different lineups. You have to get the info for each city and each cable company that serves that city to be sure of what is available.
Also, my cable company loves to play musical channels. Turn on the TV and go to the channel for a favorite show and … huh!? Wassup? Search around and likely you'll find they have moved it to some other channel. My operator doesn't provide an on-line libeup/schedule as many operators do. OTOH, I've been getting a regular PhP 200 discount for the past three months, so I'm only paying PhP 350 per month, hard to beat.
Re: English, European,Asian, Austrlaian (both kinds) of football … that's the mainstay of all the sports channels. ESPN here has a 30 minute scores show each night which has 25 minutes dedicated to English football, or so it seems to me.
US college or pro Basketball: Surprisingly little given the enthusiasm for the game here … go Ateneo, eh Bob, national champs from elemnttary to division 1 college … it's Blue year 😉
Baseball: During most of the season this is limited to the Yankee's Yes network so you see few NL games in my area. Events like the Home Run Derby, All Star game and such are broadcast. Now that we are in the finals of the pennant race they do show some of the conteners … majority of LCS and the World series will be broadcast.
NASCAR: hardly ever. The complete F1 season is one, tough, normally live on Sunday evenings.
Hi CHAS – English football dominates the airwaves here!
Hi Tommy – Oh, come on, no balut? That's practically un-American. Oops… I meant un-Filipino! 😆
Hi Ron LaFleur – The biggest problem with these solutions is that internet bandwidth is extremely limited. No way could you watch a program streamed from a sling box. You'd have to record it, download it and watch it after it is fully downloaded.
Last time you mentioned the DirecTV, I did some searching about it, and was unable to find anything. Any links would be helpful, if you have the time to dig it up.
Thanks Ron.
Hi Dave Starr – We only have one cable system here in Davao. There is also a "cable" wireless service, although I don't know too much about them. Of course, there is also Dream TV, the satellite provider.
Regarding basketball, NBA and college, there used to be basketball TV, but it's been removed from cable, so that coverage has been cut way back now. I've seen one or two NASCAR races here, but as you say F1 rules the TV scene as far as racing goes.
Hi Bob – funny you should mention this. Rechie was just asking how I could possibly move to the Philippines, because there would be no football to watch. This is good news, at least to me.
Looks like NFL.com has started offering a package over the internet to locations outside of North America. Kind of pricey, but I'd consider it if I don't like what's available on cable there.
http://www.nfl.com/gamepass
Hi Randy C – I'm not sure on that NFL pass, but if the games are streamed video, it will be difficult to get enough bandwidth here to watch that reliably. If the games can be downloaded in their entirety, that should work fine. I don't know if you're interested in this or not, but you can often find torrents to download of NFL games, and that works great too.
Hi Bob
There is also ESPN360 which carries all American Sports but I believe it is streamed. You can take advantage of game torrents that certain websites have. You download them as files and watch them but they usually the day after the game has been played.
Hi Dan Mihaliak – Yep, I download a lot of torrents, and that will work great for anybody wanting to watch certain games in the Philippines. Streaming real-time just won't work out well, though.
Sorry guys as a Brit we never have understood American Football its twenty seconds of action and twenty minutes of time outs and commercials.
Now with what you call Soccer and we call Football its action all the way.
Hi john – I never meant this as a Football vs. Soccer thing. I get a lot of e-mails from Americans who genuinely are asking me about seeing American Football games on TV, and just wanted to give this update for those interested. Somehow, though, the whole thing has turned into a debate regarding what this sport or that is called.
Anyway, not focusing on you, John, after all it is a debate that a number of people have brought up in the comments.
Hey Bob,
I don't follow football too much either anymore since moving to Florida 11 years ago from Maryland, and not being stuck in the house on a cold Sunday afternoon anymore to watch football. I would be rather at the beach, or fishing or some other outdoor activity, unless of course I am working.
But I did enjoy watching pro football back in the "day", I was a big Dallas Cowboy fan, and I have been since the Roger Staubach days. Just can't get too excited about it now a days.
Take care, and be safe now,
Danny 🙂
Hi Danny – It's funny how so many of us are saying that we used to love the game, but don't have as much interest any longer. As a general rule, I don't think that NFL viewership is down, as a matter of fact I think it is way up. I don't think that it is an age thing, because my Dad was an NFL fan at my age. I wonder why so many of us lost interest in the game? I think it was when there were some strikes of the players back in the 80's.
By the way, I always hated Roger Staubach! Seemed like he always found a way to beat my Rams! 😆
Hi Bob- I was only joking about American Football being what it is.
It has never quite caught on here in the UK although it is played in the summer months when our own football season is in recess.
Each to our own I suppose and now I'm officially retired from working I may even do a little research as to the origin of the game.
Regards.
Jim.
Hi Jim – I understand. I just never meant this to be a comparison or a competition between one sport and another.
Congrats on your retirement! 🙂
Hi Jim . Finaly retired. Still doing the cruise in Novenber. Sorry i have nt contacted you but my health has really deterurated this yesr
Hi frank fealey – I am really sorry to hear that your health problems continue! Maybe it's time to retire in Davao and relax a bit? Let me know if I can help you in any way, my friend!
Have been able to watch alot of college football games for free this year through ESPN 360 – despite being based in the UK. Here are instructions which are quite easy even for computer illiterate people:
http://www.tigernet.com/forums/message.jspa?messa…
This method takes advantage of the fact that espn360 is available for free at US colleges and through some internet providers.
Hi College football fan – I think this is great for places like the UK where you can get the bandwidth. Watching a streaming football game, though, would be virtually impossible on a Philippine Internet Connection.
ah ok… bummer..
Hi Frank- Good to hear from you again and hope you get well soon. Yes I retired last Friday and now we are busy packing up the household effects to send to the Phil's.The cruise fell through as they changed the itinery twice from the original one I booked but we got all our money back as they broke the agreement.We will use the money to see the great wall of China and visit friends in New Zealand when we reach the Phil's.
Take care and all the very best to you and yours.
Jim.
Out of curiosity can you get streaming content like that provided by Netflix On Demand in the Philippines?
Hi David S. – firstly, as I said in many comments in this thread, getting enough bandwidth here in the Philippines to stream video like that is very troublesome. As far as whether they will sell you the on-demand video, doubtful. They will sniff your IP address, and not sell it to you based on the fact that you are not in the United States. There are technical ways around this, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.