Some potentially important news regarding North American sport on FIVE was announced today. It has been known for a while that FIVE were looking to branch out into digital broadcasting with two new channels. One of the areas that FIVE have been able to win viewers is by buying-up US shows such as CSI and, more recently, House. It is no surprise therefore that one of the two new channels will focus solely on US programmes.<\/p>\n
FIVE U.S. promises to bring us "the very best of American television in genres such as: established and new drama; comedy; films; sport<\/b> and youth programming." This is as detailed as it gets so far and whether this will result in FIVE dropping U.S. sports coverage from their terrestrial channel is unknown.<\/p>\n
Admittedly not all places in GB receive a digital signal at the moment, but FIVE's terrestrial coverage is still unobtainable for some people. Having a dedicated platform for North American sports can only be a good thing in the long term for us fans. At the very least it should ensure that we won't see World Series games cut-off before they end again (justifiably one of the biggest grievances about FIVE's coverage in the past).<\/p>\n
The two new FIVE channels will be available through Freeview at no extra charge from the Autumn, so it is possible that the play-off coverage this season may be affected by the switch.<\/p>\n