It may not come as a surprise that the question I have been asked the most since my arrival in August 2014 (and I’m going to paraphrase to keep this blog PG rated) has been: “when will Crew SC increase television distribution?”. The second most-asked question is “why are you taking so long to increase television distribution?”.
We heard you.
Your passion helped us build our 2016 Crew SC regional television partnership which we are pleased to share with each of you today. All of your tweets, posts, stadium conversations, calls, voicemails, telegrams, beeper & pager messages – whatever the medium, we heard you.
We heard you when you told us that you wanted to be able to watch your team. And today’s news guarantees you the ability to do that. Regardless of your viewing preference and irrespective of where you live in North America, you now have the ability to watch all of all our regionally televised matches without territory restrictions. Our overall TV viewership distribution footprint has never been this large, and choice has never been this wide-ranging. 100% of you have a chance to tune-in.
For Columbus viewers, all 31 of our regionally televised matches will be simulcast on Sinclair-operated channels and Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Furthermore, all regionally televised Crew SC matches are available on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel throughout TWC’s entire Ohio region footprint. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel will continue to provide expanded access to Crew SC content thru their exclusive prematch, postmatch, and “Access Crew SC” programming. MLS Direct Kick subscribers in Columbus (and anywhere in the United States) can watch all regionally televised Crew SC games without restrictions. And if you don’t have a cable or satellite package, you can stream all of our regionally televised games on MLS Live - without territory restrictions in Columbus or anywhere in North America.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank both Sinclair and Time Warner Cable for their cooperation in helping us form an innovative & supporter-focused simulcast format. We proudly welcome Sinclair and their Columbus operated channels into the Crew SC family, and we proudly return Time Warner Cable SportsChannel’s unprecedented production & club coverage across Ohio.
Ultimately, our club is only as strong as you make us. We thrive off of your energy and devotion that we see day in and day out. You have demonstrated that you can make MAPFRE Stadium the toughest building for opposing teams to enter in Major League Soccer. Our ranks are growing and momentum remains strong.
That’s why we put the utmost importance on making sure that, moving forward, all of our matches shall be accessible to everyone. After today’s news I hope you’re as excited for the start of the 2016 campaign as I am.
We heard you, and this time, we hope that you like what you hear.
For Columbus,
Andy
