The Most Up-to-Date Olympic Soccer Coverage News I Can Find (for US Readers)

Okay, here’s the scoop — here’s everything I’ve been able to find out about Olympic soccer coverage, both from the links you’ve left and from a lot of digging. I’ll be updating my NBC Olympic Soccer Coverage post (you know — the one you’re supposed to bookmark) later today or early tomorrow, but for those who can’t wait, here’s some info and links.

First off, here’s the FIFA listing of the men’s games, local times. And here’s the link for the women’s.

Second, NBC has come through for us with listings. Hooray NBC! They’ve given us a great .pdf with all news on all coverage. (Alternative link to a different format here.)

I’ll be using this info to update our Olympic Soccer Coverage post for everybody who doesn’t want to wade through everybody else. But if you’re absolutely dying to know when you’ll be seeing the Tennis Semifinal, you can’t go wrong with the above link.

One thing to watch: Some of these times are Eastern, and some are local. I’m not 100% sure which will be which, so pay attention to your own listings.

I’ve pulled the Soccer Coverage for the first two days to get you through till I can update our own soccer coverage post. It’s at the bottom of this post. But first, here’s what I’ve been able to find out about what cable and TV carriers will be bringing you the Olympic Soccer Channel.

TV COVERAGE IN THE US

First, here’s the list of carriers that have supposedly reached agreements with NBC to carry the specialized soccer coverage and channels:

NBC Universal (NBCU) today announced distribution of an “enhanced” content offering for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with the cable industry, including Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Bright House Networks, Mediacom, Bresnan, Atlantic Broadband, Knology, Midcontinent Communications, Blue Ridge Communications, NPG Cable, OneLink Communications and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, and Grande Communications.

This is, unfortunately, not a definitive list. There may be other cable carriers not listed who are carrying it, and some folks whose carriers are on the list are still getting the runaround or have been told that their carrier won’t be carrying it. This is particularly true for Comcast customers, including me.

Don’t see your company? Here’s one more option. Go to the NBC Olympics interactive TV coverage site and type in your zip code and cable info. (Go to NBCOlympics.com, click on TV and Online Listings, type in your zip code, click on TV listing on the left, then go to a specific day and see what turns up. For example, if I type in my zip code and cable carrier, Comcast, and then go to tomorrow, August 6, it shows that I should be getting coverage on MSNBC, Universal HD, Telemundo and the Olympic Soccer Channel. (August 6 is a good day to check, because the only sport being played is Women’s Soccer.)

Here’s the problem, though. I made my son scroll through every channel for Wednesday morning, and no there’s no Olympic Soccer Channel.

I did actually get a call back from Comcast after I sent their head customer service guy a link to this post. Unfortunately I was off celebrating my anniversary and wasn’t there to take the call, and they haven’t returned either of the calls I’ve put in since then.

So is NBC right that my Comcast WILL be carrying the channel? Remember, this is Comcast. I’m not holding my breath.

ONLINE COVERAGE

UPDATE 08/08/08: This link is to the official site for NBC Online coverage. As of today,08/08/08, it’s showing four of yesterday’s men’s games. I watched about five minutes of Brazil-Belgium, and the quality was good. No commentary, though, which makes it interesting. Still for those of with in the Comcast areas that have chosen NOT to offer the Olympic Soccer Channel (i.e., those of us in the COMCAST SUCKS locations,) this may be our only option for the non-US games.

There also may be a chance that your own cable provider will be providing coverage. Several people have left links saying that Verizon FIOS will have it. I’m not finding that, so links to the info would be much appreciated.

If that doesn’t pan out, there’s always a sports fan’s best friends, the footie pirates. The good news is that with this many legit broadcasts, there are bound to be a lot of not-quite-so-legit broadcasts as well. (Note to NBC and cable companies: Don’t like it? Then give us better options.)

Here is our standard pre-tournament post about how to use the footie pirates to your best advantage. This one is for Euros, but scroll down to the paragraph that starts “When it comes to somewhat questionable sites…” and it’s all applicable. Be sure to download your chosen software beforehand, because it can take awhile.

That’s all I know. As always, if you have more info, leave it in the comments.

And here are the schedules for August 6 (Women’s group games) and August 7 (Men’s Group games). Looks like all these times are Eastern.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6

MSNBC
7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Women’s Soccer – USA vs. Norway (LIVE)

UNIVERSAL HD
7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Simulcast of MSNBC
8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Re-air
10:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Re-air

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL
5:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Women’s Matches
5:00 a.m. – 6:45 a.m. Germany vs. Brazil (LIVE)
7:45 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. USA vs. Norway (LIVE)
9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Argentina vs. Canada
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Japan vs. New Zealand
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. China vs. Sweden
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. N. Korea vs. Nigeria
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. USA vs. Norway (re-air)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7

MSNBC
4:55 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.
Men’s Soccer – USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
TELEMUNDO
4:30 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.
Men’s Soccer – Honduras vs. Italy (LIVE)
7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Men’s Soccer – Ivory Coast vs. Argentina (LIVE)
UNIVERSAL HD
4:55 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.
Simulcast of MSNBC
7:55 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Re-air
10:00 p.m. – 12:05 am
Re-air
NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL
5:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m.
Men’s Matches
5:00 a.m. – 6:45 a.m. USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
7:45 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Ivory Coast vs. Argentina (LIVE)
9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Australia vs. Serbia
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Brazil vs. Belgium
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Honduras vs. Italy
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. China vs. New Zealand
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Netherlands vs. Nigeria
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. S. Korea vs. Cameroon

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