Hello All. I live in Denver, CO. I was plannig on ordering the Oranje v. Argies on DirecTV and was wondering if anyone in the area would like to get together to watch the match. Let me know.

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Is that you, Greg?

If not, I know an Ajax fan named Greg in Denver who might want to watch the game with you...

Yes its me. All of my Dutch friends have left and I'm stuck her all alone.:eek:

Ah, bummer. But good to see you on this forum anyway. Welcome Greg. (this is Menno, btw).

I plan to watch the following games at Mad Dog in the Fog, 530 Haight Street, San Francisco (Tel: 415 626 7279). They will be showing both matches live via Setanta satellite, and there is a charge of $10 per person at the door. They expect a fairly good turnout, but should be enough room for SF's Ajacieden.

• Arsenal v Ajax, Tues Feb 18th, 11:45am Pacific time
• Ajax v Arsenal, Wed Feb 26th 11:45am Pacific time

Long-time Ajax USA member Robert Citroën informs me that, besides Direct TV, tonight's Holland-Argentina match can be seen by anyone having broadband computer connections (cable modem or DSL) on http://www.willow.tv for $14.95. Rob says he has a 19" LCD digital screen and gets a better picture than from the satellite on the TV.

Come one come all....

Arsenal v Ajax will be shown live at the the Crown & Anchor pub in beautiful Las Vegas on the big screen for a $10 cover. Thanks to June and the boys at the Crown & Anchor for paying big bucks to get the live television feed. The bar usually loses $$ by getting these games so if you're in Vegas come and show your support!

Joden!!!

* IMPORTANT INFORMATION - for US VIEWERS *

Last weekend I was visiting my family in Wash DC area. There is a restaurant closeby called Summer's. This place is somewhat "famous" in this area for showing football matches.
Naturally, I was there by 7:00 am to catch the Ajax-Feyenoord match last weekend. The game was showed on ESPN Deportes. The commentator was the infamous Tommy Smyth (and someone else whose name I don't recall - but it isn't Mike Hill, who happens to be my fave announcer in N.America). And of course the match commentary was in english.
After the match, I asked a restaurant worker there about his satellite hook-up. He informed me that is was DirectTV (!).

So I contacted DirecTV for details. The folks answering the phones were basically confused on how I can get this service. After the third phone call, I was finally able to get some concrete info.

ESPN Deportes - as I finally found out - is only a "temporary" channel that broadcasts only on Sundays. However, on those Sundays they PROBABLY show important soccer fixtures, like last weekend's Eredivisie classic. In other words, ESPn Deportes is like a "shadow" of ESPN International. Not the full programming, but some.

To get ESPN Deportes, you'd need two things: First, one must get an oval dish, not the traditional rounded dish. Second, you must buy the Spanish-programming package instead of the traditional, US English programming package.

The oval dish costs US$49.95 - not too bad.
Installation is another US$14.95.

Folks who are/were on DirecTV knows that the "basic" package consists of some 100 channels plus local stations.
US$38.00 per month.

To switch to the Spanish package, you'd get 130 plus channels, also at the same price.
You will lose some channels but also gain some in the Spanish package.
Basically, if you'd make the switch, I'm told you would lose 5 channels previously avai in the English package but gain some 30 plus channels in the Spanish package, including ESPN Deportes, plus several others in Spanish language.

So, what's the long & short of it all?

Well, because of my lack of Spanish, and the lack of knowledge of such programming among the English speaking workers at DirecTV, I don't actually know just how many Dutch soccer matches will be shown, or its frequency, on the Spanish package. I do know that the Spanish package does include other interesting channels such as TVE (from Spain) and Chilean tv.

I thought to myself: if I get to watch just ONE Ajax match per month, this would be worth it. Ajax plays mostly on Sundays anyway...

There are still a lot of unanswered questions but despite that, well, I made the SWITCH today !

The installation will take place in about a week.

And hopefully by then, I should be able to inform anyone on this bulletin board who's interested...if this was a wise move - or not !

Wow, that's a stunning development. ESPN.com says nothing about ESPN Deportes that I can find, but it does list programming for next weekend for ESPN Latin America which includes:

DUTCH FOOTBALL: FC UTRECHT VS. AJAX
STADION NIEUW GALGENWAARD UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS 8:25 am to 10:30 am (in other words, LIVE)

I'll try to call DirecTV and corroborate this info.

Okay, now *I've* spoken to the nice folks at DirecTV...

You CAN get the channel "ESPN Deportes", but currently only for a "4 to 5 hour window on Sundays". They couldn't tell me what time of day the window occurs. Doesn't sound too comprehensive, but if it's the right window, there could be some Dutch football in that window.

Here's what I've done. I will report back in a week's time to tell you whether it was at all worth it...

I am already a DirecTV customer. I just purchased the "Multi-Satellite Upgrade Package" at a cost of $69.23.

The package includes:
- free installation
- an upgrade from round dish to oval dish, which is required to receive the extra satellite from whence Deportes (and other Spanish-language programming) eminates.
- a second DirecTV receiver (though if I decide to use it, I must pay another $4.95 a month)
- (some 25 other Spanish-language channels I don't give a toss about and) ESPN Deportes (channel 426 on DirecTV) for a few hours each Sunday.

By switching from DirecTV "Total Choice Plus" to its equivalent "DirecTV Para Todos: Ultra Especial", I actually lose 13 channels, including BBC America, CNBC, CNN Int'l and a few others. And I gain about 30 others, all in Spanish.

So, on Sunday next, I'll either be watching UTRECHT v AJAX live, or I'll be moaning about the loss of BBC America...

Oh, and I should mention...

I'm not 100% sure that ESPN Deportes (from DirecTV) and ESPN Latin America (Dutch league games every Sunday) are identical. I won't know for sure until Wednesday...

To get the "Multi-Satellite Promo" I mentioned earlier, I had to sign on to a one-year agreement for the programming package.

Reading further on http://www.soccertv.com/, it seems the '4 or 5 hours of programming is actually Sunday night, which means we're probably out of luck, at least for the rest of this season (since Eredivisie games are shown live on Sunday mornings.

The Silver Lining is that, according to SoccerTV.com, "...ESPN has announced that it will expand its Sunday night Spanish-language US cable/satellite TV service ESPN Deportes to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week effective September 7, 2003."

So long as ESPN Deportes continues to carry Dutch league next season, we should be in luck!

You're far from the civilization....you're alone....you don't have TV....Your friends left you :D

Or for whatever other reasons you can't see the match Tuesday night (european time), don't kill yourself, I have the solution :

I can provide numeric records of the match on CD as long as there's not 1000000 people asking, so don't hesitate if you wanna see the match, catch me on the forum and ask, it's that easy...

It's a very nice offer from you, our own Napster for Ajax :D

HOWEVER......our swedish channel 3 decided to show the game live and everything just FEELS GREAT!
It's not often I get to see a whole Ajax game, and LIVE to add to it.

A very happy Swede hoping that Ajax offer the gunners some better resistance than Man U, and why wouldn't we - WEA'RE BETTER!!

After all that crap about making (potential) progress in the States to view Ajax matches....would you believe it....DirectTV will NOT be showing Arse-Ajax match, despite being available via Setanta-pay-per-view!!



So if there is a kind person out there who is able and willing to tape the match (Comcast cable is probably showing it, also pay-per-view) I will be more than glad to reimburse $$, including Setanta ppv costs, if you can get me a copy of this match.

It's not possible for me to wathc the game at a local pub today as I have to work. No chance of even sneaking out because of the work delays/overload caused by the massive snowstorm on the eastcoast...