Gol TV has scored more cable distribution.
The bilingual soccer channel -- which kicked off last February with carriage on EchoStar Communications Corp.’s Latino tier -- has been ramping up digital rollouts with Comcast Corp. and, now, Adelphia Communications Corp., pushing its total reach into nearly 5 million homes.
Chief operating officer Roger Huguet said the service -- which provides one video feed but Spanish- and English-audio feeds -- inked a distribution deal at year-end with Adelphia, reaching digital-basic or Hispanic tiers in Los Angeles, Miami and West Palm Beach, Fla.
Huguet also said Gol TV began rolling out in November and December on Hispanic tiers on Comcast systems serving Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and Fresno, Calif.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Miami.
"We were working on Chicago and some other markets," Huguet said, noting that negotiations are continuing for the channel to migrate to broader digital platforms.
He added that Gol TV -- which showcases soccer from the top Spanish and Italian leagues, among various other futból circuits -- is also engaged in similar conversations with Cablevision Systems Corp., which bowed the network on its Hispanic tier last summer.
As for Gol TV’s rate card, Huguet said the network is "getting paid a reasonable license fee. We’re giving some free periods as an incentive to launch on digital basic, but we will get paid there, too, eventually."
With the first set of MSO deals in place, its position on Dish Network’s "America’s Top 150" package (it also became available there last May) secured and negotiations with other distributors continuing, Huguet projected that Gol TV will be in 8 million-10 million homes by year-end.
