Poll

Is it time to review the Saturday 3pm "Blackout" on live TV games in the UK?

Yes, we should remove the ban on 3pm TV games completely
Yes, the ban should be reviewed with a decision taken on the back of this
No, the 3pm ban is necessary and should be kept
Not sure / Don't care

Author Topic: Is it time to review the Saturday 3pm "Blackout" on live TV games in the UK?  (Read 9264 times)

Offline KOTP

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As Where Angels says, I don't give two fucks about City, my focus is on Liverpool FC and how the club can maximise its income to afford players such as Mo, Sadio, Bobby, Becker etc etc FSG's model is we spend what we earn, so the more we earn, the more we spend. I worked for the Development Association as a teen, selling raffle tickets in the early 80's, we were shit at maximising our potential, the Mancs stole a march on us and it took years to get our shit together. I'd rather pay £10 or whatever to the clubs streaming service or to Sky/BT with money going back into the clubs, than have to watch an illegal stream.

You yak on about $1,000 to $1500 to watch footy is the US of A. The basic Sky package with Sports is £660 a year (around $850) Throw in broadband and its a grand ($1200). Add in your phone and BT sports and most homes are over what you are whining about paying anyway.

The whole concept of no 3pm live footy goes back 60 years, to the days when EVERY game kicked off at 3pm, live footy was virtually unknown and when the team was away, people would go and watch another team, because it was cheap. If I watched my now local side , I'd be paying £400 a season to watch a load of Mancs, never going to happen. How many bother going to watch Tranmere now? Bury is 15 minutes from Manchester, did they get crowds going?

I can be in a tiny resort called Callao Salvaje in Tenerife in January at 3pm Saturday and can walk into Paddy McGintys, 3 Horsehoes, the Buzzing Bar and watch whatever premier league game they choose to show. People there today will be watching us V Brighton, yet I cannot go to a pub in Liverpool today and do the same.

EDIT - Any if you want to get into Abu Dhabi, did you miss the world record £400 million stadium sponsorship deal with Etihad, the Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Tourism deals, the laughable Puma deal or the fact they claim higher revenue than us and Man Utd?
jesus if youre really paying that much for broadband you seriously need to get on comparethemarket.com especially if you got sky as theyll do a deal on it mate dont let yourself get ripped off.

Offline rob1966

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jesus if youre really paying that much for broadband you seriously need to get on comparethemarket.com especially if you got sky as theyll do a deal on it mate dont let yourself get ripped off.

I was basing that on Skys own site, building a basic Sky Q package, Sky Sports and Broadband. We're on Virgin and I pay nowhere near that :thumbup
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From The Athletic.....relates to the upcoming streaming via Amazon;


By Matt Slater

Amazon is the world’s largest internet company, has annual revenues of close to £200 billion and employs nearly 650,000 people worldwide but on Tuesday evening, they will be “shitting themselves” about 22 blokes in south east London.

That is not Amazon’s official line, of course; it is an off-the-record comment from one of the internet service providers to whom the Seattle-based behemoth is entrusting its reputation when it becomes the first company to legally stream live Premier League football — for free, if you are a canny shopper — in the UK this week.

When Crystal Palace and Bournemouth kick off at 7.30pm on Tuesday, it could be the start of Amazon’s bid to steal Christmas, heralding the next phase in the Premier League’s push to overtake the National Football League as the world’s most profitable sports league. Or it might become competition for New Coke, the Sinclair C5 and smokeless cigarettes in the disastrous product launch stakes.

By half-time at Selhurst Park, a second stream should be flowing from Turf Moor, where Burnley host the buffering champions Manchester City in an unusual 8.15pm kick-off. The number of eyeballs and amount of scrutiny on Amazon Prime Video’s leap into live Premier League football will be doubled, with increasing strain on the network.

The real test, however, will come towards the intervals of Wednesday evening’s first five fixtures, including Jose Mourinho’s return to Old Trafford with Spurs, a 7.30pm start. Merseyside logs on for Liverpool v Everton at 8.15pm.

At this point, anyone unlucky enough to live at the end of a long line of copper wire from the closest telephone exchange might not be enjoying the ability to stream two games on different devices, with a third kept spare for Prime Video’s new Goals Centre show while accessing the latest Opta stats. Instead, might you be waiting 30 seconds to find out what happened to that cross your full-back just made, watching without sound or just screaming at a blank screen on your not-so smart TV?

And the really scary bit about this for Amazon is it will be as helpless as the rest of us if there are any crashes or unplanned repairs on the broadband superhighway.

This is the context of that “shitting themselves” remark, although another industry source described the mood at Amazon UK’s Principal Place HQ in Shoreditch as “nervous, but more like the nerves you would feel before a big exam or cup final”.

The company’s on-the-record response to reports last week about the risk of technical issues spoiling its debut were words to the effect of “it will be alright on the night”, whilst assuring us it has been in talks with the country’s biggest internet service providers about managing traffic and “scaling up” its own operations.

It is understood Amazon was also in talks with Channel 4 about sharing its rights for Liverpool-Everton with the free-to-air channel — to lighten the load on the network, dilute any negative publicity for snafus beyond its control, and ensure a big audience for its core pre-Christmas message of free two-day delivery for gifts bought on its website. But the Premier League pointed out such sub-licensing deals are ruled out in the deal Amazon signed in June 2018.

That was when the company broke the BT Sport and Sky duopoly on domestic Premier League rights by picking up one of the two packages of games that were designed, gift-wrapped and signposted for one or more of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google or Netflix to scrap over.

As it happened, the fight failed to break out in February last year, when the league sold the five most valuable packages to its traditional partners, but Amazon did eventually take the opportunity to plant its flag in another market — and risk falling flat on its face.

The argument for the former is that for a relatively small outlay, Amazon has won the rights to two sets of midweek fixtures, one of them over a bank holiday, for the next three campaigns. The precise figure has never been released but BT paid £90 million for a similar package as, together with Sky, they shelled out £4.55 billion to secure domestic Premier League TV rights until the end of 2022.

This season — and we should expect something similar in years two and three — the 20 games bought by Amazon will be streamed to Prime members over five days, with the first round of games between December 3 and 5, and the second from 12.30pm to nearly 10pm on Boxing Day, with a final flourish of Wolves against Manchester City on December 27.

An Amazon Prime membership costs £7.99 a month or £79 for 12 months, although the company is well aware many fans will already have signed up for the free 30-day trial and circled a date after December 27 on the calendar to cancel that membership.

Or maybe, Amazon is hoping, they will decide they quite liked the shorter gap between click and delivery, the feature-length Grand Tour specials or the second season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and sign up for longer. Or perhaps they will just forget to cancel. Either way, the world’s biggest online market/cloud computing platform/Artificial Intelligence pioneer has you and 100 million other Amazon Prime customers hooked.

So why is this such a risk for Amazon? You only need to dip your toe into live sports streaming’s recent history.

In September 2017, DAZN, the London-based subscription service, started streaming NFL games in Canada but fumbled as customers complained about pixelated pictures and error messages telling them to try different devices. A year later, Australian telecoms company Optus was forced to share its rights for the World Cup in Russia with a terrestrial broadcaster halfway through the tournament after its streaming service infuriated fans already a little touchy after the Socceroos’ low-bandwidth displays.

Later that summer, Eleven Sports, another new player with big hopes, announced itself to the UK market with exclusive coverage of golf’s USPGA Championship. Unfortunately, some viewers were excluded from watching Brooks Koepka’s winning putt. Within months, the overstretched and chastened company would be handing back their expensively-assembled La Liga and Serie A rights.

Golf would provide another salutatory lesson for sports streamers last November, when Turner Sports’ “B/R Live” service was forced to show The Match between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods for free and refund those who had already paid. Its boss described as server issues “caused by really insufficient memory…and the high volume of consumer access requests in a condensed amount of time”.

But the best cautionary tale belongs to Amazon Prime Video itself because, sandwiched between those two slices of golfing misfortune was the 2018 US Open from Flushing Meadows, its first big live sports event in the UK. The Athletic has spoken to several tennis journalists and nobody remembers the coverage of that tournament with any fondness. “Disastrous”, “lots of complaints”, “terrible picture quality” and “their lack of tennis knowledge showed” were the more polite comments.

“They have improved with time in terms of the on-screen production and the number of court feeds but I still often experience technical issues, such as streams regularly cutting off during matches,” says one senior reporter. “I would not be at all surprised if a late winner in the Merseyside derby was missed because of a technical problem. Many viewers missed the last few games of this year’s US Open women’s final.”

Another correspondent was more positive, though.

“They had difficulties when they launched with tennis primarily because their second event ever was the US Open,” he explains. “That’s a heck of a baptism of fire — all eyes on them — with no real chance to test everything or understand exactly what tennis viewers expect. They were doing it in the full glare and there were a lot of negative reviews.

“But they’ve done loads of tournaments this year and ironed out a lot of it. By the US Open this time (in 2019), it was much better. There still were some issues but I would say the good news is they have come across a lot of them now before they go live with Premier League.”

And that is the message from Amazon, too. Lessons learned, servers primed.

The company also points out it is has successfully live-streamed NFL games on Thursday nights since 2017 and rolled out eagerly-anticipated shows like the BBC’s Top Gear spin-off Grand Tour.

It could, however, equally be pointed out that the former are simulcast by Fox Sports, which reduces Prime Video’s average audience to about 500,000 viewers, and the latter are not live, so the streaming is staggered.

But there is still the nagging feeling that Amazon Prime has never opened itself up to such a potential social-media mauling than it can expect over the next three and a bit weeks, particularly as the service will then have to wait 11 months to try to repair any possible damage to its reputation.

What cannot be disputed, though, is how seriously Amazon is taking its Premier League debut.

“Fair play, they are doing the job properly with dedicated teams, outside broadcasts at each game and really good people behind and in front of the camera,” says Jim Rosenthal.

The veteran broadcaster is one of 73 commentators, presenters and pundits Amazon has pulled together for its 20 games this month. Rosenthal, who has eight World Cups and more than 150 Formula One races on his CV, will be leading the coverage at the Manchester United v Spurs game on December 4 and Spurs v Brighton on Boxing Day.

This will give the 72-year-old, whose most recent football work has been for MUTV, a chance to resume acquaintances with Jose Mourinho. Joining Rosenthal in the studio at Old Trafford will be Dimitar Berbatov, Harry Redknapp and Peter Schmeichel.

“My technical expertise extends about as far as turning on the telly but everyone is aware of the importance of getting this to work,” says Rosenthal, adding that it took him “about a nanosecond to say yes” when Amazon came calling.

Former England striker Eni Aluko is another who did not need to be asked twice. She will be a pundit for Chelsea v Aston Villa on December 4 and Bournemouth v Arsenal on December 26.

“Amazon isn’t seen as a sports broadcaster but it is a cutting-edge business, and that was part of the reason I was so excited about this opportunity,” says Aluko.

The 32-year-old, who has just completed a successful stint with Juventus, was speaking to The Athletic after shooting a Prime Video promo with fellow pundits Karen Carney, Jermaine Jenas and Clinton Morrison.

“We were told to talk about the games just like we were in the green room,” she says. “I think they want a more informal approach from the pundits but they still want us to deliver our opinions.”

Others among the 73 new additions to Amazon president Jeff Bezos’s payroll include Peter Crouch, Thierry Henry, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer, although those last two are unlikely to be on the same sofa after their literary dispute. Commentary duties will be provided by the likes of Jon Champion, Connor McNamara and Guy Mowbray. In other words, lots of people you have heard and watched talking about football before.

There will be some very safe hands behind the cameras and in the edit suites and satellite trucks, too, as Amazon has hired award-winning production company Sunset + Vine to run the outside broadcasts. Goals Centre will be broadcast from BT Sport’s studio in east London. So far, so familiar.

That tie-up with BT is significant for several reasons, as not only did they share the two quirky packages of games left unsold in the first round of last year’s rights auction, but they have also done a deal to allow pubs to show Amazon’s games on the BT Sport channel. There is also a considerable overlap of presenters and pundits. As the second and third players in this market, it makes sense for them to club together against the might of Sky Sports.

“Whenever someone says, ‘We’re going to do things differently’, a shiver goes down my spine,” says Rosenthal. “Maybe, in the future, we can talk about mic-ing up the ref or putting cameras on goalkeepers’ heads but for now, we just want to put in a professional performance.”

There will, however, be some new bells and whistles, with viewers able to access Opta possession statistics, team formations and player bios via Amazon’s “X-Ray function”, which opens a smaller box of data on your screen to the right or underneath the live action, depending on your device.

Highlight clips will also be updated throughout the game, so fans can rewatch key moments, and Amazon is promising a two-to-three-minute highlights package shortly after the final whistle. There will also be a 30-minute package soon after and a complete re-run of the game at midnight, which will available for a week.

When you add all this up and factor in the fact Amazon is covering nine games on Boxing Day alone, starting with Spurs v Brighton at 12.30pm and finishing with what could be a very significant Leicester v Liverpool clash at the very unfriendly time of 8pm for travelling supporters, it is easy to see how there will be 2,000 people toiling on the firm’s football foray this Christmas.

“Our hope is that people will wake up on Boxing Day, make some turkey sandwiches, flop on the sofa and probably not move for 12 hours while we entertain them,” says Rosenthal. He might be right.

In fact, once you add in the tennis and NFL coverage, some original drama, a few films, the free two-day delivery and special offers, throw in its back catalogue of All or Nothing sports documentaries and remember that the next one off the production line stars Mauricio Pochettino, Mourinho and the resurgent Spurs, and you can definitely see the logic of this move.

But if Amazon thinks it has received some unfair criticism over the years for how it treats warehouse staff, its tax bill or impact on the high street, it has a rude awakening coming its way if one half of Merseyside misses a later winner on Wednesday. Empires have fallen for less than that.
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline ScouserAtHeart

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It's behind a paywall though?
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Online 4pool

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It's behind a paywall though?

As the article states...for those who don't have Amazon Prime, they do have a 30 day free trial feature ( with automatic billing after, so cancel the account)
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline Millie

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As the article states...for those who don't have Amazon Prime, they do have a 30 day free trial feature ( with automatic billing after, so cancel the account)

He means the article from the Athletic.
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Online 4pool

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He means the article from the Athletic.

Ahh...I see now.

Well I unpay walled it... :P
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Online 4pool

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Players will earn more, clubs will spend more; every part of the football industrial complex will welcome this frothing new income stream. But in reality this money comes, as ever, from those who pay to watch. The entry of BT Sport into this marketplace was similarly trumpeted as a golden moment of choice. In practice it became necessary for football supporters to pay twice, to engage with yet another monthly contract, just to receive essentially the same service.


With the entry of a third major provider it remains a late-stage capitalism kind of choice. No matter how glossy and fun the Amazon product, how high the players’ salaries, English football fans are basically still being sold the same things they already owned in the first place.


https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/02/amazon-prime-premier-league-football-arrival-tv-hefty-price


About time someone in the media hits the nail on the head.

Streaming of matches and having to buy a sub...for something you already pay for = you're paying more money for it.

This why many supporters in the USA whinged. Now there are three different subs needed to have access to watch all Liverpool matches.

But hey ho, if they can tease you into getting something you're not, as with 3pm kickoffs, the entire landscape changes as ALL broadcasters jump on the gravy train of internet streaming.

So ultimately any time there are multiple matches at the same time, one may be on tv the rest on a pay streaming sub. You end up needing to pay to watch LFC play matches you would have had on tv and NOT just 3pm kickoffs.

As an example, the Derby Wednesday would have been on one of the NBC platform channels. Now it is on NBC Gold, the pay streaming site.
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline mikey_LFC

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The FA / premier league should have their own channel set up to show all the games for a subscription.
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Offline lfc79

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The Atlantic article could have done with looking at the number of people who stream matches on Sky Go and Virgin at the moment as a comparison, I remember it being pretty poor at first but don't have many issues these day and watch all the premier league and champions league games over, I would have though most people share log in's with friends or family.

Offline Skeeve

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The FA / premier league should have their own channel set up to show all the games for a subscription.

That is probably what they are trialing with these Amazon games, working out the logistics for future plans while still having managed to flog another batch of games  in this tv deal, if it seems feasible with the uk's broadband then you could easily see a similar setup to the big american leagues where they have streaming options for sale in parallel to their tv deals.

Online 4pool

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The FA / premier league should have their own channel set up to show all the games for a subscription.

This is the same group who can't get VAR correct and you're expecting them to get streaming correct. lol
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline WhereAngelsPlay

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This is the same group who can't get VAR correct and you're expecting them to get streaming correct. lol


My cup, it runneth over, I'll never get my fill

Offline RainbowFlick

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Should stop this in my opinion. I'm not entirely convinced people will be less likely to go to games because it's not on TV. The regulars will always be there. Maybe it makes sense for smaller clubs but I'd imagine they can just price tickets accordingly to get more people in?

I dunno. Just a bit annoyed I still have to look for dodgy streams which cut out every 23 seconds. Either that or can the ticket fairy box me some away credits so I don't have to miss them.  ;D
« Last Edit: December 3, 2019, 02:51:44 pm by RainbowFlick »
YNWA.

Offline Lusty

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Honestly interested to know how many people in this thread ever go to watch smaller teams and have an idea what those supporter bases are like?

Offline mikey_LFC

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Honestly interested to know how many people in this thread ever go to watch smaller teams and have an idea what those supporter bases are like?

What are your thoughts on both subjects? Smaller team supporter bases and TV games, I mean? And what viewpoints do you want on them?
"A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are." - Bill Shankly

Offline Lusty

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What are your thoughts on both subjects? Smaller team supporter bases and TV games, I mean? And what viewpoints do you want on them?

I posted my thoughts on the previous page.

The reason I asked is, people seem to be pretty confident that it won't affect attendance at smaller clubs, and I'm wondering whether that's based on any experience or if it's coming from being in a bit of a big club bubble.

Offline rob1966

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Honestly interested to know how many people in this thread ever go to watch smaller teams and have an idea what those supporter bases are like?

Never ever watch smaller teams. Of the 3 nearest to me, Trafford FC get about 250 a game, Salford City get around 3500 and FC United get around 1500. (you can guess why I dont watch local footy). I never went to watch Kirkby Town, Skem Utd, Marine or Tranmere when I was younger either.

This is the same group who can't get VAR correct and you're expecting them to get streaming correct. lol

What has VAR got to do with this? :butt

Cameras are at every ground every game anyway. The only worries Amazon have for this week is if the hardware and infrastructure can cope with the load. Seeing as they tend to have between 4 and 6 3pm kickoffs on a Saturday, then load shouldn't be an issue. Every premier league game is already being streamed around the world anyway.
Jurgen, you made us laugh, you made us cry, you made Liverpool a bastion of invincibilty, now leave us on a high - YNWA

Offline lfc79

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I would have thought the answer would be for each club to get a fixed number of sat 3pm kick off's / games moved to non TV Sunday due to Europe and then a separate package launched for each clubs games for a one off fee say at least 8 games for £50 and not make them available to pubs or commercial venues.

It would never end up with many top of the table clashes and would have not impact on causal fans going to lower league games as having to pay for entire season of game you would only do it for your club.

if there are people who would like to watch Liverpool's 3pm games but can't get tickets or travel to away games why should they be denied the choice.

Offline rob1966

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I posted my thoughts on the previous page.

The reason I asked is, people seem to be pretty confident that it won't affect attendance at smaller clubs, and I'm wondering whether that's based on any experience or if it's coming from being in a bit of a big club bubble.

I would say those who go are in the main supporters of the club anyway and would go no matter what - Utd or City being home doesn't seem to affect the local teams by me. I know supporters of Northampton and Luton who wouldn't not go just because there was a Premier League game on the telly. I doubt the numbers who go to watch Prem footy and then non league alternate weeks is that big anyway, even at local level its £10 to get in, you are looking at £20-25 higher up, which  is a lot over a season.
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Offline mikey_LFC

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I posted my thoughts on the previous page.

The reason I asked is, people seem to be pretty confident that it won't affect attendance at smaller clubs, and I'm wondering whether that's based on any experience or if it's coming from being in a bit of a big club bubble.

Guess the question is for those attending the small clubs at 3pm on Saturdays. If a TV game was on, would they still go?

Can probably look at attendances midweek for EFL games when TV games are on compared to when they aren't on.

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/lums/economics/working-papers/AttendanceDemand.pdf

This paper, although slightly dated suggests that live games had little impact on the Championship, a 10% impact on League One and a 5% impact on league Two. League one clubs supposedly lost between £11,000 and £17,000 in match day revenue.
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Offline lfc79

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I think the worry for smaller clubs is fans won't turn up for a 3pm kick off if Sky were showing Liverpool v Man City or possibly Barc v madrid, but if its Brighton v Liverpool the only ones who might stay away to watch are going to be die hard fans of those clubs and why should they not get the choice.

Offline rob1966

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I think the worry for smaller clubs is fans won't turn up for a 3pm kick off if Sky were showing Liverpool v Man City or possibly Barc v madrid, but if its Brighton v Liverpool the only ones who might stay away to watch are going to be die hard fans of those clubs and why should they not get the choice.

Every game is on a stream anyway, so I feel its more that there is a trick being missed to get those doing it to watch a legal version. I watched us v Brighton on Saturday on a stream, as I did Villa away and most other games - she wanted to watch her lot on Sunday and as I had no interest in watching the bitters I plugged the laptop into the telly and found a boss stream, no buffering, clear as day picture. It was American, so at half time it was all American adverts and American pundits, but the comms were Lee Dixon and some English fella I'd heard before.
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Offline Lusty

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Guess the question is for those attending the small clubs at 3pm on Saturdays. If a TV game was on, would they still go?

Can probably look at attendances midweek for EFL games when TV games are on compared to when they aren't on.

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/lums/economics/working-papers/AttendanceDemand.pdf

This paper, although slightly dated suggests that live games had little impact on the Championship, a 10% impact on League One and a 5% impact on league Two. League one clubs supposedly lost between £11,000 and £17,000 in match day revenue.

I'm thinking more non league than EFL.  My observation is that most people who attend those games have a 'big' club they normally support, but drift in and out of the local team when they're at a loose end.

Purely my observation and I might be wrong overall, but I think there's afternoons where, if Liverpool were on the telly, I probably wouldn't bother going down to the local team.

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Is it?

You missed the point..you want those who decided on VAR, set the rules for VAR, the problems with VAR, the decision making at the top, etc...these are the same people who will oversee streaming.

It's not about the tv cameras being at the ground. It's about those who will decide everything. From how much to charge, to which providers to use ( and even though NBC Gold has been going on a couple years now there are still glitches.) Just wait until City v LFC is on a stream and it goes down or the audio/video  have problems--and this time you're paying even more for something (license fees and now subs)/ Oh you'll whigne like hell about it but by then you're screwed anyway. And paying more for the screwing.
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline Millie

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Is it?

You missed the point..you want those who decided on VAR, set the rules for VAR, the problems with VAR, the decision making at the top, etc...these are the same people who will oversee streaming.

It's not about the tv cameras being at the ground. It's about those who will decide everything. From how much to charge, to which providers to use ( and even though NBC Gold has been going on a couple years now there are still glitches.) Just wait until City v LFC is on a stream and it goes down or the audio/video  have problems--and this time you're paying even more for something (license fees and now subs)/ Oh you'll whigne like hell about it but by then you're screwed anyway. And paying more for the screwing.

I'm not being funny but you live in the USA - the fact that you were born in Liverpool is irrelevant to this discussion.  As a resident of the USA the 3pm blackout has no effect on you whatsoever. 

This is only an issue for those of us who live in the UK. 

Your comparison to VAR is also totally irrelevant. 
"If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all"  Thumper (1942)

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Online 4pool

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The idea is that there are those who want the Premier League to run streaming.

Scudamore left almost two years ago.. and the choice to replace him David Pemsel resigns before he even starts. The first choice to replace him, Susanna Dinnage also resigned before even starting. Tim Davie also turned the job down.

Now on to candidate #4.

The PL can't even find people to run the League and you want these to decide everything on streaming.

Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Online 4pool

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I'm not being funny but you live in the USA - the fact that you were born in Liverpool is irrelevant to this discussion.  As a resident of the USA the 3pm blackout has no effect on you whatsoever. 

This is only an issue for those of us who live in the UK. 

Your comparison to VAR is also totally irrelevant. 

Yeah it is YOUR issue.

I'm just pointing out--based on what has transpired in the USA--where you are heading.

As i've said, and the article stated, you're going to pay more for what you already have. It won't end with just 3pm kickoffs.

The carrott dangling on the stick is access to watch a 3 pm kickoff.

The end decision will effect not just 3pm kickoffs and that is something, it seems to me, many aren't seeing the big picture. Should streaming of 3 pm kickoffs be allowed, all broadcasters will want on that money making opportunity. So every kickoff time where there is more than one match, that broadcaster will want to stream the one not chosen for tv. Where you had the option of say Sky Sports 1 showing one match and Sky Sports 2 showing a different one.....they will  show one and stream the rest. They generate extra revenue for something you are already paying for. I hope that sinks in.


I update the US tv thread to show what we are on for every Liverpool match. As many in here can't be arsed to read that thread, when I post our match is on NBC Gold, ESPN plus, B/R live streaming -- there are those who basically say fuck off not again. Because they don't or can't afford to pay extra. Such will be the case in the UK. Fine for those minted, but there are extra costs. And as I mentioned NBC Gold went up 30% for sub fees this season.

We've seen matches we could have watched on tv be taken to streaming because Liverpool are well followed in the States and the broadcasters know to raise revenue put the bigger supported clubs on streaming to force supporters to pay to see their club and raise more revenue for themselves. Of course that would never ever happen in the UK.
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline Millie

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Yeah it is YOUR issue.

I'm just pointing out--based on what has transpired in the USA--where you are heading.

As i've said, and the article stated, you're going to pay more for what you already have. It won't end with just 3pm kickoffs.

The carrott dangling on the stick is access to watch a 3 pm kickoff.

The end decision will effect not just 3pm kickoffs and that is something, it seems to me, many aren't seeing the big picture. Should streaming of 3 pm kickoffs be allowed, all broadcasters will want on that money making opportunity. So every kickoff time where there is more than one match, that broadcaster will want to stream the one not chosen for tv. Where you had the option of say Sky Sports 1 showing one match and Sky Sports 2 showing a different one.....they will  show one and stream the rest. They generate extra revenue for something you are already paying for. I hope that sinks in.


I update the US tv thread to show what we are on for every Liverpool match. As many in here can't be arsed to read that thread, when I post our match is on NBC Gold, ESPN plus, B/R live streaming -- there are those who basically say fuck off not again. Because they don't or can't afford to pay extra. Such will be the case in the UK. Fine for those minted, but there are extra costs. And as I mentioned NBC Gold went up 30% for sub fees this season.

We've seen matches we could have watched on tv be taken to streaming because Liverpool are well followed in the States and the broadcasters know to raise revenue put the bigger supported clubs on streaming to force supporters to pay to see their club and raise more revenue for themselves. Of course that would never ever happen in the UK.

As I have already said - the Saturday 3pm blackout does not affect you.
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Offline WhereAngelsPlay

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Is it?

You missed the point..you want those who decided on VAR, set the rules for VAR, the problems with VAR, the decision making at the top, etc...these are the same people who will oversee streaming.

It's not about the tv cameras being at the ground. It's about those who will decide everything. From how much to charge, to which providers to use ( and even though NBC Gold has been going on a couple years now there are still glitches.) Just wait until City v LFC is on a stream and it goes down or the audio/video  have problems--and this time you're paying even more for something (license fees and now subs)/ Oh you'll whigne like hell about it but by then you're screwed anyway. And paying more for the screwing.

Yes it is.

And all I want is the same access as you get in America.
My cup, it runneth over, I'll never get my fill

Offline WhereAngelsPlay

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As I have already said - the Saturday 3pm blackout does not affect you.


He keeps rattling on about how the price to watch our games has risen in the USA,well of course it has because they had to build to viewer base from the bottom up.
My cup, it runneth over, I'll never get my fill

Offline Millie

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He keeps rattling on about how the price to watch our games has risen in the USA,well of course it has because they had to build to viewer base from the bottom up.

I just don't get why he is throwing his oar in on something that has no impact on his life whatsoever.

And yes agree with you re pricing in the US.
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Online 4pool

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How much per year would you be willing to pay extra to see 3pm kickoffs?

£100?

£150?

£200?

Where's your personal tipping point that the price is to high?
Either we are a club of supporters or become a club of customers.

Offline WhereAngelsPlay

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£30,000 would be too high.
My cup, it runneth over, I'll never get my fill

Online 4pool

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A view from someone watching tonight on Amazon Prime and how the stream is going...


Not so far, I guess tomorrow will be the big test for them with more games, particularly two big ones in the derby and Man Utd - Spurs.

I’m watching City game on Prime and also following the game via Bet365, and it seems the stream is a full one minute behind. This is why I’m not a massive fan of streaming, and wish they would just broadcast on TV.

reminds me of the BBCs 4K streams during the World Cup - amazing quality but when England played you could hear people celebrating down the street a good 90 seconds before you saw the goal being scored on your tv. Very frustrating when it comes to live sport
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Offline Millie

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Do you ever stop moaning?  Watching on Prime - quality is spot on.  No complaints from me.  Oh and shut your windows.
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Offline rob1966

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A view from someone watching tonight on Amazon Prime and how the stream is going...


Not so far, I guess tomorrow will be the big test for them with more games, particularly two big ones in the derby and Man Utd - Spurs.

I’m watching City game on Prime and also following the game via Bet365, and it seems the stream is a full one minute behind. This is why I’m not a massive fan of streaming, and wish they would just broadcast on TV.

reminds me of the BBCs 4K streams during the World Cup - amazing quality but when England played you could hear people celebrating down the street a good 90 seconds before you saw the goal being scored on your tv. Very frustrating when it comes to live sport

Skys own app Sky Go is a minute behind Sky Digital, Sky Digital was behind Sky analogue by about 10 seconds and Sky has always been behind Live, just the way it is. I've been watching on Sky Go for years and doesn't change my enjoyment of the game, unless someone I know is watching on Sky TV and texts me - I just put the phone on silent.
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Offline gamble

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How did it go last night? This is the future of football viewing with a pick of games to watch. Already a prime subscriber so a great bonus, plus with amazons AWS background delivery should be solid.

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A couple of mates in the UK and their experience when asked how it went:

I hope the Amazon feed is better tonight than it was yesterday. It was awful, kept jumping back between a minute and thirty seconds at different times and was basically just an absolute mess. My boss was saying today that he had the same and had read that there had been complaints about the quality in general.


Only tried watching it on the phone and the amazon stream kept dying. Had to switch off WiFi in the end to get it to work. Will give the tv app a go tomorrow for the derby and hopefully get better coverage.
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Offline drmick

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I had no problems with City last night, and so far no problems with the Utd game. I'm on Virgin on a fast connection, but the TV I'm watching gets it feed from a HomePlug that is on a different ring to where the router is- so that Virgin speed is quite handicapped.