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national newspaper websites such as The Sun and The Sunday
Times.
With an increasing quantity of television programming becoming
available to view online through services such as BBC Iplayer or
4ondemand, viewing habits are changing; meaning people are
much more receptive to viewing a football match online.
However, there are the downsides of lag times; no matter how
good a connection is promised or the speed of your broadband
connection, there always seems to be the odd glitch. Or even
more frustrating, when the commentary precedes the action by
several seconds, removing the feel of live fluid stream and you
hear the commentator shouting superlatives on the “quality of
that strike” when the ball is still in the centre circle.
It really boils down to convenience and practicality against quality
and atmosphere.
It was a rare set of circumstances
that set the live internet broadcast
into motion, beginning with the
collapse of Setanta Sports who
had the rights to England’s away
games. Kentaro, the company
who held the rights to the fixture
before they were sold to Setanta,
tried to attract ITV and BBC but neither would meet the asking
price for a meaningless game when England had already qualified
for the World Cup, so Kentaro employed Perform to broadcast
the event.
Declared a success after nearly 500,000 viewers signed up for
the broadcast, there is obviously potential to develop the format,
especially as more and more premier league clubs are setting up
their own television channels online. This leap into the online
mainstream could prove to be the catalyst for more of the big
players to provide online coverage, but more likely this is only an
experiment at present.
It wasn’t so long ago that we had the debacle of u>direct, who
bought the rights for England’s game away in Finland in 2000,
broadcasting the game through OnDigital with a somewhat
disastrous outcome when coverage was interrupted after
15 minutes and the support line was permanently engaged.
Subsequently the feasibility of online broadcasting suffered a
massive set back in the public eye.
Despite the abundance of laptops, prevalence of Blackberries, and
helpful widgets, many people are still secretly technophobes, so
once online providers can distinguish a reputation of high quality
streams from the ropey, intermittent illegal streaming websites
dramatised in the papers, half the battle is won.
A growing fear of the television age, and one that will appear more
prominent during this economic stumble, is that televising football
matches will put the punters off from attending games. Internet
coverage simplifies this process one step further and further
reduces the related costs. But this does not seem to be the case.
A report recently released by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group
reveals that football attendances in Europe are still on the rise,
and Premier League grounds are 90% full! What recession!?
There seems to be a realisation by broadcasters that a large
number of people now watch football online, whether at home
or in a pub legally or otherwise,
and feel if they at least offer
the service online legally then a
percentage of these viewers, no
matter how small, will take up
the service. This is similar to the
music industry where the issue of
illegal downloads was tackled by
introducing reasonably priced legal
downloads through providers such as iTunes, and more recently,
the free to use Spotify.
The Internet may well provide a means for future viewing.
Perhaps even a broadcast rights package will be sold off to show
games in this format such as a recent deal where the Professional
Squash Association signed a five year contract with Perform to
broadcast 250 pay per view matches online. Perform also run
online television channels for Chelsea FC, Cricket Australia and
the Sony Ericsson WTA tour. In America, sports such as Major
League Baseball and National Basketball Association have online
subscriptions for online streams and ‘out of market’ packages to
cover the games that don’t command a high enough audience to
warrant live television coverage.
For the present, this is merely an experiment to gauge the
receptivity of the public to firstly watch games online and secondly
to pay for the privilege on top of any current subscriptions. But
perhaps it could be time to invest in an all in one media centre
streamed into your HD TV or a comfortable sofa for your study!
Despite the abundance of laptops,
prevalence of Blackberries, and
helpful widgets, many people are
still secretly technophobes...
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