iFollow

[samwatto2008]

So i was on holiday this year in Cyprus and i decided to watch the Chesterfield game or at least tried on the new iFollow. Missed the first half completely after being onto tech support. Apparently the live feed wasnt working yet we had paid for the game etc. What are peoples thoughts on it and is it really worth it? Any of the PON users use it? If so which country are you watching from?

[Chris]

It sounds like a great idea, however if I was the FL I would ensure that people in the UK could use the service.

I know they want people attending but it beats a lot of hassle, plus it makes it fairer for all. Yet I think it's smashing, exactly the sort of thing needed but to be honest I haven't tried the service. I have spoken to fans from Italy, Australia and the US that have said it's quite lagging.

[DangerousSausage]

I use it in Germany and it's actually very good. The stream has worked seamlessly so far, no lag whatsoever. I have 50 mbps at home but 5 mbps should be enough. I heard from other people that there were problems with the Chesterfield match (I missed that one) so you weren't the only one. You should be entitled to a refund if you've paid for one match and then missed half of it. That's not on!

It's not perfect - there's no commentary on the stream (although apparently you can open the radio commentary on another tab and then pause the video until they're in sync - haven't tried this myself yet as I wanted the "stadium experience"). There isn't an option to watch in SD so you need quite a fast internet connection, which depending on the hotel could be a problem. And it would be nice if they put the score and the number of minutes played somewhere on the screen - I expect they're concentrating on getting the basics right before doing stuff like this. But all in all I'm pleasantly surprised. It's certainly gone a lot smoother than Magpie Player when it started broadcasting live radio, which was a total farce.

The FL aren't allowed to televise 3pm kick-offs (and if they streamed them all on iFollow they could kiss goodbye to any TV deal) but apparently people with normal UK subscriptions for the radio service have been able to watch the stream via the match centre without a VPN. It's obviously an oversight and there's no way they'll let it continue. But it might be worth a sneaky look if you're a subscriber 

[samwatto2008]

@ChrisI completely agree. If for whatever reason i can't attend an away game then i should be able to watch it. Also they are missing out on possible income because i don't usually go to away games however if it was an option to watch it on ifollow i would. I'm sure other fans would do this also. Frustrates me that the EFL moans about lack of funding etc, but there is really no excuse when they can't pull of the simplest of tasks such as this one. Take Crawley (A) for example i will not be attending but if it was on iFollow i would 100% watch it, so in my eyes thats £6 lost. If 200 fans tuned in to away games at £6pp that is £1200 lost be the EFL so really it is a no brainer for me to do it for the UK too.

[DangerousSausage]

Hope I'm not coming across as too argumentative @samwatto2008 but I'm going to disagree again

Saturday kick-offs between 2.45pm and 5.15pm have been banned by the Football League, Premier League and FA (FA Cup final excepted) since the 60s. That was in order to prevent televised football having an impact on crowds. It was probably ungrounded at the time as ticket prices were low and it wasn't physically possible to broadcast more than two matches anyway. But now, if everyone had a choice between watching their team in the ground for 22 quid (more for some clubs) or in the comfort of their own home for 6, I bet many would choose the latter. If the ban were lifted you could avoid that by only screening away matches for UK subscribers I suppose, but it would still be a disincentive to actually go on a long trip and support the team. That said I fully expect an iFollow-style service run by Sky or BT to be part of the next TV deal, but it won't be cheap.

I suppose that's easy for me to say with my iFollow sub. But if I lived in the UK I wouldn't bother with any of it - if I wanted to watch my team in action, I'd go. Football on TV is a poor alternative to going and experiencing it for yourself.

Then there's the money. Even if 1000 people watched every week, that would be 276,000 a season. That wouldn't come close to the existing TV deal, from which League Two clubs currently receive 900,000 each.

[samwatto2008]

Haha, don't worry about it. This is what the forum is for discussing our opinions. I am happy that the community want to get involved with topics like this.  

3 hours ago, DangerousSausage said:

Hope I'm not coming across as too argumentative @samwatto2008 but I'm going to disagree again

 

[Chris]

I can't see @weymouthPIE or fans like him dropping the match day buzz (it's also very sociable, rather than just a case of watching football) in order to put their feet up and watch the games live on Ifollow.

Personally it would stop and prevent the negatives, and generate alternative money to the club.

It could be sorted during the close season - sort of like a season ticket. Additionally they could charge more for UK viewers, as this would also be a combat tool but I see little reason to be against it at all.