iFollow no more

[DangerousSausage]

From next season I take it there will be no more iFollow for us overseas fans - a bit of a blow. Although right now it does seem like a relief considering what I've been watching since August! Maybe they'll work out how to do replays by the time we're back

So does anyone know anything about live streams or coverage in the Bananarama National Vauxhall Conference League? BT Sport appear to have the rights, but I'd need a VPN for that and in any case it hardly replaces iFollow. BT Sport offers a half-hour long highlights show on YouTube which I can access, doesn't seem too bad. Does anyone else have any ideas how I can get my Notts fix from the comfort of my sofa in Germany?

[Chris]

No idea TBH.

I believe the club could provide the service themselves, they might not know people available to do and I don't think the National League has that strict of a rule regarding broadcasting. I have seen some teams like Barnet stream games online, but I have been told BT Sports covers games.

Notts might be a popular line for them.

It's all guesses at this stage, but I think Notts should explore their options.

[liampie]

never been a fan of the ifollow, i once had three charges of the yearly rate and i became annoyed when the club put the best bits of interviews up on youtube for free. its terribly executed, it could be much better.

[DangerousSausage]

I've just looked again @Chris. BT Sport claim to have exclusive rights, so it looks like I'm out of luck there. I did find links to a couple of live streams on YouTube, but both accounts have been deleted so it looks like they were "borderline legal". The club will have far more urgent things to do anyway, I was just hoping that something iFollow-like was in the offing.

One match a week from the Banana Alliance isn't too bad and you'd imagine that Notts would feature quite prominently, but I won't be able to get the app abroad and in any case a minimum of 150 quid over 18 months to see a handful of matches seems a bit steep.

@liampie I wouldn't have bothered with iFollow in the UK, but if you're abroad it's a godsend. Suppose I'm a bit spoilt now.

[liampie]

13 hours ago, DangerousSausage said:

@liampie I wouldn't have bothered with iFollow in the UK, but if you're abroad it's a godsend. Suppose I'm a bit spoilt now.

something will come forward, maybe appeal to the vanarama to pick up the coverage? if there is demand and money to be made who knows.

[super_pie]

20 hours ago, Chris said:

No idea TBH.

I believe the club could provide the service themselves, they might not know people available to do and I don't think the National League has that strict of a rule regarding broadcasting. I have seen some teams like Barnet stream games online, but I have been told BT Sports covers games.

Notts might be a popular line for them.

It's all guesses at this stage, but I think Notts should explore their options.

Same here

[BromPie]

I feel sorry for the overseas fans, plus the loss of revenue will hit Notts hard I think but really the service won't be missed by those who attend games or lives in the UK.

[BESTpie]

The club might focus on producing better media stories for their own site now, I do wonder what happens to the existing site as its provided by the football league i believe.

[Joshua]

22 hours ago, DangerousSausage said:

Does anyone else have any ideas how I can get my Notts fix from the comfort of my sofa in Germany?

The PON chatroom, when people used it, it was fun.

[Wilfordpie]

I used it briefly, I found it didn't work most of the time but I did see the value in watching the games.

[cheeky~k8]

I'd say do abit of research online but it looks like you've done that now. There may be another way to see at least the highlights.

[TheSkipper]

I can see why overseas fans would be disappointed but the club might come out with something themselves, I am not sure BT Sports could stop that unless they plan to televise the game.

[DangerousSausage]

On 11/05/2019 at 22:49, Joshua said:

The PON chatroom, when people used it, it was fun.

I avoided that and Facebook and switched off the goal alerts on my phone because iFollow had a slight delay. I could easily find out about a goal before it appeared on my TV

4 hours ago, TheSkipper said:

I am not sure BT Sports could stop that unless they plan to televise the game.

BT Sport have an "exclusive" deal, but then so did Sky and it didn't prevent the non-televised matches being broadcast on iFollow. I'll see what happens, but I don't expect the club to offer anything really - iFollow only worked because the entire League clubbed together for it, I don't think there's much of an incentive for Notts to go it alone to provide comprehensive coverage (and in any case there are bigger fish to fry). I'd be happy with a Magpie Player-esque offering with extended highlights and a radio link, otherwise the saved money will be spent on match tickets!

[allardyces tash]

It's an highly overrated service, they pushed the features out without testing most of the functions. Any UK based fan would have shared a similar experience to I, when Notts returns it might be better.

Until then it seems rushed.

[menzinho]

I know the BBC has the radio broadcasting rights for the National League, unlike the EFL games they have online streams of all the games which are available from the BBC Sport commentaries page. I’m sure you’ll know whether or not you have access to BBC content, I’m not sure how it works for people abroad…

Hopefully the club will release some information for overseas fans before the season kicks off.

[BigMag]

BBC Radio Nottingham should broadcast the games via online, I doubt they will mind.

[CliftonMagpie]

33 minutes ago, menzinho said:

Hopefully the club will release some information for overseas fans before the season kicks off.

The club should release more information full stop, not just to overseas fans.

[Countyman]

I called it iPoor it was that bad.

The radio coverage barely worked at the best of times, the UK games that was covered on a Tuesday or midweek would randomly stop. No to little support too. The old media team used to chase everything up.

[cheeky~k8]

For all the overseas fans, i hope theres something you can find highlights on.

[DangerousSausage]

I got an answer to my question eventually - all subscribers have been sent an email telling them that iFollow will morph into PiesPlayer, which will cost 30 quid a year. Due to broadcasting rights, no live coverage will be offered to international fans (whether subscribers in the UK will they don't say, but at that price probably not). Chances are it'll be more like the MagpiesPlayer of old, with live commentary and extended highlights, which will have to do until our glorious return.

[KingMaynard]

Someone shared pictures of the e-mail on Twitter, it's not a lot.

[NottsTastic]

Some of the Non League have shared games on YouTube, I watched Alfreton play not that long ago and Halifax.

[DangerousSausage]

58 minutes ago, NottsTastic said:

Some of the Non League have shared games on YouTube, I watched Alfreton play not that long ago and Halifax.

There's a free YouTube channel with highlights of all the weekend's games. It's not bad, but it's no substitute for the extended highlights / commentary package.

[B&Wstripes]

So the club won't be putting together their own full or extended highlights? I thought the only thing dropped was the actual live games??

[DangerousSausage]

22 hours ago, B&Wstripes said:

So the club won't be putting together their own full or extended highlights? I thought the only thing dropped was the actual live games??

Presumably they will (or the company behind EFL Player will), otherwise there'll be nothing to sell. The YouTube channel is a separate thing put together by the Bananarama League.