World Cup qualifier between England and Ukraine only on internet

chris

The situation has arisen following the collapse of Setanta and the decision of the international football agency Kentaro, which was hired by the Ukrainian Football Federation to sell the broadcast rights, to appoint digital sport specialist Perform to stream the match on the internet.

The match can be watched at a dedicated website or various newspaper sites, including Telegraph Media Group, and will cost £4.99-£11.99 depending on the day of purchase. The match will also be shown in some Odeon cinemas. The subscription offer is not available on a commercial basis, meaning pubs will be unable to show the match live and, as yet, there is no deal with a TV broadcaster for the highlights.

Kentaro opted for Perform after receiving no acceptable bid from a terrestrial television company and has predicted that the internet will increasingly become an option for major sports events. With around 85 per cent of homes in England having broadband, it also argues that the match would potentially have a greater reach than games that have previously been broadcast on pay television.

However, the decision to set a ceiling at one million subscribers – a figure that is likely to amount to a maximum of around 2½ million viewers – reflects the cautious expectations for a match that is effectively a dead rubber for England after they secured their World Cup qualification last month.

There has also been a backlash from supporters who believe that football's governing bodies should ensure that qualifying matches have the same 'crown-jewel' status as the final stages of the World Cup and European Championship.

"I find it outrageous," said Mark Perryman, of the London England fans' group. "Fifa and Uefa should make it a condition of entry to World Cup and European Championship qualifying campaigns that games must be sold only free-to-air, both to the home market and the away market."

The FA has admitted that it would prefer for the match to be screened on television but stressed that, as the away federation, it has no control over selling the rights.

"We would obviously like to see the game broadcast to as many people as possible – a traditional TV platform would be ideal," said spokesman Adrian Bevington.

ITV has the rights to home England games and has taken over Setanta's broadcast rights for away friendlies.

However, that aspect of the deal does not cover away qualifying games.

Andrew Croker, executive chairman of Perform, predicted that fans would "embrace" the internet broadcast. "I think consumers are pretty sophisticated now, particularly in the UK, where we have been in the vanguard of adopting new technology," he said.

"I think people want a choice – the chance to watch football in a different way. This is pioneering, very exciting and I think people will enjoy it."


Source:telegraph

Channel Hopper

Oh dear, 'fans' getting outraged over new fangled technology.

I found it rather amusing the bloke on the BBC news last night was complaining about having to watch the match on a laptop screen. Its as though the SVGA port on many flat screen TV's never existed.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

T_G

There is already a bitchin thread here

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...-web-only.html

T_G I only believe stuff that comes straight from Mr. Horses mouth!

Channel Hopper

Maybe, but the thread is about quality of broadcast, not a rant over the rights of whoever is daft enough to pay for them, (and I do my best to ignore bitches).

If anything positive comes from this, it will be the drop of dial-up by a number of casual internet users.


Btw, what was the eventual feelings on the Bundesliga quality when something similar happened two years ago ?

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"