iFollow for 2021/22Season

I'd have thought that if the last 18 months or so has taught us anything about football/streaming, it is that when watching the team you actually support (as opposed to some random football just because it is on) there is absolutely no comparison between being there in person and watching one camera coverage on a computer screen. Would I pay to watch the games online that I currently travel to? Of course not. Would I pay a tenner to watch us play away somewhere I wouldn't be bothered to or haven't got the time to travel to? Yes, every time. (As it is, I listen to it on the RadOx iFollow service.)

I'm willing to bet that there are lots more who'd do the same.
 
A very,very long time ago some wise old owls said that PPV would completely change the game and not for the better.

Remember OUFC v Sunderland in 1999 ? IIRC it was the first-ever professional PPV match.

Now we have iFollow.... season tickets for your front room the doom-mongers predicted 20 years ago...... not far wrong were we? ;)
 
Hmmm...I see the point you are making but I don't remember that being the case as regards music. The problem was a global issue rather than just the UK - the music companies (particularly the likes of Universal, Sony and Warner) were incredibly slow to embrace the digital revolution and hardcore music fans were quick to adopt P2P and torrents. There weren't a mass of legal services outside of the UK that weren't available here, at least not ones with any real client base,

As someone who works in the business, I can say that everything that happened was slow and reactive and it was Apple (love 'em or loath 'em) who changed the market by introducing a customer friendly platform (iTunes) and an easily usable player (the iPod).

You're right about the loss of income though - it lead to rapidly declining sales, revenue loss and thousands of jobs disappearing. It's only in recent years that streaming has finally reversed that decline. Oh, your other big music difference is that there are no exclusive rights deals - all of the big digital stores (Spotify, Apple, Amazon) have the same offer - it's just the platform, pricing and presentation that differs.


Memory might be fuddled, but I'm sure I remember MP3 being available in the States (at least) long before it was here.

On reflection I'm probably thinking specifically of DRM-free MP3 as opposed to any other form of audio file.
 
A very,very long time ago some wise old owls said that PPV would completely change the game and not for the better.

Remember OUFC v Sunderland in 1999 ? IIRC it was the first-ever professional PPV match.

Now we have iFollow.... season tickets for your front room the doom-mongers predicted 20 years ago...... not far wrong were we? ;)

It's said of many events that if you remember it, you can't have been there.

It's true of that match, but for different reasons.
 
The EFL couldn’t vote to bring back the streams even if it wanted to. Sky are solely in charge of that decision as the rights holder - they call the shots on what anybody else is allowed to broadcast. Last season Sky agreed to waive the restrictions as clubs needed the cash due to no attendances, but now that is gone and the blackout is back. They don’t want anybody not at a game watching a club stream, they want you watching Soccer Saturday as they go ‘around the grounds’. They have sponsors and advertisers and that is their priority, and what funds the hundreds of millions that the EFL (primarily the Championship) is paid for the exclusivity. There is nothing the EFL can do within the existing deal. Clubs can vote all they want, but Sky have a contract. You can’t vote that away.

The real kicker will be when the EFL and Premier League both sign fresh deals under the same draconian terms, because they would rather have a guaranteed cheque paid in full than take the ‘risk’. That’s the biggest problem that football faces - Sky offer jumbo jets filled with cash to an industry that gave up the idea of sustainability years ago, as well as a built-in infrastructure. They pay the money and handle everything logistically, while the EFL / PL just sit back and let them get on with it. The fat cats in suits who just want free meals and a seat in the directors’ box at whatever game they choose that weekend won’t know the first thing about how to set up a platform, nor do they have the desire to learn. They’re here for the steak and the bottle of red, just as they always will be, and there will still be enough punters happy with that. The fact that there are a good handful of people on this forum (based on their own comments on the season tickets thread over the summer) who seem to believe that a little camera pointing at the pitch will destroy the game and lead to empty stadiums is pretty incredible. I can only assume that those same people still use teletext to check the scores and watch Big Break every weekend.

Either way, it’s nothing to do with the EFL as to whether the streams are available this season or not. It’ll only become something that can change when it’s time for a new deal, which I think isn’t for another couple of years. Only Sky can decide to loosen their grip before that, and I don’t know what incentive they have to do so.

VPN.
Thanks for putting me right on that, I had forgotten and we had this same conversation not so long ago - my bad!

So, because the EFL have sold their souls to the Devil, they have, effectively, sold the clubs rights to entertain their fans as well. Modern slavery?
What really sticks is that we, the fans, are given no choice in the matter. We are not allowed to watch, unless we attend in person, and we are not given any opportunity to even pay to watch on a screen. The clubs can fill their grounds to capacity and still there is no leeway to show the game to those who cannot attend. It's literally financial suicide. Utter madness.
 
Thanks for putting me right on that, I had forgotten and we had this same conversation not so long ago - my bad!

So, because the EFL have sold their souls to the Devil, they have, effectively, sold the clubs rights to entertain their fans as well. Modern slavery?
What really sticks is that we, the fans, are given no choice in the matter. We are not allowed to watch, unless we attend in person, and we are not given any opportunity to even pay to watch on a screen. The clubs can fill their grounds to capacity and still there is no leeway to show the game to those who cannot attend. It's literally financial suicide. Utter madness.
And the longer they take getting their heads out of the sand the more people will be on other avenues and then the bird or in this case the cash will have flown..

There are thousands of fans across the UK that were already a captive audience / customer hooked into the Digital World of just press a button and away you go and in one fell swoop they've sent them away.
 
Thanks for putting me right on that, I had forgotten and we had this same conversation not so long ago - my bad!

So, because the EFL have sold their souls to the Devil, they have, effectively, sold the clubs rights to entertain their fans as well. Modern slavery?
What really sticks is that we, the fans, are given no choice in the matter. We are not allowed to watch, unless we attend in person, and we are not given any opportunity to even pay to watch on a screen. The clubs can fill their grounds to capacity and still there is no leeway to show the game to those who cannot attend. It's literally financial suicide. Utter madness.
Not at all, Mr Lounger. Wasn’t looking to put anybody right as it were, just want to make sure that the right shins are being kicked at the right time. It’ll be the EFLs fault soon enough, though, don’t you worry. Just as soon as the current TV deal is up for renewal and they’ve done nothing at all to even explore a world outside of Sky writing cheques.

The guy in charge of the EFL is the same guy who played a vital role in ripping the First Division away from the very organisation he’s now in charge of, and it was Sky who funded that 30 years ago. I’m not holding my breath that he’s suddenly going to lead the game in finding another water source.
 
I met Daniel Ek maybe 13 or 14 years ago. The people he was in my office to meet with literally laughed him out of the building. One of my favourite stories to bust out at cocktail parties and gala balls, which I obviously attend regularly.


One third of every music sale in return for providing server space and a search bar. Unbelievable that the music business allowed a computer company to come along and take an enormous chunk of their pie for what more or less amounted to making an online library with a payment gate. All because they were too busy hocking CDs to HMV for £6 a unit and thinking it would never end. I remember starting out at record labels as a 16/17 year old right as it was all happening, and even as a literal child I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Halcyon days…

EDIT: Just remembered that the £6 a unit on the CD was the cost price if you were an employee at the wholesaler. The labels and distributors were selling them to HMV and Virgin for a couple of quid more than that. What a racket it was.
My, how you are right on the latter point - the business was so preoccupied trying to protect physical sales, it allowed the means of distribution and access to the customer to be grabbed by tech companies. Having said that, Spotify is still some way from turning an operating profit and Apple don't break out the iTunes figures. Sitting in my easily dispensable middle-management role, that Daniel Ek story is commonplace - he was literally laughed out of all of the major record companies.

On the other side of that, in the late 90s I worked for producer (and Buggle) Trevor Horn - he had a look at file sharing and declared that music companies would 'never get the genie back in the bottle'. 25 years on and we're fighting for fractions of pennies.
 
Said before but Fat Man Stan is great for iptv. Shows ALL iFollow matches, including the 3PM k.o.
 
Said before but Fat Man Stan is great for iptv. Shows ALL iFollow matches, including the 3PM k.o.
And they pay not a penny to the clubs (or indeed any of the rights holders for their products).

They are thieves who profit from the work of others.
 
And they pay not a penny to the clubs (or indeed any of the rights holders for their products).

They are thieves who profit from the work of others.
Correct. It is an illegal practice. But can be handy for exiles.
 
Is the league cup match later today part of the season package (even audio)?
 
Is the league cup,game available to watch on ifollow in other countries?
 

In the UK it will be audio only.
Internationally you will be able to watch live as I understand it...

Edit - as pointed out below Carabao matches wont be eligible for streaming.
 
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In the UK it will be audio only.
Internationally you will be able to watch live as I understand it...
Radio Oxford audio pre match, live coverage & post match 'Free' ( as part of BBC licence fee) IF you're in the broadcast area of BBC Radio Oxford 95.2 FM ( which is quite extensive) ..... digital ? then you'll need to pay for ifollow audio
 

In the UK it will be audio only.
Internationally you will be able to watch live as I understand it...
It says in that link "Carabao Cup matches are not eligible for streaming domestically or internationally" so unfortunately it's go to Burton or don't watch the game wherever in the world you are (or your browser says you are).
 
At least exiles outside of the country can legitimately watch the games and generate money for the clubs. Just saying.
I do. I have a season abbo on iFollow. I also have iptv for eg Sky and all other UK football. And much much more besides.
 

In the UK it will be audio only.
Internationally you will be able to watch live as I understand it...

Edit - as pointed out below Carabao matches wont be eligible for streaming.
A weirdly worded statement in parts, especially: "If the last 18 months have shown us anything, it is that there is nothing like LIVE football. iFollow is a valuable service to fans but is no substitute for the real thing."

Why that may be the widely held view, it's not an absolute view, and seemingly dismisses those who live in the UK but not local to the Oxfordshire region. As Mr Birdio has pointed out that the rights aren't in any way the club's fault, but they do seem to be trying speaking for us on what we would like to see. "You don't want the option to pay to watch a game at home, do you? You want to be live in a stadium, don't you? You don't have long, complicated journeys or mobility issues, do you? Great, see you Saturday."

I could probably take all that a little better if the club cared about the rest of iFollow in the first place. There's almost no exclusive content (most gets uploaded onto YouTube now), and it seems like the club's video output is done on such a shoestring that they lack industry-standard cameras, sound equipment and editing tools.
 
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