England match to be internet only

[klr]

This is a news story, not a sports story, so ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 286886.stm

England match to be internet only

England's World Cup qualifier in Ukraine on Saturday will be shown exclusively live to subscribers on the internet who will pay at least £4.99.

All previously broadcast England matches have been available on TV.

Kentaro - an international agency appointed by the Ukrainian Football Federation - originally sold the UK rights for the game to Setanta.

But after the pay-TV firm collapsed, digital sport specialist Perform was appointed to stream the match online.

England have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup, winning all eight of their group matches.

It is understood none of the traditional broadcasters were willing to pay the asking price to screen the game, which kicks off at 1715 BST.

But the news has angered supporters who want to watch the action on television.

The match will be available on a dedicated website and viewers will be able to subscribe to it using PayPal, the electronic payment service.

Peter Silverstone, managing director of Kentaro, told BBC Sport: "You will watch as you would any other streaming on the internet, like YouTube or the BBC iPlayer - there will be a pop-up player that will show the match in a very good quality stream."

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is part of the studio team for the match, while Kentaro has promised "a top commentary team".

The cost of watching the game was being advertised on Monday in the Daily Express as £4.99 if viewers signed up before midnight on Wednesday.

Charges rise to £9.99 for those who subscribe on Thursday and Friday, and £11.99 on Saturday.

Silverstone insisted the project was "commercially viable".

"We have a huge marketing effort behind us with the various newspaper groups that will promote the match on their websites," he said.

"Commercially this will work and genuinely offers an exciting opportunity for us. We wouldn't embark on this project if we didn't feel it had strategic long-term value, this isn't a one-off shot."

Silverstone said Kentaro would take a maximum of one million subscribers for the match - which he said equates to about 2.5 million viewers - because this would be the "safe number to stop at to ensure the optimal broadcast".

The Odeon cinema chain will show the game live throughout the country, including at their flagship cinema at Leicester Square, but the match will not be available in pubs.

Football Association spokesman Adrian Bevington admitted: "We would obviously like to see the game broadcast to as many people as possible" but insisted the matter was out of his organisation's hands.

"These are the rights of the Ukrainian FA and the agents they've appointed to sell them," he told BBC Sport.

"A traditional TV platform would be ideal to broadcast the game but it's not the case. It's not in our control."

ITV has the rights to home England games and, under the terms of their contract, has taken over Setanta's broadcast rights for away friendlies.

However, that aspect of the deal does not cover away qualifying games, and neither the BBC, ITV, Sky nor Channel Five made a successful bid for the match.

Perform streamed Manchester City and Spurs matches in the Uefa Cup last year when a TV deal could not be agreed - charging about £4 per game - and Bevington insisted: "We're obviously confident in the company that has got the rights - they're a very professional company".

However, travelling England fan Mark Perryman said the fact the match was available only on the internet was "disastrous and an outrage."

"A World Cup qualifier should be available for everybody on free-to-air TV," Perryman told BBC Sport.

"It seems to me there's a very simple solution - Fifa and Uefa should insist as a condition of entry that all nations sell their games to terrestrial stations, whether its the home or away market."

England defender Rio Ferdinand said he thought the broadcasting of the match marked "a good step forward" though.

"I read that online advertising has taken over from TV, so that tells you something about where it's going in terms of the digital world," he told BBC Sport.

"So I'm sure it'll be the way forward and in the future it'll probably be the reality. I think it's a good way to gauge how many people are interested."

And Andrew Croker, executive chairman of Perform, insisted England 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 told BBC Sport.

"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."

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Meh. We've already qualified and, much as I would have liked to see it, I never watch any of the games on Sky anyway. I'll listen on the radio as usual.

[Feck]

Good, now I wish they would put ALL football on the net and get it off my TV ,Sky or cable would do but The internet would be better as the knuckle dragging fans wouldn't be able to find it . I bet some moron asks me they can come and watch it at my house

[AshtonBlack]

Meh. We've already qualified and, much as I would have liked to see it, I never watch any of the games on Sky anyway. I'll listen on the radio as usual.

Yep.

[Clinton Huxley]

Meh, who wants to watch a bunch of "borderline rapists", as Bill Bailey calls em, kick the shins of some Ukrainians anyway?

[AshtonBlack]

Indeed, it's not like it's the ashes.

[Clinton Huxley]

Indeed, it's not like it's the ashes.

Indeed, we should be encouraging these Ukrainian Johnnies to take up the willow.

[Pappa]

Good, now I wish they would put ALL football on the net and get it off my TV

+1

...and x-factor and Big Brother and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.....

All I want on is the Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, everything David Attenbourough ever recorded, any programme with a name like When Bugs Attack, TopGear, Scrapheap Challenge, QI.... The Big Questions (it's funny), and the news (though not 24 hour rolling news - just news at 6pm and 9pm.... no other times thanks).

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Should we merge this with the cricket thread?

[klr]

Dammit, is anyone getting the point of this at all?

[Feck]

No, I read the information but i didn't see a point (football init ......No point )

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Dammit, is anyone getting the point of this at all?

What point would that be?

I already went through all of the indignation when England football games / test matches / etc. went to Sky / Setanta / etc. This is nothing new.

I bet the pubs will be pissed off though - there won't be many that will be able to stream that onto a big screen!

[klr]

Dammit, is anyone getting the point of this at all?

What point would that be?

There are many points. Some people have reacted along the lines of " ... well, I don't care, as I only want to watch ... etc.". But what if the programs that you watch were being distributed in this way, and could otherwise not be seen, not even in re-runs?

I already went through all of the indignation when England football games / test matches / etc. went to Sky / Setanta / etc. This is nothing new.

It's an important matter of degree though IMHO. There are still lots of people who don't even have ready access to an internet connection, let alone a connection of suitable quality. Never mind that the quality of the internet broadcast itself won't come within an ass's roar of a HD signal/picture.

If the projected numbers of people subscribe (which I have my doubts about), that might swamp or at least materially slow down parts of the internet for a couple of hours. And that could affect you or I ...

Yes, this is not an important game, seeing as England has already qualified. Hence the reluctance of the main TV players to bid for it. But it could happen again with a more important game.

As for the loss of (say) Cricket to terrestrial TV ... does anyone doubt that this might have long term consequences in terms of the popularity of the game? You and I might like listening to TMS, but youngsters nowadays need to see something to have their imagination fired.

[Pappa]

There are many points. Some people have reacted along the lines of " ... well, I don't care, as I only want to watch ... etc.". But what if the programs that you watch were being distributed in this way, and could otherwise not be seen, not even in re-runs?

That's not significantly different to Sky holding all the cards. Pay per View is the norm for sport. I'd be surprised if it became the norm for documentaries or general entertainment. Although, you could argue that documentaries are already paid for by whichever cable/sky package you are subscribing to or via your license fee for BBC documentaries.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

The circumstances are a little unique here.

Firstly, the rights to the game were sold to Setanta and so would have got a TV airing.

Secondly, Setanta went bust and was sold off piecemeal, the rights to this match ending up in the hands of a company with no UK TV station that hoped to cash in on it by selling the rights to somebody that did have one.

Thirdly, England went and qualified far earlier than even the most optimistic fan would have dreamt, making the result of this game academic and reducing its appeal to the point where the price asked by the rights-owner was not met by anyone with the capability to broadcast it on TV. Hence the company is attempting to profit from its acquisition in the only way it can - by a PPV internet screening.

This is NOT likely to be a regular occurrence, except for any other ex-Setanta games that this company might have.