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iFollow - 2021-22 season


toyahw

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34 minutes ago, Rory said:

Why does it need to be done on a geographical basis? There will be people with illness/disabilities etc who live up the road where getting to a game will be an ordeal. I wonder if they should just make it available for all but charge a decent amount. The key is the price point.

For me the price should be somewhere between the per match cost of a season ticket and the full price of a walk in (as watching it is not the same as being there).

Somewhere there will be someone doing the maths on all this. In a way we have an aging population who have had to get used to the internet. I really think it will happen at somepoint

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Think they should keep on doing it for away games especially those who do not travel well and cannot go because they work nights but still want to pay to watch the game .

The prices set would have to be competitive for example if Vale are playing go top of the league say Feb 2022 and they are away say at Hartlepool then both clubs would benefit greatly from them streaming the game .

If it's a localish game like Walsall away then the fans will turn up anyway if the players are doing well and have something about them but wouldnt it be great have the excess from the stands bringing even more coin in through watching on ifollow as usually you cannot get watch the games ,I have a lovely lady who likes go away most weekends and I found it a godsend last season yes I paid lots of tenners but at that price I'm never ever going complain as on reflection watching them 10 pounds was more than enough for what i was seeing with my own eyes.

So if they increased the price theres always that danger that unscrupulous folk who claim they support (follow the team but always want a freebie and  nice naive folk who put it on for them never put a penny in the club but want the club do well but never actually financially put anything in so are actually weakening it in my opinion ).will watch the free stream what a paying customer will put on .

So personally for home games unless you pay say 295 quid for a seasons pass on ifollow or if you live abroad are lucky enough just pay 150 then the home games should only be streamed if you can afford the 15 pounds charge they charge you if it goes up if it went up to 20 pounds you might as well go the match and then you will demand excellent value for money as that's a good 80 quid a month which is ridiculous and folk cannot afford that and someones bound stream it and Vale lose thousands so for me 20 quid is too much ,keep it at a tenner as some money's better than none .

UTV 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I loved (well crap performances aside) being able to see every Vale game home and away last season. 
 

It should continue in some form but yes I agree should be priced to avoid any financial fall out from attending in person. 
 

Regardless of the rulings I think any game outside the 3pm Saturday window can be shown on I follow? 

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The problem is you can get iptv for £30 a year. I know a lot of people who still bought every game for a tenner last season to help the club despite having it included in their illegal tv package. If you raise the price to much people wouldn't pay it and even more would look to other ways of streaming games

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On 25/06/2021 at 12:12, Breadwinner said:

if it goes up if it went up to 20 pounds you might as well go the match

@Breadwinner That's kind of been my point though. iFollow isn't designed for local fans. It was used by everyone last season due to exceptional circumstances but that wouldn't be the case in "normal" times. If it was the same price as a ticket then it wouldn't be attractive for locally based fans who have the ability (unless they have issues with health, finances, work etc) to get to the game. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a great deal for other Vale fans.

I think we need to stop the idea that just because someone lives in the UK they are within easy travelling distance of Burslem. Lots are - but not everyone.

If, like me, you live somewhere else in the country and it's £60 petrol and a four and a half hour round trip to get there and back. When all that is taken into account, £20 to watch it on iFollow is an absolute bargain. Yes, it's not the same as being there but for me, if I want to save an absolute fortune and have fewer long trips to VP, it's an attractive alternative and it still means I am putting some money into the club.

There needs to be a balance. Clearly if you are local and able to attend. raising the price makes it cheaper/better to get to the game rather than on iFollow. That's good for the club. Being in the crowd will probably help the team (and potentially the club shop/refreshment booths) too.

However, there's loads of different audiences with different situations. Foreign-based fans have no chance of going and would like to see the game. The same for many UK-based fans not in North Staffs. There may even be local fans who also can't attend due to  work, family commitments, finances, health or location.

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21 minutes ago, robf said:

@Breadwinner That's kind of been my point though. iFollow isn't designed for local fans. It was used by everyone last season due to exceptional circumstances but that wouldn't be the case in "normal" times. If it was the same price as a ticket then it wouldn't be attractive for locally based fans who have the ability (unless they have issues with health, finances, work etc) to get to the game. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a great deal for other Vale fans.

I think we need to stop the idea that just because someone lives in the UK they are within easy travelling distance of Burslem. Lots are - but not everyone.

If, like me, you live somewhere else in the country and it's £60 petrol and a four and a half hour round trip to get there and back. When all that is taken into account, £20 to watch it on iFollow is an absolute bargain. Yes, it's not the same as being there but for me, if I want to save an absolute fortune and have fewer long trips to VP, it's an attractive alternative and it still means I am putting some money into the club.

There needs to be a balance. Clearly if you are local and able to attend. raising the price makes it cheaper/better to get to the game rather than on iFollow. That's good for the club. Being in the crowd will probably help the team (and potentially the club shop/refreshment booths) too.

However, there's loads of different audiences with different situations. Foreign-based fans have no chance of going and would like to see the game. The same for many UK-based fans not in North Staffs. There may even be local fans who also can't attend due to  work, family commitments, finances, health or location.

Totally agree lets see what ifollow do whatever I will try when especially away pay the price as I generally would not go anyway as 

1 getting married in 2023 .

2 work night shift 2 in 2 off in rolling 4 week period and work 3 Fridays of the 4 finishing at 6a.m .

3 I loved being able watch beats listening to radio stoke and there like there watching another game .

4 it's at the touch of my fingertips

5 it's financially supporting the club when I cannot go  

You are spot on though .

UTV  

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The problem is you can get iptv for £30 a year. I know a lot of people who still bought every game for a tenner last season to help the club despite having it included in their illegal tv package. If you raise the price to much people wouldn't pay it and even more would look to other ways of streaming games
Spot on. Anybody who wants to stream a game can do at minimal cost if they're bound and determined to do so.

Probably a stupid idea, but would it be feasible to allow clubs to stream all away games at a home venue such as Tommy Cheadles or the Valiant Suite and charge entry, say tenner a pop? Brings in some revenue from away games that they wouldn't otherwise get

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7 minutes ago, philmpv said:

Spot on. Anybody who wants to stream a game can do at minimal cost if they're bound and determined to do so.

Probably a stupid idea, but would it be feasible to allow clubs to stream all away games at a home venue such as Tommy Cheadles or the Valiant Suite and charge entry, say tenner a pop? Brings in some revenue from away games that they wouldn't otherwise get
 

Again though - not everyone lives in Burslem. 😉

More seriously...

1) I sound like a right smug <ovf censored> but I don't use that software so I don't know how prevalent it is. however, surely the solution to that one is for the EFL to stop the streaming software or at least make a concerted effort to do so. They don't necessarily have to get rid of the other software (that would be almost impossible) but just put in measures to make it more difficult for someone to broadcast an iFollow stream. I am no techie but I would imagine that there's things out there that would block the video output in certain circumstances. I actually don't think it's that big an issue right now anyhow - if you look at the club's revenue report then clearly lots of people are using iFollow. I know that there were special circumstances last season but I still think a lot of people would rather do the "right thing" and give their money to the club rather than stream it illegally.

2) It wouldn't happen as there's rules against that sort of thing. I can imagine the home clubs would be up in arms at potential loss of revenue.

 

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Again though - not everyone lives in Burslem. 
More seriously...
1) I sound like a right smug but I don't use that software so I don't know how prevalent it is. however, surely the solution to that one is for the EFL to ban the streaming software or at least make a concerted effort to do so. I actually don't think it's that big an issue right now anyhow - if you look at the club's revenue report then clearly lots of people are using iFollow. I know that there were special circumstances last season but I still think a lot of people would rather do the "right thing" and give their money to the club rather than stream it illegally.
2) It wouldn't happen as there's rules against that sort of thing. I can imagine the home clubs would be up in arms at potential loss of revenue.
 
Don't get me wrong, I get the premise. And agree with it. Last season was a special one as you say, with home clubs getting some of the away revenue. But that's not normally the case is it (I could be wrong), so to me it makes no sense for away games not to be available for streaming to home supporters (yes, I get the practical difficulties that could cause). At the end of the day, I'm a strong believer that anybody who wants to watch a game involving their team should be able to do so, regardless of their personal circumstances. Take UK followers who don't live in the RS area. They can't stream the game, nor listen to it, without paying for ifollow commentary. How is that fair?
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38 minutes ago, philmpv said:

They can't stream the game, nor listen to it, without paying for ifollow commentary. How is that fair?

Yep, I find the blocking of the BBC commentary bizarre. If you're in the Potteries, you get free commentary. That not only helps Radio Stoke's audience but boosts Vale's profile in the area. If you're outside of the Potteries, you can't do that and have to pay a fee to get it on the iFollow audio service. 

It seems very odd - it's hardly like opening it up outside of the area is going to cause any significant drop-off anywhere else. I think it's down to some arcane licensing agreement that the local radio commentary can only be broadcast in the local area but I do think it's time for the authorities to look at it as that agreement was in the early days of DAB and before apps became mass market. It's out of date.

I'm totally with you in terms of opening up watching/listening to the Vale to as many as possible. We know that Stoke, backed by PL money are doing a lot to attract young support in the area so Vale needs to grab as big an audience as possible. The best match experience is to be there but if that's not possible, the club should be able to try and get revenue from elsewhere. We've seen that the iFollow money last season was valuable. If I was Vale, I'd rather have a fan who can't attend pay me money to watch via iFollow then for them to not be able to see the game and the club get no revenue.

In terms of things like illegal streams. iFollow is a League service, not operated by individual clubs. I would imagine that with the financial power of the 72 clubs they can look at tightening up the illegal streaming blocking so it makes it harder. I guess with these things it's a never ending tech warfare in that the streaming software will release new versions and it will never be possible to totally block it. However, as long as they make it as difficult as possible that should make the impact of streams fairly negligible. It certainly doesn't seem to be the default for the majority of Vale fans last season who (righty) used the official iFollow service.

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15 minutes ago, robf said:

Yep, I find the blocking of the BBC commentary bizarre. If you're in the Potteries, you get free commentary. That not only helps Radio Stoke's audience but boosts Vale's profile in the area. If you're outside of the Potteries, you can't do that and have to pay a fee to get it on the iFollow audio service. 

It seems very odd - it's hardly like opening it up outside of the area is going to cause any significant drop-off anywhere else. I think it's down to some arcane licensing agreement that the local radio commentary can only be broadcast in the local area but I do think it's time for the authorities to look at it as that agreement was in the early days of DAB and before apps became mass market. It's out of date.

I'm totally with you in terms of opening up watching/listening to the Vale to as many as possible. We know that Stoke, backed by PL money are doing a lot to attract young support in the area so Vale needs to grab as big an audience as possible. The best match experience is to be there but if that's not possible, the club should be able to try and get revenue from elsewhere. We've seen that the iFollow money last season was valuable. If I was Vale, I'd rather have a fan who can't attend pay me money to watch via iFollow then for them to not be able to see the game and the club get no revenue.

In terms of things like illegal streams. iFollow is a League service, not operated by individual clubs. I would imagine that with the financial power of the 72 clubs they can look at tightening up the illegal streaming blocking so it makes it harder. I guess with these things it's a never ending tech warfare in that the streaming software will release new versions and it will never be possible to totally block it. However, as long as they make it as difficult as possible that should make the impact of streams fairly negligible. It certainly doesn't seem to be the default for the majority of Vale fans last season who (righty) used the official iFollow service.

I watch ifollow on a computer connected to a TV rather than a monitor. The ridiculous thing about that licensing agreement is if I want to listen to sports broadcasts on RS that are restricted online at KO time...I just change source from the computer back to the live TV mode, where radio stoke is available unrestricted nationwide on freeview channel 726. Absurd. 

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10 minutes ago, Doha said:

I watch ifollow on a computer connected to a TV rather than a monitor. The ridiculous thing about that licensing agreement is if I want to listen to sports broadcasts on RS that are restricted online at KO time...I just change source from the computer back to the live TV mode, where radio stoke is available unrestricted nationwide on freeview channel 726. Absurd. 

@DohaI don't think they are available nationwide though. As the Freeview page says "depending on your region"...

 

1054921247_Screenshot2021-07-07120002.jpg.2867446c3064d13e51704a5344d67c06.jpg

 

So, for me in Buckinghamshire my local services on Freeview are Bucks, Beds and Herts - but when I'm in Stoke at my mum's Radio Stoke is available on Freeview. 

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