110 Sport . TV to stream WSA Qualifiers

[dannyd0g]

Why not making a poll on their website, and the viewers could vote for the matches to broadcast next day, and two most popular for each session would be showed?

Good idea.

They wouldnt need a poll to know that Jimmy White would always be number one choice though. If Jimmy was to make the final round they will not be showing his match against Dave Harold This would be a huge scheduling error to show Mark King instead. What are they thinking.

(Not blaming you for that April ! Just what comes to mind from your idea )

[crucible77]

2,99 a session

you can watch the major tournaments for free most of the time online yet not the qualifiers

[betelgeuse]

I have waited a long time for the qualifiers to be broadcasted live, so I was very happy about the news. Until I actually read the details...

I'm amazed that world snooker manages to make the wrong decision time after another. To me it is obvious that they should have streamed the event free of charge, with one or two main tables with good coverage and commentaries in English and Chinese. For the rest of the tables they could use a static camera.


When broadcasting events like this, it is important to recognise that the viewers are not the costumers. They are the products which are sold to advertisers. The more viewers there are, the easier it is to sells ads, both in the arena and in the broadcast itself. With a potential of viewers in the millions in the far east it is definitely a mistake to charge for the streaming. At £2.99 per session they should be happy with a few thousand viewers, which is too little to make any real money from advertisements.

The second point is that the most important goal for broadcasting the qualifiers is not to make money - it is to promote the game of snooker. And again, by not charging any money they will reach a much larger audience.

Thirdly, charging money in itself is costly, since they need a system to get payments and they have to chose an inferior streaming solution in order to make sure only paying costumers will access the video. If they had decided to make it free they could have used p2p solutions like sopcast and bittorrent to transmit the stream, which would make the broadband cost minimal regardless of how many viewers there are.


My conclusion is simple: In every aspect is making the stream available for free a much better solution. I find it rather sad that they haven't realized this, and opted for the pay per view option. At a very high prize level.

[wildJONESEYE]

I think if you look at the matches 110 are selecting to cvoer, they are obviously selecting their players to broadcast.

I'm not sure about them using satellite as there's been a brand new high contention line installed in Pontin's which I'm told is for the broadcasts.
But I'm not sure about which upload method they're selecting.

I also don't understand people requiring a commentator in order to have value? If you're sitting in a venue watching the match, you can see the table and the scoreboard and don't need a commentator.

It remains to be seen how they're going to address the issue of showing the ongoing score. It might be graphics on screen, because from the position of the camera they won't be able to see the scoreboard as well.

From what I understand, the cameras will be behind the black spot, as the tables are now positioned further up the booth to allow room for a camera.

When the old Global Cue sports did streaming from Pontin;s in most cases we had to position the camera from the audience end, ie behind the brown spot, but that did mean, with careful positioning we could include the scoreboard in a slightly longer shot. That was a compromise.

I also think the streams will be available worldwide. The market is certainly a lot bigger internationally than it is in the UK. Maybe the statement launched in the UK might be a bit misleading.

Careful persual of the selection of matches also suggests some new signings to the 110 stable... (you heard it here first!!)

Re the old GSC, the only reason we did free streaming was because it was all still experimental and we had issues with upload speeds for necessary quality from most venues we attended. Sadly providing if free came at the sacrifice of selling my house to provide the funds to provide the staffing and equipment for the streaming. That is not a course of action I recommend to anyone. And please don't kick my cardboard box as you walk past the arches at night!!

I would go along with a range of packages to be offered by 110 for the "must-watch" fans so that they could get better value to watch for the day, all rounds, all season etc. In fact I'll ring them tomorrow and suggest it and also point them in the direction of the fans' feedback that I've read here and elsewhere.

and a footnote to cuesport.tv.. I spent half the evening trying to subscribe and all I got was pages unavailable. It's not the first time I've had problems and I've yet to part with my hard earned dosh, despite trying several times to do so!!

covering theire own players is not sound buisness practice i think you would agree....you got to go for the best match up to rncourage turn out...

also i dont think anyone with sense would expect 110 sport to do this for free but i think theres a danger here of pricing themselfes out of the market and people will be selective to what they watch and if they show theire own players at the expense of say a Trump v Drago possibility they will not make a profit.

i think they got to re think it...

[wildJONESEYE]

I have waited a long time for the qualifiers to be broadcasted live, so I was very happy about the news. Until I actually read the details...

I'm amazed that world snooker manages to make the wrong decision time after another. To me it is obvious that they should have streamed the event free of charge, with one or two main tables with good coverage and commentaries in English and Chinese. For the rest of the tables they could use a static camera.


When broadcasting events like this, it is important to recognise that the viewers are not the costumers. They are the products which are sold to advertisers. The more viewers there are, the easier it is to sells ads, both in the arena and in the broadcast itself. With a potential of viewers in the millions in the far east it is definitely a mistake to charge for the streaming. At £2.99 per session they should be happy with a few thousand viewers, which is too little to make any real money from advertisements.

The second point is that the most important goal for broadcasting the qualifiers is not to make money - it is to promote the game of snooker. And again, by not charging any money they will reach a much larger audience.

Thirdly, charging money in itself is costly, since they need a system to get payments and they have to chose an inferior streaming solution in order to make sure only paying costumers will access the video. If they had decided to make it free they could have used p2p solutions like sopcast and bittorrent to transmit the stream, which would make the broadband cost minimal regardless of how many viewers there are.


My conclusion is simple: In every aspect is making the stream available for free a much better solution. I find it rather sad that they haven't realized this, and opted for the pay per view option. At a very high prize level.

you cant expect them to do it for free .......they are a buisness not a charity.

it costs money from somewhere to put this on who do you expect to pay then ????

[wildJONESEYE]

2,99 a session

you can watch the major tournaments for free most of the time online yet not the qualifiers

you pay the license fee to the BBC and ITV Gets advertisers Money...

neither of them is available to 110 sport to get money from.

[April madness]

you cant expect them to do it for free .......they are a buisness not a charity.

it costs money from somewhere to put this on who do you expect to pay then ????

Advertising? Put a lot of banners and play adverts during/at the start of streaming... That could be one way, I think. Paying some money to receive ad free coverage is not a bad thing, IMHO.

[wildJONESEYE]

Advertising? Put a lot of banners and play adverts during/at the start of streaming... That could be one way, I think. Paying some money to receive ad free coverage is not a bad thing, IMHO.

ok thats 1 way and i agree but it has to change £2.99 a session is 2 much ....

i think on streaming they have to try and encourage people to watch the majority of the time and at £2.99 that wont do it will it..

[JanieWatkins]

As promised guy and gals I'm back after an interesting conversation with 110sport Chief Exec David McCinnan

1. There will be commentators. Terry Griffiths will be one of them, Rob Walker another and they're keeping a couple of surprises up their sleeve for you.

2. They will go on air 15 minutes before the start of play and a sesion broadcast will include interviews with players, referees etc.

3. They will have roving cameras to monitor other tables and be able to bring good breaks etc from other tables.

4. It will be satellite upload technology and there will be a total of 8 cameras in use around the venue. the production team is headed up by seniors staff previously with Sky Sports and Setanta and the pictures will be full tv quality.

5. Initially the price is set at £2.99 a session. If you're unable to watch live there will be a "watch again option" on a delay, at a cheaper rate. If the uptake is good then prices will be reviewed accordingly and packages like day, event, and season tickets introduced.

6. There will also be other events being covered, that 110 are involved with or event managing themselves.

7. Perhaps the most important is that it is available worldwide. China will have its own separate mirror feeds and everyone else will pick up the feed from the UK and as long as you've got a decent internet connection you should have no problem accessing the broadcasts.

8. The team is coming into Pontin's tomorrow to get everything set up.

So all in all it sounds pretty exciting to me and it's long overdue.
Roll on Monday morning, let's watch some snooker!

[spike]

Rob Walker commentating....now that will be interesting.

[wildJONESEYE]

janie

i think thats fair coment regarding the price.....

if a good turnout watches and intrest is high then surply and demand will bring prices down if however nobody watches it could die on it feet and we are back on Live Scoring.....

[April madness]

Cheers Janie. It sounds better now... I can't wait to test it, and after next week I hope there will be some good reviews of the service on TSF

[dannyd0g]

I wonder who the surprise commentators will be - if its JV and WT they will need to remember not to be so critical of everyone that doesnt play like Ronnie and Hendry at their best.

[spike]

I wonder who the surprise commentators will be - if its JV and WT they will need to remember not to be so critical of everyone that doesnt play like Ronnie and Hendry at their best.

Griffiths and Walker going by Janie's post.

[The_Teach]

I think if you look at the matches 110 are selecting to cvoer, they are obviously selecting their players to broadcast.

I'm not sure about them using satellite as there's been a brand new high contention line installed in Pontin's which I'm told is for the broadcasts.
But I'm not sure about which upload method they're selecting.

I also don't understand people requiring a commentator in order to have value? If you're sitting in a venue watching the match, you can see the table and the scoreboard and don't need a commentator.

It remains to be seen how they're going to address the issue of showing the ongoing score. It might be graphics on screen, because from the position of the camera they won't be able to see the scoreboard as well.

From what I understand, the cameras will be behind the black spot, as the tables are now positioned further up the booth to allow room for a camera.

When the old Global Cue sports did streaming from Pontin;s in most cases we had to position the camera from the audience end, ie behind the brown spot, but that did mean, with careful positioning we could include the scoreboard in a slightly longer shot. That was a compromise.

I also think the streams will be available worldwide. The market is certainly a lot bigger internationally than it is in the UK. Maybe the statement launched in the UK might be a bit misleading.

Careful persual of the selection of matches also suggests some new signings to the 110 stable... (you heard it here first!!)

Re the old GSC, the only reason we did free streaming was because it was all still experimental and we had issues with upload speeds for necessary quality from most venues we attended. Sadly providing if free came at the sacrifice of selling my house to provide the funds to provide the staffing and equipment for the streaming. That is not a course of action I recommend to anyone. And please don't kick my cardboard box as you walk past the arches at night!!

I would go along with a range of packages to be offered by 110 for the "must-watch" fans so that they could get better value to watch for the day, all rounds, all season etc. In fact I'll ring them tomorrow and suggest it and also point them in the direction of the fans' feedback that I've read here and elsewhere.

and a footnote to cuesport.tv.. I spent half the evening trying to subscribe and all I got was pages unavailable. It's not the first time I've had problems and I've yet to part with my hard earned dosh, despite trying several times to do so!!

Very clear and precise post Janie. If a high datarate uncontended line has been installed then that would solve the problem and dependant on the line would significantly reduce the production costs.

I will drop you an email regarding your difficulties with using Cuesport TV, it is not something I am happy hear, I know of one issue last evening where the server was down for approximately 10 minutes in the middle of the two matches. This was to apply updates.