The economy of truth is the value here, being misled doesn’t sit well with me.Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgawa
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The economy of truth is the value here, being misled doesn’t sit well with me.Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgawa
Clubs have shown that they are capable of doing an excellent job of streaming games. IF there were any financial resources directed to WatchLoI they should go to the clubs to do their own thing. In principle trying to share the wealth was a good thing but was it really expected to make any significant money!? As mentioned it takes longer to establish a service than part of a season. I'd watch any game crowd or not so liked the service and would like to have the continued option to see away Dundalk games that I cant get to even when crowds are back. One major positive of clubs doing their own streaming is less having to hear Dundork, nails on a blackboard!
That figure of an average of 2600 watching EACH games isnt at all bad even if 11k subscribers fell short of the target. Im not sure how they expected significant overseas numbers or how they gauged that market, ex-pat fans (no pun intended) may have known about the service and used it but how could any figures be guesstimated - maybe from RTE Player figures? With the approximate €7mil loss made by RTE in general, spending 300k on a fringe service isnt going to make sense when clubs can manage things themselves by and large and for much less. Its not as if there were pundits on the WatchLoI platform. Its not directly related but clubs worry about lost gate income when games are on TV so imo club provided streaming helps mitigate against that thinking which is anecdotal rather than there being concrete figures of the impact of such a trend. Streaming by clubs could be jointly marketed and branded and with the FAI assisting with 'signal costs', throw in some adds?. I dont know whats involved so maybe naïve but the Dundalk preseason coverage was excellent, with in match replays, commentary and punditry. Any 1st Division coverage I saw were also top notch. Why not utilise the many film + TV/media course students and if organised provide course credits so costs are reduced and would have their own equipment etc.
Its a worthwhile effort in its infancy but the baby shouldnt be thrown out with the bathwater (apologies at this dreadful pun too). Going forward and even when BCD ends there is still the summer season angle to push when other leagues have finished if an international market is hoped for.
Need something to fit in between the Ice Hockey and Ice Hockey and oh the Ice Hockey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinho II
I wouldn’t go anywhere near them.
Fair point if they said they were paying full whack.Quote:
Originally Posted by lofty9
My understanding was clubs did have to pay a much reduced rate but that it was not free
Sky don’t show Irish League games through choice it is part of the deal for showing the north’s international games that they show 5 per season I believe (open to correction on specifics) and I suspect they would get rid of it in a shot if they could.Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinho II
Fair points, but I suppose there's the point that €300k was to show what - 13 rounds of games? 2021 is 36 games; that's a huge scale-up. If production costs are linear (ie if it's a set amount per game), then you're looking at €800k+ to show the full 2021 season. That in a position where they may see subscriptions dropping off further for the new season.Quote:
Originally Posted by blueblood
I'm not sure there's significant scope for cost-cutting there either if it's about €5k per game. You presumably need an OB unit, commentator, production crew, etc. If you reduce it to €4k per game, that's not going to dramatically change the economics of the thing.
iFollow in the UK use whatever local BBC radio feed is available. No reason why that couldn't be managed here.Quote:
Originally Posted by D24Saint
300,000 production costs for 85 games. roughly 3,500 per game - struggling to see how the games down in Turners Cross cost that much.
RTE, through GAAGO covered League Division 4 games which according to them must have been run at a loss. We are the poor relation here again. I know rte shouldn't be expected to run at a loss but there should be an element of public service come into this and if games are BCD then something should be provided imo.
Clubs screening their own games is the way to go. I watched nearly all of Drogheda's games last year. Quality (of production) wise, home games were fine, as were most away games (except for Bray, which was amusingly dreadful). Not up to professional Watch LOI standard, but enough to keep fans happy.
Siobhan Madigan's commentary could have been used as a torture mechanism in Gitmo. As mentioned above, games like Finn Harps vs Shels in the rain, with no crowd, and her voice, wasn't very attractive. Though watching games with Jon Kenny was a much better experience. It's disappointing it's not back, or may be so in a greatly reduced format, but the production values were too low.
In fairness I was chatting to Siobhan before that game and it was literally her first time commentating on a football match. Tough gig for anyone to make that game sound decent, never mind when it's your first time.
You could tell , and the subsequent lack of improvement was apparent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
In fairness that is no excuse for getting half the players names wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
Galway Utd had a local commentator, he's a fan, not sure if he works in broadcasting. He was poor enough in the first game but kept on improving and was good by the end of the season. A bit like Mícheál O'Muirceartaigh, a bit in Irish, a bit in English and family backgrounds on nearly everyone! Hope he does it again this season and gets a former player in on co-commentary.
That makes a big difference. Especially with an inexpereinced main commentary. There are lots of radio stations that do top class coverage (LMFM for Dundalk and Drogheda, BBC Radio Foyle for example).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucket
I think the best thing with WatchLOI wasnt even the game coverage, but how highlights of the matches could be up on the likes of Twitter straight away. It kept chat going on the league, instead of previously having to wait until 'SoccerRepublic' (which by the time it came, a full two days of foreign football took everyones attention). Those little things really help naturally develop the league.
Yep in hindsight DCWA you are dead right! I remember reading about this before!Quote:
Originally Posted by DCWA
I thought Siobhan Madigan was a football reporter I thought?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
In fairness, Bray's commentary was probably the best of all the Div. 1 games I saw, that man knows his LOI. UCD didn't have a broadband connection capable of sustaining a live stream! Wexford and Athlone were the very best I saw.Quote:
Originally Posted by Straightstory
I thought the Bray guy was a bit dreary tbh; wouldn't go as far as StraightStory, but it was one of the weakest I saw (behind only Galway, I think it was, when the commentator has a runny nose and was sniffing every few seconds)
Appreciate it's a bloody hard job to keep talking for 90 minutes without repeating yourself of course, and fair dues to anyone who does it
I did a few commentaries for Finn Harps radio and it's a very difficult thing. But then these guys tend to only commentate whereas I was starting chants, drinking cans and shouting at refs at the same time. I miss it sometimes.
An unenviable task as there's a certain flair required for wrestling commentary.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A