It’s fair to say that the Internet is a complete waste of time. Aside from the odd virtual museum, or learning about the history of the Bantu peoples on Wikipedia, there’s very little on there that’s worth the time of day, I think. Twitter? Rubbish. Facebook? Old. Hulu? You couldn’t pay me to watch network TV anymore.
But on Any Given Saturday, from August to May, the Internet is, in fact, worth a damn. That’s because, thanks to the likes of Ustream, and Justin.tv, and any number of esoteric, China-based P2P programs, I can watch the various European soccer leagues right here on my MacBook. And as much as I’d like to see Aston Villa play Wigan this Saturday, I’d much rather see how this whole Manchester City business turns out. Unfortunately, the City game, against Blackburn, is on Setanta Sports USA, a channel I don’t have. Ustream to the rescue.
Unfortunately, that’s just the scenario that Engl… Barclays Premier League is afraid of. No, it’s not the first time the Premier League has complained about the proliferation of live football streams, but now they’re crying poverty, claiming that “digital piracy is one of the most important threats facing sports rights owners today.” I’m sorry, but I don’t care, and I would think that Sheikh Mansour doesn’t mind, either. He’s rich enough, and some guy in New York watching his new plaything squeak by Blackburn 1-0 on Justin.tv won’t upset him too much.
Not every team is bankrolled by petrodollars from the Middle East, and this is why the Premier League is freaking out. If the League can’t turn to Sky or ESPN when it’s time to negotiate rights contracts and say, “We guarantee that X-Number of people watch every single Premier League game,” why would Sky or ESPN shell out hundreds of millions, if not billions, of pounds? It’s always helpful to keep in mind that these guys, Sky and ESPN and others like them (R.I.P. Sentanta UK,) are buying an audience when they buy the rights to Premier League games. They then sell this audience to advertisers, which is how their money is made.
Right, so if the Premier League cannot guarantee Sky and Co. and audience, how can they charge a premium? In other words, the more people that watch these games, for free, on the Internet, the less of a legitimate audience they have. No audience, no contract with Sky, no money in the League. That’s how the Premier League sees it, at any rate.
In other words, the Premier League is afraid that Sky’s money well will dry up.
Not that any of this matters. Just wait till April, 2010, when Premiership footballers are taxed to death, and then flee to Spain. At least the weather is better there. On some days, I hear, you can even see the sun! Imagine that.
I was able to watch CL games with espn360 last term. Now that fox has it I’ll have to hunt and peck the ustream and justin.tv feeds to find a game…
I wouldn’t mind paying for a nice online HD feed direct from Sky or Fox. No, actually I would mind and I wouldn’t pay – but it would be nice to have legitimate options :)
I like reading about Banthas on wikipedia too… almost as much as Wookies and Ewoks.
I am a fanatical fan of European soccer, mainly the EPL, and I have been following all of them on TV since 2006. The problem is not just the cost, but you also have to have a satellite, or AT&T U-Verse which is only available in select locations.
Since 06 I have had to subscribe to FSC, which makes any plan at least $10/mo more, add the sports package ($10/mo) for Gol TV for the Spanish games, and Setanta ($15/mo) for the majority of the EPL games. That comes to $35/mo just to follow soccer!
Now I am moving to a place that doesn’t have a satellite signal or AT&T U-Verse so what other option do I have but to stream online? Give me a legal way to stream the games online for a reasonable price and I will sign up. Setanta Broadband is $15/mo and the quality is terrible, and they only have 1/3rd of the games.
Bottom line: You can’t complain about piracy when you don’t make it easy to be legal!
The Premier League would be better off creating a superlative broadband package where everyone game was available legally for a reasonable cost and games in HD. Not everyone would eat it up, but there would be enough demand to make it generate millions in revenue.
Just a couple of pointers regarding above comments: Setanta Broadband is now known as Setanta-i (http://www.setanta-i.com). The quality is pretty decent (see review here: http://www.epltalk.com/setanta-i-product-review/6114 ).
This season, Champions League games will be available online via Setanta-i, not Fox. Meanwhile, Fox Soccer Channel, FSN, Setanta and Fox Sports en Espanol will be showing the games on telly.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
never had any luck with any of the p2)…just as well the prem does own rights, and last I checked must of us commenting lived in a capitlistic society. I malke a salary and bonus contigent on what I sell to others, so why is it wrong that the Epl, or any one else, does too. Networks, etc pay people like us to produce, film, direct, and operate these games based on what they think advertisers, etc will pay. It amazes me that some people comment negatively on why its wrong for thousands of people to make a living on what we desire. They provide an entertainment, an escapement, a service if you will. How is this no different than selling insurance, providing legal advice, broking stock, to name a few. If those of you feel like you should receive free multimillion dollar productions because you think you are entitled, maybe you should take some interpersonal inventory. I love sport in general, and realize that it is a luxury, not a neccesity. The premierleague, nor espn, setanta, hbo, should have to provide a free service just because they think you should.
i agree with you about the epl having no obligation to offer a free service that’s obviously costing them money. i make a living selling digital content and have no appreciation for what is, quite literally, stealing.
however, the demand for streaming makes an important point – we’re the audience and want to watch it online because paying our cable company so they can pay the network so they can pay the league is expensive and adds no value to the end product.
if you’re business is selling then it is in your best interest to sell what people want at a price reasonable to both sides before they turn to other options, illegal or otherwise, and aren’t part of the paying audience at all.
sure, piracy does cost them money every time someone steals a game vs paying for it. but if things are to the point that coverage isn’t worth paying for than the audience will surely decline, rather it’s illegally streaming or not.
a batter plan would be to combat piracy with legal online alternatives rather than pity over falling profits. a service i want – i’ll support, keeping rich people rich – not worried about it.
MI NOMBRE ES HENRY TENGO 23 DE EDAD SOLTERO SOY DE HONDURAS VIVO EN TEXAS EUA BUSCO DAMA MAYOR PARA AMISTADO OH ALGO MAS FAVOR LLAMAR AL 832-892-7306 OH ESCRIBIR HENRY_85@HOTMAIL.ES BESOS Y ABRAZOS.
Speaking of this, does anyone have some good recommendations of these free sites for streaming live games from the internet? I’m specifically looking for one that streams Spanish games as well as EPL games. Or a site that streams them all.
I use http://www.footballstreaming.info/streams/todays-links/ and http://www.rojadirecta.com for all my streaming needs. These sites cover all leagues, Spain, England, Italy, Germany, Brazil, etc.
Thanks 4 your info.. Hope I can watch all soccer online
So Sentanta UK collapsed (whatever the technical term is, don’t care) So I now get ESPN, But Sentanta USA is fine and ESPN doesn’t broadcast the games they bought in the US.
Confused!
7amra
I do not fully understand the controversy. However, I do agree that we should get to see more of the EPL games on major TV Channels, such as, ESPN, STAR SPORTS, TEN SPORTS, etc. If some find the internet a waste of time, then they could watch the idiot box; otherwise, they could just ignore all technology and go fishing somewhere. I love soccer. But there is a limit to spending your precious lifetime dreaming night and day about football. Cedric Menezes.
OK. So, piracy is the problem. I am not one for making the rich get richer as someone has pointed out in the earlier comments. There is too much greed among many to get rich at the cost of the frenzied fans. The football fans are the bread and butter and jam for all the moollah makers, be they the football stars, football managers, or the football barons. There should be some way of automatically sending ten percent of their rakings to the starving millions in many continents of the world.