I am realistic enough to understand that the club is now a large corporate entity with multiple tens of millions in revenue. I have no problem with the club selling the rights (in the territory I happen to live) to pre-season friendly matches. But as they ARE now a large corporate entity, I will expect them to act like one in all regards.
They have essentially misrepresented to me the service they are offering (or not offering). They published on social media that I could watch a stream for free. When I went to their website, they then directed me elsewhere, with no mention of any fee being payable. It was only then that I was left to discover that I had to pay $30 for the "free" product.
Just imagine a shop where you spend a lot of money, advertises on social media that they are offering a product you desire for free. You get up early and stand in line, seeing many other customers receive their free product. You get to the till...and are asked where you live. You are surprised, but tell them; they ask you to join a second line. When you get to the front of that line, you are told you actually have to pay £20 for the "free" product, because they subcontracted (for a fee) with another entity the rights to deal with customers from your town. Would you feel "yeah, fair enough really", or would you feel they had stitched you up?
The club has previous form for this sort of thing: at the start of the 2017-18 season they marketed a subscription to Seagulls TV with the explicit statement that "Seagulls TV will also screen live coverage and highlights of selected under-23 Premier League 2, Women's Super League and FA Youth Cup fixtures" - and then they didn't screen live coverage of any U-23 or FA Youth Cup matches that season.
So no, I don't think it is "fair enough really".
I meant more the reply was fair enough. PB clearly gives you the reason why the situation changed and then doesn't make any hollow promises (that you say the club have previously given you) but says that the club do and will do their best.
In this case, the announcement about coverage, regardless of geography, only came 5 hours before kick-off. This included the link to the US stream - everyone had the same amount of warning and whilst I understand the issue, the broadcast was clearly a last minute deal that most people were able to benefit from. You too could benefit with a VPN.
Look, I'm in a similar situation regarding geography and it is a real effort to try and get information on how to watch games etc, and I have complete sympathy to being up at ludicrous hours to watch something that you would be able to watch for no extra cost in the UK only to find it's basically impossible. It's a pain in the arse. Television rights are mad when it comes to football. You, being in America, probably have better access to the Albion on tele than anyone in the UK. Frankly, I agree that the club probably didn't need to sell the rights to Flo Sports but it was clearly the strategy that they see a good source of income as selling as many rights as possible. Had Sky decided that they wanted to broadcast in the UK, it would not have been free to watch.
Analogy wise, it isn't like standing in line, it's like watching the BBC. In the UK it is free-to-air, we don't have to pay a subscription to watch. However, if you are abroad you don't get access to the BBC as they sell off their assets to other companies to make extra money. The product is still available to you, just not via the BBC. You're British, you used to watch BBC in the UK and you are annoyed because your relatives in the UK are able to watch BBC no issue. The way around this, that is absolutely no hassle, is as previously stated, to get a free VPN, and virtually go back to the UK to watch the BBC or in this case Seagulls TV.
I'm really not having a dig, and hope this doesn't read as such. I understand your frustration (really really understand how difficult it is to watch the Albion from the other side of the world) but there is a really easy solution to this that the club obviously cannot offer. We are lucky enough to live in an age where a) the Albion are broadcast widely and b)they are worth watching - a simple work around makes far more sense than the club missing out on income because a deal hasn't been completed by a fan set deadline.