[Football] Why is Illegal Streaming So Popular

[dannyboy]

If there was a service where I could watch all Albion games I’d pay for it.



As it is, in the UK, you have to sign up to three different broadcasters to then only get some of the games. A right costly faff for only a portion of the games. This is why, a friend of mine, uses other means.

 

[phoenix]

If there was a service where I could watch all Albion games I’d pay for it.

As it is, in the UK, you have to sign up to three different broadcasters to then only get some of the games. A right costly faff for only a portion of the games. This is why, a friend of mine, uses other means.

Yes exactly this and Herr Tubthumper's friend is also my friend

 

[father_and_son]

I am only interested in watching games we are in, home & away, and otherwise don't want anything else Sky offers, (or BT or Prime). So signing up at £50 a month for a handful of games a season just isn't viable.

Let me watch all the Albion games at a reasonable price for the season and I'd sign up for that subscription. Until then I *may* occasionally google for something to do with Reddit of a weekend and undermine the system that does nothing to serve me.

 

[Wozza]

True, if the per club subscription model gave all the income for club X to only club X. But it wouldn't necessarily have to be that way. You could conceive a model that shared revenue more equably. After all, there are no games without the other 19 teams to play against.

If Man Utd had 1m subscribers, and Brighton had 50k subscribers... I think we know what would happen.

(And the difference would be even more stark internationally)

 

[Bodian]

Right, but did that ever really make sense? And does it make sense now, especially with the internet and a world full of illegal streams?

Games aren't really fungible. A fan of a particular club isn't going to just shrug and go watch a different team (especially a lower league team) instead if denied the ability to watch their favorite team.

So maybe that's a question? Has anybody here ever actually gone to a different game because they couldn't watch the Albion on TV?

Not sure if this is what you're asking, but earlier this season I was going to go to watch Barrow - but then because we had a proper 3pm kick-off I watched us on a stream instead. If I hadn't been able to watch us on a stream I would have contributed my £15 to Barrow's coffers.

 

[GT49er]

As above, only want to watch our games and would happy pay to watch all our away games on a pay per view type stream or subscription.

Yes, but if you ppv'd to watch a Brighton match, what if you had to go out and you let a mate go round to your house and watch it? PB's hit squad would be knocking on your door before you knew it!

 

[jcdenton08]

Yes, but if you ppv'd to watch a Brighton match, what if you had to go out and you let a mate go round to your house and watch it? PB's hit squad would be knocking on your door before you knew it!

Surely it depends if you let your mate watch with alcohol in view of the TV screen?

 

[GT49er]

Surely it depends if you let your mate watch with alcohol in view of the TV screen?

Probably be OK if you had registered him as a mate entitled to watch the PPVs you'd paid for. Twenty quid to register him seems about right, no?

 

[dannyboy]

i pay equivalent $39.99 for sky nz which has every PL game on whatever the time and also replays and catch up when i dont want to get up at 4am !. You could use a VPN put location as NZ and hey presto ! .

 

[Zeberdi]

It’s simple - illegal streaming is popular because it’s necessary - if you want to watch your team play football in the UK every week that is. It’s friggin ridiculous that people in the US or Asia or Middle East, can have more access to watching Brighton than I do.

If there was a Brighton streaming platform of every match we play (including cup matches) I would happily pay a yearly fee. I refuse to pay upto £50 a month for Sky Sports + £30 pm for BT Sports (ont) just to watch 4 or 5 matches a season so I’m happy to pay for a one-day Sky Sports pass for £12 or even £25 for a months BT pass a few times a year to watch Brighton (I already am an Amazon Prime member) but what about all the matches that aren’t televised?

No excuse these days for a blackout of 15:00hrs on a Saturday imo - the current system introduces a lot of uncertainty for fans when games rescheduled at relatively short notice for TV. The picking system also inadvertently ensures that televised matches (broadcasters obviously favouring big 6 picks in their packages over the course of a season) are often not necessarily the best played or most exiting match of the day to watch. I am literally fed up too that the Big 6 clubs get a lion’s share of the airtime because they bring in the top viewing figures around the world, which consolidates the financial power they wield over smaller clubs - televise ALL PL matches and it removes that financial disparity (making broadcasters subsidise televising smaller clubs with the income from Big 6 audiences or introduce club‘s streaming all their own games and let the revenue go to that club. ( Reverse too the 2018 ruling which gives a greater share of the income from international TV rights to the Big 6, which were for 26 years shared equally between all the league’s clubs.)

Until all Brighton matches are accessible legally, I’ll watch dodgy foreign streams without any qualms whatsoever (mine are usually pretty shite anyway because I dont have a firestick or tv or suitable laptop only a phone and ipad!)

 

[HastingsSeagull]

More than 20 years ago at Uni in London it was the only way I could watch NFL and NBA so used almost daily. Now it’s the only way I can watch PL in Philippines unless I go to an expensive bar in the middle of the night/early hours. Even then we’re often not the selected 3pm game.

Most countries have lived/worked/travelled in have easy ways to watch. All 3pm kickoffs. The two that don’t are where I live now and my home country with it’s 3pm blackout.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

£70 per YEAR IPTV subscription.
My neighbour gets to watch every BHA match home & away.
Apart from a bit of F1 and cricket, he doesn't watch any other sport so appreciates the value for money he's getting.

 

[Wozza]

I am literally fed up too that the Big 6 clubs get a lion’s share of the airtime because they bring in the top viewing figures around the world, which consolidates the financial power they wield over smaller clubs - televise ALL PL matches and it removes that financial disparity (making broadcasters subsidise televising smaller clubs with the income from Big 6 audiences or introduce club‘s streaming all their own games and let the revenue go to that club.

Really not sure how you think all games being televised, or clubs offering their own streaming services, would benefit smaller clubs like the Albion?!

 

[chickens]

This model would KILL Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.

(Or, at least, aspirations to achieve any kind of success.)

Would it? At present the club make £0 from me for away games. Provided each club provided the service, and the funding was split equally 20 ways, explain how this would kill Brighton?

 

[Wozza]

Would it? At present the club make £0 from me for away games. Provided each club provided the service, and the funding was split equally 20 ways, explain how this would kill Brighton?

Again, Man United could have 1m subscribers. Albion would have 50k or so. And the disparity is even bigger internationally.

You think income would be equally split 20 ways?! I don't!

It would also kill the current TV deals (£5.1bn domestically alone), which is shared relatively equally, and currently funds our club.

 

[happypig]

Ways to watch games on TV:
1. Buy Sky, BT and Amazon sub. Around £60 per month for half the games.
2. Buy a foreign TV package: Supersport SA, around £30/month for all PL games. Now TV Hong Kong is a similar price but for a proper bargain Bein sports Turkey is around £11 a month for all PL games. You'd need to add a decent VPN for another £3 per month.
3. Buy an IPTV sub for around £50-60 a year. Get all games but runs the risk of being taken down.
4. Free moody streams from various sites.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

As others I would pay a single subscription fee to watch all matches but I'm not going to pay multiple subscription fees.

A different issues but a lot of companies seem to be going down the subscription route and it doesn't really work for me. I want to pay up front or not at all.

 

[chickens]

Again, Man United could have 1m subscribers. Albion would have 50k or so. And the disparity is even bigger internationally.

You think income would be equally split 20 ways?! I don't!

It would also kill the current TV deals (£5.1bn domestically alone), which is shared relatively equally, and currently funds our club.

Well, it has to be split equally or as part of the PL prize money according to league position, otherwise we don’t have sport, we have business.

While America gets lots wrong with sport, (e.g. no relegation) it understands the difference between sport and business. If it was just every team keeping the subscribers that signed up for their package, absolutely it would disadvantage any contenders, but that would be stupid.

 

[raymondo]

Surely it depends if you let your mate watch with alcohol in view of the TV screen?

But he has to leave his bottle tops at the front door, no?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

But he has to leave his bottle tops at the front door, no?

And no sausage rolls unless the garden is north facing