All matches to be streamed live next season? (Sorry if already posted)

I've subscribed to Cardiff City World/Player for at least 10 years now and have been dreaming about the day the live stream the matches. Got this email last week, seems they are finally going to be offering it! This is like Christmas for me, not sure how they'll prevent in the UK from also watching but it seems to indicate it'll be for overseas people only.

Has anyone heard anything more about this? I hope they do a good job with this, over here the MLS app/live streaming is phenomenal with HD streaming and the ability to cast the stream wherever you want, etc.

Email:
Within the next six weeks your club will be launching a new website. This website will feature a range of new features, including a new name for our PlayerHD service which will become iFollow.

The new iFollow service will continue to contain all the great features of PlayerHD, and as a fan outside of the UK you will have the opportunity to live stream full video coverage of selected games* played by your club from the start of the 17/18 season. This is not available as part of any iFollow subscription during the remaining period of the 2016/17 season.

As a result of these changes, your club PlayerHD service will end at some point between May the 9th and June the 6th 2017 and become iFollow. Below we have outlined how this change will impact for your PlayerHD subscription:

If you subscribe on a rolling monthly basis:

- No further payment will be taken after May the 3rd 2017

- You will have 30 days of access from the date of your final payment, including access to iFollow for any period after May the 3rd when your subscription is still active.

- After 30 days from the last collection your subscription will end.

- From that point you will have the option of purchasing a new iFollow package.

If you subscribe on an Annual basis:

- There will be no automatic renewal of your annual subscription

- You will have full access to PlayerHD (and iFollow at the point your club site moves to the new platform) until June the 9th 2017.

- We will process a pro-rata refund of any subscription fee you have already paid relating to the period after June the 9th 2017.

- From June 9th 2017 you will have the option of purchasing new iFollow products.

- Your refund will be processed over the next few weeks, and in some cases may have started already.

In both cases, the cost of iFollow will be an increase on PlayerHD, to recognise the enhancements to the product. Most notably, the inclusion of the live match streaming (above).

The terms and conditions for any subscription you purchase to the new iFollow service will be available for you to view on the new website and when you register for iFollow.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our finance team directly at iFollow@efl.com.

Many thanks
EFL Digital

* Conditions apply, only selected Sky Bet EFL games in which the Club plays, if any, will be available (i.e. no Carabao Cup, FA Cup or other games.) Some Sky Bet EFL games will be unavailable if selected for broadcast. Further details about the games available for live stream on iFollow will be set out on the new Club website when launched on May the 9th, along with details of available subscription packages. A full list of the available games will be made available in due course.

Not seen this email myself, but if it delivers on the (albeit heavily caveated) promises, I will be a very happy man. Having lived overseas for the last 3 years I don't get to see many games, but listen to every single one on CCPlayer. Wonder if this is open to everyone or if you have to have an account which was registered outside of the UK, which might explain why I've not seen anything as mine was registered in UK a few years ago.

Haven't got the letter yet - maybe because I live in Ireland & Sky offer their service here?

How much do they charge for a season's streaming?

This will surely be the future of football in the next few years. Subscribe to your team and get the matches streamed to you.

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Originally Posted by Fine Lines

This will surely be the future of football in the next few years. Subscribe to your team and get the matches streamed to you.

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How many people would prefer streams to going to games? Would it affect attendances?

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Originally Posted by Fine Lines

This will surely be the future of football in the next few years. Subscribe to your team and get the matches streamed to you.

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RIP Football.

It doesn't say all does it? Thought it said selected..

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Originally Posted by BlueArmy 86

It doesn't say all does it? Thought it said selected..

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It seems as though all of the matches other than the 148 live Sky matches televised locally in the UK and overseas will be available on iFollow. Apparently over 1500 matches next season. (which, if my math is correct Championship/League One/League Two play 552 matches per year, so 1656 total).
https://twitter.com/SportsProLive/st...49747340951552

Over here when MLB or NHL offer packages like this (streaming packages for all games) they blackout the local team, this is usually because the local team is broadcast locally and they want to ensure attendances aren't affected. This is impossible to do over there as the channels aren't really that regional. Can't see them offering the streaming anytime soon to locals but I would have to imagine it'd be easy enough to maybe sign up and use a VPN? Guess we will see how technologically advanced this system is.

As someone who has had to listen to commentary for the good part of 10+ years while only seeing a few matches live if we happened to be televised (or i'm back in Cardiff) this sounds too good to be true. No idea of the pricing model yet, but the CC Player with audio commentary only and highlights / full matches a few days after they are played was 30 or 40 pound per year if I am remembering correctly, so would have to think this will be double that?

The key might be in the wording here - overseas.

The service will determine your location and will block the games if you're in the UK, I'd assume.

May be able to get around it with a VPN as tdob has alluded to above.

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Originally Posted by Spooky Tree

The key might be in the wording here - overseas.

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Yes, I should have put that it in the title.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spooky Tree

The key might be in the wording here - overseas.

The service will determine your location and will block the games if you're in the UK, I'd assume.

May be able to get around it with a VPN as tdob has alluded to above.

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a VPN will of course get over the Oversea's location bit

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Originally Posted by BlueWales

RIP Football.

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While it would be great for ex-pats etc, and also that I would _love_ a regular stream, I felt the same.
Beginning of a very different era, if not 'RIP'.

Streaming services no doubt heavily sponsored/ad-blasted by Betting Companies too.

Not meaning to be a hypocrite - either way of looking at it - as I rarely get to support my club by attending in person at present, for a variety of reasons beyond my immediate control.

So long as they can successfully block folks accessing the live service domestically with popular VPNs (which I imagine they will), this implementation could do more good than harm. If they do block domestic stream successfully then it should have no effect on the gate. Just increases revenues from abroad.

There was news out there a couple of months ago that there was going to be a clamp down on football streaming. Not sure exactly how these changes will be implemented. I imagine it might be like here in Germany where private companies get commission via fines for catching people (downloading).The companies got so over-zealous with dishing out fines that they had to be reigned in by the government out here a couple of years ago.

As an aside, I do hope something is done in regard to illegal movie streaming. Cinemas and independent film production have taken a massive hit over the last ten years. Cinema attendances have dropped considerable amounts. Which is a big reason as to why we get these awful blockbusters and remakes constantly now, so the major studios saturate the market while factoring in losses for illegal dowloading. Netflix has also contributed to this downfall. But regardless, in my opinion, we're in possibly the worst era ever for cinema and as a movie nerd, I find it really sad. It's also rubbish for the younger generations who are unlucky not to have the wonderful Hollywood films we were blessed with 20 or 30 years ago.

Live streaming platform iFollow unveiled for global fans.

The innovative new service will enable overseas EFL fans to follow their team’s entire 2017/18 season
The EFL has today unveiled iFollow, an innovative digital live streaming and content platform that will revolutionise the way football fans overseas can follow their EFL teams.

iFollow will, for the first time in English football, enable EFL fans based outside the UK and Ireland to watch their team during the regular EFL season. With an estimated 270,000 EFL fans based outside the UK, iFollow will allow clubs to enable their supporters to follow the action wherever they are in the world.

Kicking off at the start of the 2017/18 EFL season, overseas subscribers will pay the equivalent of £110 per season for the service which will provide coverage of up to 46 live games per club. More than 1,500 matches will be available in HD quality, with iFollow showing every EFL league match live unless that match has been selected by the EFL’s overseas broadcast partners.

Fans based in the UK and Ireland will still also have access to live audio commentary, highlights packages and exclusive content as part of the new offering, rebranded to replace the EFL’s existing PlayerHD platform.

At launch, the vast majority of EFL clubs have opted in to utilise the iFollow platform and those who have not will have access to the same live streaming opportunity and will provide their fans with access through their own club digital services.

Research commissioned by the EFL suggests that there is significant demand for a service like iFollow amongst fans based overseas. A survey of over 1,600 such fans showed that 73% would be very likely or quite likely to subscribe to a live match streaming service and almost half would be happy to pay an annual subscription fee to do so. The findings suggest over 55% of the EFL’s fans are located in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where the potential audience for the iFollow platform could reach into the hundreds of thousands.

EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey commented: “The launch of iFollow is a notable development and will revolutionise the access thousands of overseas fans enjoy when following their EFL team.

“The new iFollow platform represents a potentially significant new revenue stream for Clubs, while enabling enhanced engagement with existing fans now living abroad.

“iFollow will also present the EFL with an important opportunity to stimulate the interest of new groups of supporters who follow our clubs overseas, which in turn will help support the growth of our competitions on the international stage.”

The live streaming of matches will be available from the start of the 2017/18 season in conjunction with a brand new digital presence for clubs via official websites and apps, together creating the largest sporting digital network in the world. US-based company NeuLion, a market leader in online video delivery, whose clients include the NFL, NBA and the Premier League, have developed the integrated streaming service alongside UK company Realise who have built the club websites. The two suppliers were appointed by the EFL in July 2016 following a competitive procurement process.