Wednesday 4 March 2009

Out of Control?





Not everyone is best pleased about the amount of user control though, namely Cable/Satellite networks.
The ability to watch and stream online sports in particular is a massive thorn in the side for Sky Sports, who just paid over £1.2 billion for the rights to show Barclay's Premiership matches. With such astronomical figures in question, it is easy to see why they are keen to protect this golden goose that could lay up to £35 a month per subscriber!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/26/premierleague-bskyb

It is often the case though, that despite paying the premium for the Sky Sports package, there is simply not enough sport (Sky doesn't show any 3pm kick-offs) on it for the die hard fanatic, and they will supplement their viewing from streams or P2P programs from the internet.

A user can download a piece of software called Sopcast or similar P2PTV player and then proceed to use a site such as www.myP2P.eu which hosts links to the streams that can be accessed through the player.

The myP2P.eu site recently had a legal battle (which it won, incidentally) and for a while the hosting of links to many football matches had been suspended. http://www.myp2pforum.eu/website-forum/35088-myp2p-wins-court-case.html

Users may also stream content from sites such as justin.tv or iraqgoals.com, but again we are back to issues of quality. Uploaders are streaming content from their own satellite/cable connections and it is incredibly easy to do. I have to say I much prefer the slick high quality and even HD quality that Sky Sports provides, rather than watching a blurry stream that intermittently cuts out and the screen is the size of a postage stamp!

However, I personally would be willing to pay for a legal sports subscription service that delivers high quality to my PC or mac. Who knows, maybe in the future, where users have legal access to sports content at all times for a small subscription, the exorbitant wages of our footballers may return a level where they play for the pride of the club.....

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