iFollow - Good news for exiles - streamed games

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Hopefully it is genuine, just find it strange that nothing at all is mentioned about it elsewhere
 



Will be based on IP address, the Co providing it won't care if you are using a VPN, just means extra business. the only time this may change is if it effects Sky subscriptions then Sky may make legal challenge but can't see it, there must be 100,000s of championship fans with residence/work abroad.
 
This seems to be related and the 2 seasons thing would tie in with next season!
Fingers crossed.
www.google.co.uk/amp/uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp
UTB
Link not working, cut and pasted below:

Tue Sep 8, 2015 | 7:17 PM BST
Football League may introduce live streaming overseas


By Simon Evans | MANCHESTER
(Reuters) - England’s Football League, which includes the second tier Championship, is considering introducing pay-per-view live-streams of their games for international fans.

The introduction of new technology at the 72 stadiums across the three divisions of the Football League this season allows for real-time broadcasting from all games for the first time.

“This technology would allow us to stream games, subject to all the rights, overseas at the time they are being played,” Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey told a meeting at the Soccerex convention.

“We could widen our stadiums to screens all over the world. What additional income does that generate for the Football League? That is an evaluation that we are going through at the moment,” he said.

The Championship includes a number of clubs with significant fan-bases including internationally-known teams like Leeds United and Nottingham Forest and sides recently relegated from the Premier League like Fulham and Burnley.

Speaking to Reuters on the margins of the meeting, Harvey said pay-per-view streaming could run alongside the league's existing global television deals.

“It is something that is part of the overall development plan of what we are doing. It is something that is at least two seasons away, purely on the basis of where our international rights sales are at this moment in time but it is a very realistic possibility thereafter,” he said.
“You would have an opportunity of being able to watch your club live anywhere in the world. What we have to balance that off against is what would the potential loss be in overseas sales rights for the league as a whole but there is every suggestion that would work,” added Harvey.

The league recently conducted an online survey called ‘Stand up and be counted’ which aimed to register fans of the league around the world and they are looking at which countries would present the best opportunities for the service. “The research is under way, this isn’t going to happen by chance,” said Harvey.

ITN productions, which earlier this year signed a three-year deal to deliver footage of Football League games to Channel Five for their domestic Saturday night highlights show, has introduced the technology that makes global streaming possible.

(Reporting by Simon Evans; editing by Toby Davis)
 
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Got an email update from PlayerHD today:

"Dear PlayerHD Subscriber,

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 [email protected].

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."

 
Hmm, I got an email today too, but worded slightly differently :

Dear Ron

EFL Digital provide the website and PlayerHD service for the club you support. Throughout May and June we will be moving the club website to a new and improved website platform. As part of that development PlayerHD will become iFollow.

Your subscription will be affected in the following way.

For those users that subscribe on a Monthly basis by Credit Card, Debit Card or Pay Pal:

- No payment will be processed between 3rd of May and 9th of June

- At the point that your club website is relaunched your service will continue under the iFollow brand with all of the same features and benefits as before.

- Your monthly fee of £4.49 will not increase.

The only change you will notice is that with effect from 9th of June, payments will not be collected by FL interactive Ltd. Instead, the name EFL Digital Ltd will appear on your statement.

For those users that subscribe on an Annual basis by Direct Debit:

- No auto renewal of your service will take place when your current subscription expires. No further payments will be taken at that time unless you take a new subscription.

- You will be able to access iFollow on your new club website when it launches.

- At the anniversary date of your initial payment, your subscription will end. At this point you will need to purchase a new iFollow package, the format of which will differ from the traditional Annual membership that you have subscribed to until now.

If you have any questions regarding your contract, you can email [email protected].

The terms and conditions for your subscription to the new iFollow service will be available for you to view on the new website and when you login to iFollow after launch.

Many thanks
EFL Digital
 
United's Arab Emirate said:
Has anybody got a link to this that doesn't come from the piggies?
Can't find anything on Google and it seems like quite a big thing, for all the teams in the Championship, not to have been announced/rumoured/discussed more widely on the internet!
UTB
Click to expand...
If u are a current BLades Player subscriber u should have had an e-mail today
 
There's not much I miss about England to be honest but I do miss Sheffield, my family, friends, fish and chips with mushy peas or curry sauce, a good bhuna with a pint and going to the Lane with the odd away day! This is something I have craved for since being stateside, I am so so excited for this prospect I just hope we are not gonna get price gouged for the pleasure!
 



Kryten said:
There's not much I miss about England to be honest but I do miss Sheffield, my family, friends, fish and chips with mushy peas or curry sauce, a good bhuna with a pint and going to the Lane with the odd away day! This is something I have craved for since being stateside, I am so so excited for this prospect I just hope we are not gonna get price gouged for the pleasure!
Click to expand...

So there's 'not much' you miss about England? You then go on to list the only things worth living for; Family, Friends, United, Beer and Food. lol

Did someone abduct you?
 
YouFUMS said:
So there's 'not much' you miss about England? You then go on to list the only things worth living for; Family, Friends, United, Beer and Food. lol

Did someone abduct you?
Click to expand...

literally lmao...I now see the stupidity of my post and I can't even blame ale. I guess I miss my homeland more than I think :p and blame the wife for the abduction.

Ill be in the corner with mi dunce hat on!
 
Sweet, a Brentford fan out here told me about this a couple of months ago, but I thought he was bullshitting. Midnight and 4am kickoffs will be much more bearable with video over radio!
 
Doesn't sound like all games will be live streamed but if they were I'd be happy to pay
 
GreenhillBladeinToronto said:
If u are a current BLades Player subscriber u should have had an e-mail today
Click to expand...
I'm UK based but got an email the other day to say my annual Bladesplayer direct debit will be cancelled when it's next due and I'll have to resubscribe to monthly payments. In other words the price is going up (for those who pay annually) so I might not renew.
 
I've not had any email from them, only found out my subscription finished 23rd April when trying to watch yesterday's interviews and it wouldn't let me re-subscribe. It used to be automatically done so now not able to use to watch any extras from tomorrow. Not happy
 
This is great news for exiled blades. Curious what the criteria will be for "selected" games. Clubs with adequate stadium filming facilities to enable a live stream? Only those clubs deemed big enough? I'll look forward to finding out.
 
The day is coming when all top flight and Championship games will be streamed live, let's face it with little effort you can do it now for nothing and it's hardly effecting attendances which are up again this season across the EFL.

The currently black out of Saturday afternoon games is not sustainable long term.
 
Melbourne Blade said:
This is great news for exiled blades. Curious what the criteria will be for "selected" games. Clubs with adequate stadium filming facilities to enable a live stream? Only those clubs deemed big enough? I'll look forward to finding out.
Click to expand...

I think it'll be to do with TV e.g. If it's being shown live on TV in your country, you won't be able to watch it live online.
 
Gone out to the press today...

http://mobile.efl.com//news/article...ifollow-unveiled-for-global-fans-3703898.aspx

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
 
Right, some tech savy Blades. Please work out how to circumvent the UK block out please, not posted on this site I hasten to add but a few new twitter accounts created to post links would be appreciated.
 



Harry's Game said:
Right, some tech savy Blades. Please work out how to circumvent the UK block out please, not posted on this site I hasten to add but a few new twitter accounts created to post links would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Could use a proxy server to get past it, annyoing there is a block for uk fans but I guess thats because of sky.
To the topic.
The idea is very good and is used for the nba, hopefuly this will become a full idea for all leagues, once sky's contract has run its course.
 
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