Lots to pick up on today but a Bloomberg article on “Soccer Pirates” grabbed my attention. The US business news broadcaster focussed on a recent fundamental technical shift which has seen high quality and reliable feeds of Sky and BT broadcast football games illegal appearing on TV sets across the globe.
The days of illegal content consumers scavenging around their laptop for a feed in the minutes leading up to kick off are on the way out. Now you can subscribe to a feed of your chosen content in Eastern Europe or China and it will be streamed to a device attached to your TV, where it will appear pretty much as it does direct from Sky.
This is important for several reasons. Subscription football is expensive. Thousands of Scottish football fans pay a significant portion of their monthly disposable income to Sky and BT to follow their team on television. They also get English and Spanish football as part of these subscriptions, but there is a dysfunctional market for football content.
While Sky earn 8% of their UK subscription income from Scotland, they send only 1% of their football outlays north of the border. English Premier League football is the key to entry into the UK subscription TV market, own this content, and you have market control. Cost per eyeball paid for Scottish football is a tiny fraction what is paid for English football (or English rugby league, for that matter), which has fostered a feeling among Scottish subscribers that they are being exploited by an oligopolist.
For some time now the comments section of CQN has seen discussions on how to organise a boycott of Sky, with many making the unilateral declaration “Just cancelled Sky Sports”, but there is a fundamental truth: if we have the money, we are going to watch Celtic.
Scrambling around for an illegal feed minutes before kick-off, fighting pop-ups or coping with lags is not how I want to watch my football, however, as the Bloomberg article makes plain, these issues are irrelevant if, like 2.4 million others, you subscribe to an Eastern European or Chinese feed. To force an oligopolist to change, you either need regulators to step in (they have abandoned us to a fragment of the UK market), or you need to find a way to take your business elsewhere.
One of the main advantages of being paid a pittance is you can take bold steps; Scottish football has nothing to lose by burning bridges with those who collect revenues here and pour the money into the coffers of clubs elsewhere.
The more fundamental question, even than losing Scottish subscribers, to Sky and BT, is the risk this technology poses to the value of their English Premier League broadcast rights. Viewers in England (and across the globe) also pay a substantial levy to watch English football. If the pick-up rate of Eastern European subscriber numbers continues, and assurances given to Bloomberg that prosecutions for use are unlikely, Sky and BT will see collapsing revenues – and maybe then we’ll see the English football bubble burst. Indeed, if Scottish viewers prove the concept and move en-mass, English viewers will not be far behind.
This is an important subject, we’ll talk more about it. I’m not going to advocate breaking even an unenforceable law, although others will, but there is no point playing TV money-victim anymore. This technology will eventually remove the enormous discrepancies in our game, so I’m off to buy one of the boxes, just to take a look, of course.
4-in-1-row DVD, £10.99, on CQN Bookstore, still available for Father’s Day (Sunday)!
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ACGR,
Make the best of the rest of your holiday.
Afterall, that is what you’re on, mind my fridge magnet ;))
Very sad about the deaths of the 6 irish students in california
Are you there, BDO? …… Is there anybody there ? …..and what about the HMRC Appeal ?
DISGUSTING
bournesouprecipe
I always liked the Bhoy:))
Think he’ll join up with Neil though..
67Heaven .. CHALLENGING THE LIE ..I am wee Oscar…… Ipox belongs to the creditors
Was a BDO man not a “guest” of Paul Murray at a recent sevco game?
Think it was on lamb eater jangle jacksons twitter recently
bournesouprecipe
18:50 on 17 June, 2015
weet weet
Does “issues” with Birmingham medical mean he failed it.
——
Not in Scotland :))))))
starry
Neil was not pleased at all we sold him, at all
Just the one wee clip that I found from last night’s show and then I’ll let it go, promise ;-)
https://youtu.be/DozmDYq1IYc (“Never Goin’ Back Again” – but wish I was ;-) )
According to reports that have surfaced today, Birmingham City’s move for former loanee Rob Kiernan have been scrapped after the defender’s medical was not what the club staff were looking for.
The Birmingham Mail believe that the Wigan Athletic player was all set to sign a two year deal with Gary Rowett’s side but there were some aspects of his medical that just did not add up.
Kiernan was with the club for a good chunk of last season and put in some above average performances during his spell with the Blues and he was all set to become the second signing of the summer but the move has been binned.
Reports on the medical have not yet been released so the stumbling block is not yet known, however, as we understand, there were several aspects in the medical that were not up to scratch which led to the management and the club deciding against pressing forward with the deal.
During his loan period with the Blues, Kiernan played 12 times and he scored one goal, which was the equaliser during the pulsating game against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Birmingham City fans, are you disappointed not to see Kiernan return to St.Andrews or do you think there are better defenders that we can get? Let us know in the comment section down below!
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/birmingham-city-transfer-news-rob-9473332
Read more: http://www.birmingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=403013#ixzz3dLP5sF6o
Paul67 et al
The fightback starts here. Andy Burnham, who should be given some credit for his, albeit belated, support for the Hillsborough Inquiry, Yvette Cooper who is er married to Ed Balls, Liz Kendall, who Frankie Boyle described as having “the alarming air of an Apprentice candidate, and Jeremy Corbyn, who made the cut despite being a er socialist. Actually he is a terrific MP and London’s equivalent of Dennis Canavan, and would make a good interim leader for the Party. In other words, if he struggled to get thirty five nominations, he will not win. It’s only just begun, but from where I’m standing, (safely in case you ask), it’s not looking good.
Surely Phil’s latest is wrong
GSL wasnt down in London looking for money from MASH
surely he was laying out what the new retail deal was
going to be and
MASH(after being humiliated at EGM copyright FF)
Rolled over like a defenceless puppy..
Those Android / Linux boxes are nothing new,
I’ve had one for the past 4 years.
Paid £80 for the box and £30 for a years subscription to all S*y channels. Movies, Sports, Docs. Even get the Box Office stuff, for anyone who cares to watch something they were calling ‘Wrestling”
Anyone paying for S*y is off their heads.
If you have 2mbps broadband speed in the house this box will work a treat. Anyone want to check their broadband speed, go here.
http://www.speedtest.net/?test-2
If Greece goes bust can we make a claim to bring sammi back
Warburton’s first signing is a payer he knew well as a kid at the Watford Academy.
In the 6 years since Warburton last saw him play #9at 18 years old), he’s been signed by 2 clubs, and subsequently loaned out to a further 8, most of which don’t feature on the Saga Tour of 2nd rate football.
The poor boy must feel like a damp spliff at a Freshers’ party, passed around one to the next for a quick drag, each deciding in turn.. I’m not really sure I like that.
But that’s what Warburton was signed for: To spot the difference between the soap bar and the skunk.
Warburton’s seedless.
Some lousy typos there. Apols. Need to stop tokin’ when I’m postin’.
whitedoghunch
He scored a lot go goals for us, I would have him back but I’m not sure he is what Ronny is looking for????
We deffo need another striker..
leftclicktic
19:04 on 17 June, 2015
Nothing about that mob surprises me ….. they have no dignity whatsoever…
bournesouprecipe
18:37 on 17 June, 2015
Gary Hooper has a unique record as the only, player to have scored in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, FA Cup, League Cup, Football League Trophy, FA Trophy, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Premier League.
He also holds the unique record of being the last ever Celtic player to score against Rangers.
———————-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And the conference south and the conference national.
Unfortunately the petrofac cup is missing from an otherwise impeccable cv
Hooper wouldn’t work under Ronny Deila, in the same way Hooper hasn’t worked out under Alex Neill …
hebcelt
“SFTB still diamonds to be found Aldi voted supermarket of the year – beat Waitrose et al , can be done . More difficult, I admit but can be done. H H Hebcelt”
All true and that reflects our current strategy. However a player that has already broken into Schalke’s first team and made an impact, is not a Lidl player
Patrick27
“Prefer EL run (obviously preferably through a 3rd place CL group stage) – look at the coefficients of Basel and Benfica who have enjoyed lengthy EL runs in the past. Plus more excitement I feel – rather beating a few teams in knockout stages then losing 5-0 to a Juve. Just my opinion though. ”
It is a different argument as to which you enjoy more- that is purely a subjective judgement.
I was arguing over which was the bigger achievement and not which I enjoyed more. Getting beat 5:0 by Juventus (or 1:0 by winners AC) is the bigger achievement. Nobody pays much attention to the Europa until the semi-final stage. Just try and recall from last year, without googling, any beaten quarter finalist or any semi-finalist from the year before or who won it three years ago.
Raspberry Pi from Amazon, then instal xbmc/kodi, get instructions from YouTube, you can even subscribe to some of the better streams
I’m in the Garry Cooper fan club. I would have him back right away. I can’t see how he wouldn’t be able to work under Ronnie Deila. Best CF we’ve had in a long time.
I mentioned on here that I was told that despite Hooper regretting leaving us he wouldn’t return. That, however, was over a year ago and I don’t think he’s made the progress at Norwich that he’d hoped.
I’d take him back but I’m not sure that his work ethic would tie in with Ronny’s tactics and strategy.
parkheadcumsalford
19:34 on 17 June, 2015
What have you been drinking ? …. hahahahahahaha
The manager Evans at Rotherham , was quoted as being in for Stevie May when May was due to leave St Johnstone.
Evans went on further to suggest that Sheffield Wednesday would be the wrong club for Stevie May, as Sheffield play a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3, where by they prefer their lone centre forward to be a target man.
Hooper , and/or Stevie May, are falling in to a dying breed of striker. The old school penalty box striker is no longer desirable. They need a strike partner up alongside them, and there aren’t too many leading clubs opting for a 2 striker policy.
I have purchased amazon fire tv stick & watched several games after configuring with instructions on youtube. Very easy indeed
However, Sky are unlikely to feel any financial pain on a short term basis given that most customers are contracted to a12-18month contract. Moreover, the feeds are dependant on the server speed; the more that connect, the slower the feed….just ask Paul 67 what it’s like when a signing is unveiled or transfer deadline day when we are linked with a few big names! crash bang wallop!
Server speed – server capacity / RAM/ Processor speed etc
Gary (C)(H)ooper being linked with a return to the Hoops.
Expect an announcement at high noon tomorrow.
HH!!
Whatever happens, just get rid of Stokes. Striker soon please. A good one.
Let others have the duds.
Hooper.?
Remember the sitter he missed in Turin.
Elderly him and her Rube fans sitting next to me in the stadium.
She shrieked as the ball flashed across the box – he calmed her down with a –
” Dont worry Dear – he is too fat and slow “
The Ronny Roar again. What a man. Celtic must support our manager. Do so and we can overcome crap such as Maribor.
I see Aston Villa got Micah Richards from Man City on a free
Decent deal for them, would have taken him at Celtic as well ?
Hail Hail
Some forget Hoopers attitude and disappearing act for the last 4 months, not this Tim. Ronnys system requires his striker to be able to hold the ball and play with his back to goal. An ability that neither Hooper or Griff posess.
Despite being fat and slow, he still scored goals in the CL SOT.
Rubentus swotted us away like flies. Celtic were not prepared well.
Still say Cifti is one we should go for.
Knows the score here and has had a pretty decent scoring record at Utd so he would not be a risk as far as the Scottish game goes.
Can he make a difference in Europe?
Who knows eh?
Zig n zag did not too bad so by that reckoning i think Cifti could too.
Ffs!
Just seen an ad on Italian tv.
Apparently McDonalds are offering a lobster sandwich – with salad.
HH!!
I also remember the game in Turin… Celtic were up against it after the first leg drubbing at home.
However the bhoys started the game really well. Then the ball gets played to Hooper on the half way line…. He takes an amateurish first touch, Juve player pounces on loose ball, and Juve break up field and score.
The guy was hit or miss for me.
We move on
Gary Hooper does not strike me as the kind of player that world interest Ronny – for the reasons given above by other posters. If he was too slow in Europe when he last played for us, will he be faster now? I don’t think so. He’d do OK in the SPFL, but then we already proved last season we can do that without him. I’d prefer we spent appropriately and got a player who improved our chances in Europe.