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)!
563 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- »
Good Evening Timland.
It was rumoured that Norwich sent a plane with a cheque
worth 9m for Hooper before we faced Juve in the last 16
of the CL,if PL would have made the brave and right decision
and sold him there would have been uproar on here,on a going
day Hooper was a good striker nae better than that,we should
be looking elsewhere IMHO.
https://twitter.com/celticrumours/status/611132443429617664
Airbrushing history 1.0
From the Scotsman:
‘Ian Black could be heading south when he becomes a free agent later this month, with MK Dons said to be leading the chase for the ex-Hearts and Inverness midfelder.’
I could have sworn he played for a team out of Ibrox, calling itself Rangers, last season!
Ian Black possibly heading south.
Whit are the odds on that?!
HH!!
Had we had Hooper instead of the other dross, we would have had a better chance against the Cl sides. Instead we had duds and I had to suffer abuse from Poles for weeks. What a shambles.
Poor Sydney Tim is probably still recovering from Pukki etc.
I remember Hooper had a fabulous touch sometimes.
Tallybhoy
20:38 on
17 June, 2015
Ian Black possibly heading south.
Whit are the odds on that?!
—————————————
Ian Black could tell you! :-)
On Gary Hooper, was not his biggest fan but cannot argue with the amount of goals he scored. However, he’s had his day. Things have changed in how we play the game, it would be wrong for him to come back. We should move on.
Now Aiden on the other hand…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Captain Beefheart
20:38 on
17 June, 2015
Had we had Hooper instead of the other dross, we would have had a better chance against the Cl sides. Instead we had duds and I had to suffer abuse from Poles for weeks. What a shambles.
Poor Sydney Tim is probably still recovering from Pukki etc.
I remember Hooper had a fabulous touch sometimes.
—————————————–
In the SPL mate – yes. In Europe? Nah.
MKDons
Had a vacany last week for a painter and decorator……
Honest guv, bet you
Is there not a bookies at the MK stadium?
Natknow.
Spartak? Helsinborgs?
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in eighty-four feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Cooper’s ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his appearing natural and authentic on screen. The screen persona he sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American hero.
OleWiki CSC
Captain Beefheart
20:43 on
17 June, 2015
Natknow.
Spartak? Helsinborgs?
———————————–
Minnows mate. When he came up against a proper team he folded. ;-)
BSR
And I thought ole oudie Murphy was more your cup of tea
I always liked ole Randolph Scott in a western.
Hope we do not go for Gary Hooper. Then again, I was against us signing Leigh Griffiths, and he had a terrific end of season. Hoops had his time in the Hoops.
I will remember him fondly as the last Celtic player to score against Rangers.
Any word from ole Len Brennan?
Spartak minnows Nat know?
Hooper wasn’t Owen Coyle shaped but nor was he Dawn French shaped. A little extra pork isn’t necessarily detrimental to goalscoring.
John Boyle O’Reilly,
http://www.poemhunter.com/john-boyle-o-reilly/biography/
HH,
Clogher
No going back for me with either Hooper or Aidan
We helped them launch their careers or enhance in the case of Hoops but thanks bhoys
Been there done that
ole blantyretim
I think we have enough on the field to get through the CL qualifiers if we play the right way.
We are far far better than we were last July/august. Confidence in the manager, team mates etc is much better.
We should however always belonging to improve on the squad.
I don’t know who we will sign. I hope it’s young, ambitious players. I hope we finally find the new Henke or a young Sutton – or both….
But goalscorers come at a premium that often makes that very very difficult.
Maybe one will emerge from our youth as in days of old but we can’t rely on that….
Parkheadcumsalford
19:34 on
17 June, 2015
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’m afraid the ole Gary Cooper is no longer with us mhate….only way he could come back is for yon deid team.
zombietrifc.
BSR
I only smoke Havanas 8))
BT
I’m with you……’the best striker since henrik ‘gets on my thrupennies,shouldn’t be mentioned
in same sentence.hh
Gary Cooper?
https://youtu.be/nvjYuIBy-oQ
Badabeepbadaboop..
Another recommendation for the Amazon Fire TV Stick, excellent piece of kit, got it from Argos a few weeks ago was on offer at £25 now selling at £35. Install Kodi on this instructions via Internet and your home in a boat
Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. At the age of 19, Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.
Murphy was born into a large sharecropper family in Hunt County, Texas. His father abandoned them, and his mother died when he was a teenager. Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table. Murphy’s older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birth date to meet the minimum-age requirement for enlisting in the military, and after being turned down by the Navy and the Marine Corps he enlisted in the Army. He first saw action in the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Battle of Anzio, and in 1944 was part of the liberation of Rome and invasion of southern France. Murphy fought at Montélimar, and led his men on a successful assault at the L’Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France in October.
After the war Murphy enjoyed a 21-year acting career. He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical To Hell and Back based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name, but most of his films were westerns. He made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith. Murphy was a fairly accomplished songwriter, and bred quarter horses in California and Arizona, becoming a regular participant in horse racing.
Suffering from what would today be termed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he slept with a loaded handgun under his pillow and looked for solace in addictive sleeping pills. In the last few years of his life he was plagued by money problems, but refused offers to appear in alcohol and cigarette commercials because he did not want to set a bad example. Murphy died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971 shortly before his 46th birthday, and was interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Audie Murphy CSC
Tallybhoy
The great thing about watching a Randolph Scott western was that…. you knew there still another movie still to come!
bmoviecsc
……..just catching up,
with regards to the tech discussion earlier……….
……..I always end up with neither woofer nor tweeter
but a rather natty and expensive bag on my head.
PressPlay CSC
The only question we should be asking about Gary Hooper is…… Will he improve our team?
For me that’s a resounding yes .
Undoubtedly he would .
If he wants to come back, get him signed up!
Lots of talk tonight about our transfer policy and what market we can operate in.There have only really been two periods which each lasted around a year that we competed with English clubs or at least spent big.One was the centenary year and the other was Martim O’Neil’s first season.On both of these occasions Celtic went heavily into debt.Celtic have always depended on up and coming talent in is only relatively recently that we have expanded our market place.
Alfie Noakes (Knocks)
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals (albeit in non-singing and non-dancing roles), adventure tales, war films, and a few horror and fantasy films. However, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances over 60 were in Westerns; thus, “of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott most closely identified with it.”[1]
Scott’s more than 30 years as a motion picture actor resulted in his working with many acclaimed screen directors, including Henry King, Rouben Mamoulian, Michael Curtiz, John Cromwell, King Vidor, Allan Dwan, Fritz Lang, and Sam Peckinpah. He also worked on multiple occasions with prominent directors: Henry Hathaway (eight times), Ray Enright (seven), Edwin R. Marin (seven), André de Toth (six), and most notably, his seven film collaborations with Budd Boetticher. Scott also worked with a diverse array of cinematic leading ladies, from Shirley Temple and Irene Dunne to Mae West and Marlene Dietrich.
Tall (6 ft 2½in; 189 cm), lanky and handsome, Scott displayed an easygoing charm and courtly Southern drawl in his early films that helped offset his limitations as an actor, where he was frequently found to be stiff or “lumbering”.[2] As he matured, however, Scott’s acting improved while his features became burnished and leathery, turning him into the ideal “strong, silent” type of stoic hero. The BFI Companion to the Western noted:
In his earlier Westerns … the Scott persona is debonair, easy-going, graceful, though with the necessary hint of steel. As he matures into his fifties his roles change. Increasingly Scott becomes the man who has seen it all, who has suffered pain, loss, and hardship, and who has now achieved (but at what cost?) a stoic calm proof against vicissitude.[1]
During the early 1950s, Scott was a consistent box-office draw. In the annual Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Polls, he ranked 10th in 1950, seventh in 1951, and 10th in both 1952 and 1953.[3] Scott also appeared in the Quigley’s Top Ten Money Makers Poll from 1950 to 1953.[4]
Wiki CSC
Captain Beefheart
20:49 on
17 June, 2015
Spartak minnows Nat know?
Hooper wasn’t Owen Coyle shaped but nor was he Dawn French shaped. A little extra pork isn’t necessarily detrimental to goalscoring.
——————————————
Sorry mate – was only jesting with the minnows comment. Gary did OK against those teams, but there are a couple of reasons I can’t see him in a Celtic shirt again. He doesn’t appear to be the kind of player that suits Ronny’s style. I don’t think he’d be happy with the effort expected of him. I’m also not convinced that he’s improved any since he left us. All that said, I’m not a football coach. Of course if Ronny brought him back I’d support him to the hilt.
bourne,
Thanks for posting that.
CQNhistorical,societyCSC
Eireann – the fire stick is really good for the dough. I got it for £25 too but it is,still great value at £35.
Haven’t got kodi on it. I take it the fitba can be got on it? Not that I would of course if it’s not legit…..
La la la la la
Cleland BC 3 dunbeth Bc 2
Nicholas Corr Aaron langan
Tom Townsley
Absolutely fantastic performance from everyone of the guys tonight to march into the summer cup final proud doesn’t come close
Buzzing