I was watching Fox Sports the other day (of course) and they played a promo about the iQ3 box. It made me think about whether or not I really miss it anymore.
Definitely there are functions that I miss having, especially the ability to series link content. I've been forced to watch a lot more content as it goes to air (linear), or play content through my gamin PC, where I can rewind the content up to 30 minutes.
There were less hassles with the iQ box compared to using Foxtel Now, like the one I outlined in my last post, with the app stalling, etc. There is also a bad time delay compared to the satellite service that I'll talk about more in a minute.
And the user-interface and functionality of the Foxtel Now app is still very substandard compared to other similar apps like the FTA apps and the Netflix app. The app crashes, is slow to launch, plays sound even when off, is slow when switching between live and on-demand content, doesn't have some of the same basic functions as the Netflix app, and is definitely 'clunky'.
Foxtel now also probably doesn't have quite the same level of fidelity as the satellite service, although I have worked hard to get this to a level where the difference is negligible, especially if I watch without my glasses on!
But overall, I don't miss the Foxtel iQ box.
Using the iPad as the remote is relatively easy. I don't miss the extra channels I had with the satellite service. I'm still watching predominantly sport, and I should get the new all-cricket channel Foxtel will launch. I'm paying enough for other apps, such as Amazon Prime, and for faster internet, to justify the savings I made changing over to the OTT service. In fact, if anything, because I'm using the Foxtel OTT service, I basically watch all my content that way now as well because I have all the FTA and other OTT apps on my iPad, which is great.
The one big downside that I alluded to earlier is lagging, and this is a real problem when watching sport. For example, if I'm watching the Swans play, and my mate Benny Douglas is also watching at the same time at his place but on free-to-air, he will text me about a highlight that has happened in the game before I've had a chance to watch it. So the lag by watching the game on the OTT app and then chromecasting it to the TV I estimate is nearly 60 seconds. This clearly devalues the experience of watching live sport - I can tell when my phone alerts me to a message, that there is a highlight (or a lowlight) about to happen.
But overall, I still love this service. Obviously I think some parts of the app can be improved, but switching to OTT has not significantly changed my ability to fulfill my experience as an AFL fan.
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Friday, May 18, 2018
Participant Observations 18/5/18 - The Forum is Mightier than the Support Page. PLUS Telstra goes All FFA on me
While I mostly watch linear/live programs on Foxtel Now by mirroring the app on my iPad to the TV via my Chromecast dongle, sometimes I launch the website on my gaming computer and watch via the internet on my television that way. This has the added benefit of allowing me to time-shift back by up to 30 minutes, which the Chomecast does not allow for. This is helpful in situations where I miss the start of a show.
I'd noticed that watching linear TV in this way was running into more and more buffering issues (i.e., the spinning wheel of death) before it would finally launch, until one day a few weeks ago, it just failed to launch altogether.
What made this more perplexing was the fact that 1) I could still watch VOD Foxtel Now this way - it was only the live/linear programs that encountered the buffering issue, and 2) other OTT services such as 9 Now, 7 Plus, iView etc all did not have this problem as I could live stream their linear content without any issues.
So I messaged Foxtel Help on Twitter. After 2 days (!) they got back to me, suggesting all the usual measures - clearing the cache, reinstalling Chrome, logging out and back in again, with no positive outcomes.
So instead, I set about trying to find a better solution. And of course, where else does the informal media agent go to find workaround solutions, but to the fan forums of course. A couple of Google searches later, and I'd found this page, with this comment:
https://community.foxtel.com.au/t5/Foxtel-Now/Foxtel-now-live-tv-not-working-in-google-chrome/td-p/226196
That lead me to this page, where I found out how to change the server that the clock on my PC was syncing to:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-time-servers-windows-10
And guess what? It worked! Solved all by myself (with some help from the forum community). Since then, I've not had any issues with getting linear Foxtel Now to launch when watching on PC. It suggests to me that Foxtel Help doesn't know everything about how its technology works, and that more importantly, the collective power and efficiency of the informal media/produsers can often be greater than 'formal' channel.
-----------
On another matter, this news item piqued my interest the other day:
https://mumbrella.com.au/telstra-to-stream-football-federation-of-australia-games-in-mobile-deal-516713
Telstra now own or have the digital rights to all of the major football (and netball) codes.
A couple of other interesting points from the release: 1) It would seem to be something of a counter-attack by Telstra on the soccer front, after Optus recently re-secured the EPL rights. 2) Much like Optus, the move seems to be part of the telco's "transformation towards becoming a content platform."
Again, an indicator of the centrality of sports rights to business models, whether old or new, and how those sports rights are being acquired by non-traditional broadcasters in order to gain a subscriber base/value proposition.
I'd noticed that watching linear TV in this way was running into more and more buffering issues (i.e., the spinning wheel of death) before it would finally launch, until one day a few weeks ago, it just failed to launch altogether.
What made this more perplexing was the fact that 1) I could still watch VOD Foxtel Now this way - it was only the live/linear programs that encountered the buffering issue, and 2) other OTT services such as 9 Now, 7 Plus, iView etc all did not have this problem as I could live stream their linear content without any issues.
So I messaged Foxtel Help on Twitter. After 2 days (!) they got back to me, suggesting all the usual measures - clearing the cache, reinstalling Chrome, logging out and back in again, with no positive outcomes.
So instead, I set about trying to find a better solution. And of course, where else does the informal media agent go to find workaround solutions, but to the fan forums of course. A couple of Google searches later, and I'd found this page, with this comment:
https://community.foxtel.com.au/t5/Foxtel-Now/Foxtel-now-live-tv-not-working-in-google-chrome/td-p/226196
That lead me to this page, where I found out how to change the server that the clock on my PC was syncing to:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-time-servers-windows-10
And guess what? It worked! Solved all by myself (with some help from the forum community). Since then, I've not had any issues with getting linear Foxtel Now to launch when watching on PC. It suggests to me that Foxtel Help doesn't know everything about how its technology works, and that more importantly, the collective power and efficiency of the informal media/produsers can often be greater than 'formal' channel.
-----------
On another matter, this news item piqued my interest the other day:
https://mumbrella.com.au/telstra-to-stream-football-federation-of-australia-games-in-mobile-deal-516713
Telstra now own or have the digital rights to all of the major football (and netball) codes.
A couple of other interesting points from the release: 1) It would seem to be something of a counter-attack by Telstra on the soccer front, after Optus recently re-secured the EPL rights. 2) Much like Optus, the move seems to be part of the telco's "transformation towards becoming a content platform."
Again, an indicator of the centrality of sports rights to business models, whether old or new, and how those sports rights are being acquired by non-traditional broadcasters in order to gain a subscriber base/value proposition.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Participant Observations 18/4/18 - Cricket!!
It's been a big week as far as sports broadcast and digital rights go in Australia, and it's been particularly interesting to watch from a research perspective for a number of reasons.
Firstly, my recollection of events:
Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia both put their rights into the market at around the same time - a few weeks before Easter. The ball-tampering scandal hits Australian cricket, and Cricket Australia loses a $20 million sponsorship deal. Channel 9 appears to balk at cricket as a result, and takes up the rights to the tennis. However, while the ball tampering was an ugly affair, Channel 9's move to the tennis was probably more because Channel 9 were said to be losing up to $30 million a year on their current cricket deal.
The networks then put their offers in to Cricket Australia, who knock back all initial bids. Foxtel is said to be in, then out. Ten and Nine partner up, then go alone. Ten offer about $980 million over 6 years for the whole of the rights, and is reported to have a handshake agreement with CA. Foxtel and Seven team up and come in over the top, offering more cash and total revenue over 6 years - roughly $1.2 billion. A summary of the situation can be seen here:
http://www.afr.com/business/sport/the-gold-coast-war-room-that-helped-clinch-the-record-118b-cricket-rights-deal-20180415-h0ys8m
Foxtel, Seven and Cricket Australia announce the deal on Friday the 13th... Haha!!
In the deal, it breaks down that Foxtel gets the lions share of content. Seven will broadcast the Tests and Women's Internationals, and 43 Big Bash games. In addition to simulcasting Seven's content, Foxtel will exclusively have the ODI's, T20 Internationals, and the remainder of the Big Bash, 16 games. Foxtel also gets all streaming rights, taking that content away from the CA app and their website. Seven says, despite losing the tennis and despite the fact Channel 9 were losing money on the cricket, this deal makes more sense for them financially - it gives them more hours of sport over the summer, and on a cost-per-hour of coverage basis, it's a bigger earner than tennis.
On first glance, it would seem this deal breaks the law, because the ODI's and T20 internationals are on the anti-siphoning list. Minister of Communication Mitch Fifield spoke about this after the announcement, but it was explained that the anti-siphoning regulation was not contravened in at least two ways:
1) The legislation only mandates that a FTA network must first be involved in the negotiations, not that the rights to listed events must go to FTA networks. By having at some point all of the commercial FTA's involved in the negotiations, it would appear the legislation was not contravened.
2) The legislation does not prevent a FTA from first acquiring the rights to a listed event, and then on-selling those rights, provided the initial rights holder agrees to that part of the deal. So even if Foxtel paid most of the money in the deal, there could theoretically be a handshake agreement between Seven and Foxtel, whereby Seven would notionally purchase all the rights, and then on-sell them to Foxtel, provided Cricket Australia was happy with that type of a deal. This would also not contravene the legislation.
Basically, in spite of the legislation, rights holders can sell their rights to whoever they want, provided they agree to the terms of the deal. So for instance, if any FTA network indicated their interest, but didn't put forward a reasonable offer, then the rights holder is under no obligation to sell their rights to them. And provided a FTA network had the first opportunity to be involved in the negotiations, then no laws have been broken. The rights can then go to the higher bidder, and in this case, that was the Foxtel-Seven partnership.
The anti-siphoning legislation is proving to be an increasingly obsolete article of legislation. It only applies to Pay TV and FTA, and even where it would seem to be applied, it has no teeth. For the time being, the whole ideology behind the legislation - to prevent culturally significant sports from being siphoned off and placed behind a paywall - appears to not be a priority of the ruling authorities. So for the first time in 40 years, ODI's will not be on FTA television. I think people will get more upset about this as summer rolls around next year and the year after that.
There are some other points of interest here.
Firstly, it appears CA has taken revenue over exposure. Ten offered a deal, which was near the asking price, that would see all content on FTA. Seven and Foxtel offered a deal with slightly more cash and revenue, but would see some significant games going behind a paywall. CA took the latter deal in spite of the increased exposure the deal from Ten would seem to offer. We won't know for many years if this loss of free-to-air exposure negatively impacts the awareness and participation of cricket in Australia. CA and Seven's way of justifying this was to argue there will be more overall cricket on FTA television, once women's and other forms of cricket is factored into the deal, and that they can use the additional revenue to reinvest into cricket participation and infrastructure.
Secondly, it puts Foxtel in a strong position in terms of their year-round schedule. Exclusive cricket content on the Pay TV provider would seem to be an incentive for subscribers to stay on after the glow of the major football codes wears off. Also, as Foxtel will simulcast most content, it may be an attraction to some fans who don't want to watch commercials after every over, as the FTA broadcaster likely will.
Thirdly, Seven showed apparently little interest in the streaming rights, leaving them to Foxtel. It's been reported that less than 2% of Seven's audience is on their streaming platforms, hence their apparent lack of interest. But for Foxtel, this could be part of their next skinny-bundle OTT strategy. It's already been slated that Foxtel will have a standalone cricket channel over the summer, but Foxtel are also rumoured to be considering offering paired down streaming packages on a sport-by-sport basis. Perhaps they're hedging their bets in two ways - in their existing business model of satellite subscriptions, and in their new business model of OTT subscriptions, either through Foxtel Now, or a skinny bundle, Project Martian-type offering.
It's also perhaps not surprising that Foxtel went so hard in the deal, given that former CEO of Fox Sports Patrick Delany is in charge of the newly merged Foxtel-Fox Sports business. It's a big job to try and get Foxtel's penetration rate above 30%, and this is a big risk to try and address that.
What can we expect? Promos for Channel 7 shows during the cricket, and Promos for Channel 9 shows during the tennis. New voices and faces behind the mics and on the screen for both sports. And little in the way of major sport on Ten at all. I can also expect a price hike in my monthly Foxtel Now subscription. But content doesn't come for free and someone has to pay for it. I could endure a comparative price-hike if it meant I could look forward to ODI's, T20, the Big Bash, all ad-free, over the summer.
Firstly, my recollection of events:
Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia both put their rights into the market at around the same time - a few weeks before Easter. The ball-tampering scandal hits Australian cricket, and Cricket Australia loses a $20 million sponsorship deal. Channel 9 appears to balk at cricket as a result, and takes up the rights to the tennis. However, while the ball tampering was an ugly affair, Channel 9's move to the tennis was probably more because Channel 9 were said to be losing up to $30 million a year on their current cricket deal.
The networks then put their offers in to Cricket Australia, who knock back all initial bids. Foxtel is said to be in, then out. Ten and Nine partner up, then go alone. Ten offer about $980 million over 6 years for the whole of the rights, and is reported to have a handshake agreement with CA. Foxtel and Seven team up and come in over the top, offering more cash and total revenue over 6 years - roughly $1.2 billion. A summary of the situation can be seen here:
http://www.afr.com/business/sport/the-gold-coast-war-room-that-helped-clinch-the-record-118b-cricket-rights-deal-20180415-h0ys8m
Foxtel, Seven and Cricket Australia announce the deal on Friday the 13th... Haha!!
In the deal, it breaks down that Foxtel gets the lions share of content. Seven will broadcast the Tests and Women's Internationals, and 43 Big Bash games. In addition to simulcasting Seven's content, Foxtel will exclusively have the ODI's, T20 Internationals, and the remainder of the Big Bash, 16 games. Foxtel also gets all streaming rights, taking that content away from the CA app and their website. Seven says, despite losing the tennis and despite the fact Channel 9 were losing money on the cricket, this deal makes more sense for them financially - it gives them more hours of sport over the summer, and on a cost-per-hour of coverage basis, it's a bigger earner than tennis.
On first glance, it would seem this deal breaks the law, because the ODI's and T20 internationals are on the anti-siphoning list. Minister of Communication Mitch Fifield spoke about this after the announcement, but it was explained that the anti-siphoning regulation was not contravened in at least two ways:
1) The legislation only mandates that a FTA network must first be involved in the negotiations, not that the rights to listed events must go to FTA networks. By having at some point all of the commercial FTA's involved in the negotiations, it would appear the legislation was not contravened.
2) The legislation does not prevent a FTA from first acquiring the rights to a listed event, and then on-selling those rights, provided the initial rights holder agrees to that part of the deal. So even if Foxtel paid most of the money in the deal, there could theoretically be a handshake agreement between Seven and Foxtel, whereby Seven would notionally purchase all the rights, and then on-sell them to Foxtel, provided Cricket Australia was happy with that type of a deal. This would also not contravene the legislation.
Basically, in spite of the legislation, rights holders can sell their rights to whoever they want, provided they agree to the terms of the deal. So for instance, if any FTA network indicated their interest, but didn't put forward a reasonable offer, then the rights holder is under no obligation to sell their rights to them. And provided a FTA network had the first opportunity to be involved in the negotiations, then no laws have been broken. The rights can then go to the higher bidder, and in this case, that was the Foxtel-Seven partnership.
The anti-siphoning legislation is proving to be an increasingly obsolete article of legislation. It only applies to Pay TV and FTA, and even where it would seem to be applied, it has no teeth. For the time being, the whole ideology behind the legislation - to prevent culturally significant sports from being siphoned off and placed behind a paywall - appears to not be a priority of the ruling authorities. So for the first time in 40 years, ODI's will not be on FTA television. I think people will get more upset about this as summer rolls around next year and the year after that.
There are some other points of interest here.
Firstly, it appears CA has taken revenue over exposure. Ten offered a deal, which was near the asking price, that would see all content on FTA. Seven and Foxtel offered a deal with slightly more cash and revenue, but would see some significant games going behind a paywall. CA took the latter deal in spite of the increased exposure the deal from Ten would seem to offer. We won't know for many years if this loss of free-to-air exposure negatively impacts the awareness and participation of cricket in Australia. CA and Seven's way of justifying this was to argue there will be more overall cricket on FTA television, once women's and other forms of cricket is factored into the deal, and that they can use the additional revenue to reinvest into cricket participation and infrastructure.
Secondly, it puts Foxtel in a strong position in terms of their year-round schedule. Exclusive cricket content on the Pay TV provider would seem to be an incentive for subscribers to stay on after the glow of the major football codes wears off. Also, as Foxtel will simulcast most content, it may be an attraction to some fans who don't want to watch commercials after every over, as the FTA broadcaster likely will.
Thirdly, Seven showed apparently little interest in the streaming rights, leaving them to Foxtel. It's been reported that less than 2% of Seven's audience is on their streaming platforms, hence their apparent lack of interest. But for Foxtel, this could be part of their next skinny-bundle OTT strategy. It's already been slated that Foxtel will have a standalone cricket channel over the summer, but Foxtel are also rumoured to be considering offering paired down streaming packages on a sport-by-sport basis. Perhaps they're hedging their bets in two ways - in their existing business model of satellite subscriptions, and in their new business model of OTT subscriptions, either through Foxtel Now, or a skinny bundle, Project Martian-type offering.
It's also perhaps not surprising that Foxtel went so hard in the deal, given that former CEO of Fox Sports Patrick Delany is in charge of the newly merged Foxtel-Fox Sports business. It's a big job to try and get Foxtel's penetration rate above 30%, and this is a big risk to try and address that.
What can we expect? Promos for Channel 7 shows during the cricket, and Promos for Channel 9 shows during the tennis. New voices and faces behind the mics and on the screen for both sports. And little in the way of major sport on Ten at all. I can also expect a price hike in my monthly Foxtel Now subscription. But content doesn't come for free and someone has to pay for it. I could endure a comparative price-hike if it meant I could look forward to ODI's, T20, the Big Bash, all ad-free, over the summer.
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Participant Observations 7/3/18 - The season is just 15 days away!!
Let me start by saying how excited I am for this new season. While I'm the first to admit that it's unlikely to be as compelling and as even as last year, I nonetheless am keenly waiting to see the players back in action and the best game on earth getting underway again. Some recent observations over the summer:
1) The summer has been good as far as AFL goes. i actually really liked the AFLX competition, and I think a franchise model run into Hong Kong for 2-3 weeks over the summer is an awesome idea. Retired players, young guys who otherwise wouldn't get a chance, in a new country is awesome. yes, some tweaks need to be made, such as turning down the glitz, and some rule tweaks, but overall I loved the free-flowing movement.
2) The AFLW has gone up a notch and is far more watchable this year. Still plenty of room for improvement, but I know a lot more of the players and have even watched the one panel show on Fox Footy occasionally.
3) The JLT pre-season has been less impressive. i love the fact they play the games on regional venues, but the quality - from what I've seen - has been horrendous. But I'm also glad it's only 2 weeks of competition. Heaven forbid if we had to live through 3 weeks of this shIt.
4) I've noticed that when watching Fox Footy via chromecast the vision is ok, despite suffering fidelity issues (as mentioned previously), but when I watch it via my gaming computer, there's an issue with frames dropping. This isn't restricted to Fox Footy - it happens on other channels as well. I'll need to do some more testing, but from what I've seen online, it may be because I'm using a HDMI cable to connect the PC to the TV screen. This is disappointing from Foxtel, because my other streams on the PC do not have this problem.
5) I found this thread online, where people seem to share ideas about getting AFL without having to pay for it. Might be worth keeping here in case I ever want to go back to it:
https://discourse.bomberblitz.com/t/watching-afl-on-a-tv-without-foxtel/3932/88
Interestingly, one of the posts says: "Also, side note, this is one of the most regularly visited pages from Google." But It's somewhat recent, but it does cover many of the options I've looked at before, such as using a VPN to access Watch AFL, the CrownBet option, and so on. One option that may be worth investigating is this Kodi service:
https://kodi.tv/about
6) Also saw this advertisement on TV today - really interesting that it personalities the piracy experience. Effective tool! I have no way of arguing with this - yes piracy might be overstated by the industry, but creativity wants to be paid!
But in summary, let me return to my starting point...I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT UNTIL THE SEASON STARTS!!! WOOOOOO...I'm just gonna leave this here for now:
1) The summer has been good as far as AFL goes. i actually really liked the AFLX competition, and I think a franchise model run into Hong Kong for 2-3 weeks over the summer is an awesome idea. Retired players, young guys who otherwise wouldn't get a chance, in a new country is awesome. yes, some tweaks need to be made, such as turning down the glitz, and some rule tweaks, but overall I loved the free-flowing movement.
2) The AFLW has gone up a notch and is far more watchable this year. Still plenty of room for improvement, but I know a lot more of the players and have even watched the one panel show on Fox Footy occasionally.
3) The JLT pre-season has been less impressive. i love the fact they play the games on regional venues, but the quality - from what I've seen - has been horrendous. But I'm also glad it's only 2 weeks of competition. Heaven forbid if we had to live through 3 weeks of this shIt.
4) I've noticed that when watching Fox Footy via chromecast the vision is ok, despite suffering fidelity issues (as mentioned previously), but when I watch it via my gaming computer, there's an issue with frames dropping. This isn't restricted to Fox Footy - it happens on other channels as well. I'll need to do some more testing, but from what I've seen online, it may be because I'm using a HDMI cable to connect the PC to the TV screen. This is disappointing from Foxtel, because my other streams on the PC do not have this problem.
5) I found this thread online, where people seem to share ideas about getting AFL without having to pay for it. Might be worth keeping here in case I ever want to go back to it:
https://discourse.bomberblitz.com/t/watching-afl-on-a-tv-without-foxtel/3932/88
Interestingly, one of the posts says: "Also, side note, this is one of the most regularly visited pages from Google." But It's somewhat recent, but it does cover many of the options I've looked at before, such as using a VPN to access Watch AFL, the CrownBet option, and so on. One option that may be worth investigating is this Kodi service:
https://kodi.tv/about
6) Also saw this advertisement on TV today - really interesting that it personalities the piracy experience. Effective tool! I have no way of arguing with this - yes piracy might be overstated by the industry, but creativity wants to be paid!
But in summary, let me return to my starting point...I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT UNTIL THE SEASON STARTS!!! WOOOOOO...I'm just gonna leave this here for now:
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Participant Observations 13/2/18 - Foxtel Now in HD via PC
Just a quick blog post with some positive news about getting a HD picture via the Foxtel Now app.
Previously, I thought that I could get the best picture for sports on Foxtel Now by Chromecasting it from the app on my iPad. My previous testing with a computer resulted in a pixtellated, dark picture with lots of latency.
However, I recently tested the picture again on my gaming PC, and I'm really pleased to say the picture is much improved. I still think it's only about 720p HD, and not the full 1080p or better, but it definitely is better than what I was seeing via the app, especially for Fox Footy (which is what it's all about really!!).
There are one or two other issues such as picture degradation around players when they're running, and some ghosting/flickering of the ball as it moves through the air, but I'm relatively confident I can fix these by adjusting some of the smoothing options on the TV itself, rather than it being a problem with the quality of the signal.
I don't mind running it through the gaming PC, although there may be some loss in functionality as I need to use the mouse instead of having the iPad, which is good for when you are lying on the couch and want to use it like a remote control. But there are other benefits as well - the PC version of Foxtel Now has much better channel information, such as showing what's coming up next, and I can also go back up to 30 minutes on the active channel, which you couldn't do on the app and still cast to the television.
So this is a very pleasing development to discover only a few weeks out from the AFL season! I think it starts in only 37 days or something....
Previously, I thought that I could get the best picture for sports on Foxtel Now by Chromecasting it from the app on my iPad. My previous testing with a computer resulted in a pixtellated, dark picture with lots of latency.
However, I recently tested the picture again on my gaming PC, and I'm really pleased to say the picture is much improved. I still think it's only about 720p HD, and not the full 1080p or better, but it definitely is better than what I was seeing via the app, especially for Fox Footy (which is what it's all about really!!).
There are one or two other issues such as picture degradation around players when they're running, and some ghosting/flickering of the ball as it moves through the air, but I'm relatively confident I can fix these by adjusting some of the smoothing options on the TV itself, rather than it being a problem with the quality of the signal.
I don't mind running it through the gaming PC, although there may be some loss in functionality as I need to use the mouse instead of having the iPad, which is good for when you are lying on the couch and want to use it like a remote control. But there are other benefits as well - the PC version of Foxtel Now has much better channel information, such as showing what's coming up next, and I can also go back up to 30 minutes on the active channel, which you couldn't do on the app and still cast to the television.
So this is a very pleasing development to discover only a few weeks out from the AFL season! I think it starts in only 37 days or something....
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Participant Observations 7/2/18 - Foxtel and the $39 a month HD Sports Pack
I think this is a great initiative from Foxtel, and I think is true recognition that the sports fan demands a different set of criteria than other consumers.
Firstly, it's in HD!! Clearly HD is significant to the sports watcher.
$39 a month for only sports is a pretty good deal, especially as Fox Sports have announced their going hard after sports rights (i.e., cricket) in the near future.
This possibly mimics the strategy of News corp more broadly, who are selling down their non-news and non-sport assets to focus primarily on those two areas, and they must see it as central to their business model going forward in some respects.
No lock-in contract is good. No equipment fee is good.
But here's the rub...
After the first 12 months, the price reverts to $65 a month!!
Details: https://www.foxtel.com.au/shop/packages/sports.html (Note: offer ends 28th March)
It's still not enough to drive me back to getting a satellite subscription, given I get all the other channels for $65 a month anyway, and also given that I'm now paying more for my internet - why would I want to pay more money for Foxtel when I get everything I need through the internet?
Nice work Foxtel - now if you could just deliver your OTT service in 1080p HD instead of 720p I would really be a happy sports fan.
Firstly, it's in HD!! Clearly HD is significant to the sports watcher.
$39 a month for only sports is a pretty good deal, especially as Fox Sports have announced their going hard after sports rights (i.e., cricket) in the near future.
This possibly mimics the strategy of News corp more broadly, who are selling down their non-news and non-sport assets to focus primarily on those two areas, and they must see it as central to their business model going forward in some respects.
No lock-in contract is good. No equipment fee is good.
But here's the rub...
After the first 12 months, the price reverts to $65 a month!!
Details: https://www.foxtel.com.au/shop/packages/sports.html (Note: offer ends 28th March)
It's still not enough to drive me back to getting a satellite subscription, given I get all the other channels for $65 a month anyway, and also given that I'm now paying more for my internet - why would I want to pay more money for Foxtel when I get everything I need through the internet?
Nice work Foxtel - now if you could just deliver your OTT service in 1080p HD instead of 720p I would really be a happy sports fan.
Participant Observations 7/2/18 - AFL Evolution
A few weeks ago, before the AFLW started, and before AFLX had debuted, I decided I needed to get my AFL fix on.
With little else to turn to, and now that gaming has become a regular part of my entertainment, I decided to get the only recently available AFL game, AFL Evolution.
Firstly, the game is NOT cheap. It was US$50, so about $70 Australian.
The game obviously lacks the polish of many sports sims made in the US or Europe, such as NBA 2K, F1, FIFA, golf, rally, etc. The music soundtrack is VERY limited, and the menus are not as slick as other games. The commentary is sub-par, and the graphics are ok without being wildly exceptional.
But...
I fucking love it. I admit, the game-play has some quirks. It's really hard to mark, playing on can be a problem, as can getting the right camera angles. But as I texted to my friend when I told him about it, I still shout at the TV when I'm controlling Buddy Franklin and he dobs one on the run from outside 50!!
I haven't tried the online options yet - mostly I've just played single games against shitty opponents while I get used to the controls. But I've found that if you set the camera to end-to-end, and get a knack for stringing together handballs and kicking to leads, it's really good fun.
One other feature I've explored for the first time last night as the career mode. So I created a player vicariously in my image in the game that I control:
It's hilarious. My first game, I was best on ground with 22 disposals and a goal, but I then was suspended for 2 games after I cleaned up an opponent in the game, and my appeal against the suspension was unsuccessful...
And of course I embellished my players characteristics. He's a rover, like me, but he's the maximum size (215cms) and built like a truck.
I guess, during all of this, the process reminded me of a question I had from someone at the CSAA Fan Studies Conference in Wollongong late last year. After my presentation, they asked me what fans do during the off-season - do they create fan fiction, or anything similar. At the time I spoke about how the AFL attempts to stretch the season out over 12 months to cater for these fans, but I think this is more in line with the type of questions she was asking.
This game is more for the hard-core fans - the lack of polish and difficulty in playing the game will not attract the casual fan - in fact, while researching the game, many reviews said much the same thing - that the game will only appeal to the rusted-on fans because of the flaws.
But I really like the game.
With little else to turn to, and now that gaming has become a regular part of my entertainment, I decided to get the only recently available AFL game, AFL Evolution.
Firstly, the game is NOT cheap. It was US$50, so about $70 Australian.
The game obviously lacks the polish of many sports sims made in the US or Europe, such as NBA 2K, F1, FIFA, golf, rally, etc. The music soundtrack is VERY limited, and the menus are not as slick as other games. The commentary is sub-par, and the graphics are ok without being wildly exceptional.
But...
I fucking love it. I admit, the game-play has some quirks. It's really hard to mark, playing on can be a problem, as can getting the right camera angles. But as I texted to my friend when I told him about it, I still shout at the TV when I'm controlling Buddy Franklin and he dobs one on the run from outside 50!!
I haven't tried the online options yet - mostly I've just played single games against shitty opponents while I get used to the controls. But I've found that if you set the camera to end-to-end, and get a knack for stringing together handballs and kicking to leads, it's really good fun.
One other feature I've explored for the first time last night as the career mode. So I created a player vicariously in my image in the game that I control:
It's hilarious. My first game, I was best on ground with 22 disposals and a goal, but I then was suspended for 2 games after I cleaned up an opponent in the game, and my appeal against the suspension was unsuccessful...
And of course I embellished my players characteristics. He's a rover, like me, but he's the maximum size (215cms) and built like a truck.
I guess, during all of this, the process reminded me of a question I had from someone at the CSAA Fan Studies Conference in Wollongong late last year. After my presentation, they asked me what fans do during the off-season - do they create fan fiction, or anything similar. At the time I spoke about how the AFL attempts to stretch the season out over 12 months to cater for these fans, but I think this is more in line with the type of questions she was asking.
This game is more for the hard-core fans - the lack of polish and difficulty in playing the game will not attract the casual fan - in fact, while researching the game, many reviews said much the same thing - that the game will only appeal to the rusted-on fans because of the flaws.
But I really like the game.
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