Live Stream

[Manon]

Familiar?

We see a thread title like this, week in, week out on this forum, and I bet they litter most sporting forums not only throughout the land but indeed also throughout the world.

I just saw an article, and it got me thinking. Maybe it's just me going barmy, but I can.t help but feel it's inevitable that a whole new world of sports viewing looks to be on the horizon. With the advent of social media apps such as twitter we are already seeing instant updates and almost real time video clips of action.

Now we have periscope, and a multitude of compact cameras capable of quality live streaming over 4g.

What's to stop dozens of simultaneous separate live feeds from any one match? With stadium wifi available too, surely there's every chance that in a few years it will be fairly simple to follow any match which features a decent crowd, from every which angle you desire?

Clubs can probably build in blocking software to prevent streaming over their own wifi, but even if each individual streamed for just a couple of minutes, it would create almost blanket coverage if enough people were doing it, and all streams were connected to each other somehow in manageable folder.

The footage obviously wouldn't be of the highest technical quality - similar to a lot of youtube footage we see (a lot of shaky camera action, and backs of people's heads), but what it would lack in a professional sense, it would probably make up by means of authenticity and atmosphere.

But who's gonna bother recording I hear you ask?

Might seem daft, but I'm sure there will always be a healthy number of participants. Cameras can easily be attached to heads/hats/ sunglasses, meaning they go largely unnoticed and effortlessly capture whatever the individual is watching.

Anyway, this was the article that got me thinking.

EE's GoPro rival offers built-in 4G http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33052578

[handsofclay]

In the 1899 or 1900 Heavyweight title fight between James J Jeffries and Sailor Tom Sharkey, a spectator took film of the contest with a camera hidden in his hat. Funnily enough that survives but the official film of the fight has long since disappeared. It has always gone on and always will go on. The gen public like to inform their fellow humans of what is happening. This is why you will get motorists who have never even met you flashing their lights to inform you that the cops have a speed trap in situ further ahead. It is human nature to try to get one over on officialdom and long may it continue.

[Robson]

Manchester City have wifi in the stadia for season ticket holders when I went a few years back.

Would be good but surely some will end up filming the match rather than actually watching it!

 

Saw a guy with a GoPro against Walsall at home, was filming the whole match!

 

[UREDS_91]

The problem with the Wifi is that places would usually limit the speed that you can use. At my place of work we have free wifi but to prevent people using all of the bandwidth we have a limit in place to stop people streaming media. I guess that something similar would be used in stadia to prevent the streaming happening.

[BCFC Jimmer]

I just checked out that Periscope app and it is amazing.  Nothing stopping someone in the Dolman filming the game and streaming it publicly.

 

Despite being illegal it would be awesome for exiles. 

[BS2 Red]

With the way technology is changing things it is only a matter of time before the football authorities have to change the way they do things.  It is easy to find a stream of almost any Premier League game that you want to watch or you can buy a Greek satelite subscription to watch other games (including 3pm Saturday kick offs).  4G mobile internet and apps like Periscope are only going to make it easier to stream matches and the quality is going to get better and better.

 

It's only a matter of time before the Premier League and Football League make all games available live on their websites (for a fee obviously!).  They will hang this out and spend years/decades prosecuting people but eventually they will have to wake up and change the way they do things.  It's just like the music industry 15 years ago when Napster launched, it's hard to have sympathy for the companies that have spent years ripping you off and who don't offer a legal alternative when a new technology emerges.

[Manon]

You'll have to excuse be for shamelessly bumping my own thread, but I just happened upon this.

An example of a head-worn camera like I mentioned earlier.

Fan records own amazing crowd catch - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/baseball/33076341

[MarcusX]

On a similar note, the fa cup final trialled video replays streamed to the mobiles of fans in the stadium. I don't know the outcome of that but it would just make going somewhere like wembley even worse when half the stadium are looking at their phones/iPads constantly.

I think it's only a matter of time before live games become legally available via an online subscription. The premier league only care about money, not attendances, and they certainly don't care about the football league so why not another money spinner?

[Ian M]

On a similar note, the fa cup final trialled video replays streamed to the mobiles of fans in the stadium. I don't know the outcome of that but it would just make going somewhere like wembley even worse when half the stadium are looking at their phones/iPads constantly.

I think it's only a matter of time before live games become legally available via an online subscription. The premier league only care about money, not attendances, and they certainly don't care about the football league so why not another money spinner?

 

That could be good for match going fans though.

 

Part of the attraction of the PL "Brand" around the world is the atmosphere playing in front of packed houses brings. If clubs are now raising more cash through online pay per view and notice that attendances drop, we will probably see a reduction in matchday prices to ensure stadiums are still full.