With my planned relocation to the Isle of Wight rapidly followed by an unexpected serious health/disability situation I’ll be totally dependent on VP for my live “kick” next season unless recovery processes will develop quicker than I think. I’d be happy to consider a reasonably priced “season ticket” offering. The difficult is when you are hot actually going to games that you’ve paid for in advance, you can quickly give up. I’ve lost interest completely for the rest of this season.
Does anyone know if VP will carry on next year? I live in Berkshire and will always try to get to a home game, but it's not always possible.
Wasn't there an EFL restriction on live games on saturday afternoons, pre-covid? Would be very disappointed to lose it.
Get yourself a VPN and pretend you live in the USA. You’ll then have access to all the games, home and away
I get the idea that they have become much more efficient at checking things out, have no idea how though. I just remember that last season some folks setting up new VPN were having difficulty picking up a signal.
I have to use a VPN despite being out of the country and have never had a problem accessing VP.
iFollow and later Valley Pass were first introduced for international fans, a good year or two before COVID was even on the horizon.
Whether VP will continue in it's current guise or as a stripped back version will remain to be seen. But as an overseas fan, I'm sure it will all continue on in some form.
All you UK based Addicks back home will just have to learn how to use a VPN to spoof your location if 3pm blackouts are re-introduced. :-)
Does anyone know if VP will carry on next year? I live in Berkshire and will always try to get to a home game, but it's not always possible.
Wasn't there an EFL restriction on live games on saturday afternoons, pre-covid? Would be very disappointed to lose it.
Get yourself a VPN and pretend you live in the USA. You’ll then have access to all the games, home and away
I get the idea that they have become much more efficient at checking things out, have no idea how though. I just remember that last season some folks setting up new VPN were having difficulty picking up a signal.
It's a cat and mouse game with VPNs. As soon as one path gets blocked, another one opens up.
I think the problem is less likely to be the club - there’s obviously a market, and most local fans would want to go in person I’m sure. The FA/EFL is going to be the sticking point. It’s their regulations that have prevented this in the past, and I’m sure they have every intention of going back to their old rules once the COVID restrictions are gone.
I think the problem is less likely to be the club - there’s obviously a market, and most local fans would want to go in person I’m sure. The FA/EFL is going to be the sticking point. It’s their regulations that have prevented this in the past, and I’m sure they have every intention of going back to their old rules once the COVID restrictions are gone.
What’s the benefit for the FA/EFL in reverting back?
I think the problem is less likely to be the club - there’s obviously a market, and most local fans would want to go in person I’m sure. The FA/EFL is going to be the sticking point. It’s their regulations that have prevented this in the past, and I’m sure they have every intention of going back to their old rules once the COVID restrictions are gone.
What’s the benefit for the FA/EFL in reverting back?
Live attendances for their member clubs.
With all games streamed there would be a drop in attendances, some clubs more than others.
Personally I can't wait to go back and watch LIVE football at The Valley. However I do understand that not everyone can make it to games. There should be a compromise but what that is I don't know and whatever is suggested there will be opposition from some fans.
it's a tough one, I'd love to be able to watch all away games and generally can't go.....I'd be happy to pay the same price as a ticket to watch the full VP production for an away game.
would really hit midweek attendances that's for sure both home and away
Does anyone know if VP will carry on next year? I live in Berkshire and will always try to get to a home game, but it's not always possible.
Wasn't there an EFL restriction on live games on saturday afternoons, pre-covid? Would be very disappointed to lose it.
Get yourself a VPN and pretend you live in the USA. You’ll then have access to all the games, home and away
I get the idea that they have become much more efficient at checking things out, have no idea how though. I just remember that last season some folks setting up new VPN were having difficulty picking up a signal.
I have to use a VPN despite being out of the country and have never had a problem accessing VP.
I think it was a problem for new VPN users......if you already had it and were registered they weren’t checking. Not 100% sure about that but I think I remember something along those lines.
Loads of issues around this. For instance, will away crowds be banned next season, will there be guidance that even home fans should live within, say 20 miles of the ground to reduce non-essential travel?
Perhaps it will be the clubs themselves that may push for streaming to become available if they can prove that it opens up a new, significant revenue stream? Or could it be added as a benefit of membership schemes like Valley Pass?
Living in Scotland I've seen more games this season than I ever have. But it has to be acknowledged that if streaming was allowed all the time then it would be taking away from watching my local team in person and that's what the authorities are trying to stop.
TLDR - would be good but can't see it being allowed
If it wasn't a lockdown & pubs, shops & everything was open as normal would people still prefer to sit indoors watching a stream of 3rd division football, different if they couldn't afford or live to far from 'The Valley' to attend etc. I think the stream viewing figures are vastly inflated because there is little else to watch or do. As somebody who attends all home & away matches, i find the streaming service handy but it is no substitute for attending matches. If next season was home fans only for instance but pubs or non league football was accessible i'd rather visit them & would only attend home matches & would rarely buy away match streams. I am still not sure if the improvements to Valley pass were made to lure fans from illegal streams or just to improve viewing figures.
If it wasn't a lockdown & pubs, shops & everything was open as normal would people still prefer to sit indoors watching a stream of 3rd division football, different if they couldn't afford or live to far from 'The Valley' to attend etc. I think the stream viewing figures are vastly inflated because there is little else to watch or do. As somebody who attends all home & away matches, i find the streaming service handy but it is no substitute for attending matches. If next season was home fans only for instance but pubs or non league football was accessible i rather visit them & would only attend home matches & would rarely buy away match streams. I am still not sure if the improvements to Valley pass were made to lure fans from illegal streams or just to improve viewing figures.
Definitely not.
I didn't really bother until we brought Valley Pass in house and to be honest, I only pay for the trips down memory lane etc. I don't enjoy watching us play in empty stadiums, on my own indoors at all, granted it doesn't help that we're generally rubbish but I don't even cheer goals or anything these days as the experience is just so meh.
Up until October, I was trying to get to a non-league game most saturday's and will be reverting back to that if able.
That said, I'd still prefer this to not having the football at all but the quicker we're back in the stadium the better. It's where we belong.
One crucial difference between the live experience and the media experience is you’re not compelled to only see what the camera(s) show, and you can have ambient sound unsullied by pundits or commentators.
Why bother with a VPN, just sign up to a IPTV service and bingo, everything you need. I pay £35.00 per year and get every movie & TV channel known to man including all the iFollow channels, not just Charlton.
Why bother with a VPN, just sign up to a IPTV service and bingo, everything you need. I pay £35.00 per year and get every movie & TV channel known to man including all the iFollow channels, not just Charlton.
Surely if you are watching things like Sky Sports, BT Sports, Sky Cinema etc it's illegal?
I'd hope the streaming service continues. Realistically, it's about growing a different side of the support. Had similar discussions with small music promoters I know, I've ben a bit worn down by livestreams, but for people who struggle to get out for live music for whatever reasons (kids, disabilities, transport, access, distance ) it's been a real plus. I'll want to be back at The Valley as soon as possible, but don't have an issue with streaming for those who can't. To me, it's an inferior product to being there, but sometimes that's all we can manage.
Why bother with a VPN, just sign up to a IPTV service and bingo, everything you need. I pay £35.00 per year and get every movie & TV channel known to man including all the iFollow channels, not just Charlton.
I do that already and so often I like to pay Charlton for the Charlton games I would have attended. Plus even having IPTV I paid for all the Range Rover games.
Why bother with a VPN, just sign up to a IPTV service and bingo, everything you need. I pay £35.00 per year and get every movie & TV channel known to man including all the iFollow channels, not just Charlton.
Surely if you are watching things like Sky Sports, BT Sports, Sky Cinema etc it's illegal?
Illegal to send the stream IF the person sending the stream has not paid for their access to the content.
It is legal to view, I believe. Though there have been some rare cases of viewers being fined when using illegal IPTV providers. A quick google shows that it is a very grey area to prosecute subscribers/viewers and as such most cases ended up with the cases dismissed.
Unless you are streaming it in a venue such as a pub or social club. Then it is illegal to screen for the landlord. (Unless the landlord has for example paid sky for the corporate showing licence)
One crucial difference between the live experience and the media experience is you’re not compelled to only see what the camera(s) show, and you can have ambient sound unsullied by pundits or commentators.
I prefer the "live" experience because, as I've said before, I like to be able to watch players and their movement off the ball (it's the main reason I don't contribute to the Players' Marks threads if all I can see is what's on TV).
I do, however, like having the commentary, especially now it's including Steve Brown.
If I could be at the match and still listen to Browny's words of wisdom in real time (and not 60 seconds behind play) I'd be a happy bunny.
Having had a season ticket for more years than I care remember, clocking up the memories of my regular pilgrimages to The Valley, I now have to face the fact that, for health reasons, my attendance at home games will be much more limited. I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
Having had a season ticket for more years than I care remember, clocking up the memories of my regular pilgrimages to The Valley, I now have to face the fact that, for health reasons, my attendance at home games will be much more limited. I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
Probably Valley Pass could go hand in hand with a game you can attend but with a large increase in price. As people have said, going to the Valley can't be more expensive or gates will be massively impacted.
Having said that, it was pretty easy to watch games using a VPN and an increasing number of people are going to get wise to this.
Having had a season ticket for more years than I care remember, clocking up the memories of my regular pilgrimages to The Valley, I now have to face the fact that, for health reasons, my attendance at home games will be much more limited. I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
Excellent idea.
And the sort of initiative that clubs should be looking to adopt in 2021.
Probably Valley Pass could go hand in hand with a game you can attend but with a large increase in price. As people have said, going to the Valley can't be more expensive or gates will be massively impacted.
Having said that, it was pretty easy to watch games using a VPN and an increasing number of people are going to get wise to this.
The more people that do it, the more incentive they'll have to block them off, Netflix profit from people using VPNs, so turn a blind eye, BBC do not and are shit hot with it.
Having had a season ticket for more years than I care remember, clocking up the memories of my regular pilgrimages to The Valley, I now have to face the fact that, for health reasons, my attendance at home games will be much more limited. I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
Having had a season ticket for more years than I care remember, clocking up the memories of my regular pilgrimages to The Valley, I now have to face the fact that, for health reasons, my attendance at home games will be much more limited. I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
I would guess it would be a trust thing for the club, something I am sure Sandgaard would be up for, but may be opposed (rightfully so) by Mumford.
If you're attending a game they need to be able to deactivate your stream access so it doesn't give a non-ticket holder free access to the stream whilst you're at the game.
(It wouldn't be impossible, but may require some IT development work to have your ticket act as a match token... Something like a matchday access code that can be used once may do it)
As an example, you either scan the code on your device you're viewing the game, or enter a code (whichever is easiest) which in doing so then de-activates your match day token to physically watch the game and allows you access to watch the stream instead. Obviously the opposite happens if you get to the ground and scan your ticket to go through the turnstiles (as normal) and that de-activates your streaming code so it can no longer be used.
I'd probably say moving to QR codes on season tickets instead of bar codes would be the best option as they can be very complex, very easily reducing the risk of someone generating the codes to access the streams separately. A single QR Code can be used as a new token on each date too, so would further benefit the security of doing so.
Kieran Maguire said recently on ‘The Price of Football’ podcast that the EFL are looking at the streaming issue and that there is going to be a discussion with the clubs in the first instance.
It’s a very difficult one, as we don’t want games played in front of much lower crowds but there is probably a sweet spot somewhere amongst the various permutations where all clubs will be net winners.
There is an existing formula for sharing streaming income with home clubs to partially compensate them for the loss of away support and I believe that’s based on past attendances (where applicable). The approach adopted this season regarding season tickets has been sensible and, even though the most live home games that anyone can have attended is three, I think that most season ticket holders will have utilised all or most of their CAFC Cash by the end of the season given the streaming of away games. Assuming that we can get into The Valley for all or most of the home matches next season, season ticket holders could buy streams for the away games on a match-by-match basis. Some kind of away streaming season pass might also be viable.
The availability of streams for home matches is bound to reduce both the level of the walk up attendances and the number of season ticket holders who turn up at The Valley, especially for midweek games.
On the other hand, of course, streaming games for overseas supporters and others who can’t get to the games for geographical or health reasons is a no brainer.
It needs a lot of thought in relation to the longer term consequences, as well as the short term financial consequences. One of the reasons the Championship clubs were so dissatisfied with the ex-EFL CEO, Harvey, was that the financial compensation for introducing the Sky ‘red button’ for midweek games left most of them out of pocket following the reduced attendances.
I’m sure that Thomas will be keen for the clubs, the EFL and the FA to come up with a workable solution, given the time, money and energy that’s been expended in coming up with such an outstanding streaming product for Charlton supporters.
Comments
Whether VP will continue in it's current guise or as a stripped back version will remain to be seen. But as an overseas fan, I'm sure it will all continue on in some form.
All you UK based Addicks back home will just have to learn how to use a VPN to spoof your location if 3pm blackouts are re-introduced. :-)
would really hit midweek attendances that's for sure both home and away
Not 100% sure about that but I think I remember something along those lines.
Perhaps it will be the clubs themselves that may push for streaming to become available if they can prove that it opens up a new, significant revenue stream? Or could it be added as a benefit of membership schemes like Valley Pass?
Living in Scotland I've seen more games this season than I ever have. But it has to be acknowledged that if streaming was allowed all the time then it would be taking away from watching my local team in person and that's what the authorities are trying to stop.
TLDR - would be good but can't see it being allowed
I think the stream viewing figures are vastly inflated because there is little else to watch or do.
As somebody who attends all home & away matches, i find the streaming service handy but it is no substitute for attending matches.
If next season was home fans only for instance but pubs or non league football was accessible i'd rather visit them & would only attend home matches & would rarely buy away match streams.
I am still not sure if the improvements to Valley pass were made to lure fans from illegal streams or just to improve viewing figures.
I didn't really bother until we brought Valley Pass in house and to be honest, I only pay for the trips down memory lane etc. I don't enjoy watching us play in empty stadiums, on my own indoors at all, granted it doesn't help that we're generally rubbish but I don't even cheer goals or anything these days as the experience is just so meh.
Up until October, I was trying to get to a non-league game most saturday's and will be reverting back to that if able.
That said, I'd still prefer this to not having the football at all but the quicker we're back in the stadium the better. It's where we belong.
Illegal to send the stream IF the person sending the stream has not paid for their access to the content.
It is legal to view, I believe. Though there have been some rare cases of viewers being fined when using illegal IPTV providers. A quick google shows that it is a very grey area to prosecute subscribers/viewers and as such most cases ended up with the cases dismissed.
Unless you are streaming it in a venue such as a pub or social club. Then it is illegal to screen for the landlord. (Unless the landlord has for example paid sky for the corporate showing licence)
I do, however, like having the commentary, especially now it's including Steve Brown.
If I could be at the match and still listen to Browny's words of wisdom in real time (and not 60 seconds behind play) I'd be a happy bunny.
I would be more than happy to pay for Valley Pass at the season ticket rate, particularly if it were interchangeable with a match day ticket for games that I felt fit enough to attend. No loss of revenue to the Club. Too simple a request I guess!
Having said that, it was pretty easy to watch games using a VPN and an increasing number of people are going to get wise to this.
And the sort of initiative that clubs should be looking to adopt in 2021.
If you're attending a game they need to be able to deactivate your stream access so it doesn't give a non-ticket holder free access to the stream whilst you're at the game.
(It wouldn't be impossible, but may require some IT development work to have your ticket act as a match token... Something like a matchday access code that can be used once may do it)
As an example, you either scan the code on your device you're viewing the game, or enter a code (whichever is easiest) which in doing so then de-activates your match day token to physically watch the game and allows you access to watch the stream instead. Obviously the opposite happens if you get to the ground and scan your ticket to go through the turnstiles (as normal) and that de-activates your streaming code so it can no longer be used.
I'd probably say moving to QR codes on season tickets instead of bar codes would be the best option as they can be very complex, very easily reducing the risk of someone generating the codes to access the streams separately. A single QR Code can be used as a new token on each date too, so would further benefit the security of doing so.
The availability of streams for home matches is bound to reduce both the level of the walk
up attendances and the number of season ticket holders who turn up at The Valley, especially for midweek games.
On the other hand, of course, streaming games for overseas supporters and others who can’t get to the games for geographical or health reasons is a no brainer.
It needs a lot of thought in relation to the longer term consequences, as well as the short term financial consequences. One of the reasons the Championship clubs were so dissatisfied with the ex-EFL CEO, Harvey, was that the financial compensation for introducing the Sky ‘red button’ for midweek games left most of them out of pocket following the reduced attendances.
I’m sure that Thomas will be keen for the clubs, the EFL and the FA to come up with a workable solution, given the time, money and energy that’s been expended in coming up with such an outstanding streaming product for Charlton supporters.