Radio Broadcasts at SFL Games

[BornCaley]

I was going to send this to the Boardroom Banter but wanted to gauge opinion

As one of many supporters who do not live in Inverness, the BBC radio streams provided us with keeping in touch with our home & away games.

Do we know of anyway that the club or this site can provide a radio commentary of games, so fans are not losing out.

Live broadcasts can be easily set up with Ustream, so all it needs really is a laptop, Ustream account & a mic. I believe this not only would be welcomed by fans byt shows how innovative ICT can be.

Someone at the recent game against Clach provided a text based commentary which not the same was at least well welcomed by those away from home.

thought, comments?

Edited July 9, 2009 by BornCaley

[RossP]

I'd love for the club to adopt this scheme, as I tend to only make around 10 or so games a season; what with living in Aberdeen and having football matches of my own on a saturday morning.

[Scotty]

It would be excellent and quite probably inexpensive to setup. I would definitely recommend submitting this to BB and think I can say without reservation that this is a project that this site would support and one which we would be happy to provide help in any way we could.

Ustream looks good for streaming video, but there are also others out there such as shoutcast or blogtalkradio if audio only was a preferred option

With us being in the 1st division next season, it would also give both us and the club a crack at establishing some form of low cost broadcasting that could then be scaled up on our return to the SPL.

[Sorted]

A "sound" suggestion that should be explored more fully. If there was need for a small annual subscription to access I'm sure there would be a number of potential subscribers willing to register.

This site is also one of the ideal vehicle for promotion. Great idea.

[HumbersideDude]

Excellent idea. I wouldn't be adverse to paying a small fee for commentary/updates from home games in particular as I do get to a few away games.

Hope it can happen

[Charles Bannerman]

Yes I'm afraid relegation to the SFL also means a considerable reduction of live BBC radio coverage. On the basis of previous years, the best prospect on a Saturday would be Open All Mics (103.5-105 FM and I THINK worldwide on the net) but even that has only typically taken 2-3 D1 games, with the choice tending to depend on the league placing of the two teams. There might well also be the odd commentary opportunity on eg Saturday's when the SPL are not playing or on midweek Sportsound programmes when there are only SFL teams in action.

[Scotty]

As it stands right now, you are correct Charles, Open All Mics is the ONLY option available for audio streaming for the coming season and presumably yourself and/or Robbo may be press ganged into the ICT media room duties for this if we are covered at all ?

Open All Mics has typically been available worldwide as there dont seem to be any rights issues. However, if they did decide to fully broadcast any SFL games on the odd ocassion there were no SPL games, I have a feeling they would be UK only as the SFA/SFL have different agreements with the BBC than the SPL do. I could be wrong, but I am basing this on the fact that all Scotland games, all Scottish Cup games and all League Cup games last season were UK only.

The more I look at it, the more BlogTalkRadio looks appealing - can be broadcast live, can be offered as a podcast available on iTunes, can have unlimited listeners, can have phone-in guests ..... a bit more investigation required, but looks pretty good so far.

[ed waiter]

I'd be willing to help with any equipment that maybe required, let me know of the progress, those in the know.

[Kylef]

Great idea.

Im also a supporter who doesnt make EVERY game that doesnt live local. Id definitely be up for something like this.

[TheKarl]

Maybe the club/forum could arrange for somebody who doesn't mind doing it.. to give a bash at a club exclusive live audio feed? Like mentioned, a laptop and account and someone willing to give there banter on the game and let everyone else know couldn't be too hard.

Maybe even if the club were involved and we did have someone willing to do it, the person involved could maybe get some form of.. free entry to the game and set up inside one of the boxes in return for there efforts or something similar. It's would be a big project to set up, inexpensive and again mentioned before, shows ICT's willing to experiment and reach out to fans less fortunate to attend.

[Scotty]

its definitely a good idea and I think it is safe to say - from my own selfish point of view - one that we will pursue with the club.

If the club were to be on board with this, the biggest caveat we might encounter would be that it would have to be completely self-financing which is totally understandable. However, given the number of low cost solutions available and the willingness of people to help with various aspects of it, from techniology to subscribing etc, it might just fly.

Leave this one with us and we will try to get it to the right people

[+Wanderer]

C'mon guys, keep up...

Just wondering what the broadcast rights are in the SFL?

For those of us a wee bit further away, and to keep the diaspora engaged, it might be useful to have access to online commentary for home games at least. I'm sure you could do a 'David Begg' CaleyD!

[TheKarl]

With the small costs.. person involved, for example.. could pop along, do some broadcasting whilst watching the club they love to follow, for free.. and perhaps even the "commentator" could pay whatever it would to make this run monthly, whilst getting 2 games a month.. cheaper for the club, cheaper for the fan.. Im sure it;s in safe hand with you though Scotty

[Doch4]

I these days of smartphones and rollover mins and free weekends etc, it would not take much for commentary to be made over a telephone where it could then be received and relayed for free (with a little bit of work).

Guerilla reporting could become all the rage.

Edited July 9, 2009 by ronnyc

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Sounds like a great idea - was trying to work out how I was going to keep up otherwise come August

[Scotty]

With the small costs.. person involved, for example.. could pop along, do some broadcasting whilst watching the club they love to follow, for free.. and perhaps even the "commentator" could pay whatever it would to make this run monthly, whilst getting 2 games a month.. cheaper for the club, cheaper for the fan.. Im sure it;s in safe hand with you though Scotty

I these days of smartphones and rollover mins and free weekends etc, it would not take much for commentary to be made over a telephone where it could then be received and relayed for free (with a little bit of work).

Guerilla reporting could become all the rage.

Guerilla reporting is already on the radar !!!! Not sure if many noticed, but over the past year we have deleted posts from a number of people (and banned them) when they came on and advertised for people to provide a pseudo running commentary via telephone to a central base. This was nothing to do with broadcasting as such, it was more to do with providing real time commentary for betting sites or syndicates and was in breach of numerous parts of commercial agreements in place between the leagues and their broadcast partners. It was so much of an issue in some places that people caught doing this could be excluded from the stadium under the various codes of conduct in place.

The only way to do it - in my opinion - is with the co-operation of the club as ultimately they possess media rights to all their games that supersedes any broadcast agreement in place. If the club authorise an individual (or group) to provide commentary, video, interviews or anything else, be that an official site or a "partner site" then there is no legal minefield involved and no threat to anyone providing that commentary.

I tend to lean towards the audio side of things because that is less of a minefield. you set it up and using the club's media rights, you broadcast your audio worldwide via a streaming service. If there was a video commentary and someone pointed the webcam or a proper video camera at the pitch during play then you open up all other rules and regulations regarding UEFA blackouts and have to look at things like geo-blocking as you cant broadcast live video inside the UK between 3pm and 5pm

Between myself and Donald we will pursue this with a few folk at the club and see if they are up for it ..... if they are then we will offer any help we can in trying to get a platform operational whether that is technical support, webspace, or just promoting it. I doubt it would be as comprehensive as Hibs Interactive (http://www.hibernianfc.tv/faq.php) but they are truly the benchmark of a fan/club joint venture of this nature in my opinion.

[ymip]

I was thinking about this just the other day and it would be great if we could set something up for those of us living outwith the sneck who can't make it to every game. I'm sure there's plenty of folk who'd be glad of the facility and would be willing to make a contribution towards the scheme.

I've been a bit slack checking out the matchday chatroom since I moved back to Scotland but there used to be some good banter on there back in the day and a fair few far flung fans who would surely be glad of some division 1 radio coverage.

[DornochCaley]

Yeah sounds a good idea. But is it possible to get it working? I think it could prove very difficult though. You also need someone that can be arsed sitting and commentating through a whole game.

[Ivy League]

Yeah sounds a good idea. But is it possible to get it working? I think it could prove very difficult though. You also need someone that can be arsed sitting and commentating through a whole game.

I wouldnt mind giving it a go!!! My only claim to fame is "commentating" on the Superbowl a couple of years back on the fanzone section :) So no expert, but would be happy to try it

Edited July 9, 2009 by Ivy League

[hislopsoffsideagain]

I would happily give my left arm to commentate for this..

[BornCaley]

It would be excellent and quite probably inexpensive to setup. I would definitely recommend submitting this to BB and think I can say without reservation that this is a project that this site would support and one which we would be happy to provide help in any way we could.

Ustream looks good for streaming video, but there are also others out there such as shoutcast or blogtalkradio if audio only was a preferred option

With us being in the 1st division next season, it would also give both us and the club a crack at establishing some form of low cost broadcasting that could then be scaled up on our return to the SPL.

Thanks Scotty & everyone else for their comments...sounds like we are all in agreement. Im delighted you have agreed to speak to the club regarding this and i look forward to a positive outcome. I cant see any reason for the club to veto this suggestion..

cheers

[Scarlet Pimple]

Any port in a storm for most of us overseas listener I can tell you.

Right now we are no doubt all kind of down.... :)

[gordyfromsneck]

Would there not be problems for away games, presumably negotiations would have to be done on a per club basis. Wouldn't it be great if the whole SFL could come on board? Mind you, I suspect such organisation, would just be a gateway for big business.

I would be delighted to pay a subscription, if I could get a streaming commentary on away games, especially, if I thought that the club could benefit from any excess beyond costs.

Great idea, I will follow this one.

[Scotty]

not sure about the SFL, but in the SPL, home clubs are required to provide facilities for the away team's media people if requested. I think this is a crucial question to be asked near the very start ... perhaps just after the club say yea or nay to the idea in principle.

[ICT_Away]

would be delighted of this comes off and would be willing to pay/subscribe to hear/see us...