Radio coverage

[Macduffer]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but can anyone explain why we don't get coverage of EVERY game?  There are Caley fans far and wide, and if the English leagues can cover all games even down to the conference through online commentary, how come we can't hear the 2nd placed team in the SPL ???

Could this be something that Caleyjags TV or the club could cover? Real-time commentary is just as, if not more important than highlights.

[old caley girl]

Think the BBC is strapped for cash and live commentary was a casualty. Open all mics cheaper I suppose.

Can't speak for the media team but my guess is not enough bodies to do this at present?

[Scarlet Pimple]

Well, on match days I am reduced to following the text up-dates of the match wherever I can find them.
 
Otherwise, it seems that the BBC have decided that anyone outside the U.K. is a pariah, or allowing them to listen to something more upbeat is just not profitable enough so they flick the switch to off even if switching it to "on" probably doesn't cost them too much at all.
 
I guess the BBC World Service with lvor Ladelle, Biggles, Wilfred Pickles and Kathleen Garscadden of Childrens's Hour are things of the past. Sigh.!

 

What do you think, Bughtmaster...eh?
 
Don't get old chums!

[Doch4]

I agree SP BBC radio coverage of Scottish football is pretty poor. Even worse if you don't live in Scotland.

I would like to see ICTFC stream their own live commentary of ICT games. The internet is for breaking down borders not reinforcing them.

On the plus side overseas fans do get to see YouTube highlights of games before UK users via SPFL YouTube page.

A VPN account helps a bit but if the live commentary is not there in the first place then it's limited to open all mics unless ours is a "featured" game.

BBC radio Scotland = LAME

[CaleyD]

Live match commentary is on our (the media teams) list of things we want to be providing and it will come....we just can't (yet) give a commitment as to "when".

 

Cost is the biggest limiting factor.  The equipment needed would be an easy £3k, but probably nearer £4k by the time you add in accessories etc.

 

Operating via an internet connection is not feasible due to bandwidth/reliability (or should I say, lack of bandwidth/reliability)...both at our own and other stadiums.

[CaleyD]

I should add, that the poor internet at the stadium is down to what's realistically available.  No fiber (yet) and to get own black fiber installed would cost between £5k & £10k before you even look at the operating costs.

[+bughtmaster]

Scarlet, you ask my opinion, well I made that perfectly clear at the start of the season in a similar thread, don't start me off again tonight as I have just posted another rant over the 'cuptiegate' on the outcome of the Donkey / CJT thread and I am still seething....... seething ...............Seething.

[CaleyD]

Well, on match days I am reduced to following the text up-dates of the match wherever I can find them.

 

Otherwise, it seems that the BBC have decided that anyone outside the U.K. is a pariah, or allowing them to listen to something more upbeat is just not profitable enough so they flick the switch to off even if switching it to "on" probably doesn't cost them too much at all.

 

I guess the BBC World Service with lvor Ladelle, Biggles, Wilfred Pickles and Kathleen Garscadden of Childrens's Hour are things of the past. Sigh.!

 

What do you think, Bughtmaster...eh?

 

Don't get old chums!

 

The BBC do not own the rights to broadcast match commentary for the league outside of the UK.

[Doch4]

Who does own the rights to broadcast live commentary outside of the UK?

What a ridiculous rule that is. It's not like it's going to affect crowds.

[Scotty]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but can anyone explain why we don't get coverage of EVERY game?  There are Caley fans far and wide, and if the English leagues can cover all games even down to the conference through online commentary, how come we can't hear the 2nd placed team in the SPL ??? Could this be something that Caleyjags TV or the club could cover? Real-time commentary is just as, if not more important than highlights.

 

Well, on match days I am reduced to following the text up-dates of the match wherever I can find them.  Otherwise, it seems that the BBC have decided that anyone outside the U.K. is a pariah, or allowing them to listen to something more upbeat is just not profitable enough so they flick the switch to off even if switching it to "on" probably doesn't cost them too much at all.

 

There are two factors at play here .....

1. The BBC decided not to cover every league game (like they did in the past) due to cost. Far cheaper to have one featured game and open-all-mics for the rest. save on personnel, equipment, and expensive bandwidth.

    

2. The BBC block coverage outside of the UK for one simple reason. They do not have the rights to broadcast globally. It used to be the case that nobody cared so they didnt actively block it but as more and more clubs exercised their rights to broadcast themselves or have a third party do it for them, the BBC were forced to put geo-blocking in place because certain clubs demanded it (not just the OF).

 

A club solution - ie. through the media team as Don has commented - would not have any issues on point 2 as the club have a (non-exclusive) right to broadcast their own games to whoever they want at home or abroad. However, as Don has also pointed out, point 1 - COST - is unavoidable whether it is the BBC or the club themselves doing the broadcasting. You need certain equipment, personnel, and bandwidth. You could probably get volunteers to cover the mics, and the bandwidth itself (assuming a live stream for up to 450 users and no rebroadcast or listen on demand service) might cost as little as £60 but equipment and infrastructure to tie it all together is the killer. I would struggle to believe we would have anything more than a couple of hundred ICT fans listening to our games on any given day so a subscription is unlikely to help pay for all that is needed!

 

 

For me, its simple ... a reliable VPN connection means I can listen to whatever is on be it Open All Mics and its sporadic coverage or the main game when we are featured.

[Scotty]

Who does own the rights to broadcast live commentary outside of the UK?

What a ridiculous rule that is. It's not like it's going to affect crowds.

 

not sure who does now, but there used to be one company who had rights outside UK (and never seemed to use them). BBC only bid for UK rights as they are a UK company paid for by UK license payers and worldwide rights would cost more from an audience base who does not contribute to their coffers .....

[CaleyD]

Who does own the rights to broadcast live commentary outside of the UK?

What a ridiculous rule that is. It's not like it's going to affect crowds.

 

SPORTFIVE and MP & Silva are the SPFL overseas broadcast partners.

[Scotty]

SPORTFIVE - that was it ... they dont seem to broadcast anywhere though !!

[CaleyD]

Their deal is up the end of this season, whereas MP & Silva have the rights for the next 10 years (is them who brokered the China deal).  Looks like this season is the transition and MP & Silva appear eager to actively use/market their rights a bit more than Sportfive were...certainly latterly.

[clacher_holiday2]

I refuse to believe it costs £3000 to broadcast live commentary from our Stadium.

What equipment do you need beyond a couple of good quality microphones and a laptop computer? It's not as if the people listening in have to be directly connecting to a server in the stadium for it, there's dozens of services out there designed for exactly this need that will handle all the heavy lifting.

http://www.shoutcast.com/broadcast-tools

Theres loads of shoutcast hosts out there that hardly charge the earth, this was top on a google search -> http://voscast.com/plans/

Shoutcast seems to be the choice of the people in terms of software, which is why you'll probably get the best deal using one of their hosts. Unless I've got this wrong, you only need to have the bandwidth to stream to one host, who then pass it on with a delay, much like the way the BBC do it (think their radio delay is about 60 seconds).

I suspect that there would be quite a few games a year you would see an awful lot more than a couple of hundred listening in, especially if we've playing a bigger SPL team and ICT are the only ones covering it live, a sponsor wouldn't be out of the question.

The biggest barrier to this for me would be the time and energy of the volunteers. And the talent lol

[Doch4]

Pretty much my thoughts as well C_H2

 

If a private subnet was used within the stadium for a wired and wireless connection for live reporting this could work.

Assuming there is enough upstream bandwidth and depending on codec and bit rate then it sounds completely plausible to be able to send one mono 15K bandwidth stream to a streaming server of choice.

 

The BBC have also been looking at this and have gone as far as developing an in house app for live reporting over cellular or wifi networks. 

 

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/bbc-developing-new-iphone-app-for-field-reporters/s2/a544714/

 

http://www.luci.eu

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

It is at times like these that I feel blessed with my psychic powers.

[Macduffer]

I would happily pay a subscription for online commentary.  Work and distance means I can only get to a handful of games each season.  Why can't Moray Firth Radio get involved?

[Scarlet Pimple]

Well, now we know why we can no longer get even the BBC world Service on short wave  via Schenectady (near New York as I recall)....MONEY!  Money, Money. 

 

It used to be that a wee minute or two of  tuning into the old crystal radio would allow us to bring in broadcasts from all kinds of fascinating places on this fabled earth. I do recall my dad bringing home a new Grundig radio when I was still listening to Dick Barton, Special Agent, at 7.p.m. every night and all in the household congregated round to twiddle the knobs and stare at the new-fangled look of it. And that was the time when few people in Inverness even had a single telephone and no one except the brightest and best could type....

 

But now we have so many fascinating names and  communicating devices that can do marvellous things but  we no longer appear to be able to quite communicate from point A to point B in this Universe without it costing a fortune.

In addition, we almost have to go back to school now to be able to re-learn to listen and it was only a month or so ago that I had to surreptitiously sidle up to a guy in the computer department of London Drugs and ask what precisely the difference was between a smart phone and  a Tablet.

And a year or so ago the name Kindle conjured up images only of hiking and sitting in front of  wood fires burning small bits of kindling so the realisation that it was another new-fangled AMAZONIAN apparition that allowed us to read a book without turning pages  was nothing short of a revelation. The problem  being that just keeping up with updates and upgrades is daunting , unless you are aged between 5 and 20 it seems. Someone told me the other day about their ----wait for it--- 2-year-old son who was  able to understand his tablet so well that he could outdo and outsmart most of the adults he encountered....jaw-dropping isn't the word for it . And I was sooooo jealous to boot..... realising the daunting truth that I was soooooo old and having a hard time just keeping up....

 

Och, but I am doing alright I suppose and just having access to the ICT match highlight videos on the ICT U Tube thingy keeps me sane on a week-to-week basis, for which I am truly thankful;  as I am for small mercies.

 

But if you smart, electronic whizzes can find a way to improve the match-day experience for overseas listeners/viewers I will gladly try my best to find a spondoolach or two out of my monthly pension pittance to support the good cause and the good lads who bring light into the darkness.......

 

Now you all have a great weekend

[CaleyD]

I refuse to believe it costs £3000 to broadcast live commentary from our Stadium.

What equipment do you need beyond a couple of good quality microphones and a laptop computer? It's not as if the people listening in have to be directly connecting to a server in the stadium for it, there's dozens of services out there designed for exactly this need that will handle all the heavy lifting.

http://www.shoutcast.com/broadcast-tools

Theres loads of shoutcast hosts out there that hardly charge the earth, this was top on a google search -> http://voscast.com/plans/

Shoutcast seems to be the choice of the people in terms of software, which is why you'll probably get the best deal using one of their hosts. Unless I've got this wrong, you only need to have the bandwidth to stream to one host, who then pass it on with a delay, much like the way the BBC do it (think their radio delay is about 60 seconds).

I suspect that there would be quite a few games a year you would see an awful lot more than a couple of hundred listening in, especially if we've playing a bigger SPL team and ICT are the only ones covering it live, a sponsor wouldn't be out of the question.

The biggest barrier to this for me would be the time and energy of the volunteers. And the talent lol

 

There's insufficient upstream to cope reliably with what's needed at present...so sticking anything else on to the broadband is not an option.  If it was, then a couple of headsets, a mixer and a laptop would be all that's needed and we'd be doing it by now.

 

However, it's not just our stadium we need to set up for, we also need to set up for away games and wifi/internet is not offered to press at some places.

 

The only all round.reliable solution would be the use of a Glensound Broadcaster/Commentator Box (or similar) with a Dual Codec...and they're not cheap, even second hand...starting at around £2000+vat.  Suitable headsets start at around £150+vat. Add in cables, spares, carry cases and you're easily beyond £3000.

[CaleyD]

Pretty much my thoughts as well C_H2

 

If a private subnet was used within the stadium for a wired and wireless connection for live reporting this could work.

Assuming there is enough upstream bandwidth and depending on codec and bit rate then it sounds completely plausible to be able to send one mono 15K bandwidth stream to a streaming server of choice.

 

The BBC have also been looking at this and have gone as far as developing an in house app for live reporting over cellular or wifi networks. 

 

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/bbc-developing-new-iphone-app-for-field-reporters/s2/a544714/

 

http://www.luci.eu

 

As I said in my previous post....there's simply not enough upstream to cope with what we need at the moment, far less adding more.

 

In regards the phone app solution....try using your 3G connection at a stadium around HT or FT and you could struggle.  So much so that even wireless phone dongles connected to a laptop are all but useless at these times.

 

I've never seen any journalist or reporter (BBC or otherwise) even attempting to use these things.  All of them use the Glensound boxes...even those not live on air and only providing updates will do so using them.

[+bughtmaster]

Aye Scarlet, in them days wifi ........was a female over thirty

                                       Upstream .......... was casting your flies against the flow

                                       a lap top was............... a sort of pinnie

                                       codec (tut tut ) bad spelling............a box camera

                                       server.........the person behind the counter

                                       a pc ..........plodded the beat and cuffed your ears if you cheeked him

and a tablet was what you took if the syrup of figs or milk of magnesia hadn't worked.

 

Man man what has this world come to............bring back the short wave !!!!!!!!!!

[clacher_holiday2]

I guess its just my ignorance of how bad the internet situation at the stadium is!

I have to admit I havent heard of Glenboxes before and have no idea what they are.

[clacher_holiday2]

Glensound Boxes rather.....

[BornCaley]

Live match commentary is on our (the media teams) list of things we want to be providing and it will come....we just can't (yet) give a commitment as to "when".

 

Cost is the biggest limiting factor.  The equipment needed would be an easy £3k, but probably nearer £4k by the time you add in accessories etc.

 

Operating via an internet connection is not feasible due to bandwidth/reliability (or should I say, lack of bandwidth/reliability)...both at our own and other stadiums.

hmm! I know people who broadcast their own radio shows with Winamp, a mic & Itunes! They don't seem to have any problems with bandwidth etc. The Glensound boxes are a nice piece of kit. Try Moray Firth or BBC Highland. They have kit like that lying about!

I'm sure there is a cheaper solutions out there Caley D

Edited December 1, 2013 by BornCaley