Digital TV News

Online England game was ‘a success’ despite score

Monday 12 October, 2009

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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England’s internet-only World Cup qualifier against Ukraine aired without a hitch on Saturday, despite a mediocre performance from Fabio Capello’s boys.

Footie fans were forced to pay up to £11.99 to watch Ukraine’s 1-0 victory over England on Saturday, as the match was only broadcast online and at a few selected Odeon cinemas around the UK.

The price to watch the match online rose from £4.99 last week to £11.99 on Saturday, and the number of subscriptions was estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000, however final viewing figures will not be released.

Although it hasn’t published actual viewing figures, international football agency Kentaro said numbers were “close to half a million,” hailing the project a “great success.”

Philipp Grothe, Kentaro chief executive, said: “Not only have we delivered Britain’s largest ever live pay-to-view internet sports audience, but commercially the venture has proved itself as a viable model for future games.”

“Technology has ignited a revolution in people’s viewing habits and there is a new sports broadcast platform developing,” he added.

However, some disgruntled fans complained of slow streaming speeds, poor sound quality and the lack of licensed premises showing the game.

Football fan Luke McHamilton, 25, from Skegness, watched the game with friends, plugging his laptop into his TV.

“I found the quality of the game on par with England’s performance - dismal. Watching the match on the widescreen was like playing Fifa 96 on the Mega Drive.”

Luke had to watch the game in low resolution, as the high-res setting kept buffering, and said the only plus-side of having the game online was the lack of adverts.

Media group Perform streamed the game online, live from Dnepropetrovsk, and the BBC broadcast highlights from the match, including keeper Green’s red card after 13 minutes and Ukraine’s winning goal.

The game was originally to be aired by sports broadcaster Setanta, but following its collapse earlier this year, Kentaro - an international agency appointed by the Ukrainian Football Federation - appointed Perform to show the match online.

It is understood that traditional broadcasters such as Sky and ESPN were unwilling to pay the asking price, as England had already qualified for the 2010 World Cup, winning all eight of its previous fixtures.

Jon Ingram, operations director at Digitalchoices.co.uk, said: “The number of fans that viewed the match is significantly less than other football games, due partly because the fixture was only online and because of the price to watch it, but also because of the fact England has already qualified.”

He added: “However, even though the viewing figures are less than spectacular, the game will still have grossed Kentaro and Perform between £2.5million and £6million, which could bode well for future sporting events being broadcast in this way.”

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