OHL launches webcast program

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03-11-2005, 06:56 PM
Beaner

OHL launches webcast program

from, http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/Jun...957871-cp.html

Quote:

TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario Hockey League announced the launch of OHL Live Stream on Friday, a webcasting initiative that will see games broadcast live on a pay-per-view broadband basis.

The program, to be developed over a three-year term with Interactive Netcasting Systems Inc. (INSINC), will start this weekend.

"We believe this to be the ideal way for the OHL to reach out and bring more value to our fans," league commissioner David Branch said in a release. "This program gives our fans . . . the opportunity to watch practically all of our games live on the Internet."

Free webcasts will be made available for the rest of the regular season at the league's website (www.ontariohockeyleague.com). Playoff games will be available for $8.95 per contest.

"This is a lot more than just delivering live, broadband content over the Internet," said INSINC president and CEO Hugh Dobbie. "This program will deliver valuable highlight content to fans, scouts, players and coaches who either missed a game or would like to review game clips for both strategic and entertainment purposes."

About 60 per cent of the games will be broadcast-quality feeds picked up from regional OHL broadcasts. The balance of the games will be provided using a special scout feed that will combine visuals from the press box camera and the live audio from the team radio broadcast.

So it looks like all OHL games will broadcast now, hopefully the WHL wont be to far behind.
03-12-2005, 05:44 PM
The_Vulk

Was it not a year or two ago, Seattle played around with webcasting their games?

Not the smoothest of images, and it was only on a small-sized window.

Right now, I'd be more than happy with being able to listen to ANY game over the internet, especially with the radio station what would normally do it is not telecasting that game for other reasons.
03-12-2005, 06:00 PM
Beaner

Well, Moosejaw and Everett broadcast their games for free, Kamloops also does, but it costs 8$.

The big difference here is that the entire OHL is broadcasting their games. Some of the cities will have a crew that does it, the others will just use the regular arena cam.

This may be something that helps out the smaller market teams. Charging 8$ a game for Webcasts would add an additional revenue source for those smaller market teams, hopefully making it profitable for them to stay in the towns where they currently reside.
03-13-2005, 11:37 AM
Jovorock

Hopefully Shaw does some playoff games, but if they don't I would pay $8 buckets to watch a Rocket game on the road on the internet!
03-14-2005, 01:12 AM
Beaner

I watched about an hours worth today, coverage was pretty darn good. Watched the Pete's play. Its free right now, so I figured why not. Hoping to catch a couple London games, before the playoffs and see what these guys have to offer.
03-14-2005, 03:54 PM
Duct Tape

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaner

I watched about an hours worth today, coverage was pretty darn good. Watched the Pete's play. Its free right now, so I figured why not. Hoping to catch a couple London games, before the playoffs and see what these guys have to offer.

The quality of the webcasts is not bad, for some games though it will just be the league mandated stadium camera with the radio broadcast overdubbed, so no studio shows or replays, which is definitely not worth $9 a game. Fortunately, in the OHL most (if not all) playoff games are at least on local TV, so the playoff broadcasts should be compitent quality except for places like Owen Sound where the picture and camera work sucks anyways.

As for London, they are a very very good hockey team, but one never knows how good until the Leagues come together. As a Rangers fan we knew they were a great team in 2003, but you just never know how tough the Gatineau's and Kelownas are until you face them. Even if London loses before the OHL Final, they won't be a weak host as Guelph or Quebec in recent years, they will be a force if they win the league, and possibly moreso if they don't in an effort to redeem themselves before the hometown crowd.

It should be a blast in May, hope lots of the Dub's fans have tickets and are making the trek.

Later

DT
03-14-2005, 08:28 PM
RunTheGoalie

The Calgary Canucks do this in the AJHL, and I understand it is quite popular with scouts and college recruiters. Things like this can be as imporant a reason to do this as bringing the game closer to the fans.