Cracking Down On Online Piracy

A pretty good article on the NHL's efforts to crack down on peer-to-peer live streaming of games. Too bad fans are just so much more tenacious than they expect. A better solution to chasing shadows and tilting at windmills?

Provide a good online service at a price point that makes sense. What makes more money? Selling 12 subscriptions at $229 or selling millions at $2.99 a month? It's not rocket science.

almost 3 years ago PPP 25 comments 0 recs |

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Exactly

The league and these broadcasters are gonna flush millions down the drain trying to fight piracy by all the wrong methods like making access to their feeds more restrictive and suing everyone left, right and center.

I’m surprised they haven’t learned from the RIAA… in fact I’m surprised that seemingly no one has learned from the RIAA.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Mar 9, 2009 11:43 AM EDT reply actions

Amen to that,

Blender does an annual list of the biggest blunders in the music industry. For the last god knows how many years the number 1 spot belonged to the guy that turned down the Beatles and said they would never go anywhere. However last year (maybe the year before I can’t quite remember) the number one spot belongs to the entire industry and the amount of money they spent trying to fight online music. If they had just worked out an iTunes type of thing with Napster at the beginning instead of all of this they would of made billions instead of looking like idiots charging a 14 year old girl and a deceased elderly lady.

I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it. - Dogbert

by JohnnyG on Mar 9, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

if the NHL online feed was 2.99 a month I’d totally buy it

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Mar 9, 2009 11:58 AM EDT reply actions

and if it was decent quality and the right aspect ratio.

by Karina on Mar 9, 2009 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

It's even more ridiculous in Quebec

Videotron has a stranglehold on digital tv here, and they lumped Centre Ice in with MLB Extra Innings and the NFL Sunday Gameday (or whatever they call it). I bought Centre Ice the two previous years for $199, and was happy to watch all my Leaf games (and others), but this year, there is no solo deal, you have to pay $30/month for all three, and sign up for a 12 month subscription. Fuck that. Assholes.

by lordosis on Mar 9, 2009 11:59 AM EDT reply actions

Pierre-Karl Peladeau is evil incarnate. If I was him, I would be checking my new baby for triple 6 tattoos

by blue with age on Mar 9, 2009 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Also make it accessible to anyone all over the world – none of this needing a proxy URL because the feed is only available in Canada.

I’d totally pay for it if it was cheap – that would be worth it even for just a few games that attracted attention for one or two players, even if you didn’t care about the teams involved.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

that’s one of the issues i have with hulu—it only works in the US. Then again, I suppose limiting broadcast to one country makes some sense, as copyright laws vary everywhere.

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Mar 9, 2009 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions

If anything can stop me from having to subscribe to and watch another second of ESPN America, I’m all for it.

Dum spiro spero.

by Mattblack on Mar 9, 2009 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Instead of worrying about copyright issues why not just pay teams a royalty or something?

I’d love to see a service, accessible anywhere there is an internet connection, for something like $24.95 a season, where you could watch as many games as you wanted, and the team would get a royalty for each time the broadcast was viewed online.

Count it as hockey-related revenue, and I’d be willing to bet that the economic downturn would be a little less scary if fans in Russia could stream all the Washington Capitals games for a reasonable fee.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I’d be all for a setup like that. And I don’t think I’m the only one

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Mar 9, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions

And both home and away feeds could be accessible, so fans could choose who they wanted to hear.

And it could be expanded to cover European leagues as well, so if a fan of an NHL team wanted to see games in the Swedish Elite League where one of the top prospects was playing, they could watch those, too – with again a royalty per game kicked back to the teams actually playing.

It could be AllHockeyTV.com – The world of hockey at your fingertips, even when traveling – all you need is your laptop, an internet connection, and your login and password to access your AllHockeyTV.com account. :)

(I think my computer would explode.)

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

What’s stupid is that I pay for Center Ice on my TV. I’d be happy to buy Center Ice Online for $49 a year on top of that but they still want full price.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Mar 9, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

Exactly.

Everything else gives discounts for quantity – insurance companies give discounts for multiple policies, cable companies have deals if you get internet from them as well – sports should be the same.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Amen, amen, and amen.

I also like that they can spend resources playing whack-a-mole on online piracy, and bother to blackout games I already paid for, yet I still have to see “You are watching a free preview of NHL Center Ice” dicker across my screen four weeks a season when, no, actually, I am not watching this thing for free, but thanks for the memo.

Lighthouse Hockey: SBN's New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Mar 9, 2009 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Greed

It all boils down to greed. The issue isn’t control over their product and distribution, its control of profiting from it with outlandish subscription fees and advertising. As a past customer of center ice, the product was fine and in some occasions poor but I can’t say it was great hence me being a former customer.
Price vs. performance/quality is not worth it… free internet streams are about on par with quality/price/performance. If the “new” NHL really want to be seen as in innovator, here’s their big chance!

...

by puckbuddy on Mar 9, 2009 12:45 PM EDT reply actions

It would also be nice if the for-pay streaming services worked. I can use Youtube on any computer and it works fine.

Why do I need to have a PC with twelve different weird codecs to work Center Ice Online or Extra Innings? Fuck off.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Mar 9, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

YES!

There is nothing like jumping through a bunch of stupid computer hoops and downloaded updates only to have the damn computer freeze up during a scoring chance or something.

And skip the f***ing bells-and-whistles. Sometimes all I want is a stream of the game in one window and a liveblog in another. No stupid up-to-the-minute stats or ninety billion other windows, just a decent stream of the stupid hockey game that I want to watch.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Versus theory

Regarding the exorbitant price for Center Ice Online, I suspect it’s like the Versus decision: “Oh, we want to protect the value of the franchise,” blah blah, which is a myopic view of life under the interwebs.

As one example: how many bored people have you had show up to online game threads who want to watch a game and banter around but can’t find a feed? You think in the spur of the (drunken) moment they wouldn’t pay an iTunes-like fee just to get that single game and get their game thread rocks on?

The Web brings people together and intensifies their interest in hockey — even in teams they wouldn’t normally care about. The league would maybe wanna consider enabling that.

Lighthouse Hockey: SBN's New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Mar 9, 2009 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

devil's advocate

I completely agree that they need to make a good product and price it appropriately. But I think part of the problem is people are becoming increasingly unwilling to pay for anything that they’ve gotten used to getting for free (or they know they can get for free if they put a little effort in).

Some people think a $20 CD is a rip-off. And for the most part it is, especially if you’re buying the pap they play on the radio. But more and more people think it’s a rip off to cherry pick 3 or 4 songs you like and pay a buck per song, and that’s a problem. If you’re not willing to pay $1 for a song you like, what is a fair price?

by daoust on Mar 9, 2009 1:18 PM EDT reply actions

Good point which is why the league would have to really make it a good product. Sure, you can find any feed right now but it’s usually an out of town feed (at least for the Leafs) so offering the home feed is one option. Pairing the broadcast with the radio play-by-play is something else they could look to do, etc.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Mar 9, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Very true. I crochet (A LOT), and as a result I have far, far too many patterns. There are many sources for free patterns online, and I do take advantage of those, but I also buy a lot of patterns, too. When I purchase something, however, I expect it to be of better quality – the photography had better not be crappy, the detail in the instructions has to be there, and I had better not find it so full of errors that I feel as though I am proofreading it and paying for the privledge. If it’s free, I don’t expect nearly as much because it is being offered on a website or blog out of generosity.

If the product that was for sale was good quality, reasonably priced, didn’t freeze up, and most importantly had good customer service, some people would still no doubt hunt down a free feed – but a lot more would think it was worth the amount they paid for it, and it would sell. I think the customer service is key, though – all other things being equal, customers will return to a store that had didn’t give them a load of bs when an item needed to be returned and the sales staff was helpful and courteous instead of indifferent or clingy.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Mar 9, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Good points about the for sale product. Similar to iTunes, since it is easy and not a ripoff I find I’ll buy stuff off of there even if I had downloaded it for free, just because I want to support the artist.

Likewise, in the case of television shows I’ll download the episodes then buy the season DVD set if I liked it. This is especially the case if the show just isn’t available in canada for whatever reason (HBO, cartoon network etc)

The NHL just has to put out a product that is competitive/better quality for a reasonable cost. $30/month on top of your ISP cost for video that isn’t great and often blacked out is not the answer. Going about half that with a full season pass for around $100 would be reasonable, with improved site design + video quality.

Gerber power!!!1

by LeafFanInVan on Mar 9, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions

the music comparison isn’t perfect… the difference in quality between a song you download from soulseek and one you download from iTunes is often non-existent. the NHL definitely has an opportunity to offer a superior product here, especially if the free alternative is of much lower quality.

by daoust on Mar 9, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions

It was more to do with the ease of getting it, rather than any quality. iTunes is just set up to be so hassle free that often times it’s just easy to get and it doesn’t feel like a ripoff. The fact that the nhl could be offering an even BETTER product than the bootleggers makes it ridiculous that they don’t do so for a reasonable price. I know of several friends other than myself who would all pay for the ability to stream games to the office etc IF it was an easy process and not terribly overpriced.

You’d think the nhl could come up with some clever things like some non-obtrusive ads on the site you’re watching on to help them boost revenue. Guess that would be asking for too much work/thought on their part.

Gerber power!!!1

by LeafFanInVan on Mar 10, 2009 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions