International Supporters - Hibs TV

[hibbybrian]

Announcement about Hibs TV this season

http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/page/TV...,10290,00.html

"A list of the selected matches for the 12/13 season will appear here in due course once we receive confirmation from the SPL broadcast partners."

In previous seasons, prior to the introduction of "the new improved service" I'd have been about to part with the best part of 200 pounds for a season ticket for HI so I could watch the pre-season friendlies, all home league games, some cup games and occasionally some European games live. Last season the only games included were also available on my satellite TV; I did occasionally pay to watch some matches when I was not at home however I would have been prepared to purchase a season ticket had the other home games been included with the HI package.


"We are in constant dialogue with H.I.B.S. about how we can find the right long-term solution to meet the requirements of our overseas supporters in terms of increasing the regularity of matches shown and marrying it up with the Hibernian commentary."

I'm on the H.I.B.S. mailing list and from the mail I receive and postings on the Overseas Supporters Board on .net, the constant dialogue seems to be mainly one-way traffic

Any updates would be appreciated.

[norwayhibs]

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Announcement about Hibs TV this season

http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/page/TV...,10290,00.html

"A list of the selected matches for the 12/13 season will appear here in due course once we receive confirmation from the SPL broadcast partners."

In previous seasons, prior to the introduction of "the new improved service" I'd have been about to part with the best part of 200 pounds for a season ticket for HI so I could watch the pre-season friendlies, all home league games, some cup games and occasionally some European games live. Last season the only games included were also available on my satellite TV; I did occasionally pay to watch some matches when I was not at home however I would have been prepared to purchase a season ticket had the other home games been included with the HI package.


"We are in constant dialogue with H.I.B.S. about how we can find the right long-term solution to meet the requirements of our overseas supporters in terms of increasing the regularity of matches shown and marrying it up with the Hibernian commentary."

I'm on the H.I.B.S. mailing list and from the mail I receive and postings on the Overseas Supporters Board on .net, the constant dialogue seems to be mainly one-way traffic

Any updates would be appreciated.

Brian, I have not heard a thing from the media manager, I have given up mailing him because he never replied, this is the case with others on the overseas board.

Its probably the same "constant dialogue" he had when they gave us the "new and improved" Hibernian TV. Like yourself, I was ready to part with £200 if they showed the home games live, I was even prepared to contribute towards the purchase Of a new HD camera to show the games. It would be interesting to see how many overseas subscribers Hibernian tv has now, I cancelled not so long ago ,it was all the live home games that was the attraction for me. It is a real shame, I think we( overseas fans) were around 20-25 members willing to pay for an interactive season ticket.

[Big90inOz]

for the new "improved" Hibs TV service. I'm not going to pay to watch games which are either available free on the net or are shown on Setanta which I can watch on the big TV.

It's a shame but there seems to be an agenda to kill this service off once and for all.

[PeeJay]

Been with the service for a few years now, but they have stopped sending me any emails or "communicating" with me in any form - unless in response to a complaint on my part about something on one of the few match days now available in "the new and improved service" - no idea why I'm off the mailing list - or maybe they don't issue mails anymore?

More than a few posts on this board from the "few" Hibs overseas fans seem to suggest little to no communication between the overseas fans and Hibs TV - so what is this constant dialogue?

As to finding the "right long-term solution": all home games live, the way it used to be, with Hibs fans commentating: what is difficult about that? We'll buy the camera, put the commentary team in place, pay more for a season ticket - what else do they need? What part do they not understand

Close to stopping my subscription ....

[Septimus]

I'm just off to cancel my Hibs TV subscription. I want to watch every Easter Road game and I am happy to pay for that but clearly Hibs are not interested in me.

I will re-iterate. My name, together with one of my sons is recorded below the famous five as we paid to keep hibs going when times were hard. I am a shareholder. I first watched Hibs 69 years ago. While the performance of the team in recent years has hurt I understand the cyclical nature of things but the current board are putting out plain rubbish with regard to Hibs TV.

Good luck and good night.

[California-Hibs]

completely gutted. All set to move over to the States in 2 months time and i've been desperate for a solution to be found that reflects a a service showing every home game. I stated in emails i'd happily contribute to the cost of the equipment and also happily folk out the full whack for an Online Season Ticket.

Very poor show Hibs, very poor. Gutted!

[DC_Hibs]

I've watched games live for the 5 seasons I've been abroad but have no interest in this new set up. I won't be paying for games that are only available due to them streaming live TV coverage which are available for free elsewhere.

It's a good reminder to cancel my subscription before they automatically renew me for a year as highlights and interviews dont really interest me. I can download sportscene also.

To be fair to Hibs the take up of the live game service was pretty poor and despite many names being put forward from overseas fans on here and the bounce - around cup final time unsurprisingly - most of those have since gone back into hibernation despite the efforts of a few like Max, Brian and Kenny.

I would be interested in supporting the club in other areas such as membership for overseas fans or even contributing towards season tickets which can be used by us when back in Edinburgh.

[IberianHibernian]

Another who`s been a Hibs TV subscriber since the beginning and has therefore been prepared to pay hundreds of pounds each year (including away games) maybe naively thinking I was helping the club while also getting to watch the matches . Am also prepared to contribute towards cost of required equipment . Get the impression that club think we`re a nuisance group who keep pestering them to get our Hibs fix every 2 weeks . Disappointing to say the least but also reflects lack of marketing vision in club - overseas fans also buy merchandise , promote club internationally , sign up for schemes to let other fans go to Easter Road , recommend players , buy shares , get to some home matches often with other visitors , etc etc - but club can`t/don`t want to see advantages of offering a good TV package perhaps as part of a membership package .

[hibbybrian]

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Brian, I have not heard a thing from the media manager, I have given up mailing him because he never replied, this is the case with others on the overseas board. Its probably the same "constant dialogue" he had when they gave us the "new and improved" Hibernian TV. Like yourself, I was ready to part with £200 if they showed the home games live, I was even prepared to contribute towards the purchase Of a new HD camera to show the games.
It would be interesting to see how many overseas subscribers Hibernian tv has now, I cancelled not so long ago ,it was all the live home games that was the attraction for me. It is a real shame, I think we( overseas fans) were around 20-25 members willing to pay for an interactive season ticket.

The 20-25 you mention were those who answered an e-mail from Max to the overseas mailing list of about 60 of the 120 registered members - so by no means the total of fans who would be interested in live matches HI stated that they had about 40 subscribers last year but as far as I'm aware they haven't provided contact details of those subscribers to H.I.B.S. to cross check against those who responded. Hopefully when the H.I.B.S. webite is fully operational we will have more accurate numbers of those interested in live games

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for the new "improved" Hibs TV service. I'm not going to pay to watch games which are either available free on the net or are shown on Setanta which I can watch on the big TV. It's a shame but there seems to be an agenda to kill this service off once and for all.

I also can't see how they expect anyone to pay for a season ticket when the only matches they are covering are available free on the net so I suspect this is the first step to ending the service by saying there is no demand.

Going from a service provided by volunteers, when we could see all home matches, pre-season friendlies, cup games, European games etc to now only having games which are freely available on the net does not seem to be an improvement to me.

According to the Official Site, we are iin constant dialogue with HibsTV about future provision of live coverage, however we have offered to fund the purchase of a new HD camera, have free of charge offers from the cameraman and commentators from the previous service, who are willing to give their time and effort to provide us the coverage we want and are prepared to pay for, but these offers have apparently been rejected in favour of the "new improved service"

Sadly it looks like HibsTv is going to suffer the same fate as he first electronic scoreboard at ER - if that's the case we can only hope that it's resurrected at some time in the future

[StokePogesHibs]

I've been a subscriber since the beginning. I want the Hibs fix every 2 weeks.....what's more a couple of Hibbies commentating adds to the drama. Beuzelin was something else in an otherwise dire season. I want to know what the cost is to run this so that we can collectively determine if we can muster enough interest to sponsor it and avoid being a drain on the clubs finances. I recall that there were some volunteers on here willing to provide the manpower to run it. Don't let this die...

[The Green Goblin]

A question: How can a service be "new and improved" if it shows substantially less games than the previous one?

The old service was superior in many ways to the current product. You could watch all the games, you had two of your own commentating and the picture quality was absolutely fine. I'll acknowledge that not being able to watch it on a Mac was one improvement the new service brought with it. But on balance, in terms of the format etc. nobody wanted it changed.

We have still been unable to find a single person out of all the expat fans we have been in touch with, who was "consulted" before the original change was made, in spite of the club's claim that the change was in response to "fan feedback". And here we are again this week, with a quite ludicrous statement on the website where the club claims to be in "constant dialogue" with an organisation that has been proposed but doesn't yet actually exist! It seems like it's amateur night at Hibernian F.C. Or maybe "take the piss" month. Do I sound angry? Well, I am, because I'm sick fed up of this kind of thing coming from Hibs. The club don't know how to value or treat their fans properly.

Posters such as HibsMax and Brian have spent hours and hours over the last few months contacting the club and supporters and the club have been as unhelpful and unresponsive as it's possible to be.

We have a situation where supporters are offering to run the service for nothing (but the love of doing it), pay 100 - 200 quid for an online season ticket, collectively pay for the new camera we are told they need (although the one they have did fine for the games before and seems perfectly good for all the other stuff Hibs TV do) and make the club a profit numbering in the thousands of pounds at a time when we are told that money is tight, and they are being ignored and fobbed off and delayed at every turn....pathetic.

What does it say about the club when the supporters are unsuccessfully having to pester them repeatedly to look at a proposal which will deliver what the fans want AND make Hibs some money?

They don't answer e-mails, don't act on our feedback, don't answer questions, don't actually act proactively to work with us or take us seriously and just generally make us all feel a bit bloody stupid and taken for a ride. Perhaps they don't deserve our money and they don't deserve our support. Certainly, as one of many fans who spent a fortune I don't have coming back for the travesty on May 19th, I felt that day more than ever that Hibs do not deserve or fully appreciate the superb, dedicated, passionate fans they have and this is just one more piece of evidence to support that.

This has rumbled on for months and months and the effort has been heavily one-sided all the way.

For shame Hibs. A poor poor show all round.

[hibbybrian]

Well at least this thread has accomplished something!

After Max getting no reply to his last e-mails weeks ago and no reply to his resending of the e-mails last week he finally got a reply after this thread was started

Unfortunately the reply looks like the last nail in the coffin for live matches

Despite all the "dialogue" that's supposed to have gone on, only now are we informed that in order to stream live matches HibsTV needs not only a new HD camera but also new software which will cost more than 10,000 pounds in addition to the cost of the camera. Strange that this has never been mentioned until now

Sorry to say it, but this just looks like the final excuse to stop a service which the International supporters want and are willing to pay towards. I have nothing personally againt the Media manager but to string the supporters along for months of delayed responses and finally come out with this latter day excuse is like a slap in the face to the support.

RIP HibsTV

[cockneymike]

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Well at least this thread has accomplished something!

After Max getting no reply to his last e-mails weeks ago and no reply to his resending of the e-mails last week he finally got a reply after this thread was started

Unfortunately the reply looks like the last nail in the coffin for live matches

Despite all the "dialogue" that's supposed to have gone on, only now are we informed that in order to stream live matches HibsTV needs not only a new HD camera but also new software which will cost more than 10,000 pounds in addition to the cost of the camera. Strange that this has never been mentioned until now

Sorry to say it, but this just looks like the final excuse to stop a service which the International supporters want and are willing to pay towards. I have nothing personally againt the Media manager but to string the supporters along for months of delayed responses and finally come out with this latter day excuse is like a slap in the face to the support.

RIP HibsTV

Very disappointed to hear this Brian. As someone who was part of a group of around 80-100 Hibbies in a bar in Sydney watching the final with a midnight ko, there is obviously a market for this coverage. If the club were prepared to work with us, and tell us what is needed both in terms of finance and manpower, it might take some time but I'm confident that we could build an international network that would make a good profit for them in a sustained fashion, and allow to follow the club we love in the way we want.

Very disappointing.

[The Green Goblin]

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Well at least this thread has accomplished something!

After Max getting no reply to his last e-mails weeks ago and no reply to his resending of the e-mails last week he finally got a reply after this thread was started

Unfortunately the reply looks like the last nail in the coffin for live matches

Despite all the "dialogue" that's supposed to have gone on, only now are we informed that in order to stream live matches HibsTV needs not only a new HD camera but also new software which will cost more than 10,000 pounds in addition to the cost of the camera. Strange that this has never been mentioned until now

Sorry to say it, but this just looks like the final excuse to stop a service which the International supporters want and are willing to pay towards. I have nothing personally againt the Media manager but to string the supporters along for months of delayed responses and finally come out with this latter day excuse is like a slap in the face to the support.

RIP HibsTV

The bit in bold = absolute BS. They are just fannying around and making stuff up - it's like dealing with a child. The service ran perfectly well before without that nonsense. And, as you say, there has been emailing going on for months, yet they suddenly mention this? My God, they must think we are compete fools. A pathetic and dishonest attitude from the club.

[blackpoolhibs]

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The bit in bold = absolute BS. They are just fannying around and making stuff up - it's like dealing with a child. The service ran perfectly well before without that nonsense. And, as you say, there has been emailing going on for months, yet they suddenly mention this? My God, they must think we are compete fools. A pathetic and dishonest attitude from the club.

It would be nice to know what that £10k was for, as there was a post telling us it could run at no cost to the club at all?

Subscriptions were covering all the cost apparently?

Were the club subsidising this to the tune of 10k a season since the beginning?

[Beefster]

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The bit in bold = absolute BS. They are just fannying around and making stuff up - it's like dealing with a child. The service ran perfectly well before without that nonsense. And, as you say, there has been emailing going on for months, yet they suddenly mention this? My God, they must think we are compete fools. A pathetic and dishonest attitude from the club.

I don't know much about Hibs TV's performance and it may have been perfect for you but, judging by the amount of grumbles we got on here every time a big game was transmitted, it evidently didn't run perfectly well.

[DC_Hibs]

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I don't know much about Hibs TV's performance and it may have been perfect for you but, judging by the amount of grumbles we got on here every time a big game was transmitted, it evidently didn't run perfectly well.

The old service was generally fine but any games where all fans could subscribe - rather than only overseas fans - showed they could not cope with a huge increase in numbers. The feedback from most people who regularly used the old service has been mainly positive.

[Dalkeith]

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It would be nice to know what that £10k was for, as there was a post telling us it could run at no cost to the club at all?

Subscriptions were covering all the cost apparently?

Were the club subsidising this to the tune of 10k a season since the beginning?

I gave up working on this a good few weeks ago as you can only flog a dead horse so much but for clarity and openness, I put a proposal forward that was a much improved version of what was in place before and most of the failings of old system would have been removed
It would be self-financing (no cost to club at all) and would have made money this included the offer to purchase a decent HD camera for the club, the club replied with a list of questions and potential issues which I believe I solved and answered.

Yes committed viewing numbers were not high but would still have covered costs for the season but I suspect this number would have improved once season got underway.

Since then I have heard nothing from club so no idea about the 10k,
It may not be a top priority for club at moment but the club knows it can be done and know that I happily help out in getting back up and running the rest is up to club

[pacorosssco]

It is disappointing all games are unavailable. I used Hibs TV for games in the past. I found the service poor. Bad quality and bad customer service but I do appreciate that it was available.

As previously stated individuals on here have gone to great lengths to organise the international community and to try and improve and keep alive the service. I would be interested in having an overseas TV season ticket but I would hope it could be done cheaper than costs advised. As with all things Hibs I find the feedback from the club to be less than satisfactory .

Surely this service could be offered on a game to game basis at an affordable price additionally to season tickets. It would also offer people the chance not to miss games because of holidays

Well done to those involved on here for taking the time and effort to put valuable work behind the scenes. I apolgise for not being much use in this but since the cup final and my dealings with the Hibs board over the ticket fiasco I have struggled to look at Hibs related issues.

[hibbybrian]

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I don't know much about Hibs TV's performance and it may have been perfect for you but, judging by the amount of grumbles we got on here every time a big game was transmitted, it evidently didn't run perfectly well.

That's a fair point Beefster, however to put it into context and explain the current siyuation -

The old service offered overseas supporters the chance to watch all home league games, a few away games, some cup games, most pre-season frienly games and the occasional European game for just under 200 pounds per season.

There were certainly occasional problems: coverage starting late, breaks in streaming during the games, some experienced buffering during games etc so it's natural to expect fans who have been looking forward to the game the whole week to express their frustrations when things aren't perfect on the day. (HI offered refunds when there were serious problems however I suspect many viewers didn't take them up on the offer as it was taking money out of the service.)

In response to this, HI set up a forum for subscribers and problems were addressed online as the game was streaming - interestingly many games were streaming perfectly for the majority of viewers whilst others had streaming problems probably due to their location and internet service limitations and not due to the HI service provided.

Last season the coverage offered was only for games which were being televised and already available free to overseas supporters via satellite (or streaming sites). I could watch these matches at home on HD TV so I didn't renew my season ticket but paid for individual games on my laptop when out or on my PC at work.

Towards the end of last season some likeminded oveseas supporters deceided to form an association of International supporters and from threads posted on the messageboards we got over 120 responses for membership. Out of that number, to date we have built up a mailing list of over 60, (getting in touch by PMs on messageboards for contact details during the close season has been a problem!) but we are working on a new website and hopefully when that is functioning our mailing list will increase.

One of the items on our agenda was to see if it was possible to get coverage of Hibs home games reinstated and if so, what we could collectively do to assist the club financially if required. A great deal of time and effort has been expended by a few of us in contacting the club to discuss what the situation is, and how we could help, however we have had sparse responses which started in a positive vein but everytime we surmount what the club perceive as the obstacles, another obstacle suddenly appears on the agenda.

Up to last month we were told that the main problem was that a new HD camera was required (the previous camera operator & commentator had already stated they were willing to work for free to cover the matches), but after we offered to raise the money to pay for the camera we were then hit by the bombshell that the cameraman and commentator were persona non grata and would not be allowed to cover the matches.

Several e-mails were subsequently sent then resent to the club but were not answered until the day after this thread was started (all hail the power of .net ). Out of left field we are now told that new software costing over 10,000 pounds is needed to provide streaming.

We were starting to feel we were being strung along before, however this latest development seems to confirm it.

[Beefster]

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We were starting to feel we were being strung along before, however this latest development seems to confirm it.

I can definitely sympathise about how soul-destroying it is trying to give Hibs some help/ideas. I've tried on numerous occasions in the past and they've been up there with some of the most frustrating experiences of my life. So much so that I pretty much refuse to get involved in anything that means communicating with them now.

[homielang]

Its amazing to me the lack of investment the club makes into its fans. I am in Canada and I have subscribed to Hibs TV until I bought a Mac and I could not get the video to play. I went through all kinds of disappointing issues there. I have met some of the people they used to have on a tour of Easter Road and they were decent enough, the issue is with the club.

Put together something user friendly where we pay, log in, and watch and the numbers would increase. We are into the 2nd decade of the 21st century and it seems like they are using Commodore 64 technology.

I follow each match any other way I can despite a poor product on the field. The way I see it far more season tickets would be sold with a better on pitch product and less hassles when having to do any dealings with the club.

I will always be a Hibs supporter but often they make it very difficult.

GGTTH

[Keith_M]

I'm totally bemused by the attitude of the club as regards this.

If one poster has already stated that a quality service could be given (Dalkeith) and has previously worked on Hibs TV, at least 60 people are willing to pay a subscription for a whole years service and other people are willing to give up their time to provide this, what exactly is the club's problem?

I'd REALLY like to know exactly what kind of software they claim is required that would cost 10K. As a Senior Software Developer with 10 years experience, this price seems very high to me.

Also, if Hibs TV were to make use of Open Standards, instead of Proprietary solutions that only run on Windows, they would both reduce costs and increase their potential customer base. They sound either very amateur or not at all interested and just can't be bothered.

[PeeJay]

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They sound either very amateur or not at all interested and just can't be bothered.

In a nutshell - well said!

[blackpoolhibs]

Would someone who is on these committees that meet regularly with Hibs, ask them to break down this £10k it would cost the club?

Are they saying they subsidised this venture for the last 6-7 years to the tune of £60k-£70k?

I'm sure its nowhere near that amount, and with the volunteers who did it before, and the subscribers willing to purchase the new camera, it all sounds a little suspect to me?

[HibsMax]

Hi Folks,

I will be going through Andrew's response later today. He sent me a long mail yesterday but Thursday night is a busy night for so I haven't read it yet. When I've broken it down I'll come up with a list of questions for him / Hibs. Seems like top of the list will be what is the 10K needed for.

[hibbybrian]

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Would someone who is on these committees that meet regularly with Hibs, ask them to break down this £10k it would cost the club?

To be fair here, the club attached a list to the e-mail they sent - I only got the text though

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Are they saying they subsidised this venture for the last 6-7 years to the tune of £60k-£70k?

I'm sure its nowhere near that amount, and with the volunteers who did it before, and the subscribers willing to purchase the new camera, it all sounds a little suspect to me?

That's not what they are saying G. the 10k they mention is for some new kit they only now say they require

[blackpoolhibs]

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To be fair here, the club attached a list to the e-mail they sent - I only got the text though



That's not what they are saying G. the 10k they mention is for some new kit they only now say they require

Thanks Brian, it seems to me somethings not quite right here? I used this service when i lived abroad, and loved it. Only once did i not receive the signal for a game.

This new camera and equipment cant cost that much, and am i right that you lads who live abroad have offered to purchase a camera free of charge for this use?

[PeeJay]

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Thanks Brian, it seems to me somethings not quite right here? I used this service when i lived abroad, and loved it. Only once did i not receive the signal for a game.

This new camera and equipment cant cost that much, and am i right that you lads who live abroad have offered to purchase a camera free of charge for this use?

Yeah, and we'll even put a team on the park, if they want ...

[blackpoolhibs]

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Yeah, and we'll even put a team on the park, if they want ...