EFL Sky Ifollow

VitalWalsall reported this on twitter last night.

EFL reach mega-money deal with Sky Sports to allow clubs to stream every match of the 2020/21 season - reports.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8652447/EFL-make-huge-deal-Sky-Sports-allow-clubs-three-divisions-stream-match.html

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It’s in the Daily Heil, so probably totally made up. Would be good to keep clubs afloat, but cynically, I’d rather some of our more “leveraged” competitors went backwards.

It says that season ticket holders can watch for free, and the casual supporter will pay ÂŁ10 per game, how does that work if you have multiple season ticket holders in the same family? or if you have paid for the most expensive main stand season tickets rather than the cheaper choice/floors to go?

I had an e-mail telling me that my video season subscription is £140 or local currency equivalent, with at least 70% going to the club. It’s a win-win for me.

So if you want to stream all the home games do you still have to buy a season ticket? or a subscription package? and would you have to pay the ÂŁ10 to watch an away game?

I’m not sure how the system will work this season with the crowd restrictions but based on last season it covered all home and away league and cup games with the exception of The FA cup.

I purchased the subscription via my bank card linked to my account in Spain and In order to watch Saturday games when I’m in The UK I installed a VPN.

Overall it is a good offer for exiles as we can see games we wouldn’t otherwise see plus we are contributing financially to the club.

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Ifollow is a vital part of my Saturday’s during the season, it’s great to be able to watch the games live from my living room in Texas.

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Do you have the season subscription David?

No idea if you get anything extra for having a more expensive ST (maybe a choice of classical music instead of the dodgy canned crowd soundtrack?), but my mate and his missus are Albion ST holders who got a free pass each so he gave one to me to use for the run-in games. Was just a registration code that you can associate with your iFollow user account for the club (need separate ones for each club so had to register again for Albion’s even though I’m already signed up for ours). The code he forwarded to me was in an e-mail the club sent to him using the address he had given them when purchasing his ST, but that doesn’t have to match the one you use to set up the iFollow account nor does the name and address etc.

It only upgraded my basic (i.e free) WBA account (no change at all to my Saddlers one) to allow watching if the streamed games (away as well as home). Accessing all the other iFollow content was still restricted by the level of subscription you’ve taken out.

Guessing that it will be pretty similar for whatever they do for our games while we’re not let in, with non-ST holders able to pay game by game (or get a monthly or season pass). Once we’re able to watch in person they’ll probably revert to usual operation and restict streaming of Saturday at 3pm games to those outside of the UK (or using a VPN like @Belphegor describes).

BTW Can only use your iFollow account on 1 device at a time so you couldn’t share your code with several others, but if you have multiple ST holders in the same household who can watch it together on 1 devices then you could give the spares to selected mates.

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Or your selective mates could give you something for the code, giving good value to both :wink:

No wonder you’re a property magnate. :joy:

Get a free pass and sell it to someone for a profit. Any relation to Bonser? :wink:

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Do you have the season subscription David?

I do. It’s one of the few invoices I look forward to paying annually, and am grateful that I have the means to do so.

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I can understand that. I lived in Alabama for three years in the mid nineties, when the Internet was in its infancy. Although I loved the experience, it always seemed a long way from home, particularly with respect to Walsall FC.

Its good news if as i suspect we cannot attend games this side of Christmas hope that isnt the case and i am wrong.

If you read the article towards the bottom it actually says this:

As a result, the broadcaster will permit clubs to stream all games that were scheduled for live TV coverage without demanding any compensation as long as the majority of fans are excluded from grounds.

I think that the critical words here are that were scheduled for live TV coverage
That means we will be able to watch the sheff wed game but as for the rest I have my doubts we will be seeing anything other than iFollow.

Do Sky have any rights over the matches which they’re not due to schedule for live coverage? I’d be surprised if their contract with the efl gives them the right to block matches which they haven’t paid to show.

I can understand that. I lived in Alabama for three years in the mid nineties, when the Internet was in its infancy. Although I loved the experience, it always seemed a long way from home, particularly with respect to Walsall FC.

The thing for me about watching live matches, it feels like I’ve just walked into the Banks’s and have taken my seat. It kind of reconnects me back to the club and the town for a couple of hours.

There are things I miss about England, football being one of them. The weather, certainly not!
Though having two hurricanes in the Gulf right now is a reason to be cautious. Flooding is a huge problem where I live, any sustained , heavy rainfall, we are better off in boats than cars.

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I know lower league clubs are cash-strapped, but £10 per game seems very expensive to me. That’s going to be at least £40 a month, which is a lot more than most TV subscription services that provide way more content for your money.

Were it £5 per game I’d be interested, but having lost my job as a result of the pandemic it’s just too much for me unfortunately.

Guess it’s something to pick and choose like attending away games in person would be. It’s great to have the option. The highlights will still be available for free after the game on YouTube, Sky Football app etc and the highlights programme will be on Quest.

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They have extended highlights for free on iFollow as well, just need to sign up to iFollow on OS.

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