Live World Cup and World Champs. no longer free-to-view

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tk421a said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMAN27jXQ2k

US VPN works for this. Can't see qualifiers on there. Similar streams for Mens / Finals available.
Started the 7 day free trial. I can now see this.
 
tk421a said:
Can't see qualifiers on there.
Just as previous years, qualis won't be streamed. Not sure why they don't - maybe too long and chaotic to bother covering?
 
Pretty incredible that not only is the live stream now paywalled, but the "highlights" video below is unbelievably poor! It starts okay with a bit of an intro, and then it's simply 3 minutes of slow-mo footage to a rubbish guitar sound track. No context, no commentary, nothing to tell you who did what or which big names missed out on semis. Ridiculous.

https://youtu.be/xz65RRjUwh4
 
I might be a bit biased as I love cycling but the £40 (actually £20 this year) for a Eurosport subscription is an absolute bargain. Tour of Flanders last week was epic, Tour of Basque today was brilliant, Amstel Gold tomorrow it goes on and on. Between Eurosport and Quest that is all my TV viewing covered. The climbing is just a bonus.
 
Bradders said:
Pretty incredible that not only is the live stream now paywalled, but the "highlights" video below is unbelievably poor!
I left a comment on the video (I'm ES) about the same thing which, judging by the number of votes, is a popular opinion. Hopefully the IFSC at least notice the unhappy comments - it was a truly awful summary of something we're unable to watch in any other way.
 
wasbeen said:
I might be a bit biased as I love cycling but the £40 (actually £20 this year) for a Eurosport subscription is an absolute bargain. Tour of Flanders last week was epic, Tour of Basque today was brilliant, Amstel Gold tomorrow it goes on and on. Between Eurosport and Quest that is all my TV viewing covered. The climbing is just a bonus.
I’m in the same boat - I pay the annual amount basically so I can watch the spring classics. It was pretty much worth it for Tour of Flanders alone this year.

That said, currently watching a replay of the final and never thought I’d hear myself say it, but bring back Matt Groom! The Eurosport commentator is appalling. The best bit of commentary so far on W1 was the commentator saying that the route setter envisaged the climber dropping to their knees on the yellow volume for the last move. I presume they meant using a drop knee, but the uninitiated are going to be very confused!
 
I just realised that Eurosport is included with Amazon Prime, albeit I can't find the women's final just the semi :-\

Matt Groom is commentating the semi at least Stabbsy.
 
Good to here Eurosport is included with Prime membership. How do we access this Nick?

Also, turns out my free Discovery+ membership is Entertainment package only :wank:

If anyone can give a heads up on when finals go live on YouTube it would be appreciated
 
Sorry, my bad. I must have added Eurosport as a channel to my Prime subscription for the Olympics and then forgot to cancel if ::) It's £6.99 extra a month :wall:
 
If it helps, the bloke who did the Olympic commentary is back again. The drop knee thing Stabbsy mentioned was jaw dropping, pretty sure he has no idea what a drop knee is.

He also said the angle of the first problem was "17' from parallel".... :slap:

The worst bit though is he's not accompanied by the usual athlete co-commentator!
 
Fanny Gibert is the first competitor I've seen to post something about the streaming situ. She's got something on her FB (and presumably Instagram) story currently about how it's bad, sharing the words of someone else - Nico Januel?

Could be the start of more athletes speaking out about it?
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcJEf2aNukY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Assume it's this?
Nico is a French team coach btw.

I don't get the bit about the IFSC giving the athletes the money, assume it's sarcasm?
 
I'm not on Instagram, but I believe that's the one.

Yeah I think it must be sarcasm - only way it would make sense?

If he's a coach, then maybe we can expect more from the French team on the matter.
 
OTOH, Stasa Gejo, probably one of the most active on social media, has just posted that she doesn't see what the fuss is about, which seems pretty short sighted.
 
Here is the text:

World Cup climbers,

I am very surprised to see the absence of reactions about the streaming. Today was a disaster for you.

Even in football it's difficult to sell subscriptions.

You will become invisible to the climbing world.

In few times you're not going to interest
any sponsors anymore.

You are the losers in this story while you are the main actors.

Our sport is not at all mature enough to
have paid diffusion.

Fortunately, Ifsc will give you back all TV rights money.

Keep fighting guys!!!!
 
Duma said:
OTOH, Stasa Gejo, probably one of the most active on social media, has just posted that she doesn't see what the fuss is about, which seems pretty short sighted.

That does seem incredible. Is she at all accommodating of the angry fans' opinions? Implying people should just get over it is not a way to gain any sort of popularity.
 
edshakey said:
Looks like it'll still be free outside of Europe. Sounds like a major flaw on the IFSC's part, much easier to get around this way. I'm still hopefully for a U turn but given how large the deal probably is, it seems a bit unlikely.

Great, should be free in the UK then?
 
So apparently the comps are available free with 24hr delay on the Olympic channel? Where/what is this? The discovery+ that I got and then cancelled for the Olympics doesn't work on my TV anymore (not supported (the TV is 2016 FFS!))
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcLYrenDo2P/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Alex Waterhouse IG post
Text reads:

A few weeks ago, the IFSC announced that this Discovery had acquired the rights to this year's World Cup livestreams, and the live broadcast would be put behind a paywall in Europe and some other countries. Replays of the streams will be available 24 hours later on YouTube, and spectators in the US will still be able to view the live stream as normal. The IFSC attempted to pull off a similar deal in 2017 with FloSport, but this was reneged after significant pushback from fans and athletes.

Yesterday, I put up a story asking my followers who normally watch comps (a particularly engaged set of fans keen enough to follow someone yet to make a WC final!) how they planned to watch the stream this weekend. Over half of the respondents weren't going to watch at all. Of those willing to make the effort in a paywalled country, over 75% are going tune into the USA steam via a VPN and only a fraction are going to subscribe to Discovery/Eurosport. This is far from a comprehensive study, but the numbers point to a very worrying trend that could threaten the future of the sport. Extrapolated, this equates to tens or hundreds of thousands of people less watching the comp live. Climbing's viewership is growing fast, and adding in extra hurdles is going to limit that massively. Core fans will probably still watch, but it'll be hard to convince someone on the fence to take the plunge and purchase a subscription.

Most comp climbers in the UK at least are self funded. I am really lucky to work with sponsors as that is the only way to support my international career, and I want to be able to support them in return as much as possible. I am struggling to see how this deal supports that. I think we need to start a conversation and hear from the IFSC and Discovery how they plan to grow the sport over the next years until Paris and beyond. Everything has its teething issues, but the direction is worrying and the decisions are happening behind closed doors and with limited athlete input. I believe the IFSC has the best interest of our sport in mind, but I'm worried that this is will be a damaging decision for fans and athletes without significant improvement in the quality of the presentation.
The IFSC, setters, organizers and athletes put on a heck of a show this weekend in Meiringen. One of the best comps to watch in a long time! I just want that, and climbing, to be enjoyed by as many people as possible across the world, and I think conversations like these are an important part of that.
 

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