IIHF World Championships: IIHF Bins Live YouTube Streams

In a shocking turn of events, the IIHF has turned around and stopped the free live broadcasts of the World Championships. The decision, is according to an IIHF statement, based on some fans in the geoblocked countries bypassing the blocking mechanism to watch the games, rather than use services provided by TV rights holders. The games will still be shown for free via YouTube, but with a 30 minute delay to the service, which negates the point of watching the games.

 

The World Championships have been a total farce from start to finish and this is the last nail in the coffin. The free YouTube streams were a step forwards in exposing the sport and the sponsors of the games to a whole new audience, whilst extending the service to those who wanted to follow their nation play, but lived in a country where there was no TV deal in place. The release by IIHF cites that “today’s step was taken to prevail illegal attempts to access the streaming countries that were geoblocked due to exclusive contracts.” I’m sorry, but bypassing a geoblock is not illegal. It may not be ethical, but it is by no stretch of imagination illegal. It’s a complete disgrace to the IIHF that they have blocked a service that was enjoyed by the fans, regardless of the fact whether some users bypassed the blocking mechanisms in place. Furthermore, I can’t believe that an organisation like the IIHF is so out of touch with the internet that they thought that a geoblock would work. What the IIHF has failed to realise is that as long as something is broadcast on to the web, whether by an “authorised” TV provider, the feed will ultimately end up in the Internet where users like myself can watch it for free. So my question is why block it on that premise? Surely the best way to tackle the issue of illegal streams is to do what the IIHF did in the first place, by offering a free, high quality stream of the games.

 

The official statement read: Bruno Marty, Excecutive Director Wintersports, said: “We deeply regret that we have to take this step, in particular for all the ice hockey followers out there who just want to enjoy the games online on YouTube. However, we currently see no other option to protect the existing media rights agreements with our broadcast partners, as some so called fans decided not to play fair and to illegally surpass existing copyright and geoblocking mechanism.”

 

I have a feeling that the geoblocking has nothing to do with the fact the games were pulled. I have a feeling that broadcasters in countries where the rights have switched hands (I’m looking at Finland here) have kicked up a fuss, because the live streams took away customers from the pay for channels. What makes the IIHF think that the users who have been watching the games via YouTube will suddenly flock to a TV provider and pay an arm and a leg for a viewing pack?

 

What’s surprising even further is that the IIHF has not even brought in an option it has hosted previous years and allow users to buy a country pass or a tournament pass to watch the games. That way users could at least still watch, what the IIHF calls legal streams, and make a profit out of it on the side. Delaying the games by 30 minutes just negates the point of watching a game! What is the point when you have an app for a phone that tells you the score. Wake the hell up IIHF.

 

Like I said these world championships have been a total farce from the start, with the ticket prices and price slashes and free ticket giveaways. All the while Rene Fasel and the organisers have talked about a great brand they have to protect, but this decision sees the IIHF take the brand and wipe its ass with it!

 

It’s completely puzzling how the KHL can show the entire regular season via YouTube, including playoffs, and have no trouble with it? How can the IIHF find this context so hard and difficult?

 

I will conclude this post on this picture as it is now more pertinent than ever (With thanks to Esko Seppanen and Urheilulehti). My parting thoughts would be to curse at the IIHF, but what’s the point?

 

IIHF World Championships: Sweden Giving Away Free Tickets

Sweden brings out big guns to fill the rafters at Globen.Even after the recent price cuts at the games, the audience numbers have not improved. This has lead to the organisers giving away free tickets to Stockholm’s junior hockey teams/players.

The free tickets will be handed out for this weekend’s games and will exclude Sweden’s game and the Russia vs Czech Republic game. The aim of the initiative is to improve the atmosphere in the arena. “Naturally we want fans to come and see Sweden play, but at the same time we don’t want to have the rest of the teams to play to an empty stadium,” said the Swedish hockey association’s chairman Christer Englund.

As reported before, the ticket prices in both Finland and Sweden have raised a lot of discussion. Sweden already slashed the prices by 70% after Friday’s Sweden vs Norway game was played to a half capacity Globen.

 

 

IIHF World Championships: Headline Sponsor Considering Investment

If the IIHF World Championships haven’t received enough negative press due to the high ticket prices and the near empty arenas, further devastation for the games came as the headline sponsor Skoda is considering its investment with the games.

Skoda has been the headline sponsor of the World Championships for twenty years and has become synonymous with the games. Year on year Skoda has displayed its latest models at the games and was most recently one of the parties that brought the World Championships games on to YouTube. Finnish tabloid Ilta-Lehti has quoted Skoda’s Swedish PR chief Mikael Sandberg who said that “the spectator numbers have been below expectations and as the headline sponsor we need to react. What exactly will happen, I don’t know.”

According to Swedish Dagens Media news portal, Skoda is blaming the organisers of the games for the high ticket prices, which have been sited for the low attendance at the games. However, Skoda has apparently been pleased over the decision to lower the ticket prices.

 

(Edit) According to the Finnish representative for Skoda, Helkama Auto, Skoda has an agreement with the IIHF until 2017. Though the Finnish and Swedish offices don’t really have a say in whether or not Skoda will review its sponsorship strategy, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the company decided to review its investment after the current world championships. Where it is likely that Skoda will be on board until 2017, it might look at 2012 as a turning point of the agreement, specially as the 2013 IIHF world championships will be hosted by Sweden and Finland again.

 

The second headline sponsor of the IIHF World Championships, Kyocera, is more careful about its assessment and critique as Bo Gustavson, director of marketing for the Nordics said “Obviously we want there to be as many spectators as possible. Unfortunately, we can’t control the ticket prices for the games.”

Losing the main sponsor would be a heavy blow to the World Championships as I for one have become to associate Skoda with hockey and the World Championships. IF the worst case scenario takes place, it will be a tough job finding a new headline sponsor in the current climate. Though having said that, even DHL forked out a dumb amount of money to have its logo appear on the Manchester United training kit, so I guess if the World Championships brand appeals to a company anything is possible. I have to get a snipe in here and say that with these ticket prices, it would be fitting if the headline sponsor was a luxury goods company.

Since Finland announced new ticket gategories (Fan package and Family Package) to the Finland vs France game and Finland vs Kazakhstan game, the ticket sales has picked up. Infact the organisers reported that the game against France has been sold out and that there were only a few tickets remaining for the Kazakhstan game (reported yesterday).

However, in Globen, the game between Czech Republic and Norway saw only 800 spectators fill the seats. Norway’s Mads Hansen said “It was boring. I’ve played in several World Championship games, but this felt like an exhibition game somewhere in the Italian alps. Sweden is a hockey country and I would’ve expected more than this.”

It will be interesting to see how the arenas fill up with the reduced prices. 800 spectators at an international tournament is a bit of a travesty. I’ve seen more spectators than that in some bush league games.

IIHF World Championships: Sweden reduces ticket prices by 70%

After the huge backlash on the ticket prices at both Helsinki and Stockholm games, and after the embarrasement of attendance numbers in both Helsinki andStockholm, the Swedes have reacted to the critique and have slashed the ticket prices for the rest of the games by 70%.

For the remainder of the games the ticket prices at the Sockholm games are in the region of €44 (previous prices were at €145). Those fans who had purchased their tickets to the rafters at Globen for th Sweden vs Czech Republic game, will have the opportunity to move closer to the ice level.

Organiser, Christer Eglund said “We could have made more of a profit if we would’ve kept the prices as they were, as the World Championships boom would grow as the games progress. However, we have one of the greatest brands to protect and therefore we are eager to effer all supporters the opportunity to enjoy the games.”

The reaction comes after the first four games at Globen were watched only by an audience of 8,000. Seriously, 8,000 fans across four games. You do the math and the averages, but in either case it is bad!

Even Swedish superstar Henrik Zetterberg criticised the ticket prices. “It is an embarrasement and sad that only a small number of spectators turn up. The fault is not with the audience. With these prices families will not turn up at the arena to follow hockey.”

There has been no news as yet whether Finland will follow suit.