2014 WEC Livestream

[Coopz21 x]

So when can we buy these "passes" then? lol nothing on the WEC site that i can see..

[Paradise City]

Its very ignorant and contemptible to announce on top of the race that they are suddenly going to levy a charge.

It's another matter taking your fans aside and carefully explaining the situation a month in advance, in January or at the end of last season ideally. I'd disagree with it but I'd respect that. I don't respect this.

Just to restate, internet gives often choppy streaming even in ideal places. Handing over cash, just so I can boil over in frustration, is a position I refuse to put myself in. End of.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

"perhaps you have to see how far race entry fees for competitors *don't* go before you can get your head around why we, as supporters, need to contribute towards the tv coverage we want."

Competitor entry fees are not part of this. They go towards a small portion of the purse if anything. Sponsorship and commercial sales is where the money for media is raised and generated. The cost for live streaming ins miniscule compared to what the series should be generating via its millions of TV viewers.

in smaller races, tv money very much come from the entry fees from competitors. the sponsorship money simply isn't enough to cover anything serious. like people saying "they should put adverts in to pay for it" - not gonna raise much, if any money at all. if you really look at f1 coverage adverts the adverts are mostly for companies that are already directly involved with the sport. you may well find that no money exchanges hands for any of the television coverage. smaller events actually pay tv channels to broadcast their series.

Originally Posted by Maelochs

The key phrase you use is "the tv coverage we want." As I said, I need to be a careful shopper. I want to know exactly what the FIA/WEC is asking me to pay for.

i'm a careful shopper too. i don't have sky either on television or their online subscription, and i have a shared autosport subscription with my mum. last year i would have happily paid a token amount - which 20€ a season is - for a season pass to watch the coverage wec was offering on their live stream. i know i can't get much else in terms of motorsport online for that. is a season of 6 hour races worth 20€? i think so. it's less than the cost of a raceday ticket for the british touring cars for example.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Has Hindy praised this new brave decision (or proposal) yet? Wouldn't be overly surprised TBH

Assuming RLM will remain as the commentary track, he is going to bash this as much as he criticizes Nissan.

[Skemer]

Is a season of 6 hour races worth 20€?
Let me think.I pay 20 euro's a month for 70 TV channels,20 of those are HD albeit incl commercials on most of them.That said you can understand why if find this a bit on the high side,especially for the first season of pay per view.
Another thing is,there is no mention of this on the WEC site,and i find this lack of interest in clearly informing your fans and new viewers about this even lower than amateurish.

[deggis]

The price should be compared similar services and I'd say the price is pretty high. And these services I am comparing to are way more established platforms (every event (game) is shown, ondemand etc) and from a way more mainstream (non-motorsport) series. If Le Mans was included, would be a bit more acceptable just by calculating the hours/euros rate.

[valedave]

On-demand catch-up (or "re-live" or whatever) is an absolute deal-breaker for me here. I want to know I can still watch races without spending 6 hours of my Sunday sitting in front of the computer.

Why, for the love of god, have they waited so long to announce this?

[deggis]

Originally Posted by valedave

Why, for the love of god, have they waited so long to announce this?

Anyone got better reason suggestions than pure incompetence?

[Rodger Davies]

:tumbleweed:

[wdave0]

Wow am I disappointed! I watched the excretia that passed for live feed of Daytona, paid to go to Sebring and was thoroughly fleeced, I was really looking forward to some of this race free with my morning coffee, and if good, lunch too. Paying is unlikely at best, absolutely not on without knowing what I'd be buying. This late and information free announcement is incredibly unprofessional.

OTOH, others, NASCAR and INDY I think, offer a premium race watching experience separate from other streaming, extra resolution, pit radios, more commentary etc. Could this be such a service and the regular stream still intact?

[NelisB]

I'd be happy to pay for something I really enjoy, but how am I suppose to pay through the app store when I don't have a creditcard and I'm not able to buy playstore credits in the netherlands. Not really thought out this is.

[deggis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmmFLkr8NR8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...osports.andwec

https://itunes.apple.com/UK/app/id852396979

Premium Season Pack:

LIVE
It includes FULL LIVE of the 7 races and qualifying sessions. The best way to be part of the race at the heart of the action wherever you are!

LIVE TIMING
Access to the FULL LIVE TIMING including best laps, position in category, gaps, average speed, pits, category filter… The marshalling system will allow you to know the location of each car on the track!

ONBOARD
Access to onboard camera. Select your favorite car and follow the race from inside the cockpit.

The live timing marketing text above, so advanced! Literally the same than it was previously and not even split times- And when you have to use "etc..." you know the feature list is short

[Maelochs]

So ... this app only works on iPhones and Android phones? What about my PC, which is the only place i'd ever bother watching a race (though I would use live timing trackside.)

I don't see any application for a Windows PC.

I must be too old to watch WEC racing.

[aneesh99]

I'm not sure some people are actually getting the problem here...

It's not a problem that I/we have to pay for it. It's a problem that someone not as sports car crazy DOES.

There isn't anything that mythical about the casual fan, or motorsport fan that wants to check out some other racing. Why the hell would the WEC think that a fan that want's to see what the lark is about will pay for it? Do you pay for taster sessions at the gym? Or at the activity centre? Or for your first dance class? No, because 'you' haven't established that you like it, and last time I checked, people don't want to spend money on something they may or may not like.

It's not exactly privileged knowledge that you need to bring in new teams and new fans to grow. I'll put my soap box away now

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by bella

last year i would have happily paid a token amount - which 20€ a season is - for a season pass to watch the coverage wec was offering on their live stream. i know i can't get much else in terms of motorsport online for that. is a season of 6 hour races worth 20€? i think so. it's less than the cost of a raceday ticket for the british touring cars for example.

You may well say that, but I want something for nothing.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

So ... this app only works on iPhones and Android phones? What about my PC, which is the only place i'd ever bother watching a race (though I would use live timing trackside.)

I don't see any application for a Windows PC.

I must be too old to watch WEC racing.

I'm actually starting to think that this whole premium thing is only for mobiles, leaving the race stream for free to view on desktop... There was no native way to watch the stream on mobiles previously, so this would not be exactly taking anything away from there. *wishful thinking*

[Spyderman]

I think you are correct.

[Maelochs]

I was coming to the same conclusion before i read your last post--this seems to be an added service for mobile users aside from the regular streaming---though I don't understand which parts would be free and which, premium. I don't see anything about that on either of the app pages.

I must say, FIA/WEC could certainly benefit form a marketing person. So far this launch of whatever it is has been bungled so badly it nearly meets TUSC standards.

I guess I will find out early tomorrow morning when I try to watch first free practice, whether or not online streaming to PCs is still offered.

[TF110]

Vipbox has no fee. But they have pop ups... decisions decisions

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by TF110

Vipbox has no fee. But they have pop ups... decisions decisions

I'd honestly only recommend VipBox if you have really good anti-virus and internet security (better than the likes of Norton or McA) because some of those pop ops are unavoidable and carry Trojans and other malware.

[TF110]

I welcome an alternative! The pop ups are annoying but haven't gave me any virus.

[blankfile]

turn off addblock when you open the page so you can view on vipbox and hten turn it on again. no more popups

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by TF110

I welcome an alternative! The pop ups are annoying but haven't gave me any virus.

Check /r/WEC on reddit. One of the mods has a plan if the desktop web stream is behind a pay wall

[blankfile]

fiawec/live seems to have no more 404 error, the hope is still there for no fee on what we had last year!

edit: nvm was looking at the no race page grr

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by deggis

Assuming RLM will remain as the commentary track, he is going to bash this as much as he criticizes Nissan.

He'll make sure to tell us how great it apparently is along with the quality of racing in races he always covers.