- August 24th, 2017, 9:10 am
#535261
http://www.fbschedules.com/2017/08/stad ... book-2017/
Without a conference affiliation, LFSN will be on it's own in 2018. This opens up some interesting avenues for LFSN to make broadcasting contracts. Stadium is a new network that has some strong partners behind it. The have agreed to carry nearly 30 G5 games this season with 15 of them being live streamed on Facebook. ESPN is largely seen as a sinking ship because of overpaying for every football market and making bad PC decisions as of late.
The NFL has been partnering with Twitter and Yahoo for the free streaming of select games and it was obvious Twitter was ready to handle the burden of the network traffic.
The question becomes, who does LFSN syndicate with?
NBC Sports is a strong option that is in a lot of homes already. It won't require a smart TV or any other smart set top box. It is a recognized name and can make regional contracts as well. NBCSports is also known for having the highest quality video feed of most major sports networks.
Fox College Sports is another interesting option. They are picking up where ESPN is failing, however their regional network coverage is spotty at best. Here in Lynchburg, finding a FCS provider is nearly impossible. Comcast is the largest cable provider in the area and does not carry FCS.
Streaming independently. Liberty recently launched the Liberty University app on Roku. It is easy to use, streams live TV, and has every convocation easily accessible. This is a viable option IF a large scale advertising campaign is waged.
Streaming with a social media network. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Stadium, Yahoo, and others have began streaming live sports. Piggybacking on their bandwidth capabilities will help long term, however I don't think this makes sense in the short term as I don't believe our viewership is large enough to crash what we are independently capable of. If Liberty does choose to use one of these platforms, they will need ways to guarantee picture quality without paying too much. Last year a few basketball games were carried on Facebook. I watched these games because of how accessible they were. Not because I follow basketball.
I think LFSN needs to find a way to get into as many hands as possible without charging a dime in the short term. The base needs to grow over the next few years. While there is money to be had in TV contracts, I believe that exposure to the university and its teams is far more valuable.
Without a conference affiliation, LFSN will be on it's own in 2018. This opens up some interesting avenues for LFSN to make broadcasting contracts. Stadium is a new network that has some strong partners behind it. The have agreed to carry nearly 30 G5 games this season with 15 of them being live streamed on Facebook. ESPN is largely seen as a sinking ship because of overpaying for every football market and making bad PC decisions as of late.
The NFL has been partnering with Twitter and Yahoo for the free streaming of select games and it was obvious Twitter was ready to handle the burden of the network traffic.
The question becomes, who does LFSN syndicate with?
NBC Sports is a strong option that is in a lot of homes already. It won't require a smart TV or any other smart set top box. It is a recognized name and can make regional contracts as well. NBCSports is also known for having the highest quality video feed of most major sports networks.
Fox College Sports is another interesting option. They are picking up where ESPN is failing, however their regional network coverage is spotty at best. Here in Lynchburg, finding a FCS provider is nearly impossible. Comcast is the largest cable provider in the area and does not carry FCS.
Streaming independently. Liberty recently launched the Liberty University app on Roku. It is easy to use, streams live TV, and has every convocation easily accessible. This is a viable option IF a large scale advertising campaign is waged.
Streaming with a social media network. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Stadium, Yahoo, and others have began streaming live sports. Piggybacking on their bandwidth capabilities will help long term, however I don't think this makes sense in the short term as I don't believe our viewership is large enough to crash what we are independently capable of. If Liberty does choose to use one of these platforms, they will need ways to guarantee picture quality without paying too much. Last year a few basketball games were carried on Facebook. I watched these games because of how accessible they were. Not because I follow basketball.
I think LFSN needs to find a way to get into as many hands as possible without charging a dime in the short term. The base needs to grow over the next few years. While there is money to be had in TV contracts, I believe that exposure to the university and its teams is far more valuable.