Widnes Vikings can announce provisional plans to launch the new ‘Widnes TV’ subscription service, giving supporters unprecedented access to behind the scenes footage, full match replays and post-game analysis.
The club are aspiring to show home games in HD, record away footage where possible and also give supporters access to full match replays of Reserves and Academy fixtures, helping you keep an eye on the development of the next generation of the Vikings.
This launch also gives Vikings fans who have been supporting the club from a distance the opportunity to access full match footage, meaning they can continue to follow the fortunes of Widnes from afar.
Widnes TV will bring supporters closer to the club than they have ever been before, giving you the inside track on all things Vikings while gaining insight from players, staff and coaches in the lead up to game day.
Initially, the club will be gaining feedback from supporters regarding plans to launch the platform, with an email campaign being sent out to our mailing list which will include a short survey.
This is the latest attempt of the club to improve our media output, while also enhancing engagement with our supporters to provide a more exclusive insight into the Vikings.
Supporters wishing to subscribe to Widnes TV will be able to do so with a one-off payment of £50, working out at less than £1 a week, or could spread the cost with a second option of two £30 payments, ensuring you gain access to exclusive content.
The club are very keen to introduce this new initiative, and in order to do so have committed to providing quality footage for home games during the 2020 season. This means that the club will need to understand the level of demand ahead of the launch of this service.
Further information regarding the official launch of Widnes TV will be released in the coming days, and all supporters are advised to check their email inbox and spam/junk folder over the course of this week for additional news.
If you haven’t received an email, or are not on our mailing list, click on the below link to find our short survey.
Good stuff.
And before people start moaning (like they did with the 3rd shirt), nobody has to buy it.
Like the idea, I for one would be in, even if 500 people bought it for £50 apiece that's still £25000 minus costs-
Need to be innovative with income streams given the fact that the Salary Cap is affected by it and the TV deal uncertainty..
I haven't watched any sports club channel before, so have no idea how they work. Is it 24/7 broadcasting? Where will the content come from? Obviously they won't want to pad it out with old interviews of Denis...or maybe they will!😅
Great news I will definitely buy living so far away and can only go a few live games. Watching all games will be perfect.
I think it’s great idea and not something I’ve heard of before in RL.
I assume it will be web-based so my trusty old firestick would be perfect!
As a season ticket holder though, the real value for me would be away games. They don’t have to be live as long as I can watch them. I hope this works for them!
Several other Championship teams have their own "TV channel" (they are really just web pages showing lots of video content). My own team Featherstone's "RoversTV" package costs slightly more (it's £64.99 annually but has a discount for season ticket holders) but for that you get both full game recordings and highlights packages, post-game interviews with coach & sometimes players, and also live audio commentary on every game. You can see the setup at https://www.featherstonerovers.co.uk/roverstv/ though obviously only members can access any of the footage, obviously it much more limited when it initally launched.
Worth pointing out that the Sky deal prohibits broadcast of highlights until (if I remember rightly) 24 hours after the game is over and full game recordings until 48 hours after the game.
When RoversTV first came out a few fans complained at first that things that had previously been free (audio commentary and post-game interviews) were now only available as part of the subscription package, but most quickly realised that for about £1 a week they were getting much better coverage whilst also helping the club with income streams. Win/win.
I think it’s a great idea. Even though I’m only about 1.5hrs away, going to a “home” game for me means sacrificing a whole afternoon. Being able to watch the full game later on once the kids have gone to bed would be well worth the money. Avoiding looking at the score before that would be a challenge!
The rest of the footage would be an additional bonus, but I’d mainly be paying for the match footage.
Good stuff.
And before people start moaning (like they did with the 3rd shirt), nobody has to buy it.
This is a million miles away from bringing out more shirts and memorabilia
I think we would struggle to find anyone who thought this is a bad idea
I'm sure there are lots of people who live a good distance away who would love this, you can even catch up and watch games you miss if you're on holiday or working
Let's hope they get the numbers to get it up and running
Good stuff.
And before people start moaning (like they did with the 3rd shirt), nobody has to buy it.
This is a million miles away from bringing out more shirts and memorabilia
I think we would struggle to find anyone who thought this is a bad idea
I’m sure there are lots of people who live a good distance away who would love this, you can even catch up and watch games you miss if you’re on holiday or working
Let’s hope they get the numbers to get it up and running
There was literally people moaning about the price in reply to the club...
Someone said we should get it for free after 18 months of nothing... idiot 🤣
It's not something I'd be desperate to subscribe to - but there are plenty of people who will.
It sounds like it's going to be extremely resource heavy if you're uploading HD games and having people streaming them, so I hope there is a good hosting partner in place as that side of things is going to be critical to its success.
As has been said, even if 500 people want to pay £50 a year for it, it's all revenue for the club (presuming the running costs of it don't create too many overheads).
Fantastic idea, I for one will be signing up as living abroad makes it almost impossible to know how players are doing, the radio 📻 isn’t the same. Our league app has been good but not many widnes games, only 4 this season
If it is a success for Featherstone then surely it should be for a club with more fans. To be a success I presume we need so many to register, as there will be costs to run it too. So the price has also got to be correct, as I thought £60 if Featherstone charge £64.99.
Anyone heard anything more from the club as to when Widnes TV might be up & running?
can people pre sign up for it?