Royals on the Box/Internet Thread

[Silver Fox]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... per-season

New Sky deal means there will be 5 championship and 5 League 1 & 2 games live every weekend and all non Saturday at 3 games will be shown live, I think from what I can make out on a replacement for the red button. iFollow is no longer a thing for domestic fans.

It does say there will be more notice for time changes, but doesn't say exactly how much, but that's nice I guess

[Stranded]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12873679/sky-sports-agrees-new-five-year-efl-deal-over-1000-matches-per-season

New Sky deal means there will be 5 championship and 5 League 1 & 2 games live every weekend and all non Saturday at 3 games will be shown live, I think from what I can make out on a replacement for the red button. iFollow is no longer a thing for domestic fans.

It does say there will be more notice for time changes, but doesn't say exactly how much, but that's nice I guess

Am sure I read somewhere that the plan is to announce all games that will be live up to the New Year by the end of June.

I can only assume that 1 Champ game and 1 L1/L2 game will be on at the same time else there will be some crazy time slots and not enough time to show 10 games Fri through Mon separately.

I know in Austria they do show a 2nd division game live at 10.30am on Sunday mornings though. So who knows - Sunday games at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm. With 1 match on Friday evening, 3 on Saturday (12.30, 17.30 and 20.00) and 1 on Monday evening.

[Silver Fox]

Yeah, reckon there will definitely be games on at the same time, even the Championship games might have some overlap

[The Royal Forester]

So, what will happen to Royals TV, both visual and audio, does anyone know?

[Wycombe Royal]

So, what will happen to Royals TV, both visual and audio, does anyone know?

No change to outside UK offering, in the UK only audio will be available.

[Sutekh]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12873679/sky-sports-agrees-new-five-year-efl-deal-over-1000-matches-per-season

New Sky deal means there will be 5 championship and 5 League 1 & 2 games live every weekend and all non Saturday at 3 games will be shown live, I think from what I can make out on a replacement for the red button. iFollow is no longer a thing for domestic fans. So expect some silly ko times on Saturdays and Sundays from next season.

It does say there will be more notice for time changes, but doesn't say exactly how much, but that's nice I guess

Am sure I read somewhere that the plan is to announce all games that will be live up to the New Year by the end of June.

I can only assume that 1 Champ game and 1 L1/L2 game will be on at the same time else there will be some crazy time slots and not enough time to show 10 games Fri through Mon separately.

I know in Austria they do show a 2nd division game live at 10.30am on Sunday mornings though. So who knows - Sunday games at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm. With 1 match on Friday evening, 3 on Saturday (12.30, 17.30 and 20.00) and 1 on Monday evening.

Before the season starts I believe is the intention. Reading's game with Wrexham (like all Wrexham's games) is bound to be live as will any games v Sheff Wed and/or Brum.

The essence of the deal is 1,000+ matches either broadcast on television or streamed each season, starting from 2024-25.

More matches will be available to stream, with six games across the Championship, League One and League Two each weekend set to begin at 12:30 each Saturday.

In total, 1,059 FL matches are set to be broadcast every season - four times more than now.

There will be 10 live EFL fixtures shown every weekend, with five from the Championship and five from League One and League Two.

All opening, midweek and final-day Football League matches will be shown live/streamed, as will all games played on Bank Holidays and League One and Two matches that are held during international breaks.

For the duration of the new 4 year deal, each season Sky Sports will broadcast a minimum of:

328 Championship matches
248 League One matches
248 League Two matches
All 15 play-off matches
All 93 Carabao Cup matches
All 127 EFL Trophy matches

L1 and L2 teams will each get 25% more money than under the current deal (not as much as the 46% increase for Chumpionship clubs of course).

Games played between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays will remain blacked out despite the FL being willing to consider lifting that particular embargo.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

This isn't at all good for fans that watch live football even with the proposed notice, one of the good things about this season has been 3 o'clock kick offs and midweek games not live which kills attendances.

So next season we will have around 8 midweek games all live, all cup games and assuming of the 5 Sat games they do 3 L1 and 2 L2 that's all things being equal 9 or 10 Sat games rescheduled.

Maybe fewer of course as FC Hollywood will be on most weeks and if someone big comes down like Sheff W, but we are still one of the bigger sides in L1 to counter that.

[Clyde1998]

This isn't at all good for fans that watch live football even with the proposed notice, one of the good things about this season has been 3 o'clock kick offs and midweek games not live which kills attendances.

So next season we will have around 8 midweek games all live, all cup games and assuming of the 5 Sat games they do 3 L1 and 2 L2 that's all things being equal 9 or 10 Sat games rescheduled.

Maybe fewer of course as FC Hollywood will be on most weeks and if someone big comes down like Sheff W, but we are still one of the bigger sides in L1 to counter that.

I was going to have a look what their TV viewing ratings were this season, but BARB stopped publishing the top ten most watched programmes for TV channels in the past few years.

They appeared in the League Cup first round against Wigan, but since then they've only been picked for a League Two once of the seven matches Sky have broadcast (and that was a couple of weeks ago in a promotion clash against Mansfield).

League Two clubs by TV matches (2023-24):
Mansfield - 3 (vs Notts Co; Colchester; Holywood)
Bradford - 2 (vs Grimsby; Notts Co)
Notts Co - 2 (vs Mansfield; Bradford)
Stockport - 2 (vs Salford; Milton Keynes)
Colchester - 1 (vs Mansfield)
Grimsby - 1 (vs Bradford)
Milton Keynes - 1 (vs Stockport)
Salford - 1 (vs Stockport)
Holywood - 1 (vs Mansfield)

Makes me think their viewing ratings aren't massively different to most other League Two clubs. They probably wouldn't've been picked at all in the league if they weren't in a promotion battle.

Most of the League Two games earlier in the season took place during the international break, when all Championship and most League One teams weren't playing. Only in the past month have League Two games been shown, all involving at least one promotion chasing side.

For completeness, here's League One:

League One clubs by TV matches (2023-24):
Derby - 4 (vs Peterborough; Fleetwood; Burton; Portsmouth)
Portsmouth - 3 (vs Exeter; Bolton; Derby)
Bolton - 2 (vs Portsmouth; Oxford)
Burton - 2 (vs Cambridge; Derby)
Cambridge - 2 (vs Reading; Burton)
Oxford - 2 (vs Bolton; Stevenage)
Peterborough - 2 (vs Derby; Stevenage)
Stevenage - 2 (vs Peterborough; Oxford)
Exeter - 1 (vs Portsmouth)
Fleetwood - 1 (vs Derby)
Reading - 1 (vs Cambridge)

Burton vs Cambridge seems a bit odd at first glance, but that was during an international period - so it's unlikely any other League One game could be played at that time slot.

[Delboy]

Just buy IPN Vanish for $30 per annum, log into Luxembourg then into Royals tv all games home and away £10 each

[RG30]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

[Stranded]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

It is but doesn't the extra cash from the new deal more than cover those losses?

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

It is but doesn't the extra cash from the new deal more than cover those losses?

You'd hope so, Stranded. I don't know how these negotiations work but presumably it was voted on by the clubs?

[RoyalBlue]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

Look forward to the club's SM channels discretely promoting Nord VPN again then!

Incidentally, they are likely to sell a few less season passes to supporters in the US next year as all Sky televised games are allocated to ESPN other there so Royals TV video stream is not available there on those occasions (although I guess they might be able to use VPN to change location? - not sure whether their accounts and access are linked to their payment/account address).

[Stranded]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

Look forward to the club's SM channels discretely promoting Nord VPN again then!

Incidentally, they are likely to sell a few less season passes to supporters in the US next year as all Sky televised games are allocated to ESPN other there so Royals TV video stream is not available there on those occasions (although I guess they might be able to use VPN to change location? - not sure whether their accounts and access are linked to their payment/account address).

I'm pretty sure this 1000 game deal is domestic only, I'd be amazed in any international broadcaster will take a deal for so many games, esp non Champ games unless they essentially get them for "free".

[Vision]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

Look forward to the club's SM channels discretely promoting Nord VPN again then!

Incidentally, they are likely to sell a few less season passes to supporters in the US next year as all Sky televised games are allocated to ESPN other there so Royals TV video stream is not available there on those occasions (although I guess they might be able to use VPN to change location? - not sure whether their accounts and access are linked to their payment/account address).

I would assume the vast majority of people would buy a season long pass which didn't include FA Cup games last season.

It represents really good value with or without cup games so not sure it will make any difference to those in the US really. It's really just the online equivalent of buying in person season tickets which don't include cup games either.

[RoyalBlue]

A disaster for any match going fans who face the inconvenience of early kick-off times in order to accommodate live TV and also for the club who will be worse off.

I've heard RoyalsTV is a nice revenue generator for them, particularly on a midweek when a number of STH's won't attend home matches but will stay pay the £10 to watch from home which is a double win considering the up front cost they've already paid for a ticket. Now that revenue stream has gone.

Look forward to the club's SM channels discretely promoting Nord VPN again then!

Incidentally, they are likely to sell a few less season passes to supporters in the US next year as all Sky televised games are allocated to ESPN other there so Royals TV video stream is not available there on those occasions (although I guess they might be able to use VPN to change location? - not sure whether their accounts and access are linked to their payment/account address).

I'm pretty sure this 1000 game deal is domestic only, I'd be amazed in any international broadcaster will take a deal for so many games, esp non Champ games unless they essentially get them for "free".

That's a fair point (and hopefully that's the case). I don't know what deal ESPN have with Sky but they seem to mirror their football/soccer offering, so I fear that may continue.

[Snowflake Royal]

Just buy IPN Vanish for $30 per annum, log into Luxembourg then into Royals tv all games home and away £10 each

Why pay £10 each (£460) when you can buy a season pass for £140?

[Wisconsin Royal]

In the US, if you have RoyalsTV and ESPN+ you basically can see every game.

[Crowbar6753]

Hi Guys, I have a feeling i have missed the news regarding "Reading TV/IFollow" so i'm in Canada and have had the pleasure of being able to watch the games for the past three seasons.
Is there going to be anything in place this season for fans living abroad? or have SKy taken this service away from us altogether?
Last season between Reading Tv and DAZN i only missed 2 games if i remember correctly, totally gutted if we have lost this service.

[Snowflake Royal]

Hi Guys, I have a feeling i have missed the news regarding "Reading TV/IFollow" so i'm in Canada and have had the pleasure of being able to watch the games for the past three seasons.
Is there going to be anything in place this season for fans living abroad? or have SKy taken this service away from us altogether?
Last season between Reading Tv and DAZN i only missed 2 games if i remember correctly, totally gutted if we have lost this service.

As far as I know, you have no problem.