Cricket World Cup 2007 begins
Yet another tournament is off to a flying start. The amount of interest — if I am to go by my site’s stats counter — is unprecedented! It goes without saying that my stats have gone through the roof. And that means only one thing — people are not getting enough of this contest.
What it also means is that demand is far greater than the supply, and somebody is not doing something right to get it to the interested people. This phenomenal contest is not easily accessible to people across Europe and Americas. Either it is far too expensive or just unavailable.
Someone in the ICC should take notice of this major problem. The rights they are selling are highly inadequate, inaccessible, and is causing heartburn among cricket fans the world over.
The vast student community in Europe and America cannot afford to shell out that kind of cash, I really feel for them. At this moment of time, it is a curse for all those cricket fans to be living here, being unable to watch.
A lot of these people have good internet access (like for e.g., here in TUDelft, they have a 100MBps+ pipe), but the traditional media is hard to come by. The (illegal) webcasts are painfully inadequate, poor in quality, not to mention, spotting the ball requires a special skill on a 300 pixel screen. By the end of the day, they’ll be seeing color fringes and myopic focus problems trying to.
There is a huge opportunity for the digital media companies to obtain legal rights and broadcast a high-quality webcast on the internet of such contests. These companies can virtually sign-up for any number of advertisements during breaks and which could in turn bring in an amazing amount of revenue. A contest like this makes America’s superbowl look like a play in the backyard.
Google, Microsoft, HP, Cisco, any media co. are you listening?
The idiots at Joost screwed-up. They are still in a private beta, when a great tournament is in full swing and the internet is waiting on its toes to get a hang of it. I had some hopes about Joost. Not any more. A great opportunity to cash in on ads is gone, for good.
It is unbelievable to see in this great internet age, there are no official webcasts or any webcasts worth your eyes. It’s a shame. For the record, we don’t want the Cricket score card, we don’t want the commentary, we don’t want those stupid Twitter updates, we want the video, a good streaming telecast or a webcast. And we are willing to watch the ads, if it helps you.
So come on folks, make it happen, at least the next time.
Who says we cannot live Cricket on internet. Watch out now on http://www.mannerless.com . Absolutely free. No registration required.
Mar 14, 07 at 18:53Swayam, that’s great! Fantastic! Hope it continues to provide the telecast throughout for all fans.
Mar 14, 07 at 18:56Ever heard of http://www.willow.tv
Mar 15, 07 at 07:34How was your Indicast experience??
Mar 18, 07 at 05:31I’ve written about it in my recent post. It felt really connected, aha, that’s the right word, with the rest of the Indian fans, community listening to their views and chatter. We had fun. Thanks!
Mar 18, 07 at 09:52