Broadband News

A lot's been made by the mainstream media about the decision to screen an England international football match - a World Cup qualifier no less - exclusively on the Internet. The sensationalism was such that one newspaper even went so far as to ask whether this could be "the beginning of the end for traditional broadcast television." In contrast, the idea that millions could watch said game online seems like a relatively conservative bet.

While it's unlikely The Telegraph is right in suggesting one soccer game - and a largely irrelevant one at that, with England now already having qualified for the 2012 World Cup - could hasten the death of TV as we know it, ironically the match has only ended up being screened online because of the demise of one particular broadcaster: Setanta. As the Football Association looks for ways to make up for the £75 million it lost because of that demise, it'll be keenly interested in whether it can cash in on broadband as traditional broadcasters falter. At a price point of £4.99, however, the cost could put people off.

According to the firm responsible for streaming the match, Perform, its service will be able to support a million subscribers - and that could mean around two-and-a-half million viewers. However, the company says that fifty thousand simultaneous streams of one sporting event is the most it's handled to date - and this time it'll be dealing with peak broadband traffic (the kick-off is at 5.15PM on a Saturday evening). It may have experience in screening fifteen thousand events online a year but that won't impress any England fans who end up complaining more about "buffering..." messages than they do about the referee.

But in the world of TV over the Internet, quality isn't the only potential issue for customers - quantity's important too. “Watching the match is likely to use around 1GB of a broadband user’s download allowance," Michael Phillips of Broadbandchoices.co.uk told The Telegraph. "It could push some users over their monthly limit so we’d advise football fans to check first so they don’t end up being penalised. Those planning to watch via mobile broadband need to be particularly vigilant since charges for exceeding a data plan can be massive."

The decision to screen an England match exclusively online - and it was a commercial decision, made by the company that held the rights to the game, Kentaro - has been controversial with everyone from the average football man on the street to even the odd MP. "Using the internet is an innovative idea, and a potential model for the future," Lib Dem culture, media and sport spokesman Don Foster told The Guardian. "But the reality is that many fans will miss out because they don't have internet access at home and their local pub cannot easily screen the game. This is just another example of football's love affair with money."

Strangely for a firm which is trying to make a profit, Perform has since moved to downplay the significance of the match in question - albeit marginally. "This is an important match but not a critical match," said its chairman, Andrew Croker. "If this was critical to England qualifying we'd be having a bit more of an emotional debate about this. Everybody is watching sport on the internet. A lot of rights holders are looking at it and I think this will be the catalyst for a lot of people looking at bigger events. We are going away from linear television to pay-per-view television."

The match will be available for viewing via several websites, including those of major newspapers like The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph. "In six months' or a year's time this will be ordinary business," Kentaro chief executive Philipp Grothe told another one, The Guardian. "I have received a lot of calls from people around the globe who are looking into this. It's not a one-off trial here."