Subscription streaming service

Looks like the club is going to start charging for what we currently get free. At least that's the way most of these "services" work. I registered my "interest," but I doubt I'll pay up. Gonna wait and see how it shakes out, but I'll be stunned if we'll continue to get free highlights. I've noticed many of the other clubs at almost every level already do this, so I'm a little surprised it's taken Fulham this long to implement a pay to watch firewall.

 

I think it would be short-sighted for the club to put in a paywall while in the Championship, but that doesn't mean they won't do it. It is hard enough to follow them as it is and adding a fee would make it worse. If they get back to the Premier League and decide to add a charge I might be able to forgive them.

 

Apparently they have to pay the Football League quite a bit to show those highlights and with the parachute payments running out, they now need to start charging for them. At least that's the story the club is telling.

I love this club and have been supporting them for a decade, but if I lose the ability to even listen to games online it's going to be really hard to justify the time I spend following the club. One of the things that was encouraging when Khan took over was that he took steps to make the club easier to follow abroad, including showing full games the day following each match. This is a step in the wrong direction.

 

Here we go kids. Get your checkbooks out.

 

Boo! They should be paying ME after watching the horrors of the past four seasons. I've suffered all this crappy football for FREE. Now I'm supposed to pay to suffer? How very British of them.

 

FFC exec #1: So since relegation our international fans are cut off thanks to the various luddite broadcast laws

FFC exec #2: Lets charge for game day audio!

 

Disappointed in fees to be assessed for GJ. I'm somewhat in DCH's boat, however, the west coast provides a "breakfast time" kickoff so we listen before trudging off to soccer or gymnastics or baseball, etc... When I'm cooking Saturday morning breakfast, GJ always is in the background - will probably bow down and pay the service fee, but it irks me.

C...O...Y...ah eff it all to hell.

 

Yeah... not going to happen.

 

What morons. You're a pro sports team. You get revenue from tv, gates, merch & advertising. What you don't do is make your product harder to consume. Especially when that product sucks. But hey, if you don't want fans, I can oblige. I have serious doubts we'll ever get back to the Prem anyway.

Never thought I'd miss the Setanta days.

 

They are making it really, really difficult for me to give a damn, or a dime, to this team anymore.

 

I suppose it's somewhat ironic that the first thing I clicked on after the pay wall went up was the heartwarming story of Tom Cairney surprising the young lad that sent him a fan letter and £3 after he missed the penalty against QPR.
I've come to the sad conclusion that this club does not give two sh*ts about it's overseas supporters. Between this and the ticket fiasco we endured before our only trip to the Cottage three seasons ago, I'm considering other teams to support. In the immortal words of Mr. Chris Rock, "Just because something can be done don't mean it's to be done. You can drive a car with ya' feet if ya' want to. That don't make it a good (effin') idea."

 

I decided after Fulham's drop out of the Premier League to spend less of my soccer time on the Premier League and more on following MLS. No connection to Fulham is going to help me cut my ties with Fulham and my cable bill. Netflix, Hulu and MLS Live are sounding better and better.

I can be content discussing the US National teams and other assorted topics not including Fulham.

 

For me, my refusal to pay for the streaming service is not a petulant "I don't want to pay for this". if it was, I could be convinced or cajoled into purchasing it.

It's: "I don't see any reason TO pay for this". that's damning and almost irreversible for the club.

 

I will not pay for this. That is all.

 

When Fulham was in the Prem I would sometimes get up at 7 am to watch them on TV. As much as I enjoy listening to Gentleman Jim, it's been rare that I even heard part of his broadcasts in the Championship. So I'm with Tim -- no way.

 

I'm torn. I was mad last week when it was announced, not at the cost, but at the fact they want me to pay for audio. I wouldn't be upset if they included it in the membership because lets face it the membership is a money grab at best and gives almost no value, especially for supporters outside the UK. I rarely ever watch the videos and don't really care about the u23s. To include audio streaming is so narrow-minded in 2016, I mean, you're lumping yourself into dumb entities like the NFL and MLB by charging for audio. Then I listened to the first segment of Cottage Talk from last Friday. They explain, better than the club, that the EFL have kinda/sorta forced Fulham's hand. They make all clubs pay for video content and all of them did like morons, except Fulham, until now. The club then lumps in the audio because their video content is, honestly, worthless. I might pay for it for the audio but even that has to improve before I consider paying. I thought the club were headed in the right direction last season with the pre-match show and halftime with Sammy James but that's now gone. The audio has always been hit or miss connection-wise. I want to continue to listen but I want to tell the club to go fly a kite.

It's also kinda funny to go back and look at the thread from 2005 about the same issue. Then it was more than double the cost and the reaction is no different...
http://fulhamusa.com/threads/ffc-webcast-now-a-subscription-service.2456/