Rogoway: Blazers Online Stream "Erratic"

As I first tweeted here and here, covered nationally here, the first Blazers.com online stream was not a success.
Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian does a nice job running down the service and its issues and even gets information regarding how many people paid for the stream.

Kellex from Blaze Of Love has another (generally positive) review, where he explains how easy it is to pirate video clips from the service in real time. Well then.

The online stream idea is great in theory and the team is right for proactively seeking feedback. But initial feedback says the stream resembled Larry David's from last week's Curb Your Enthusiasm. As a matter of principle, the Blazers should do the right thing and refund all users for last night's game. It's just one game -- they apparently earned less than $2,000 on the stream -- and did not live up to a reasonable standard as a content provider.

Here's hoping future streams go off without a hitch.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)

over 2 years ago Ben Golliver 21 comments 0 recs |

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Comments

I was one of the people who had issues, and I left feedback on the blazers website. Got a reply back in which they offered:
1. Refund for yesterday’s game
2. Next streaming game free(Spurs)
3. 2 free tickets to a game.

This IMO is above and beyond what I expected when I left the feedback and they’ll be getting my money if the future for more games

by redlude97 on Oct 28, 2009 5:26 PM PDT reply actions

Option 3 seems like a pretty good deal.

by rmcdougall on Oct 28, 2009 5:35 PM PDT up reply actions

maybe I didn't make that clear enough, I recieved all 3

by redlude97 on Oct 28, 2009 5:45 PM PDT up reply actions

That's absurd

their streaming tech might be sketchy but their costumer service is off the charts. Were I running things, you’d only get number 2 and a heartfelt apology.

"It all depends on where his growth will come and we think his growth will come within us" -- Kevin Pritchard on Jerryd Bayless

by Jumbo on Oct 28, 2009 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions

Fan relations are important to this team

Even if the free tickets are only $10 tan seats I’d take them.

"Good evening Blazer fans, wherever you may be!"-Bill Schonely

by skywaker9 on Oct 28, 2009 5:40 PM PDT up reply actions

That’s great to hear. Hopefully others in your predicament will take similar initiative.

Blazersedge.com || Twitter!

by Ben Golliver on Oct 28, 2009 5:54 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Got The Exact Same Offer

I’m very happy with that. The service was pretty good when it worked but I lost sound for the majority of the fourth quarter and lost video in the last 3 minutes for a minute of game time. Not cool. Hopefully they can fix the issues going forward.

by FeelTheLove on Oct 28, 2009 6:15 PM PDT up reply actions

You can't pirate clips

Clips are fair use, no piracy involved.

Disclaimer: everything I know about basketball I learned on Blazersedge.

by pualo on Oct 28, 2009 7:08 PM PDT reply actions

Incorrect

That whole “cannot be used without the express written consent of the NBA” isn’t just boilerplate. Fair use does not apply.

by Lance Uppercut on Oct 28, 2009 8:17 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

I'd like to see them enforce that in court.

That boilerplate works pretty much as a contract that they want you to agree to by watching the game. Those types of contracts have a dubious, at best, history in a Real Court of Law™. And like all contracts, the terms have to be somewhat within reason. If they (NBA) are treating it as a statement of their copyright and not a contract, well, copyright doesn’t give you infinite privileges either.

by royroty on Oct 28, 2009 9:18 PM PDT up reply actions

Wrong

Just because someone claims they have a right does not mean that right exists in law. They can say anything they want; doesn’t make it true.

Disclaimer: everything I know about basketball I learned on Blazersedge.

by pualo on Oct 28, 2009 11:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Let's cut the team some slack on this one

They basically had to guess what kind of load they’d be getting. They guessed wrong, so they will work hard to fix it (I have no doubt), and are offering to take care of folks who were affected.

Kudos for the Blazers for trying something new, and for making amends when it didn’t work right immediately.

They’ve got 9 days total to get this worked out before the next broadcast. I imagine they’re already scrambling. I wish them the best, since that’s a pretty tight schedule.

by Timmay! on Oct 28, 2009 7:16 PM PDT reply actions

I agree

very seldom is a new system rolled out without some kinks/problems. And we aren’t talking big dollars per game here either.

Brandon Roy, 'nuff said.

by johnv59 on Oct 28, 2009 8:50 PM PDT up reply actions

i am waiting to see if games will be on comcast on demand

id be watching the replay tonite. it says blazers comcast sports nw but mabey since it wasnt a comcast nite its not there

by riccc_l on Oct 28, 2009 7:37 PM PDT reply actions

I don't know where they came up with their pricing system. There was no "free taste" shakedown cruise and now they've got grumpy paying customers...

The price strikes me as absurd, given what a full year of LPBB runs, given the fact that these are a handful of games on free TV.

Boldly going where no one has gone before, but you could say the same thing about the Donner Party…

"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal

by timbo on Oct 28, 2009 8:57 PM PDT reply actions

anybody who is seasoned in watching their favorite television shows online will tell you that the technology is just not there yet to consistently cover a live sporting event for 82 games.

it’s bound to have multiple glitches and errors.

however, for fans to ask for their money back is as equally as naive as the venture in the first place. it begs the question, have you been living under a rock for the past five years?

when the blazers made this announcement, me and my geek buddies snickered about how this is another example of a fancy idea dreamed up by a bunch of overpaid and out of touch execs who sit around a table and dream up such notions without actually stopping to think about whether the actual technology exists to make it work properly.

give it a few years blazers, work the problem, and then present it to the people.

and again, as for any fans thinking about demanding their money back…grow up already.

by ratzo on Oct 28, 2009 9:09 PM PDT reply actions

sure glad you're not in blazer customer service

"Fernandez, to my eyes, is the Blazer who walks that walk most comfortably. A lot of Portland's fans (egged on, dare I say, by their local broadcasters) lament things like how Ron Artest or Yao Ming get to hit Brandon Roy's arms.

But I suspect Fernandez sees all that and thinks: We get to hit arms! Cool!"

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-39-135/On-Playoff-Experience.html

"I told Pau the Lakers never win here in Portland; I think it's great." -- Rudy Fernandez

by ratbastird on Oct 29, 2009 7:40 AM PDT up reply actions

Do You Pay To Watch TV Shows Online?

Because I paid to watch the game online last night. I was not provided with what I paid for. This wasn’t a few minor glitches. There were problems with sound and video for extended periods of time.

I requested a refund and received it. That was entirely justified in my mind.

by FeelTheLove on Oct 28, 2009 9:25 PM PDT reply actions

I don't think anyone sees it as unreasonable to request a refund in this situation

And to the Blazers’ credit, they immediately resolved the situation as best they could, since they can’t go back in time and fix it.

Can’t blame you at all for contacting them.

by Timmay! on Oct 28, 2009 10:14 PM PDT up reply actions

A Quick Update

I just received an email from the Blazers and was given a choice of 5 games to pick 2 tickets from in November. They are going to provide 2 LOWER LEVEL tickets for the game I choose.

Wow. I am obviously very happy with this offer. The team has gone way above and beyond anything that I would have hoped for or expected.

by FeelTheLove on Oct 28, 2009 11:36 PM PDT reply actions

Wow lots of free tickets

I guess I should have torn them apart…but having the streaming feed on mute and waiting for highlights to happen via TV first so I could cap didn’t provide as many errors hah.

by kellex-BoL on Oct 29, 2009 8:05 AM PDT reply actions