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Post by BisonRoadWarrior on Jan 10, 2019 17:03:42 GMT -5
To spare you the confusion and aggravation experienced by many Bucknell fans last night, I wanted to alert you that Stadium is switching to a model where it deems Patriot League games "premium content" and requires a $4.99/month subscription. It seems the Colgate-Bucknell game was the first foray, but a Bucknell staffer tells me each league school was put on notice on Monday.
That's the bad news. The good news is that the subscription requirement is seemingly only going to apply when you watch the games on the Stadium app or the Stadium channel on Roku, etc. (A Stadium rep told Bucknell "the subscription service would only apply to "Over-The-Top" connections (such as Roku, Facebook, Sony Playstation connections, etc.")
It apparently will not apply when you view the game directly from the Stadium website or on phones. And I gather that if you are able to use a browser with your big screen to access the Stadium internet site (rather than using the Stadium channel), you'll likewise be able to dodge paying a subscription. Why they're leaving that free option open is beyond me.
If you're down with paying the subscription, I'd recommend you do it in advance of the game. That way you'll avoid missing the first few minutes of the game while you enter your credit card info, etc. I will caution that one Bison fan who was already signed on to the paid subscription service wasn't able to view it.
Pardon my hedgy language ("seems, appear, apparently"), but things are still just a little murky to me until the next time, when I'll try using the browser function on my XBox to watch for free.
If this was discussed elsewhere here, pardon the redundancy. And good luck! (...with viewing, not so much with winning).
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Post by hchoops on Jan 10, 2019 17:14:51 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips
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Post by HC92 on Jan 10, 2019 22:00:01 GMT -5
Thanks, BRW. I just gave my Firestick to my dad so he could watch the games and bought another one for myself. Now I have bought two Firesticks that are essentially worthless to me.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 10, 2019 22:34:32 GMT -5
I wrote on another thread that while watching the women's game online last night, just as a player was driving to the basket a Wendy's commercial took over the screen. I wasn't too annoyed because I was getting free content and realize it has to be paid for somehow. I wonder just how many viewers they will lose by charging a monthly fee and whether the lost ad billing, which must be measured by viewers, will outweigh it.
I hope they realize how much free sports content there is on the web and how relatively few (sadly) die hard Patriot League fans there are. Having said that, $4.99/month isn't too bad.
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Post by bigfan on Jan 11, 2019 8:18:52 GMT -5
Now I know why I could not watch some of the games. I will not pay $4.95 per month, I will watch games from ESPN & CBS Sports Network for free.
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 11, 2019 8:35:09 GMT -5
As was mentioned above, just remember to sign in through the GOHOLYCROSS site and it is free. Go directly through ESPN and you will need to pay. But, the program is the same in either case.
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Post by lou on Jan 11, 2019 9:02:19 GMT -5
As was mentioned above, just remember to sign in through the GOHOLYCROSS site and it is free. Go direly through ESPN and you will need to pay. But, the program is the same in either case. I guess you're talking about a smart tv, with internet access. Otherwise it's not the same, watching on a PC or tablet or phone vs streaming to a tv using apple TV for example
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 11, 2019 9:51:40 GMT -5
No, I was referring to a laptop. I do have Apple tv and I send it to the big screen through there.
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Post by cmo on Jan 11, 2019 10:44:27 GMT -5
No, I was referring to a laptop. I do have Apple tv and I send it to the big screen through there. and we’ll need to pay for that now?
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 11, 2019 10:52:27 GMT -5
No, not if you sign onto GoHolyCross.com, go to the basketball schedule, and then click on PL Video fr he game you want to see.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 11, 2019 11:40:27 GMT -5
Since I am normally at the home games, I watch the away games on my PC which has a 26" or 27" screen and since it is on my desk and I am only about 2 feet from it, I have as good or better view as on my large screen TV sitting back. I used to stream it from my IPAD or iPhone to the big screen TV but found the view was good and able to handle any Stadium reception issues more easily.
I do have Apple TV connected to the big screen TV but I will leave well enough alone as, if I ma understanding all this correctly, nothing will change - especially the free aspect.
Note to self: cancel ESPN+, no more HC games scheduled on there. Does anyone know any different about the ESPN+ schedule?
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Post by unwired on Jan 18, 2019 9:03:42 GMT -5
Just a word of warning, the HC men’s game against Loyola tomorrow has been designated a “premium” game by Stadium, which means that if you watch via Roku or Apple TV, instead seeing “watch now” when you click on the game you will see “sign up for 1 week free” or some such.
Clicking that link then leads to a signup procedure that gives you a free week of Stadium “premium” games, after which you will be billed $4.99/month.
Apparently, not all games in any of the conferences covered by Stadium are “premium” games. On last Wednesday night the women’s games played at Bucknell and at Navy were designated as such, while all other PL games, men and women, were not premium. If the game is not “premium,” you CAN watch via Roku/Apple TV.
Also, apparently, there are criteria which Stadium uses to determine which games are “premium,” but trust me those criteria, a copy of which I received from someone in the Bucknell administration, who in turn got them from Stadium, are totally impossible to understand.
Bottom line is this: Going forward some, but not all Pl games will be “ premium” and thus require a Stadium subscription that costs $4.99/month. Except, and this is where it gets crazy, as stated in prior posts the games are still available for free on a PC, or a iPhone/android phone (but interestingly enough not on iPad which requires a subscription.) By extension if your smart tv has a web browser you should be able to watch as you would on a PC. Also if you can mirror image you phone to your tv, wirelessly, or with a wire, that works with no loss of picture quality. Finally, the archived versions of “premium” games are apparently available for free.
I went on and on here because this whole thing drives me nuts. If Stadium simply said that you need to pay $4.99/ month to watch PLTV, I’d pay it, but this ridiculous some games are premium and some are not, and even if the game is premium you can watch free on a phone or PC makes no sense.
Anyway, don’t get caught by surprise tomorrow.
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Post by alum on Jan 18, 2019 9:20:41 GMT -5
I watch the games on my television using the Stadium app downloaded with the Amazon Fire Stick my kids gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I just googled whether I could browse the web using the Amazon Fire Stick and found this techcrunch.com/2017/11/29/amazon-adds-its-silk-web-browser-to-fire-tv/So, based upon unwired's post above, it appears that maybe I can avoid the $4.99 per month fee and get the game for free. That said, if I can't figure it out within about ten minutes, I am going to suck it up and pay the $4.99 per month.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 18, 2019 9:22:06 GMT -5
Probably exactly what they want you to do!😂
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Post by Crosser on Jan 18, 2019 15:12:27 GMT -5
Will someone just beam me back to the 1970s when you didn’t need a degree from M.I.T. to watch TV.
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Post by HCFC45 on Jan 18, 2019 16:51:23 GMT -5
Someone please explain... Using my wife's Ipad, I go to goholycross.com and click on the PL Network which takes me to watch stadium live. I hook up the Ipad to an HDMI cable connected to my big screen TV and watch the game that way. Note: You do need an Apple cable interface to connect the Ipad to the HDMI cable ($50.00 for a 4" cable - that's why I hate Apple - it's proprietary). I assume that this will still work. Yes? No?
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Post by unwired on Jan 18, 2019 16:59:34 GMT -5
Hcfc45, I know that if you use the Stadium app for iPad it will make you pay ( while at the same time the Stadium app for iPhone does not make you pay, go figure). I guess the method you describe should work since you are essentially using a browser.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 18, 2019 17:12:19 GMT -5
Trying to watch a game on my LG Smart TV is driving me bonkers. I will get it sooner or later. I should have tried it Wednesday night on a different PL game to get it to work.
I think I'm going to buy for a reasonable price a keyboard ....the thing on the tv that is used for the keyboard/mouse is as much the problem as Stadium itself.
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Post by alum on Jan 18, 2019 17:38:56 GMT -5
I downloaded the browser for my Amazon Fire stick. (I use my IPad as the remote.). The browser seems like something from 2002. I used the Bing search engine to find Stadium and was able to go to their site. I was not in the Stadium app. I found live games. None are on now but HC vs BU women’s hockey is on in a while. I scrolled to tomorrow”s games. Our game is listed as a premium game. I clicked on it and it told me I would have to pay.
Looks like the browser option isn’t working for me.😡
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Post by unwired on Jan 18, 2019 17:53:23 GMT -5
Try going to watchstadium.com on your iPad. Up at the top where it says “Networks” there is a drop down menu. Click on Patriot League. Scroll down to tomorrow’s games ( 1/19) . It does not say anything here about “ premium” games. Can’t guarantee what will happen tomorrow, but this may work.
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Post by HCFC45 on Jan 19, 2019 7:44:32 GMT -5
Hcfc45, I know that if you use the Stadium app for iPad it will make you pay ( while at the same time the Stadium app for iPhone does not make you pay, go figure). I guess the method you describe should work since you are essentially using a browser. Thanks! That's what I thought!
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Post by crossbball13 on Jan 19, 2019 9:18:02 GMT -5
Soooo what’s the point of partnering with stadium anymore now that it’s not free? Stadium is horrendous.
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Post by lou on Jan 19, 2019 9:48:16 GMT -5
Stadium quality may vary. For me and others it is perfect quality streamed to the TV. I will subscribe for the convenience, and prefer not to watch on my PC. Ivies and MAAC have been subscription for a while now. We were one of the few free ones
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 19, 2019 9:49:00 GMT -5
Does Stadium pay the PL to aquire it's content, or does the PL pay Stadium for distribution of it's programming?
I would hope Stadium is paying the PL out of it's ad revenue.
I think one goal of the PL in partnering with Stadium is to gain national exposure. Stadium is obviously a long ways off from ESPN, FS1 or even YahooSports.com, but perhaps it was the only entity courting our league.
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Post by crusader1970 on Jan 19, 2019 10:17:42 GMT -5
. Note to self: cancel ESPN+, no more HC games scheduled on there. Does anyone know any different about the ESPN+ schedule? If HC is your only interest in college basketball, that may make sense. However, I have found the ESPN+ membership to one of the best values I have ever found in sports entertainment.
For $4.99 a month (the cost of a Starbucks latte) you get to call up at any time any game that ESPN has broadcast over the last two weeks....plus any original shows it has in its entire library (like 30 for 30). This is available on the ESPN app on your phone, computer, or smart tv.
Amazing deal.
And, of course, you can cancel at any time.
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