Originally Posted by ISF:
The main concern is that the individual track promoters are not in any way hurt financially by streaming. I would think a black out area such as Perris enforces would work most of the time. ISW might be the exception since there are many who travel long distances to attend these shows and may choose to watch it on their flat screen as opposed to spending the money to attend in person if given the opportunity.
I would think there would be adequate interest for the 3 national touring series to allow for equipment and personnel on a PPV basis. It may just, in however small of a way, work against the image USAC has had for a long time as being a stodgy old school outfit.
How cool would it be for the hard core open wheel people in Cali to pony up a few bucks to watch the Hoosier, Bettenhausen, Hulman or the big midget deal at Tri-City in October on their wide screen TV's? Maybe I'm wrong but I think it could make someone a little money and give USAC some much needed added exposure which can never hurt.
You've hit a topic near to my heart....
Oddly enough the concensus in the streaming community (Ustream for one) is that a blackout neither helps nor hurts ticket sales. I don't think they fully understand the racing market. There's some feedback out of Ventura that the free stream hurts ticket sales. I have stayed home on nights that I would have normally driven up to Ventura to see their midget class run. (If you have not seen the midgets run at Ventura - go! A great show). Somewhere under 50 miles and at/under $4.99 seems to be the formula for internet pay per view.
ISW would be the exception for lifting a black out (IMHO). I think you could make an ISW race a pay per view event.
You wrongly tag USAC on this issue. They were on the bleeding edge when Chris and Dean were on the case. Kevin Miller fully supported and gave financial backing to purchase some expensive gear for streaming. The media department at USAC is slowly finding it's way again. They have gone away from live open wheel events. Underlying reason, IMO, when you have 1 guy doing the work of 4 and he leaves - it is very hard to replace. I've had long chats with the USAC folks - they do get it re: streaming and the internet. Cost is also the issue. Equipment, internet connection and perferably two guys on site. Add a camera, add a body and cost. Who pays for the high speed connection each month? USAC, promoter?
Here's the root issue with streaming. To produce a stream with the quality needed - you need an upload speed of nearly 1mbps, 2mbps if you want to run HD. Unfortunately a cell connection is sometimes the only internet you can get at these tracks. When 4G fully penetrates the cell networks - that's a game changer. For now - you need to get a cable provider into the track, a wireless connection, any kind of dedicated internet connection.
We were lucky at Perris: Southern California Telephone stepped up big time and helped us fine tune the connection. There were no other options at that track. We were also blessed that Don Kazarian has backed the internet effort 100%.
Second item - everyone tries to run the stream off a laptop. It doesn't work. Some of you build race cars - I build servers. We started with a lap top. It crashed. We then tested with a single quad core server, two 10,000 RPM hard drives and 8GB or RAM. It was good. When we went to multi-camera and figured out replay - I added a second quad core processor for the pay per view. We still had issues.
The 4 pin firewire connector is not the best for a connection to a camera that is constantly moving as it follows the racing action. So we've figured out why we dropped Off Air last time out. Each time we run a stream at Perris we get better. Expect multi-camera, replay to become part of our effort in the coming months. We are also testing in car cameras. Stay tuned.
Third issue is on the user end. Some people try to watch on a poor internet connection or an older operating system or an underpowered or hosed up machine. The stream drops for them - they immediately think it is the stream. We are working on a better mouse trap for those folks.
Finally - yes. I'd pay to watch a good quality stream of racing from just about anywhere. Broadcast quality internet upload speed, solid hardware, multi-camera, some type of production software - all cost more than a pay per view brings in - it too needs a little bit of sponsorship over the course of a season.
