Is There A City Tv Network?

[NYCFCFan10]

Is there a City TV network yet?

Would make perfect sense as they acquire more and more clubs from around the world. It'd be a great way for them to sort of make fans of one club into fans of the other branches....

Plus, it'd be really cool just to be able to watch an EPL match, then an MLS game, then a J-League game...ect.

 

[zeven]

Not right now, but im sure this is something that will come in a not so distant future. City have understood the importance of social media and TV to keep in touch with the fans.

 

[Falastur]

I'm not sure how practical there is. There's two issues to this -

Issue one is that MCFC's youtube/website content is deliberately designed to be free and available to everyone. When CityTV (the name of the online content, not a TV station) was founded, it was with the specific mandate to produce content which would be freely available all over the world. A TV channel would seem to go against that mandate.

Issue two is that broadcasting rights don't really work like that. I guess it'd be possible to get the rights to watch the games on a two- or three-day delay, but otherwise, when leagues sell their TV rights the purchasers generally demand exclusivity in their region. This means that an entity like CityTV would not be allowed to show live games (or even games later the same day) because the local broadcaster would be furious that TV viewers had a way of watching the same footage without paying them the subscription fee.

Personally, I'm hoping that MCFC's online video content (including match highlights, FWIW) gets rolled out to the other CFG teams, which would mean virtually the same thing only with extra added on-demand functionality, but I guess we need to wait and see.

 

[NYCFCFan10]

I'm not sure how practical there is. There's two issues to this -

Issue one is that MCFC's youtube/website content is deliberately designed to be free and available to everyone. When CityTV (the name of the online content, not a TV station) was founded, it was with the specific mandate to produce content which would be freely available all over the world. A TV channel would seem to go against that mandate.

Issue two is that broadcasting rights don't really work like that. I guess it'd be possible to get the rights to watch the games on a two- or three-day delay, but otherwise, when leagues sell their TV rights the purchasers generally demand exclusivity in their region. This means that an entity like CityTV would not be allowed to show live games (or even games later the same day) because the local broadcaster would be furious that TV viewers had a way of watching the same footage without paying them the subscription fee.

Personally, I'm hoping that MCFC's online video content (including match highlights, FWIW) gets rolled out to the other CFG teams, which would mean virtually the same thing only with extra added on-demand functionality, but I guess we need to wait and see.

In MLS, there's the national TV deal, which the league controls but the clubs are free to negotiate their own local TV deals.

For instance, the national deal this year belongs to NBC and ESPN but any Red Bulls home game not handled by those networks goes to MSG network.

Our own Nick Chavez wrote a piece a few months ago talking about how NYCFC was targeting the YES network for their games and the YES network does already carry MCFC games on tape delay as well. This is almost a de facto CFG network, so it wouldn't surprise me to see the people behind YES spin-off a City Network.

Yes Network is owned by Fox and the Yankees. Fox will also own a share of the national MLS deal as well. So they'll be well situated.

 

[NYCBlue]

I'm not sure an actual station devoted to all things city makes sense for them from a cost standpoint. But I can see them producing some content and distributing it through YES and other global partner carriers.

 

[SebastianBlue]

I'm not sure an actual station devoted to all things city makes sense for them from a cost standpoint. But I can see them producing some content and distributing it through YES and other global partner carriers.

This is the arrangement that will likely happen.

Also, from a consumption standpoint, the current CityTV model is the most effective, anyway. Most of the bigger clubs have begun to phase out their TV channels in favour of this content sharing model. You end up gaining in other ways as your audience grows beyond those that could afford the subscription fee.

Everything is shot in HD for compression online so it can easily be broadcast on television through a distribution partner.

 

[Across the Pond]

If you go onto the MCFC YouTube channel you can see a number of videos about the Villa transfer. So I'd think most content about all the clubs will be rolled out on there.

 

[Falastur]

If you go onto the MCFC YouTube channel you can see a number of videos about the Villa transfer. So I'd think most content about all the clubs will be rolled out on there.

I reckon once NYCFC has the material to start producing daily/weekly videos, it'll have its own separate YouTube channel. Can't quite see them sharing a channel, not when they are trying to appeal to totally different audiences.

 

[Across the Pond]

I reckon once NYCFC has the material to start producing daily/weekly videos, it'll have its own separate YouTube channel. Can't quite see them sharing a channel, not when they are trying to appeal to totally different audiences.

I agree but for the time being I imagine they'll share with us.

 

[MikeDatTiger]

I agree but for the time being I imagine they'll share with us.

well, and all the Villa stuff happened at Manchester. Obviously that won't be the case for too much longer.

 

[Across the Pond]

well, and all the Villa stuff happened at Manchester. Obviously that won't be the case for too much longer.

It won't It'll be in the Yankee Stadium banging in all the goals!

 

[Aguero93:20]

well, and all the Villa stuff happened at Manchester. Obviously that won't be the case for too much longer.

I'd imagine any European based signings will undergo all the necessities at our campus in Manchester until the facilities in NY are finished, wouldn't make any sense to keep them there after that. Btw, while you're on that youtube channel, there's some pretty good matches on there!

 

[grandsolo]

Considering the Yankees are a partner, most likely YES network will carry NYCFC stuff. They already have MCFC related programming on there including tape delayed matches