Fencing Video Archive - Pay Per View discussion

[JEC]

Craig,
Have you considered some minor fees for members to watch video archive? I am certain that Michael and others (including me) would have enough video clips to satisfy most people desire. Something to the effect of $1/bout. People would have accounts and have X amount deposited. The easier alternative is for only the Green members to be able to watch clips.
JEC

[Craig]

Originally Posted by JEC

Craig,
Have you considered some minor fees for members to watch video archive? I am certain that Michael and others (including me) would have enough video clips to satisfy most people desire. Something to the effect of $1/bout. People would have accounts and have X amount deposited. The easier alternative is for only the Green members to be able to watch clips.
JEC

That idea has been tossed around a bit. The big hurdle is the transaction fees. On a $1.00 transaction, something like $0.30 to $0.45 would be taken out in processing fees, leaving not much left to pay for the service. That's the issue that's been preventing "micropayments" from taking off.

The alternative would be a yearly or monthly service fee to access X amount of video...

Splitting this off into a separate thread as I'd like to hear more about what the Fencing.Net community thinks of the idea.

Craig

[Pointy]

Can't you guys just put some of the best bouts on some DVDs and sell the darned things? At least those who don't have broadband access can get to watch.

I, for one, would buy those DVDs.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Pointy

Can't you guys just put some of the best bouts on some DVDs and sell the darned things? At least those who don't have broadband access can get to watch.

I, for one, would buy those DVDs.

Click on the "Fencing.Net Store" link.

Craig

[darius]

What about a pay-per download fee? Make the price a little higher than PPV, but provide the video in an easily user-downloadable format.

(The internet literati would be able to capture the stream anyway.)

darius

[wflaschka]

Earlier this year, I was pitching this idea to the Internet-fencing bigwigs and got some concurrence from them. The idea is a standalone website where video of complete, individual bouts (and/or lessons, drills, interviews, anything video) can be purchased as a "soft product" and downloaded. The price would be from $1-$5, depending on the bout and the quality/size of the video.

The problems start appearing with rights, bandwidth fees and pricing. There has to be enough income to cover the expense of making the service available, and also to make enough incentive for people providing the video. As Craig mentioned, the payment process would have to be "cheap" -- e.g., PayPal, or CC only for orders over $10. And lastly, this still wouldn't be a good way to distribute Olympic fencing clips, because that video is property that no one is able to sell (not that the true owners will sell it either...).

The parties agreed in principle to the pitch, but there's nothing binding and I haven't produced the particulars and business logic. A code-base for a soft-product storefront will be available by Oct 15 or thereabouts, but really, the field is open to whomever gets into it.

There is a lot of interesting potential to a pay per download approach. Training videos could be sold in 1/10 fragments; training CD-ROMs could be split up; cool local bouts could be sold; "make your own compilation" marketing; Tauberbischofsheim home video; archival footage. This sort of website could also buy Smirnov footage from the Olympic Museum (last quote, $10k(!?)), or get access to footage that other providers can't or won't provide. It would be a clearing-house for special-interest footage that is otherwise not marketable -- I know FencingFootage, for example, has a large unpublished library that they can't squeeze through their production pipeline. Another example -- Someone might desire a good-quality clip of Uriah Jones giving a lesson to a beginner, maybe one download every five years, but at least it's available. Who knows -- we might actually get video of Emily Cross, or the Zimmermans, or be able to see an unadulterated clip of Ann Marsh marching (USA women's foil, highly under-videoed). Also, a download storefront would offer immediate gratification; you're fencing XXX, and you want to see how Pavlokov handled him, you can download 3 bouts in an hour.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I have videos for free for anyone that has AIM.

[Gav]

I would also like to ask the question;

"Has anyone any knowledge of anything similair done in other combat sports (ie Judo, Karate, Kendo, Boxing etc)?" If there is - what are the costs? Post the links so that we can all take a look.

Of course there is the possibility that no-one has looked at doing this sort of thing via the web before...

[RebelFencer]

In wrestling coaches will sell training videos/DVDs as well as clips of great matches...these usually run from 20-30 bucks depending on quality and the coach (An instructional video by Dan Gable would be a bit more valuable than from the local High School coach). But people do buy these en masse, and they are very helpful. I think that this would be great for fencers who perhaps don't have easy access to great coaches as well as to coaches aspiring to greatness. As for the internet thing, I don't have as much an idea what could be done with that.

[Prometheus]

Another idea that is similar but logistically slightly different from things already mentioned.

Set up a system to prepay so that individual transaction costs are lower.

Each account will have a bank of credits. 1$=1 Credit. Buy credits in 10$ Blocks. Possibly charge different numbers of credits for clips of different size, quality.

Ok, so its almost exactly what other people suggested, but it is a way to massage the relitively high transaction costs.

[swordsen]

YOu do realize that as soon as this becomes popular the people in the videos wills start demanding a cut of the take. I doubt many of them have signed releases for their images and such.....

[noodle]

i think about a year ago i asked to see if anyone was interested in this for free (running off of donations, not pay-per-download/view) in order to try and make a few bucks as a club fundraiser (we had good, fast, unlimited bandwidth webhosting) and i got no positive responses, only criticisms. so i gave up.

you guys, so fickle.