CueSport TV - The Blog

The GB 9 Ball Tour moves into it’s third year this coming weekend and for the first time the events will be shown live online at Cuesport TV.

The tour that is now backed by SAM Leisure, and will be held exclusively in Barceló Hotels, features the 5 players that won the recent WPA World Team Championships in Germany (Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Mark Gray, Imran Majid and Daryl Peach).

Peter Williams, Managing Director of Cuesport TV said, “This is probably the most exciting national pool tour in Europe and the standard of the players is phenomenal. We have been involved with the tour since day one and live coverage was something we always wanted to provide. With the move into Barceló Hotels this is something that can now be done and will be massive boost both for the tour and Cuesport TV.”

Jonathan Mathers, Chairperson of the GB 9 Ball Tour added; “We’re delighted that Cuesport TV are able to broadcast live from one of our events for the first time.  We hope that fans around the world can sample some of the great pool being played by the world class players that are a part of GB9.”

The live coverage is available on Saturday 13^th March and starts at around 12pm local time. The coverage will include the latter stages of the Pro Cup and also some of the early matches from the main event, which features all 144 players on the GB 9 Ball Tour.

It is hoped that at subsequent tour events the live streaming will be extended to include both days.

The live stream at this first event will be free to view and can be accessed via the Watch Live Now link, found in the On Demand Content section.

Coverage starts at 12pm local time (7am US Eastern Time)

Coverage of the Pro Cup final is scheduled to start a 4 p.m. local time (11am US Eastern time)

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Over the last few months I have been mentioning the Four-nations Blackball event that we are going to put on in Bournemouth, Dorset.

The only problem is that at the moment we only have three nations confirmed, Wales, France and Scotland.

If you are a) English and b) think you can play Blackball at the highest level then please contact me on enquiries@cuesport.tv for further information on this great event.

The dates of the event are 8th-9th May 2010 in Bournemouth Dorset.

The_Teach English/UK Pool blackball, cuesport tv, four-nations

So we have it marked down, 8th-9th May, the first ever Four-nations Blackball Cup featuring teams from England, Scotland, Wales and France.

I have been talking about it for a while and have now confirmed all teams except for England (come on boys!)

The event is due to take place in Bournemouth, Dorset over the said weekend and it will become quite historic in its make-up. Not only will it be the first time the tournament has been held but the broadcast itself will also be a first for Cuesport TV and possibly even the world.

Originally every match was going to be shown back-to-back on one table, but due to the extra team this means we have to use two tables. But do not fear we have a plan!

Part of the reason for moving the event to Bournemouth is the fact that this is the first town in the UK to receive 100meg fibre optic broadband. What we plan to do will be amazing:

• Viewers will be able to choose a match from the two tables
• Each table will have two seperate live streams
• A viewer will be able to choose between SD & HD versions dependant on their own broadband speed

Not only that but I can also release the format that is going to be used below is an example:

• Wales (A) v France (A) - Best of 17 frame singles
• Wales (B) v France (B) - Best of 17 frame singles

If both teams win one of the singles matches then we go to a decider:

• Team Wales v Team France - Best of 9, alternate shot doubles

So that is the match format but the teams will also be playing a double eliminator across the weekend until the champion is crowned on the Sunday. Do not forget, this is a Blackball rules event.

Any thoughts and comments are appreciated.

The_Teach English/UK Pool blackball, cuesport tv, four-nations, tournament

Well for the second year running we have covered the UPC-BUCS 8-ball pool championships. An event that this time around had just under 500 attendees. The best that the universities in the UK have to offer.

The standard of pool seems to have improved on last year especially in the singles. I must say a big well done to Warwick’s Jay Murphy here for his win over reigning champion Lee Morris in the final.

From my point of view, with the amount of events I have attended over the last two years, I would say that the tournaments promoted by the UPC are well organised, although I think the players in the singles would probably prefer longer matches. (Just an observation, time constraints are massive on an event of this size).

It was a good decision to move the UPC’s main event to Great Yarmouth at the Vauxhall Holiday Park, the park is well equipped for pool events, it already hosts EPA Inter-county, Interleague and other tournaments throughout the year. From what I understand the accommodation is also good value, although perhaps a little cold!

The only thing that seemed to be lacking in my opinion was provisions for food, unless you want fast food there is not a lot else available. It was a shame to see that the restaurant was closed all weekend as I feel it may have done some good trade. You then have to look at not only what the outlets are serving but also the price.

I understand business is about profit, but this has to be coupled with value. I don’t think any of the outlets particularly offered value. My eagle eye also spotted that with 500 people in the room the bar was rarely, if-at-all, busy. The main reason for this being the high beer prices, an average of about £3.40 per pint. Surely a good idea for the park to cut prices when they know students are around as town offers more choice and is far cheaper.

I don’t want to detract too much from the pool, the park does an excellent job of maintaining the tables which were lightning quick throughout the event. I did not hear one complaint about the quality of the tables, a rarity in pool tournament terms. In fact the majority of players I spoke to were singing the praises of the tables throughout.

Great Yarmouth as a town seems to have an excellent night life, and the town itself is far bigger than I actually thought, I imagine it is even better in the summer when it is somewhat warmer! Yarmouth must benefit greatly from pool tournaments as it brings an influx of people in off-season to spend money in bars. clubs and restaurants.

Roll on next year!

The_Teach English/UK Pool 8-ball pool, great yarmouth, pool tounament, university, upc

After months of me talking about it on this blog, Facebook and Twitter, In the Frame, our magazine show, finally launched with the pilot episode today.

This first episode features Ben Davies and Mel Harley and was filmed at Snook’s in Weymouth last month.

The 2nd year Media degree students at Weymouth College were reposnsible for the filming, directing and editing and have done quite a nice job.

The only thing that lets it down is my good self in the presenters role!

We need two presenters for this show in future preferably one male and one female quite young and interested in either sport as a whole or with a specific interest in pool and snooker. If you are interested in this then drop us an email to intheframe@cuesport.tv

You can watch the first 18 minute trial episode by following this link:

Cuesport TV Launch In The Frame - You can still enter the on screen competition!

The_Teach General cuesport tv, in the frame, magazine show, pool, snooker

Back last year we trialled some HD streaming using our platform and the results were very nice. The response to the videos was also excellent. It always was the plan to complete full length matches in high definition.

Due to the nature of the web and the fact that people are generally watching on a smaller screen to their TV we have opted to rollout out the full length videos in 720p high definition.

The data rates of streaming a HD video mean a download speed of around 4meg is required to watch the videos without buffering.

The first of these full length matches is now available and is the first round match (Chris Melling v James Kay) at the GB9 British Grand Prix Pro Cup event last year. Please do tell us if we are wrong but we also think that this is a web first. Cuesport TV has become the first streaming channel to provide a full length 9-ball pool match in high definition.

The rest of this tournamnt, a further four matches, will also be HD encoded.

For those viewers that struggle to watch the HD versions due to low bandwidth then a standard version is also available for viewing.

Please let us know your thoughts on the videos and if you experience any problems. The best way to find out if you can view them without buffering is to run a speedtest.

The_Teach 9-ball Pool, General 9-ball Pool, cuesport tv, hd streaming, high definition, streaming, video

I have already released some details over the proposed Tri-nations tournament. At this time it has already been extended to a Four-Nations with France confirming a team. There is also the possibility of Spain wanting to enter as well.

Although that is great news that teams want to play the events, it also poses somewhat of a dilemma.

Finding a definitive calendar is not at all easy as each promoter, tour, governing and nation seem to have their own with nobody compiling an overall calendar.

What I thought I might do is set one up that everyone can edit and add events to. Hopefully this would eliminate date clashes and would actually mean it is easier for players to know what is going on.

On the plus side the contact I have had from other nations encourages me as it shows that high quality Blackball events are required.

The_Teach English/UK Pool, General blackball, calendar, dates, four-nations, tournaments

Back in late December I set the challenge of trying to get 1000 fans to the Cuesport TV Facebook Fanpage by January 31st.

I can announce that even with another 4-odd hours remaining we have passed the target.

What this means is, that as promised, we will make a £100 donation to the Paul Hunter Foundation. In addition we will be awarding a £50 voucher to one fan to be used at Billiards Boutique.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported the challenge and have either discovered or continued enjoying Cuesport TV. I now have to think up another challenge and fundraiser to push us over the 2000 fan target and beyond.

Later this year (probably March) we will have an exclusive Guinness Record attempt that will be shown live online throughout the duration. For this we will be asking for donations from our viewers and fans to raise some good cash for an excellent cause.

So once again, Big Thanks!

The_Teach General billiards boutique, cuesport tv, facebook, fundraising, paul hunter foundation

It has been a long time in the pipeline but tomorrow finally see’s us record the first edition of our new magazine show called ‘In the Frame’.

The 1/2 hour show, filmed in conjunction with Weymouth College Media School students, will feature news, interviews and competitions for fans of pool and snooker.

This edition will feature 2005 EUKPF Professional World Champion Ben Davies and top pool referee Mel Harley.

The show will be filmed between 1pm and 3pm tomorrow (28th Jan) at Snook’s in Weymouth.

The_Teach English/UK Pool ben davies, in the frame, mel harley, pool, uk pool

I have been contacted by somebody from the Scottish Blackball fraternity asking if I know of anyone that would want to play some money matches against Scotlands finest up in Glasgow.

Recently it has been clear to me (off the back of the Potts v Bale match) that Cuesport TV needs more high profile one-off matches.

This could be an opportunity for anyone so basically if you fancy testing your skills against some of Scotland’s best Blackball players and are prepared to play for high stakes then drop me a message. I will pass on your details.

This also goes for keeping us informed of any upcoming money-matches, we are interested to hear about each and every one of them.

The_Teach English/UK Pool 8-ball pool, blackball, money matches, uk pool