CueSport TV - The Blog

Great weekend!

What an awesome job the GB 9-ball Tour have done in putting together this years tour. The hotel was very nice, the tables are fantastic and everything went very well indeed.

Speaking with Jonathan Mathers the tour Chairperson he indicated there were a few teething problems, but I think with any new projects that is always going to be the case, we didn’t actually see any.

I did not hear one single complaint from any of the players at this event, usually there are massive rumblings about the quality of this or that. On this occasion I think everyone involved in the tour can be very proud of what they have achieved.

From my point of view it was also an historic weekend. Buxton was the first time that Cuesport TV have been able to broadcast live from the GB 9-ball Tour, and on first reflextion it seems that the viewers liked it as well.

We had one problem during the final when the stream dropped out, this was partly due to only being able to use a wireless connection and also because the processor in the computer got seriously hot.

In this regard we need to find a solution to the PC issues we have had recently, it is no longer powerful enough to do what we ask of it without problems.

I was also disappointed that we were unable to provide live commentary, this was for very practical reasons though. Our cameras and technical desk were very close to the action, couple this with a very quiet room and commentary would have put the players right off. We will be looking into this for the next event in Blackpool.

Videos from the event will be available later this week, as well as our ‘Diary-Cam’ video that we shot throughout the weekend. So please look out for them.

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It is the time of year where we once again embark on a road trip. It’s GB9 time. This year is probably the most anticipated British tour ever with the move to hotel venues and the increase in player numbers.

Top that off with 16 fantastic new tables supplied by SAM leisure, 5 of the world’s best players and you have the ingredients for something spectacular.

For the first time Cuesport TV will be able to provide a live stream of a GB9 Ball Tour event this Saturday (13th March) from 12pm UK time. It will be completely free to view and will appear on the front page when it is live.

But I didn’t really want to talk about that to be honest, one of the nicest things about the GB9 events is the craic, the players, organisers and what-not are all good to be around. It is (as ever!) a huge journey for us to undertake and due to Ange’s commitments means we cannot travel until late Friday. This is also another reason for not featuring the complete weekend, something we aim to do at future events.

This event is being held in Buxton, home of the spring water, a lovely town in the heart of the Peak District. I cannot think of a better venue for a tour stop.

You can cath up with the road trip that Ange and I make early next week, we will be producing one of our popular ‘diray-cam’ videos for your entertainment.

Anyway got to think about getting the car packed so catch up with you next week. Don’t forget the live stream at Cuesport TV from 12pm tomorrow (13th March).

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You can hear this weeks edition of the On The Baize podcast series by following the link below:

On the Baize: Podcast #011

In this edition there is an extended interview with Gb 9 Ball Tour Chairman Lee Rigby, where he discusses the challenges facing a professional 9-ball tour and all of the hard work that goes in to operating the GB 9 Ball Tour.

Please make your comments.

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Got back monday morning from the GB9 Southern Masters at the weekend. 128 players in Britain’s official professional 9-ball tour and what a weekend it was!

We were of course at the event in our capacity as official streaming media partners of the GB 9 Ball Tour and we recorded 14 matches and a few interviews from the weekend which will be available later this week.

The first thing I must offer is my greatest respect to the organisers as they faced their biggest challenge yet when 4 of the tables for the tournament were deemed unplayable.

Read more…

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Over on our other blog, On the Baize, that we use to host the podcast series, you can listen to the GB9 Ball Tour Southern Masters Preview Show this week.

The podcast is also available on iTunes should you frequent that site!

We will have some great video from the event probably around Thursday next week.

Just one more thing before I go (off to GB9 today) AZBilliards.com are offering live streaming of the Pro Players Championships from the USA. Many big names in attendance including Britains Darren Appleton who won his first match 10-6 against Thorsten Hohmann.

Been loving the comments we have been receiving on the blog recently so please keep them coming!

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Last year we had a problem in that we were producing so many pool video and snooker video files we just couldn’t find the time to edit and make them available.

This led to a lot of disgruntled users quite rightly wanting to see the most recent tournament. This year will be different and it is our aim to get repeats of any live event available within 4 weeks (it will depend on how much we record!)

In keeping with that theme although the GB 9-ball Tour Midlands Classic was not broadcast live we did record a good 8 hours of coverage.

One of those matches was released today: 9-ball pool video: Chris Melling v Karl Boyes the rest of them will be released this week as well along with a new magazine show called Inside GB9, which we are quite proud of!

Let us know what you think on this blog.

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Competition - Win the Following GB9 Tour DVD’s from the 2008 Season

• Imran Majid v Darren Appleton (Southern Masters 2008)
• Kevin Uzzell v Raj Hundal (Southern Masters 2008)
• Tony Drago v Kevin Uzzell (Southern Masters 2008)
• Phil Burford v Imran Majid (Midlands Classic 2008)
• Daryl Peach v Karl Boyes (Southern Masters 2008)

One lucky winner will receive all 5 DVD’s delivered for free worldwide. To enter answer the following question: On the left is Mark Gray, but in which tournament in 2008 was this photo taken? For a clue visit our video archives: http://www.cuesport.tv

To enter send your answer to enquiries (at) cuesport.tv by Friday 23rd January 2008 - Please place January Competition in the subject line or it will get missed. The winner will be selected at random from all correct answers. There is no cash alternative and no exchanging of DVD’s for other titles will be permitted.

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It was a great weekend that myself and Angela had last weekend at the first GB9 event of the season. It is always great to catch up with a large number of players on the circuit that we now regard as friends.

The circuit is thriving, and once again this has been proven by the amount of players that want to play on the GB9 Tour. Lee, Shir and now Mel are held in high regard and even if there are tantrums throughout the course of a weekend the GB9 team always deal with them professionally and the players respect them for upholding the laws consistently.

Read more…

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I have just spent a great weekend in Solihull at the GB 9 Ball Tour, the Midlands Classic was the years first event and the action was always going to be serious.

40 new players joined the tour this year through the qualification tournaments and they battled across 3 tournaments with £11,000 prize money.

The Pro Event finished early Sunday morning with Michael Valentine coming out an 11-5 victor over Darren Appleton to lift his first GB9 title. The match took just over two hours as both players struggled with the break.

On the adjacent table former European Junior 8-ball champion, Steve Petty, beat hot favourite for the Challenge Tour this year, Anthony Ginn, 11-9 to lift his first title - both players in their first full season on the tour.

In the main event on Sunday Mark Gray went one better than last year when he lifted the title over an improved Daryl Peach, 11-5 (Peach, our reigning 9-ball World Champion was beaten in the Pro Cup first round by Chris Cowie). Gray moves to number 2 in the rankings but is still 30 points behind Imran Majid.

The next event takes place in March at Rileys Croydon for the Southern Masters.

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PRESS RELEASE:

CueSport TV to Broadcast British Professional 9-ball Pool in 2009

CueSport TV, the Internet Pool & Snooker Channel, have today announced that the company will be once again offering recorded broadcasts of all of the GB 9 Ball Tour events in 2009.

The coverage provided by CueSport TV in 2008 was unprecedented for a national 9-ball pool tour with 9-ball pool videos being available in the main schedule and on-demand. Throughout the course of the 2008 season viewers were able to watch 9-ball pool matches featuring a host of professional pool players including Darren Appleton, Daryl Peach, Tony Drago, Imran Majid, Karl Boyes, Raj Hundal and Pat Holtz, the majority of which are returning for the 2009 season.

Managing Director of CueSport TV Ltd, Pete Williams had this to say, “The GB 9 Ball Tour, through the hard work and dedication of Lee Rigby and Shirley Ang, has become a recognised tour throughout the world due to the quality of the organisation, the star players on offer and the coverage that my company has been able to offer. 2008 saw us serve video to 11,000 unique viewers per month from 110 different countries. It made massive sense for us to continue to cover the GB 9 Ball Tour for 2009 and drive both the tour and it’s standing within the International pool community forward. Especially due to the fact that the tour and the UK have two reigning World Pool Champions in Daryl Peach and Darren Appleton.”

Changes to the coverage will occur in 2009 with CueSport TV planning on providing multiple camera coverage of the main match table and live 9-ball pool action through the live function of the channel player.

The first tournament of the 2009 season, The Midlands Classic, takes place over the weekend of the 9^th-11^th January at Rileys, Solihull. Viewers can watch 9-ball pool matches from this tournament during the course of the following week.

About CueSport TV Ltd

Launched in October 2007, CueSport TV is fast becoming an internationally recognised Internet broadcast platform specialising in Pool, Snooker and Billiards. The company has rights to exclusive programming from across the UK and Europe. In 2009 the company will be working towards offering more live events from international broadcasters as well as the current events in it’s portfolio.

The channel player that the company serves Windows Media video through is unique in that it serves multiple bit rate files allowing individual users to control the quality of the video they are watching dependent on their own Internet connection.

Contacts

Pete Williams - Managing Director

Email: pete.williams @ cuesport.tv (remove spaces)

Phone: +44 (0)7842 600912

Web:

http://www.cuesport.tv

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