CueSport TV - The Blog

Ever since we launched Cuesport TV back in 2008 we have been talking about a suitable way to make videos available for download in a cost-effective way.

That time has now arrived! From today selected content from Cuesport TV will be available to download on a paid service.

At the moment we are looking at around £2.49 ($3.99 approx) to download an entire match to your hard drive.

Longer videos like money matches will command a higher fee as storage and delivery costs are increased.

As fans of the site you are going to have to tell us what videos you want to download. Only selected content will be available at any one time and certain videos may only be available for limited periods.

The downloaded file comes as a ZIP file, within the compressed zip the actual WMV videos files will be contained that you can play back on your PC or Laptop.  MAC users will need to download VLC media player or Windows Media PLayer 9 for MAC. VLC is a great player and plays almost any video file thrown at it!

With your purchase you get 48 hours access to download the video files. Once on your computer they last for as long as you want them to.

Payment can be made with credit or debit card but you will need to login in order to purchase.

Currently available in the download store:

Craig Marsh v Kristie Caulfield - EBA Masters Final 2010

Tony Drago V Jayson Shaw - GB9 British Grand Prix 2009 - HD

Chris Melling v James Kay - GB9 British Grand Prix 2009 - HD

We need your help to make this a success, please download the videos this will help towards keeping live and on-demand video free. If you want to see a certain match/video available then please drop us an email or comment on this blog.

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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.

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This week there is of course the latest World Snooker ranking event, the Grand Prix.

Whenever there is a ranking event on this blog seems to get more traffic, thanks World Snooker, due to the fact that people are searching for live snooker streaming.

Now as a web tv channel operator, we at Cuesport TV do not condone any of the illegal streams that can be found on the web. I would also beg the question, why would you want to watch one, they are poor quality and generally on poor websites as well.

There are a number of places you can watch the Grand Prix Snooker legally online. I list them below:

1. The BBC Sport Website (UK Only)
2. ViewTV - The BBC channels are available on this video platform for free
3. Eurosport Player (Pay-per-view but open to the world)

If you know of anymore then please let me know.

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I have always seen the potential of Cuesport TV as that of an online community, at this moment, the users have not quite embraced this though.

I am coming up with a few things like getting users to send us their own content, this is both video and of course photos. But how can we further develop Cuesport TV as a ‘community hub’?

I would be glad of any ideas.

The first thing I am looking for is amateur videographers/photographers to showcase some of their work with us, as long as the video work or photographs have some element of pool, snooker or billiards then we are interested.

You can email us with any ideas to enquiries @ cuesport.tv or post a comment on this blog.

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A recent article on IPTV-news.com has indicated that Worldwide IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) subscriptions have risen 11% year-on-year. This equates to 26.9 million IPTV subscriptions now worldwide.

The biggest growth was in Europe where IPTV services saw a growth of around 51%.

You can read the full article here:

Worldwide IPTV Subs Reach 26.9 Million

IPTV subscriptions in my view is based around paid content so things like the BBC i-Player are not included in these figures. It is the way that TV and Internet is turning and we will continue to see growth over the coming years. In my opinion the UK is way behind in these services yet we are starting to see providers on the market.

How many of you guys have paid to subscribe to an IPTV service or web TV channel?

Do you see this as the future of TV?

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In an ideal world Cuesport TV would be at every event throughout the UK to report on tournaments and the latest breaking news stories.

Unfortunately that is impossible for a small company. We have to take time away from tournaments sometimes so that we can catch up with editing and the many other tasks related to running the channel.

So, I have a plan!

If you are at a pool or snooker tournament and just happe to shoot some video you can send it to us and we will host it and broadcast it to the world. If it is good enough quality then we can even add score graphics and titles - you will always be credited with the work so don’t worry.

If you are interested in this then please drop me an email on enquiries @ cuesport.tv (remove spaces around @)

General cuesport tv, events, pool, snooker, streaming, video

It is a proven fact that niche content has a place on the Internet. Cuesport TV is pretty much that niche content, insomuch that we focus on smaller, less publicized tournaments and pro-ams.

I was thinking on my journey to Newport yesterday for the TCC Snooker Pro-am (as I often do whilst driving!) that perhaps Cuesport TV is not niche enough.

Would we better serve our audience if we seperated our content further?

What I essentially mean by this is that snooker is very different to English pool and likewise American pool. I do not just mean by the make up of the games, that much is obvious, but more down to the audiences that the content serves.

English pool players and fans are not likely to follow snooker videos or the live snooker that we offer. By the same token snooker fans are unlikely to follow the pool video content that we make available.

I am considering splitting our video content into two brand new, smaller channels in addition to the main one. Snooker TV and Pool TV.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I right or wrong in my assumptions?

General cuesport tv, pool tv, snooker tv, video

Back in the middle of June I annouced that Cuesport TV would be moving to subscription based content. Originally the date set for this was the 17th June, as you can see the date has passed and still subscriptions are not available.

On one hand it has meant that two live events have gone out free, which for the viewers that saw them was a bonus. For me and the company it has been a major frustration and is something not in our control.

There are videos lined up which will only be available as part of the subscription, yet we cannot release them until the paygate problems have been solved, I for one hope that this will be early next week. The original problem with the paygate provider has now been solved so it is just a case of getting the paperwork signed.

The subscription is already being taked about by some people on forums and chat rooms and as yet I have only read one negative comment about the move which is fantastic.

The subscription means that Cuesport TV will be able to provide better quality coverage from UK events but not only that. In addition International events will start being added to the subscription, content that is produced by some of the major International broadcasters.

Please feel free to comment about the nature of subscription based content below, I would love to read your ideas and thoughts on the subject.

General cuesport tv, iptv, pool, snooker, subscriptions, tv, video

At Cuesport TV we have provided the majority of our content for free to our growing number of viewers over the past 18 months. In order to improve our service and drive it forward we are introducing subscriptions.

As of the 17th June 2009 you will be able to purchase a premium subscription for Cuesport TV.

What do I get?
Access to every live event during your subscription period, plus access to the Video-on-demand content before anyone else gets to see it. Basically VOD’s will be subscription only until they have been available for 6 months. They will then revert to being free*.

What Does it Cost?
You will remember recently that we asked our viewers to complete a survey. In that survey we asked what would you be prepared to pay for Cuesport TV. 77% of you responded saying you would pay for Cuesport TV, how much was varied.

So what we are doing is offering 8 different subscription levels so you can buy as much or as little as you choose. These start at just £2.95 - see the full range of subscriptions below.

Is anything going to be free?
Yes, it is important for us still to appeal to those viewers that do not want to pay for Cuesport TV. Everything currently on the channel and recorded up to and including this weekends live event will be free. Videos within the subscription will become free after a period of 6 months.

*We are working with some international partners, due to the way the content is acquired it may have an additional cost over and above a subscription, also this type of content will never be available for free. Nothing at this stage has been finalised.

Subscription Levels

• 24 hour access - £2.95
• 48 hour access - £3.95
• 7 day access - £4.95
• 1 month access - £6.95
• 3 month access - £16.95
• 6 month access - £29.95
• 12 month access - £49.95
• 24 month access - £69.95

If you have any comments to make about the new subscriptions then please feel free to comment below.

General cuesport tv, online, pay per view, pool tv, snooker tv, subscription, video

The CueSport TV £50,000 Pool Series returned over the weekend of 8^th-10^th May. 84 players from as far away as Catalunya, Spain competed to try and get their hands on the £3500 winners prize, or at least a share of the £10,000 guaranteed prize fund.

A lot of the usual suspects including Simon Ward, the winner of the first event in the Isle of Man, and Jayson Shaw made it through to Sunday unscathed after coming through the winner’s side.

One of the biggest stories of the weekend was that of Craig Marsh. Marsh, the runner-up in the Isle of Man, was beaten by England’s Andy Lucas in the final qualifying round. Lucas himself had come through three matches to qualify for Sunday’s knockout stages.

The last 16 contained some well-known names from the world of Blackball and it also contained the name Stephen Dempsey. Local-boy Dempsey is more well known for his World Rules play and it was actually his first ever tournament under Blackball rules. He ended up being the last Irishman standing and was beaten in the semi-final 10-8 by Jayson Shaw after leading 8-7.

The other semi-final pitted the only Englishman in the tournament, Andy Lucas, against another Scotsman, Paddy McMullen. McMullen is a very slow and deliberate player and takes his time over every shot, this lead to a very long match. Andy was leading throughout only for Paddy to peg him back; the match went 9-9 with Andy breaking. He prevailed and managed to book his spot in the final.

The final was a different matter as Jayson really ran away with it after Andy Lucas continually failed on his break. He had a run of 7 dry breaks during the final, which meant Jayson was able to lift the title and the £3500 prize after a 10-4 victory. Lucas settled for second and no doubt will be pleased with his performance after collecting £1500 for the runner-up spot.

The series continues in June with the English leg from Preston over the weekend of the 26^th-28^th June. Once again this will be live and exclusive to CueSport TV.

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