The festive double header against Torquay United will cost £9.50 for Yeovil Town supporters to stream following the “full launch” of National League TV.
The price is double what it cost to witness the goalless draw at home to Scunthorpe United – although you may have felt cheated paying even that – when the service was in “a successful two-week beta test period“, according to the League.
The other Glovers’ game which could have been offered at the reduced rate was the midweek trip to Barnet which fell foul to the freezing weather. So, at full price, the trip to Plainmoor on Boxing Day and the return fixture at Huish Park on New Year’s Day will be served up to streamers.
If you are outside the UK, half-season and pay monthly options are available at £80 and £22.50 respectively, and wherever in the world you are you can sign up at www.nationalleaguetv.com.
National League general manager Mark Ives said: “Our goal is to give fans who can’t get to stadiums the ability to be part of the live match day experience no matter where they’re based around the world. The numbers have only endorsed the passion for football at this level.
“We didn’t want to limit supporters to just one match stream on the platform, our unique offering has been designed to allows fans to switch between matches to keep track of all the action as it’s happening live that day.”
Providing you declare the fact you are a Yeovil Town supporter when registering on the National League website – see here – then 60% of your fee will go in to the Huish Park coffers. A further 25% goes in to a pot which is distributed among the other 71 teams in the National League pyramid – yes, that means W*ymouth do get a bit of your money.
The other 15% goes in to another pot which the League says will be “retained by the league for reinvestment.”
We obviously look forward to hearing what that reinvestment looks like – we’re sure it will not be long before they tell us.
The National League has previously said the service would screen “non-televised matches” whilst “also respecting the need to comply with Article 48 restrictions.”
Article 48 is a UEFA regulation which prevents matches being televised in England and Scotland between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday, which presumably means the new streaming service will only cover midweek, bank holiday fixtures and any rescheduled kick-off times.
However, Article 48.2 (are you still awake?) states that there is no blackout between November 12th and January 14th – which enabled matches to be streamed during the World Cup.
After the Torquay matches, the rearranged fixture at Barnet on January 17th will be available on the service followed by the home match with Wealdstone on January 24th.