Why doesn't DCI broadcast Finals?

[Newseditor44]

I understand that DCI doesn't want to loose revenue by people watching online or in the theatres instead of buying Finals tickets. However, you can take care of all of us that cannot attend Finals by letting us purchase the rights to watch online or in the theatre, and make even MORE REVENUE.

This doesn't make too much sense. And it is not taking care of us who have contributed a lot of time, marching and $$$$ (DCI Fan Network Subscritions, tickets throughout the year, souvies, etc.).

Opinions? What's it going to take to let us see Finals over the web or in the theatres?

Theater won't work becuase the theaters will never give up the space3 on a Friday night. That is there Money maker and it would be too much of a risk.

As for webcast on Saturday, there is a bit of a debate there. The common theory is that DCI thinks it will lose gate revenue and DVD sales from broadcasting online. If you want to see the show. IMHO, I think that theory is very flawed. But ultimately that is up to the board of directors.

[Ben]

i agree

if people see finals live on a webcast theyll be less inclined to pay for the dvds (especially with how easy it is to record streaming video on your computer)

it sucks that they lost so much on a contract with espn, i wonder if theyre gonna go back to pbs next year, or some other channel?

PBS will never happen again, they lost a lot of money, pledges never came through.

Especially after this year, and the record number of DVD's that are sure to be sold, we won't see DCI on tv for a long time.

[Newseditor44]

I think DCI will broadcast Finals when it's feasible in terms of money and when they can figure out the avenue they wish to take. The web is certainly a possibility, and there are others, but this particular year was not possible.

DCI entered into a 3-year contract with ESPN 2 years ago. They paid in the neighborhood of $250,000 for the right to have their production broadcast on ESPN 2 a few times after finals. But after two years of that I think they felt the number of viewers and the type of package they had to create for ESPN was not quite worth the money or the effort. They have chosen to bring more of a web presence to you, the fans, and I believe they have done a great job. The Fan Network has been wonderful for the most part. Some bugs to work out, but it is far better than anything we have ever had.

However, in doing so, DCI decided not to do the ESPN broadcast this year, but due to the contract, which was 3 years, they are not allowed to show DCI FInals on any other Network or web service. They can show Quarters and Semis, as they did, but not Finals. Since the ESPN contract is still alive until after this summer, ESPN still owns the rights to a Finals broadcast. So if DCI did show Finals, ESPN gets to show it, and DCI has to fork over 250K.

Next summer may be different, and DCI may look into some sort of Finals air time. But I am just guessing. A lot can happen, so let's see where this goes.

Well there you go!

[Brutus]

Here's the official ARTICLE on the ESPN cancellation.

[skajerk]

And I'm pretty sure they'll be doing the same thing in regards to the '08 finals VPDs that they are doing with the '07 finals VPDs. Meaning that the '08 finals probably won't be posted until SEP of next year.

[byline]

I think DCI will broadcast Finals when it's feasible in terms of money and when they can figure out the avenue they wish to take. The web is certainly a possibility, and there are others, but this particular year was not possible.

DCI entered into a 3-year contract with ESPN 2 years ago. They paid in the neighborhood of $250,000 for the right to have their production broadcast on ESPN 2 a few times after finals. But after two years of that I think they felt the number of viewers and the type of package they had to create for ESPN was not quite worth the money or the effort. They have chosen to bring more of a web presence to you, the fans, and I believe they have done a great job. The Fan Network has been wonderful for the most part. Some bugs to work out, but it is far better than anything we have ever had.

However, in doing so, DCI decided not to do the ESPN broadcast this year, but due to the contract, which was 3 years, they are not allowed to show DCI FInals on any other Network or web service. They can show Quarters and Semis, as they did, but not Finals. Since the ESPN contract is still alive until after this summer, ESPN still owns the rights to a Finals broadcast. So if DCI did show Finals, ESPN gets to show it, and DCI has to fork over 250K.

Next summer may be different, and DCI may look into some sort of Finals air time. But I am just guessing. A lot can happen, so let's see where this goes.

Ah, I didn't know about that third year issue with ESPN. Thanks for explaining that!

If, as others have suggested, DCI is worried that live online streaming of finals will take away from DVD and/or ticket sales, then -- and this is not an original thought; somebody else suggested it in the finals thread -- maybe DCI could give a password to anyone who pre-orders the finals DVD, enabling those folks to watch finals live. It's a win-win for us and DCI.

[jetman1287]

DCI should stream us finals as part of the season pass, no questions asked. We're paying $80 for this thing and it has worked out very well this year, but if they have all the capabilities in place to show quarters online and semis on the web, they should show finals with ease.

At the very least could we have a retreat?! I mean, this retreat tonight would have been awesome, but it's a simple refresh button that tells us who won.

We travel far for shows paying for gas, souvenirs, and tickets. We buy the DVDs and CDs. We're hardcore and bring others to shows. We deserve finals streaming included with the fan network, and for non-members it should be $20. None of this "$55 price of a cheap ticket" nonsense. Being there versus sitting in front of a screen is completely different!

An average YouTube quality stream will not discourage me from buying DVDs.

[skajerk]

DCI should stream us finals as part of the season pass, no questions asked. We're paying $80 for this thing and it has worked out very well this year, but if they have all the capabilities in place to show quarters online and semis on the web, they should show finals with ease.

At the very least could we have a retreat?! I mean, this retreat tonight would have been awesome, but it's a simple refresh button that tells us who won.

We travel far for shows paying for gas, souvenirs, and tickets. We buy the DVDs and CDs. We're hardcore and bring others to shows. We deserve finals streaming included with the fan network, and for non-members it should be $20. None of this "$55 price of a cheap ticket" nonsense. Being there versus sitting in front of a screen is completely different!

An average YouTube quality stream will not discourage me from buying DVDs.

See post #8 above. They can't show any broadcast... either on T.V or on the web because they are still under contract with ESPN.

[jetman1287]

See post #8 above. They can't show any broadcast... either on T.V or on the web because they are still under contract with ESPN.

good point, haha.

I don't think they'd show it anyway though. Hopefully next year we can get it without paying outrageous fees.

J/W - since we paid the 3 year deal, why not just produce finals for ESPN? I guess the costs are high, but if you're still paying as part of the deal anyway...

[silvertrombone]

I can think of about 30,000 reasons why I agree with OP! Heck, charge $5 more and that goes straight to DCI. Don't think 100,000 would attend FINALS cinecast??? 20k x $5 = $100,000...every bit helps!