Watching game shows over the web

[dickoon]

What's the state of the art in watching game shows over the web these days? This is a question which comes up every six or twelve months.

A prominent and respected member of the community has put digitised versions of a few full-length episodes out from time to time, but strangely enough, most channels and production companies are rather reluctant to have their content available on the Internet for viewing later or for viewing in other countries. It's unlikely that US folks will be able to get a web streaming feed of Challenge ? in the foreseeable future; likewise, I'm not holding out much hope for being able to see GSN live.

However, I do perceive that TV is moving this way; I believe, rightly or wrongly, that the BBC broadcast a lot of news programming over the web - narrowband worldwide, broadband within the UK. Furthermore, the BBC do archive lots of their radio shows for a week after playing; earlier today, I listened to the first episode of the new series of play-along-at-home panel game Puzzle Panel from the Radio 4 web site. I suspect the archive is likely to remain available worldwide all week. (We hope for an appearance from a member of this forum later in the series!)

That said, listening to a game show, is in my biased book, a weak second to being able to watch one online. Can anyone suggest game shows from any country which are available on the web?

I'll start - and I'll start close to home. WKAR, a PBS station in Lansing, MI, has had our own Matt Ottinger hosting Quizbusters, a local high-school quiz bowl game, for fourteen series. The last time I saw an episode was over half a decade ago; episodes from the most recent series are available for viewing online. The production values have improved almost beyond recognition since then and Matt remains an evidently extremely well-studied, more than competent host. (His handling of the lightning round at the end is national class.) The show still suffers slightly from having a studio audience which is so small; I would tend to either try to go large or not go at all, because the rounds of applause are a little, well, weedy. That's a very small and somewhat unfair criticism of a fundamentally extremely sound show.

I can thoroughly recommend spending half an hour watching the Green Division championship, Hartland vs. Okemos. If you've seen a better game show than that already today, whether on GSN or on the networks, then you've had a very good day. To say more would be a spoiler.

Well done, Matt and team. Heck of a job!
Chris

[Dan Sadro]

[quote name=\'dickoon\' date=\'Aug 6 2003, 09:38 PM\'] What's the state of the art in watching game shows over the web these days? This is a question which comes up every six or twelve months. [/quote]
 Let's hope this doesn't go kerblammo like it did when I tried sending it before.

I don't forsee that quality programming, other than news, will go on the internet any time soon.

Maybe I should restate it.  It's unlikely that you'll see evening-time television on the internet because it's (1) expensive to broadcast online, (2) few people are able to fully enjoy it, and (3) it doesn't count toward ratings.

Of course we all understand the so-called \"bandwidth\" limits (transfer limits is a better term, but oh well) and that it costs money for more of it.  The only way to put out a quality broadcast is by creating large files.  For example, many game show sites use real media files, with a standard of a bit more than a megabyte per minute, which leaves the viewer with a fair-quality image that quickly deteriorates with fast-moving shots.

Remember that the number of people on broadband are about the same as the number of people who are left-handed, and that's US figures (UK figures would likely be lower, as well as the rest of the world).  Not all of them have computers capable of handling higher-quality broadcasts, and you're left with either a low-quality product or a product few people have a use for.

Then again, ask this question in five years and we could find ourselves with a different answer.

And yes, QB is exceptional.

[ChuckNet]

What's the state of the art in watching game shows over the web these days? This is a question which comes up every six or twelve months.

Dunno, but this reminds me of my early ATGS days (early '97), when GSN was available via NetShow...w/only a 28.8K dial-up connection and a 2\" viewing area (about the size of Sony's old Watchman portable TV), you can imagine how awkward the whole viewing experience was. :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[Brig Bother]

Very interesting, and quite nice to put a face to a big name.

Can't see gameshows over the web happening for a while sadly, which is aggravating as in my heart of hearts I secretly hope there's a way to watch France 2 so I can watch Fort Boyard on Saturday nights but sadly can only watch French news.

However, Canal+ show some of their shows over the web, one of the more interesting ones being called \"Le Zapping\" which a friend of mine who pasts here recommended to me ages ago. It's a five minute show based around clips of other shows on other channels. It's normally quite interesting and normally has at least one clip of various French games.

[Matt Ottinger]

Very interesting, and quite nice to put a face to a big name.

You can't possibly mean me.

Anyway, thanks for the nice words about QuizBusters.  Despite some behind-the-scenes troubles, the Hartland/Okemos contest was by far the most amazing match-up we've ever had, and I'm glad some of you have taken the time to watch it.  I know virtually nothing about how the station streams the episodes, but if a tiny PBS station in a tiny Michigan market can do it, I'm surprised you don't see more of it being done on a larger level.  

I'm particularly surprised, for example, that Jeopardy or Wheel don't make streaming episodes available for, say, a week after airing.  Or that GSN doesn't try doing that with some of their shows.  The quality of the streamed copies can't possibly be better than VHS copies people could make for themselves, so it's not like you're playing into the hands of pirates or anything.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 7 2003, 11:00 AM\'] I'm particularly surprised, for example, that Jeopardy or Wheel don't make streaming episodes available for, say, a week after airing. [/quote]
 Sony's SoapCity service has a subscription service in which you can download same-day episodes of certain soap operas.  I don't know how many people would pay for same-day J! and WoF (or Pyramid), but I wouldn't be surprised to see Sony offer them at some point in the future.

[AZAndrewG]

How about if a network (say GSN) were to offer perhaps an episode of three or four \"rare\" game shows for download, available via subscription service?  Not same-day reruns of Wheel, Jeopardy! or any of their originals -- I'm talking about shows they have in their library but are not being aired -- similar to the \"Game of the Week\" concept.

Andrew (not to be confused with AndyG)  :-)

[Ian Wallis]

-- I'm talking about shows they have in their library but are not being aired -- similar to the \"Game of the Week\" concept.

Hey...I like that idea.  It may be the only way we'll get to see these shows!!!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'AZAndrewG\' date=\'Aug 8 2003, 05:17 AM\'] How about if a network (say GSN) were to offer perhaps an episode of three or four "rare" game shows for download, available via subscription service?  Not same-day reruns of Wheel, Jeopardy! or any of their originals -- I'm talking about shows they have in their library but are not being aired -- similar to the "Game of the Week" concept.
 [/quote]
 You'll never see it if it's for straight download. Consider all of the hubbub with music sharing.

Now, Real offers a service in conjunction with all of the other stuff they offer due to their affiliation with Major League Baseball, that for $5 a month you can view their online streaming library of classic baseball games. Can't download or burn 'em, but you can watch all you like. I've thought about signing up for a month or two just because of all of the true classics they have there (most notably for me, Game One of the 1988 Series)

The problem is that such a service, of course, takes a LOT of server space, and a good chunk of bandwidth to handle the subscribers. Real had the latter, MLB had the former. GSN really has neither, but if they could GET them, and offer a subscription service like that at a fair price to have access to watch the library (and we're talking 320 x 200 windows here; nothing that you'd bother to try videotaping unless you REALLY had no life), it would certainly be something I'd think about buying. I'm not holding my breath, tho.

[AZAndrewG]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 8 2003, 11:00 AM\'] I've thought about signing up for a month or two just because of all of the true classics they have there (most notably for me, Game One of the 1988 Series) [/quote]
 OT here, but I cannot help gloating -- they also have Game 7 of the 2001 World Series -- the single greatest moment in baseball history!  :-)

Greg Schulte (KTAR radio, Phoenix): \"The stretch. . .and the 0-1 pitch. . .and a little blooper. . .BASE HIT!  DIAMONDBACKS WIN!  THY'RE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS!  GONZALEZ DID IT!\"

[Brig Bother]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 8 2003, 05:00 PM\']
You'll never see it if it's for straight download. Consider all of the hubbub with music sharing.

 [/quote]
 Well to be honest I don't think so.

Music is integral to everyday life and I very much suspect there's a rather larger fan base for downloading baseball than there would be for gameshows. What value do gameshows have other than in a watch once and never really bother considering again capacity? And when I say that I mean for normal people and not people like us.

I suspect the amount of people who would download gameshows would be minimal. Which is aggravating for people like me who like to see how other countries like to \"do\" \"stuff\" but not really that surprising really.

[Jimmy Owen]

I guess there was a good reason for the mass erasures of the 70's.  There's absolutely no market for the old shows, except clip shows.  GSN probably wouldn't show them.  My idea of releasing GS DVDs was met with discouraging economics figures, and no one will stream them for potential copyright issues.  If they existed they would languish in the vaults.  If a show is in the vaults but it can't be seen, does it really exist?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Aug 8 2003, 10:08 AM\'] What value do gameshows have other than in a watch once and never really bother considering again capacity? And when I say that I mean for normal people and not people like us. [/quote]
 I agree, but consider the precedence it sets. The recording industry (and yes, I realize they're not directly involved here, but they DO have a strong political lobby) would never allow it to happen, because if they did, it essentially removes their excuse to be hardasses about the whole MP3 thing. And, at least at this point in the game, they're still representing like there is too much to lose there.

I suspect the amount of people who would download gameshows would be minimal.

I agree, but I don't think the focus would fall on how many people did it, so much as it would on the simple fact that it can be done.