Photos like this are now banned in the SEC
You scored tickets to a big game in The Shoe and The Buckeyes just scored. After the obligatory high fives, the next thing to do is pull out the cell phone, snap a quick pic and post it to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, wherever. You need to virtually laugh in the faces of you’re buddies stuck in the parking lot, watching the game on an eight second delay.
And while you can still get away with it in The Big Ten, thanks to a new SEC social media policy, SEC fans will be forced to rely on an artist rendering of the moment. Even then, they probably won’t be able to post it to YouTube.
While most of the discussion has centered around the idea that the SEC doesn’t “get” social media, the St. Petersburg Times has a much better analysis discussing the SECs desire to protect their $3 billion, 15 year contract with CBS. It’s not that they’re are concerned about my cell phone snap shot, as the St. Petersburg Times points out, it’s what I may be able to do with my cell phone five years from now. They also point out that blogs like this one may soon be some of their biggest competitors.
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Many are saying this makes the bosses of the SEC look like fuddy-duddy technophobes — that they don’t “get” new media.
They get it. The language of the conference’s policy suggests they know all too well the high-stakes fight that’s just beginning.
If exclusivity is the aim, and it is, because it’s that exclusivity that commands the billions of dollars from TV networks, then the fans aren’t just fans anymore. They’re looking more and more like so many cell phone-equipped individual information feeds.
And here is the digital-age realization: The SEC’s greatest supporters are now also the SEC’s biggest competitors.
Yep, the SEC get’s it and they’re scared. Armed with nothing more then an iPhone, fans now have the ability to broadcast live from within the stadium. Take it a step further with a high def flip cam, net book and a good seat (maybe near the players bench) and now I’m interested. Look five or even ten years down the road and imagine the possibilities.
The “journalists” are no longer confined to the press box. However, the SEC and CBS appear to be fighting a losing battle. Instead of trying to prevent 90,000 fans from using cell phones, cameras, etc., the SEC should look for ways to embrace their fans use of social media.
Like it or not, tomorrow’s media will be interactive (if it isn’t already) and news breaks live, fast and more and more from the perspective of the citizen journalist. The newspaper and recording industry has learned the hard way. Will college football and television be next?
Update: The SEC has revised their social media policy. Apparently, it’s now alright to text the score to my drunk friends in the parking lot but I can’t use my flip cam. Photos are still allowed as long as they’re for personal use only.
One of the most interesting points for a blogger like myself:
No Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a “real-time” description or transmission of the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of such Event.
Does this mean that live blogging from within the stadium is prohibited? I would think that it would be tough to make a case that live blogging would be intended to provide a substitute for radio, t.v, video. Live blogging provides a running commentary. But then again, so does a color commentator.
As for the commercial aspect, I guess if the blog sells advertising then live blogging is prohibited.
Not that I’m actually planning on blogging an SEC game. If I were to live blog my thoughts on the SEC, I’d be more worried about the SEC fans finding me then the authorities.
Click here to read the story from the SEC fan perspective.
Update II The New York Times has an article today (naturally, The Buckeye Blog scooped them) on the SEC policy. According to the NYT, the SEC is concerned about live blogging from the game and game video being used in fan made highlight clips like this one.
The SEC, major league baseball, the NFL and others should take a tip from the New York Islanders who went so far as to create a dedicated blogger box at the games complete with nachos and wi-fi access. Select fan bloggers were not only allowed to live blog at the game, they were welcomed.
Take a tip from the Islanders, they’re is great power in the blogs. Use it to your advantage.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think they can control 100,000 fans from taking media products away from games.
It does seem rather futile doesn’t it.
I’m sorry, this policy doesn’t even make sense from the point of view of intellectual property protection. The intellectual property from a game is, after all, ephemeral.
When ESPN or TV networks film a game, they do it from many points of view that are switched rapidly on an instantaneous basis from video sent immediately into a central control room.
That’s something we can’t do today from the stands, even with the most sophisticated equipment. And to even try and replicate that would require a sophisticated operation that would be just as complex and difficult as a real job.
Now maybe after the event a group of people could edit together a pretty nice broadcast of the game from high-definition amateur video cameras of the future, but that would be after the event. Long after, actually, considering how unwieldy the process of editing high-def video is.
But the truth is that once a game is over, almost all its value has already been used. Once you know the result of a game there’s not much reason to see it again. 95% of the value of a football game is lost almost immediately after gametime.
Most people who watch a game, watch it from beginning to end (or to when they know the result whichever is sooner). The SEC has nothing to worry about except for hatred from fans thanks to this silly policy.
D