A new overseas broadcast platform announced by the English Football League means that from next season, fans of League Championship, League One and League Two clubs who live outside the U.K. and Ireland "will be able to watch every single moment of their favourite team in action," according to Jim White of the London TELEGRAPH. The platform, iFollow, will be made available through the club's website and will "give fans the chance to watch every game of their team’s season, unless that match has been selected by the EFL’s overseas broadcast partners." EFL Marketing Dir Drew Barrand said, "Conservative estimates suggest there are 270,000 fans of EFL clubs living outside the U.K. Fifty-five percent of them are located in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which suggests a significant expat presence." Fans will pay the equivalent of £110 ($142) for a season pass to the service, which will "provide coverage of up to 46 live games per club, which gives the overseas fan far greater access to broadcast coverage than those in the home market." Barrand: "It is an amazing offer. With the domestic market there is always the delicate balancing act of live attendance against broadcast revenue. For the overseas market this is not an issue" (TELEGRAPH, 5/4). The PA reported most of the EFL's "biggest clubs have not joined the new platform, opting instead to concentrate on their own streaming service." For example, Aston Villa, Derby and Leeds have "chosen not to join the iFollow initiative." Because of the EFL's domestic rights deals, fans in the U.K. and Ireland will not be able to watch live games via the digital platform but "will have access to audio commentary, highlights packages and other video as part of the new offering, rebranded to replace the EFL's existing PlayerHD platform" (PA, 5/4). THE DRUM's Tony Connelly reported thus far, 61 of 72 EFL clubs "have signed up for the service." Research commissioned by the EFL "highlighted the demand for a service like iFollow among international fans." A survey of over 1,600 such fans showed that 73% would be "very likely or quite likely to subscribe to a live match streaming service and almost half would be happy to pay an annual subscription fee to do so." The EFL has "taken steps in recent years to strengthen" clubs' digital connectivity to "maximise their commercial potential, sparking fears that live streaming is now a ticking time bomb as far as established sports broadcasters are concerned" (THE DRUM, 5/4).
