We built a broadcast channel. Discuss.

"Driving Sports TV" (drivingsports)
01/16/2015 at 22:34 • Filed to: TV

Today we soft-launched the Driving Sports TV broadcast channel. Yes, we built a broadcast channel that you can watch for free, using a variety of internet-connected devices. (Technically we could connect up to a upstream cable provider if they asked us to... just wanted to point that out.)

Since this is a soft launch, we don't have any big events or live shows to announce yet. This is more the "making sure everything works" and "does this make any sense" phase. So that's where you guys come in. We would like to hear your opinions about this.

The idea of a Driving Sports TV broadcast channel came about because we thought that requiring viewers to find and select every thing they wanted to watch (you know, Video on Demand) wasn't always the best experience. Especially when it comes to internet-connected TVs. Did you know there are literally hundreds of shows on Hulu that you never see simply because you don't know they're there? They bury them. Deep. That's not to say VOD doesn't have its place. VOD can be seriously cool and can also be a very good experience. But, there's room for more and we think that providing a new automotive broadcast channel is a good idea. (We already have VOD as well, btw.)

So what can our broadcast channel do? Everything that ESPN can do. Yes, even live sports and events without having to reload the page or interrupt the stream. Only, you don't need a cable package. Just one of many internet-connected devices we'll be supporting. (Currently, Roku, Android, iOS and web browsers. Samsung, Sony and TiVo connected TVs are coming soon.) We have 30 edge servers around the world, so performance should be decent in most corners of the world.

So, is this something you'd watch? Maybe even when you don't know what else to watch? We'll be working to bring more show and features than what we currently provide on VOD. So, let's not judge based on the currently content lineup. Tell us what you think about the idea of it .

You can stream it online from our front page !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (13)

For Sweden > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 22:43

I'll discuss if you buy pizza

Driving Sports TV > For Sweden
01/16/2015 at 22:45

Kinja'd!!!

deekster_caddy > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 22:51

I'm in favor of the idea. I assume you will have ad support if it's free to the end user, so that's fine with me. Especially if you can broadcast long shows like auto races without interruption, for example reducing the main race and sharing the screen with an ad for a minute or two, then back to the race, etc.

Also, if you have a lot of costs for bandwidth, give the end user options. I have 32" TVs in my house and have turned all of my HD device settings to 720p, I cannot tell the difference here. Netflix is streaming some shows in 4K now, this interests me not at all...

And good luck!

edit to add a few more thoughts.

FWIW I never liked Hulu's interface because as you mentioned, there is a ton of stuff that is just buried, not shown at all. I didn't sign up for Hulu Plus because of this. I have a similar problem with Amazon - the Prime Streaming thing is a total mess. Did I pay extra for streaming? Yes, I did, but now I have to pay to 'rent' this movie? But... I just added streaming to my Prime account because that's what it said I needed to do to view this movie. And browsing their catalog is completely horrible.

Apple and Netflix have it right, although it's really hard to find what Netflix doesn't push up to the front these days. Their older interfaces were better for browsing.

XJDano > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 22:59

It's late on a Friday night. I'll check your site now till I crash out, typed a bunch of other stuff, not sure if relevant, I think I rambled on for a bit. But I'll see what you got.

Chromecast?

Driving Sports TV > XJDano
01/16/2015 at 23:02

It should work with Chromecast.

XJDano > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 23:11

Ok here's what I typed earlier:

A very little about me & TV. I hate it. I don't pay for TV I don't watch (cable or dish) I just have digital antenna that SUCKS anyway.

I do have Netflix because my sister shares it with me & 2 other siblings ( don't tell) and my wife uses that during the day with the kids & all.

Prior to moving 4 years ago we had basic cable, because previous owner told up it never got turned off.... Ok, speed Chanel was on all the time, reruns of pink slips and Pass time. My wife even watched it.

Ok we moved and no more free cable, so I have to look for anything to stream on laptop that's old, display on tv.

I would love something for races, which you probably won't be able to get because of legal & money broadcasting rights ect ect.

For some stuff I go to YouTube, pretty simple, but still watch on phone and stream on TV.

I really don't care much for any new cars, I'm too cheap, that's why RCR appeals to me. Regular, not biggest baddest, possibly my next beater.

I'll be bookmarking your site, checking stuff out. Race recaps interest me too, I've watched a few 80's F1 races on YouTube in entirety, still new to me.

I'm not all about the RACE either. I'd watch other car related stuff, like generic how to's and fixes.

Cheers!

Driving Sports TV > XJDano
01/16/2015 at 23:22

Thanks for your post, it was great to hear your thoughts.

As for the bigger race series' and shows, with enough viewers, anything is possible. We have the necessary contacts and have already discussed some possibilities.

XJDano > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 23:31

Thanks for your response. I look forward to watching stuff, even now, like right now the rally recap is great.

Good luck.

shop-teacher > Driving Sports TV
01/16/2015 at 23:43

I'll give it a whirl

desertdog5051 > Driving Sports TV
01/17/2015 at 00:37

Like what I saw. Good luck.

BlurpleToyotaDishwasher > Driving Sports TV
01/17/2015 at 00:38

Eh, it seems nice enough as an idea. I suppose I'd take a look now and again but it does depend on the content. Would I subscribe? Probably not - the price is fine but I'm generally very restrained when it comes to subscriptions.

To go into the content aspect - news, reviews, and small-scale how-tos, I'd be more inclined to look that kind of thing up on youtube if I wanted video, or more likely just read it. Motorsports and more 'car culture' type stuff would be the types of content I'd find interesting and be more inclined to watch TV-style rather than just looking up something and watching brief bits.

(oh and the 'live' player on the website doesn't seem to like trying to skip back or ahead, it just kinda buffers endlessly until I refresh the page. Also when trying to look up video-on-demand, the "more..." button rather than numbered pages makes it difficult to browse and the sort-by options can't be switched between ascending/descending)

Driving Sports TV > BlurpleToyotaDishwasher
01/17/2015 at 01:10

That's because there's nothing to jump forward or skip to. It's a live broadcast. We've considered removing the play controls entirely, but haven't decided on specifics for that yet. As for the price, we're considering this to only be viable as a free, ad-supported medium at this time.

BlurpleToyotaDishwasher > Driving Sports TV
01/17/2015 at 01:39

Yeah - but I missed something that was said and tried to skip back a few seconds to hear it. When it didn't work I went to try it again to see if it was my PC or a bug. Could you do it so that it so that keeps up with the broadcast in the buffer but lets the viewer rewind a bit? It's a feature I find myself using all the time when watching other live TV on the internet.

Going into the future was a mis-click, so I thought I'd mention the bug just in case, even though I thought you'd already know about it.