I wanted to add to the discussion that was brought up regarding Fort Hill Football Live TV because it seems like a targeted business plan controlled by a completely independent party whose approach is incorporating a direct link to a public high school. While I have not read through each point thats been discussed on here previously, I've heard both side makes viable rebuttals. I admit I do not know all the details, but I think I've heard enough to understand what's happening here. Its sounds like a company with aspirations to make money off the names (and success) of local high schools rather than their own and therefore I think it goes far beyond live media coverage.
I guess the main question is, are they directly affiliated with the school they appear to represent? If not, why are they buying domain names to represent as such and moreso, how are they profiting from it without giving 100% of the proceeds earned back to the cause they are seeking money to support.
It's one thing to be a media company who covers area sports, or even a specific team but this comes across as if they are part of the specific work, opinions, efforts, and passion of that team. In comparison to Commercial Video in that regard, they are solely an entity operating under a business name (Commercial Video) with no specific loyalty (even radio stations operate under the company name despite who they cover more).
Therefore, the battle of CV vs. NGM for video rights is one thing, but despite the model that's been discussed to provide cutting edge video services and extend unprecedented methods for the betterment of the student-athletes I've failed to see anything other than self promotion. I see brand building, based on selective association.
Its obvious, the goal here (although it likely could) is not to provide quality video or even better coverage of football to the community. It's to make money.
Fort Hill obviously became the target over Allegany, well, because of their recent success and well-known loyal fan base. It wasn't a matter of who would be "high tech" but who'd offer the audience to grow a business more effectively. It was not based on fairness, but better business and thus the reason for questioning the overall objective. Fort Hill, if they have agreed to a relationship of this nature, may have been mislead. It may have been presented as a way to earn money and give back to their program exclusively without fully understanding the long term goals and agenda of a business. The ol' salesmen tactic to make someone believe it's in their best interest while they are really getting nickels on the dollar and haven't seen the fine print, and trusting the good word of someone they believe to be motivated to help kids.
I mean, gobbling up domain addresses to associate with schools, before being associated with them? Using their name, their logo? Posting video, game details, interviews, postgame shows, and starting Facebook pages? Not under the business that you represent, but as the team itself ("Fort Hill Football") to further appeal to the followers for self promotion. It appears to be a side show to the notion of providing live games, and shows that something bigger, and much more concerning, is going on.
If you ask me, it's a business trying to exploit a high school fan base (along with the hard work of coaches and players) to gain recognition. Needless to say, based on simple analysis, there's another angle here and it doesn't appear to be driven by helping the area's youth.
I make the assumption just based on the difficulties yet the willingness to fight for their rights. It's not this difficult to provide a service, be helpful, or even give back....a lot of people are doing and have done it for years in our community with no alternative motive other than contributing to something they care about. At some point along the way, someone saw an opportunity and maybe even wanted to take advantage of a situation given the opportunity to profit by waving the cost of their fancy equipment in your face. Its not proven to provide anything more than a clearer few and unnecessary perspective to people not involved, and certainly has no correlation to winning games or getting a college education.
I'm not sure what this hardcore push for change entails exactly, but it's clear they want to monopolize the video rights to the stadium so one company has control and will have exclusive power. Maybe even in dealing with the Board of Education now, the goal is to open up more revenue thru other partnership opportunities with them that could stem from the notoriety. Filming graduations, virtual tours of schools, ect. The end game is not to help Fort Hill, but use Fort Hill Football to try and showcase their technology.
Whether this works or not, or is good or bad - or even groundbreaking. Asking for answers and digging into the motives and potential gains is necessary. It actually doesn't even mean resistance, it just means being cautious of the unknown when others are set to make money off the area's kids.
Which to me, again not fully knowing every details, is more alarming. A business that now appears eager and aggressive to represent the individual team/school to get started and then move on and broaden their horizons once established. Aside from websites and domain names, they also are acquiring sponsorships/relationships on behalf of a program but only (or mainly) to support themselves. I get paying for equipment and overhead, but come on, the focus here is making money (putting as close to 90% into your own pocket as possible) thru the association of a hard-working program, whether it be Fort Hill or Allegany (or both).
***On A Side Note: Initially, given the inexperience and "start up" nature of work of this type, maybe NGM needs to seek work on a smaller scale and work their way up. Or approach other communities, maybe the Garrett County BOE (or one Mineral County, WV) to see if they are more open to the idea - and focus on building a resume to prove themselves and what they are offering.***
Selling adds on a Fort Hill Football TV website, when you aren't directly associated as a treasury within the school/organization or giving all the proceeds back to the program is misleading in itself. Seeking advertisements from businesses on behalf of Fort Hill Football, or in relationship to it but not using it all towards the program is nearly corrupt...and may even give the impression you obtained it unjustly for personal use. You can't use these measures to support NGM on the FH brand by acting like you're apart of it to trick the fans, businesses, and community into supporting you and then once its grows, or you max out your resources move on to the next. Well, maybe you can but you certainly can't talk about raising the bar and helping the kids in the same breath then.
Maybe they are actually affiliates, and have permission from board officials, principals, athletic directors and coaches, or even players parents - again I don't know. But if they don't that opens up a whole new can of worms. Everyone will have a postgame show here soon to ask for a donation, or sponsorship on behalf of something, and what - as long as you give (or say you are giving) 10% back the actual purpose then it's fair practice?
There are a lot of layers to this, and more concerns than just live streaming. I can see why the BOE hesitating to release the live streaming, I'm sure there are disclaimers and other type of things that probably are involved there - but are they going to let a company associate with the students-athletes, coaches/employees (or even fan bases) and not give 100% of their earning back to the school/program they seek profits for. From my perspective it could also mean that if they are allowed to take money for a service in the name of a high school and appear as (or are being acknowledge as) a representative of the school then that school (or even the BOE) would be "endorsing" the footage they provide through interviews, clips, and other recordings.
In addition to everything else, add the Allegany and Fort Hill narrative on top of it. Most can't see eye to eye in regard to red and blue but yet people from within the company will be working inside each program eventually? That to me, seems misleading to the other because it creates a conflict of interest. That's not to mention the invasiveness and scrutiny that will come along with such available access provided to the public, which can likely cause issues for coaches and players who don't want or need outside distractions.
Sometimes technology offers more problems than 0.10 cents on the dollar is worth.
