$10 a month

From a working capital perspective, there needs to be an annual subscription option, or something where they can get more revenue up front. Maybe a two-month discount if you pay for the whole year up front. I think that is a more successful venture than a month-to-month plan.

I'm sure they've given it all very careful consideration.

 

THIS.

Seriously folks, some of you spend $3/day on overpriced coffee but can't spend $10/month on something that offers far more than a caffeine buzz?

 

I think 10 dollars a month is a fair price, with that said, I hope they have an option to buy individual episodes for a dollar or less... I listen to two or three shows a week and don't always get through the entire show, so after a month or two of paying 10 dollars a month it might be smarter for myself to just but individual episodes. I think a yearly rate for around 80 bucks would also be a good move on their part.

Along with my money though I would expect no less than five-two hour-episodes a week, the high profile guests to return (Earl, Vickery, ect) and if they're really promoting this whole "America's voice for soccer" a weekly MLS correspondent.

 

They need to remember the frugal college student, who honestly isn't going to shell out 10/month. My current peak is 5, but 10 seems a bit upsetting.

 

I'm just waiting to see what we get for this $10/month....

 

its a reasonable price if they can get the guests back. I know Tim Vickery and the guys on the BBC Five Live weren't too pleased with Cohen. I also don't know what they will think when he comes back on the air a week after saying he was done for good. If you take a step back, it really looks a bit dodgy. If he can promise the same guests, as well as the premier league managers, jozy altidore, earle, etc. i will pay the price. if they lose correspondants, its gonna be hard to keep this a float.

 

Man I didn't know $10 was so much, is this 1909 or 2009, $10 is nothing. To keep the most important soccer show on radio it is very much worth it. But then again I happen to be one of those people that will buy a product jusy cause that company supports soccer, so call me crazy.

 

That's the thing, they're not on radio anymore, so if they din't live up to expectations and after a month or two people stop paying for the show things will go downhill for them fast.

Did Vickery say something on the BBC show about Cohen?

 

I agree. The guests were really what made the show. Having the likes of Tim Vickery, Jozy Altidore, Phil Brown and Graham Poll is the main reason I listened, so for the majority of them to all be gone would be a huge step backwards and difficult to justify the $10.

 

I imagine that they will get corespondents as many corespondents do other podcasts. I think they will have to get pricing just right and will eventually get sponsorship as well without depending on it exclusively. Like any venture, it will have to grow to get traction and it will take time. 5 days a week is a good amount of footie talk and they are pretty good.

 

Look the radio business is about making money. If the show does well early it won't be long before the sponsors and networks come calling and the subscription is history.

 

lets just say tim and dotun weren't sold on the fact that steven's family was threatened. Adebayo said when a caller from the UK asked about the death threats: "Oh I don't think they did. we don't know about these death threats." Vickery also said that if cohen does not have evidence to back up his claim or if he does and is unwilling to do so, he must make a full apology for the statements, and if you don't "it is not an issue of freedom of speech, but abuse of freedom of speech" I'm not saying these comments and the overall negative vive I received from that podcast means that Dotun and Tim wouldn't return, but if Cohen heard those remarks i'm sure he wouldnt be too pleased. i'm sure returning a week after saying the show is gone forever just confirms what they thought. I hope they would be on the new WFD, because tim is by far the best person ive heard speaking on south american footy. im from argentina and spend alot of time there, and tim's knowledge trumps many of the local pundits.

 

I don't think it was a case of negative vibe, being the BBC, they were just doing as do usually in trying extremely hard not to be controversial or take sides and thus didn't want to get wrapped up into a debate about allegations of this magnitude. Both actually spoke as though they had a lot of respect for the show and are very approuchable people so I'm sure if Steven asked then either one would be willing to come on without too much hesitation.

 

I love the show and listened everyday, but no way am I paying $10 a month. I'd only be able to podcast.

 

This show completely lost me with this move.

 

Every business is about making money.

 

Im a podcast listener, I wonder how much they will charge for that.......... $10 a month does seems a bit over priced but I will pay..... is either that or work for 8 full hours daily.

 

If they are charging 10 dollars a month they better not be so quick to skip shows or have truncated 1 hour shows. They better not miss more than 1 day a month rather than the seemingly average 2-3 a month.

I have to wonder if this is just a scam. Build up support and "rally the troops", then make it subscription-based after you tell a sob story in hopes that the allegations will drum up enough subscribers.

Will they have a way to safeguard from people using their friend's accounts? I'd only be a subscriber if I shared an account with a friend to where I'd pay 5 dollars or less a month. The fact that they are going from free to charge is a bad principle considering the economic quagmire we're in.

 

The show today will be free, we don't really have details on how this is going to work yet. Tune in and see what they are moving toward!

 

I see a few people complaining about the price. I can understand money is tight with some people. However the guys behind WSD/WFD need to not only pay for putting on the show but they need to eat too. Everything costs money. Trust me, I run a business and I am blow away by some of the comments from people who think my services are expensive (they're not). You got to pay to turn the lights on, you got to pay for the phone, the internet, office supplies, payroll, taxes, etc. Trust me it's becoming harder and harder for small businesses to make a buck. Steve, Kenny and Rafa can't be expected to work for free. I'm willing to pay them what equals 3 iced coffees at Dunkin Donuts for the service.

RC

 

Of course but this particular conversation is about radio.

 

World Soccer Daily has always been a business. From what I understand from the preview, Kenny, and Steve are using their own money to build this business. It's only natural that they would charge a small fee for it, and if the past couple of years are any indication, they are completely justified in charging the fee. The product has been top quality, and I have no problem paying a small fee. This is nothing new.
I have a hard time believing people here cannot afford $10 a month, especially considering what you will be getting for $10.

 

Well, not really. Sirius is a "pay to play" service, so the shows pay Sirius to carry them. The conversation about the $10 a month should be taken in the context that it is not at all about radio, as there is no way they can afford to pay the Sirius fees right now.

But in general, if people want the show to come back then they are going to have to supplement the revenue for at least a while.

As an aside, I think people are miss-representing the way WSD worked. It was /never/ free, you just didn't pay out of pocket for it. Each show you would give the advertisers your time, which isn't an item of no value.

Look at it this way, if there are 10 breaks in the show for 2 minutes each (And I'm making these numbers up to illustrate a point) that's 20 minutes a day, or 100 minutes a week. If those numbers were correct, that's over an hour and a half a week....or 6 hours a month of listening to adds.

Now, most people didn't listen to every show every day, so they also benefited from an economy of scale situation where "enough" listeners were tuned in at any one time to give value to the advertising time.

I'm not saying the valuation of this time is the same to everyone, obviously every individual needs to make their own decision. However, it is incorrect to say the show was "free" before, people were giving value back to it by listening to the advertisers.

This all comes down to that economy of scale situation....there is a critical mass when it comes to "Add funded content", until you hit that point and can fund the show without over-running it with more adds then listeners will sit trough, you are not breaking even.

 

I was a fan of WSD, and listened as often as I could. No show in the world provided a better combo of serious football talk (all the top pundits) and the passion (Cohen on Chelsea, the callers, etc). It’s a big loss. However, I have to say I agree with some of the other posters that this entire thing is more than a bit fishy. To go from chucking it all away to being back in full gusto inside a week??? Does not sit well.

Additionally, I also find Cohen’s stance of how football fans are being “done” by the Liverpool maniacs and the new show is “for the fans, by the fans” self-serving and a general rewriting of history. Does he not share any responsibility for the ultimate demise of WSD with his unending rants about Hillsborough? Was this an issue for US soccer fans in 2009? We had a great show, and without his rants on an irrelevant topic, we’d still have it. He should have had the fans in mind and checked himself.

So with these mixed sentiments I must decide if I will pay the $10. My initial reaction is that $10 just seems wildly overpriced. When comparing it to similar products I am already paying for the pricing makes no sense. Such as,

Sirius– 720 hours per month of an incredible variety of music/talk/sports for approx $15 vs. approx. 40 hours of one topic with WFD. Price seems way out of whack.

Setanta- at least 8 BPL games per month (not to mention all the other leagues/stuff). THE ACTUAL GAMES. WFD only priced approx $5 less per month. Again, out of whack.

Thanks and Good Luck, Steven, but I won’t be giving you that sawbuck based on my valuation of the product. It’s not a $10/month product.