TAR Podcast #7 - Comments and Suggestions

Fast Lenny

Faster Than You...
Silver Member
First I have to say I love the idea of a 5 by 10 Diamond coming in the future, it will make for some great matches and who would not want to see some one pocket on a tight 5 by 10 with 2 world class players or any game for that matter. One thing, love or hate Earl, he is so right about putting the pros on a 5 by 10, the game is too easy for them on 4.5 and bigger pockets and a 9 foot table. I doubt we will see a full return for them in tournament play but hopefully more rooms will have them popping up but they really are not cost effective to have in numbers.

The idea of a belt is cool but I cannot really picture Shane wearing one unless he keeps working out and bulking up. The idea of a King of One Pocket, Banks, 14.1, 8, 9 and 10 ball sounds awesome along with maybe a King of the All Around too. IMO this will be the most exciting and we will get to see different games played, rotation can be a bit boring at times and some of the other games would be a good change of pace.

As for giving discounts to members of BCAPL, it is not too difficult, just have a promo code for them so they get a discount, its a good way to track where your viewers and money are coming from. I will happily send out an email to people on my newsletter with a promo code that saves people money, maybe have an AZ Billiards promo code too for members here.

To get other people with mailing list or sites with a good deal of traffic just offer an incentive, they could post a banner on their site or send out mass emailing for your event, if people use that promo code from the email or site then they get a couple bucks. If your charging $35 and the promo code saves someone $5 and the promoters get another $5 then you make $25 as opposed to $35 but most likely its a new customer for TAR. I would rather have 500 people at $25 then 200 at $35.

Another idea for the diehard TAR supporters would be an annual membership say for $100, it buys you streams for the year and a small discount on TAR products. TAR averages around 5-7 streams a year it seems so its a good savings and locks people in, no guarantee on how many streams but 3 streams are a $100 anyway so its little to no risk for a consumer.

TAR should also have a newsletter, if you had everyone signed up for the newsletter who has watched on the site you would have thousands of people on it and not everyone comes to AZ Billiards but most check email daily. When you have a stream, new products or special promotion from a sponsor like the OB Cues thing you could send out an email blast for it. If you have 10,000 people on it which is realistic and 5% buy a PPV that is 500 people, not too shabby.

I like the idea of Cali coming on board and think he will do wonders as he does already. Just some suggestions and feedback from your local idiot. I know ideas are easy to come by and time and money are not but this is a good way to make some moves. :wink:

Here is the link if anyone wants to make comments or suggestions, I know Mark and Justin welcome feedback.

P.S. Still thinking of how we can solve pools money problems but Bill Gates and Oprah are not biting. :embarrassed2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFXxlIoCYTc
 
One thing that was touched on was TAR being streamed in bars. I'm wondering if someone with some local knowledge could comment on One Side. With Busti playing, having TAR 24 being broadcast in the center of the Manila pool universe could help build the brand globally.

Not sure if they even have the equipment to set it up. But it couldn't hurt to find out.
 
One thing that was touched on was TAR being streamed in bars. I'm wondering if someone with some local knowledge could comment on One Side. With Busti playing, having TAR 24 being broadcast in the center of the Manila pool universe could help build the brand globally.

Not sure if they even have the equipment to set it up. But it couldn't hurt to find out.

It is a very simple process for any bar to set it up, laptop with an HDMI cable into a flat screen or the input of your multiple HDMI box to have it on all TVs. This would be great for rooms and TAR if rooms started showing it or guys brought a laptop and hooked it up there for people to enjoy and get exposed to.
 
I like the thought of streaming pool being shown in bars, I mentioned it to a local bar owner owner who has alot of tables and leagues. He seemed slightly interested but it did not go anywhere. I do not know exactly what to tell them about TAR other than 35 bucks for 3 sessions but a stream is way cheaper than a UFC or NFL Sunday ticket so it is great if people at the bar want to watch.

Maybe TAR or somebody could put together a pool league streaming package for pool rooms and sprts bars which would stream 7 days a week from 6 PM Eastern to 11 PM Pacific stream quality matches which would of course be replays such as Accu Stats ,TAR and the others with quality footage. Pool could be shown on TV at sports bars during league play. They have the sound off commentaiton would not matter so much as having quality pool matches and also not having the constant commercials, which is a real plus.

My dad has a sports bar and I know how he gets his 7 Dish boxes, his cable channels and occasionally a streamed football game which cannot be picked up locally on TV all metered out to be shown on a variety of TV's. They have a backroom where they switch all the feeds to local bar channels and then they switch the any of the 55 tv's to any of those internal bar channels and viola they can all be on one show or they can be on a variety of channels at the same time. For him to show the streamed football games they have a card in the PC which has TV out which feeds into that setup same as any other channel. This has changed lately since they went HiDef and I do not know how they are swtiching and sharing the HDMI signals but I am sure it is similiar. His place is in Texas and I am in Indy.

So what bars need is a way to convert a stream on the internet/pc to a TV channel. Really someone with tech knowledge would have to help the bars that was a holdup with the local bar I talked to, he did not know alot about his tech setup. He had recently bought that bar and was installing a bunch of new Diamonds when I talked to him. I mentioned what he would need to buy and that was a stopper for him at the time as he had just spent who knows what buying a bunch of Diamond bar boxes.

I think if there was something to show him as demo of what he could get for his leage pool to watch Mon,Tues, Wed and Thur he would like it f the price was good or at least he percieved the value then there is a customer.

As to the TAR pay per view and now the around the clock repeat there is excellent value there especially during anything on a weekend with a pool draw that would get alot of eyes if a bar is showing a match on TAR during a local tournament. So I thinkif the bar was set up to show a stream the sell would be easy. The same for pool rooms how many pool rooms around the country have the internet and a bigscreen no reason they are not showing the streams.

The bar I am talking about is John Waynes in Indianapolis I am sure JCIN has been there when he lived here nicer equipment now and good action again. I would help the bar owner get setup if someone from TAR wanted to work to have bars show the streams.

Sorry for the rambling post.
 
It is a very simple process for any bar to set it up, laptop with an HDMI cable into a flat screen or the input of your multiple HDMI box to have it on all TVs. This would be great for rooms and TAR if rooms started showing it or guys brought a laptop and hooked it up there for people to enjoy and get exposed to.

I like your ideas lenny. On a further note I wonder if TAR/CSI has reached out to channels like HDnet or VS channels for support/airtime. HDnet is a huge supporter of mma and various other things that get guys attention. Huge action matches just kind of seems right to get pool on the air. Mark cuban seems like he has all the right tools to be pools Dana white.
MMA was about on the level of pool is now. Now look at em. Something everyone swore would never make it mainstream blah blah blah. Now its a billion dollar corp making the stars household names and guys are getting PAID. Brock lesnar LOST to overeem and pulled down 400k.Alistair got somewhere in the 375k range. Almost a mil in 10 minutes. You think shane would dig a match where the win bonus is like 100k? Guys would be playing their asses off to get on the card and dumping and all the pool BS would stop.
Pool isn't dying, it just needs a leader to unite us. I think if mark griffin, joe rogan and mark cuban had a pow wow, BIG things would happen for pool.
Also the whole marketing pool as a gentlemans sport wearing tuxedos is in the past. Taking the emotion right out of it.People dont really connect with running a 7 pack,but they damn sure can connect with the feeling of winning and ripping off an f bomb or good ol boo yah.. People also don't connect with that 1900's mentality of trying to convince people we are something we are not. I can count 5 people in pool who are true gentlemen. We should stop pretending we are something we are not. New pool players are warriors who will do battle, not homos wearing bow ties. It disconnects us from the folk we want to watch our top guys. Just my thoughts for TAR or whoever reads this. Sorry for the mile long post lol.
 
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The bar league deal is an extremely good idea. JCIN if at all possible, you should find a way to cut a deal for bar owners in some way or fashion to get the word out. Lord I can only imagine what this would look like in the center of manila.. the kinds of crowds that would be pouring in to see it :cool:
 
It is a very simple process for any bar to set it up, laptop with an HDMI cable into a flat screen or the input of your multiple HDMI box to have it on all TVs. This would be great for rooms and TAR if rooms started showing it or guys brought a laptop and hooked it up there for people to enjoy and get exposed to.

To clarify this just a little, Lenny, it can be a simple process, depending on a lot of factors.

The biggest factor is the relative age of the laptop computer being used. HDMI outputs have only recently become standard, so if the person that wants to show the stream has a machine that is a couple years old, it becomes more complicated.

Also, if the bar doesn't have all their tv's connected for common distribution, you'll have to pick what tv you want to use. And then you'll need to see what kind of connections it has. Again, most every flat panel tv has HDMI connections, and also VGA inputs (for those older laptops without HDMI), anyone still using older CRT style tv's won't have either connection. Then you will need converter boxes of some sort to get connected.

All this means is that you need to do a little investigation before you jump in to help. It doesn't have to be difficult, but it just may turn out to be more complicated than you expected.

This thread has gotten me to thinking I might try to do one of these ppv's at our club sometime, maybe splitting the cost with a few friends, just to see how everyone likes it. Then maybe I can pitch the concept to the people running the place.... Good stuff guys.
 
To clarify this just a little, Lenny, it can be a simple process, depending on a lot of factors.

The biggest factor is the relative age of the laptop computer being used. HDMI outputs have only recently become standard, so if the person that wants to show the stream has a machine that is a couple years old, it becomes more complicated.

Also, if the bar doesn't have all their tv's connected for common distribution, you'll have to pick what tv you want to use. And then you'll need to see what kind of connections it has. Again, most every flat panel tv has HDMI connections, and also VGA inputs (for those older laptops without HDMI), anyone still using older CRT style tv's won't have either connection. Then you will need converter boxes of some sort to get connected.

All this means is that you need to do a little investigation before you jump in to help. It doesn't have to be difficult, but it just may turn out to be more complicated than you expected.

This thread has gotten me to thinking I might try to do one of these ppv's at our club sometime, maybe splitting the cost with a few friends, just to see how everyone likes it. Then maybe I can pitch the concept to the people running the place.... Good stuff guys.
Most flatscreens have VGA also so that could work, but old laptops usually have S video which many older TVs have, if not an S video to AV should work. Any laptop in the past 2 years I believe has HDMI out and you can buy one at Walmart for $300 or less.
 
Most flatscreens have VGA also so that could work, but old laptops usually have S video which many older TVs have, if not an S video to AV should work. Any laptop in the past 2 years I believe has HDMI out and you can buy one at Walmart for $300 or less.

We are working on a way to reach out to pool rooms and get them to show the streams. Cali Red is coming to Vegas soon and one the things I want to work on with him is a video tutorial on how to connect a laptop to various types of TV's so a bar owner or whoever could watch the tutorial and see the entire process of purchasing access and getting the stream on a TV.

I'm torn on giving away access to pool rooms. $35 is cheap IMO for the class of players and length of match we show when viewed from a commercial operations point of view. Any other PPV a commercial operation pays based on capacity not the same rate as someone in their home. I don't know if giving the feed away would make any real difference in our number of buys.

I do think there is something there in doing some kind of deal with commercial establishments. Just need to figure out the details.
 
What's to stop them from just paying the $35 and hooking it up to all their sets anyhow? I don't know, i'm lo-tec. I do feel a bar or poolroom should pay more. IMO you will lose more ppv's that you would get if the poolroom/bar didn't have it free. Johnnyt
 
What's to stop them from just paying the $35 and hooking it up to all their sets anyhow? I don't know, i'm lo-tec. I do feel a bar or poolroom should pay more. IMO you will lose more ppv's that you would get if the poolroom/bar didn't have it free. Johnnyt

I don't have a problem with a pool room buying the stream and hooking it up to all their TV's. Some people in the past have mentioned that giving away the stream to pool rooms could help sell more PPV's due to exposure. I don't know if that would be the case or not. I lean towards the idea that it probably would not make that big of a difference.
 
I also think giving it away wont bear much fruit. I believe you know what your viewing audience is. Giving it away for free will not increase this by much or at all. I believe the platform you should begin is a monthly subscribtion for something like $25 a month. Make past macthes available to subscribers and offer a discount on future pay per view macthes. Something like if your a subscriber only $10. I really believe this would take off. I also really like the idea of a king of the hill format.
 
I also think giving it away wont bear much fruit. I believe you know what your viewing audience is. Giving it away for free will not increase this by much or at all. I believe the platform you should begin is a monthly subscribtion for something like $25 a month. Make past macthes available to subscribers and offer a discount on future pay per view macthes. Something like if your a subscriber only $10. I really believe this would take off. I also really like the idea of a king of the hill format.

I agree with everything you say and we are working on all of it. The biggest hurdle to the subscription model is simply my lack of technical ability and finding a solution that makes financial sense. It is a top priority for 2012.
 
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