England netcast offers glimpse of future

This weekend's World Cup qualifier against the Ukraine is a dead rubber for Fabio Capello's England side, who have already qualified for next summer's tournament in South Africa with eight wins out of eight and fully 31 goals scored.

So, possibly the most interesting aspect of the game in Dinipro is not the evolution of the Rooney-Heskey strike partnership, nor keeper Robert Green's bid for the Number 1 jersey, or even the return of Aston Villa's in-form Gabriel Agbonlahor. It's that very few people will be able to watch it.

For the first time ever, the broadcasting rights to the tie have been bought by Kentaro, a Swiss-based firm, who have teamed up with Perform, a company which shows sports on the internet. So, apart from those within reach of one of a handful of cinema screens, the game will only be screened on computers, at a cost of £4.99, or more as it gets closer to the game. This will mean that fans used to watching England games in the pub or their living rooms, will have to make do with Harry Hill, or the X-Factor, on terrestrial TV.

The situation has come about because of a number of reasons. Firstly, Setanta, the little-loved Irish broadcaster, went bust this summer. Then, as England's qualification meant that the game lost its lustre, the Ukrainian FA found itself with a much less coveted fixture, and neither ITV nor the BBC had enough spare cash to fork out for it.

So in stepped Kentaro, risking the wrath of a public who consider England internationals as something they're entitled to. Peter Silverstone, the company's managing director, said: "The distinction between media is becoming increasingly blurred and your TV screen is becoming your internet screen as well. Everyone in the UK is watching iPlayer and YouTube. We see this as a natural progression."

Though a game such as this, which England have very little riding on, is probably the best time to test out Silverstone's theory, it's unlikely that everyone will agree.
 
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Owen Gibson, the Guardian: "The timing is also interesting because within weeks the former FA executive director David Davies will deliver his review of the listed events legislation to the government. Both the BBC and ITV argued for competitive qualifying matches featuring the home nations to be added to the list of events reserved for free to air coverage. But such a move would have drastic consequences for a governing body already facing up to significant financial challenges because it would reduce competition in the market. Are away matches in Dnipro once England have already qualified really events of national significance? Or are the BBC and ITV just looking for a cheap way to pick up valuable audiences?"

Murad Ahmed, the Times: "The real problem with watching the match will not be with Perform's screening of it, or indeed, how flashy your computer is. It will be down to your broadband speed. These speeds vary across the country, and from to home to home. The BBC says that the optimum speed you require to run iPlayer is 1 megabit per second. But for live TV that is streamed, you need a constant high speed. If your speed dips too low, which can be caused by several people using the same home connection, the image will stutter. So experts recommend that you need a constant speed of around 2 mbps – at least, that is if you want a consistently smooth and reliable experience while watching the game." ·