Iplayer, I follow

I know it's come up before and I didn't take notice, but can anyone help?
I make a monthly payment to either iplayer, or iFollow, not sure which and I've decided to cancel it. There doesn't appear to be an easy way out. I've got loads of questions about the two of them.
What's the difference between the two?
Are they the same company?
What's their relationship to the club?
Does the club get the money?
It still costs me £10 to watch a match, so what benefit does it give me?
Final and most important question: How do I cancel it?
I get more rumours and early information from this board than I do from them.

 

iPlayer is the BBC. You use it to watch or listen to BBC content (tv, radio etc.) It is free but you need a tv licence to watch any of their tv content, even if it is not live.

iFollow is the EFL, you use it to listen to commentary/watch content from your chosen football club. You do not need a tv licence but you do need a paid subscription for the majority of the content (there are some free interviews, training clips etc. it’s up to the club what they put behind the paywall with the exception of match content which is always paid for).

They are not the same company.

The club gets money for everyone who buys a subscription. I’m not sure how much but I’m sure I’ve heard in the past that it’s more than we pay for it.

The benefits you get are access to all content such as interviews and videos that the club decide to put on. Live commentary of all matches. Brief and extended highlights of all matches plus full match replays of all matches. The £10 you pay extra is to watch the match live.

To cancel, I think you have to email them or request it over the live chat. You need to give 5 days notice (or you used to have to anyway). I’m not sure if you can just delete your card details.

 

I think you mean Barnsley Player, not iPlayer.

Barnsley Player was the precursor to iFollow, when they switched over I believe they had subscriptions carry over. To cancel you’ll have to contact iFollow. I believe there’s a live chat on the website and maybe a phone number. There’s no ‘easy way’ unfortunately.

As far as I know, the club get a good chunk of the money.

 

If you pay by PayPal just log into your account and cancel the recurring payment, if you are paying by any other means then it is a nightmare

 

...and if you pay by card, you will get asked for the last four digits of the card you used to sign up.

 

Good point, I forgot it was called Barnsley Player originally. It was much better in those days, your log in worked for any club's Player content meaning you had access to commentary and videos from every EFL club (who had signed up) rather than just the one. I used to use it watch interviews from managers who we were due to play against next to see what they were saying about our upcoming match, or to listen to commentary of games that impacted on our league position if they were playing on a Tuesday night for example and we weren't.

 

it’s not really , I just went on the club website, logged into I follow and asked them to cancel it for me which they did. I cancelled it because there was nothing happened and knew I would be paying to watch

 

Yes I mean Barnsley player. Thanks for that.

 

I’d forgotten match commentary. It’s been so long.

 

Under normal circumstances, do you need to subscribe before you can watch the live games (at £10 each), or can you just pay ad hoc tenners as and when you feel like watching a game?

 

You can just pay a tenner to watch a single game

 

I ha an annual pass and decided to cancel auto renewal (slightly different for cancelling existing subscription as I hope that iFollow, should the season extend beyond the normal lapse date adjust it to cover matches played 'til actual end of season. it it happens. all you do is login to the club website go to login to iFollow and the speech bubble to connect to iFollow live chat. They will ask you for your team and then you can tell them to cancel which they will (should) confirm they have.

I may or may not take one out for next year (have not decide yet). To be perfectly honest I have got out of the habit and other interest have taken over. That may all change again if/when a new season kicks off and depending on the state of the Football leagues when it does. Frankly if the teams flouting FFP get off scot free and BFC get relegated I am probably done. I know many say this but the Covid break has probably, for those like me, been a catalyst for chalking' f*uck it' and 'enough is enough!'

 

Good luck cancelling iFollow. Tried to cancel my subscription approx 12 months ago, I sent two separate messages to iFollow which were ignored, then sent an email to the club which was also ignored therefore I contacted my bank and instructed them to cease payment. Crafty that there’s no easy way to cancel the subscription, appalling customer service.

 

Sorry to bump a bit of a niche thread. I will likely be moving house soon. I dont watch bbc and the only 'live' tv I watch is iFollow (when Barnsley play obvs). Having researched, it says any live tv requires a tv licence. Does an exemption apply to iFollow that you know of (technically it's 'live'). Just resent paying an annual fee solely for iFollow when I'm paying a tenner a pop anyway. Thanks in advance

 

I'm not sure. On the TV licencing website it says:
Do I need a TV Licence to watch paid-for subscription channels?

Subscription channels like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV are television services that are normally paid for on a monthly basis via cable, satellite or the internet.

You will need a TV Licence if you watch live TV on a subscription channel. But you don’t need a TV Licence to watch on demand programmes (other than those on BBC iPlayer) on paid-for subscription channels.


Which makes it sounds like yes but I think it depends on whether iFollow is technically a television service as the match is not a programme as such, they are just streaming an event live, similar to how you don't need one to watch people stream themselves on Facebook Live, Twitch or Youtube.

 

Thank you for getting back to me. Confusing isnt it. Like you say, YouTube doesn't require the licence, but what constitutes 'TV' etc (streaming/live streaming/websites that have live content..). It's a minefield innit! Thanks again. Will probably just get one to be sure.

 

I did it the other week. Pisseasy.

 

Wouldn't even bother, how will they enforce it? Iv not had a license for years, granted I don't watch any live TV but how would anyone know if I did??

 

It's a good question mate. Seems daft paying for it when I'm paying for iFollow and not watching anything else live. Dont even watch Corrie 'live' cos you can't cast live on ITV. Usually start watching it at 8.05.

 

Definitely dont buy a TV license for ifollow! You wouldnt get one to watch a Youtube livestream