Hey Guys,
I want to apologize for the incredibly long and frustrating WP Open stream delay today. I'm a strong believer in the potential for webcasts to allow our community a chance to see events and give exposure to deserving skiers who wouldn't otherwise get it. My hope is that webcasting can be one element that promotes that growth in our sport. In order to make that happen, webcasts need to attract a committed audience. And in order to do that, webcasts, and the producers who make them, need to earn your trust that it will be a quality entertaining experience, not one filled with frustration and a waste of your time.
Sorry I let you down.
Successfully producing webcasts for new yet great events means being creative. Budgets, especially this season, are limited. We can't throw money at a problem until it goes away. Skiing events in particular are challenging because it requires getting a high quality uninterrupted internet signal, a good amount of power and tons of video and computer equipment to a place incredibly inhospitable for that task. I'm sure we're all aware of how spotty cell service can be on ski hills. Webcast quality internet is another level of challenge. It's not an excuse. I enjoy the challenge. But in the case, the challenge got the best of me for over an hour this morning.
I hope there are some out there who were able to watch the event when the webcast started. The skiing was incredible, far beyond my expectations. It really was a great event--I wish those that got frustrated could have seen it. I hope that some of our effort, such as high quality video and the best slow motion replay we can afford, enhanced the experience for those that did. I am incredibly disappointed that there was so much more we had planned, but it required an internet connection that refused to cooperate.
Thanks to the crew, Digi Dave, Mike Rogge and Winter Park. They hung in there and killed it when the shit hit the fan. Those guys are heroes in my book.
In any case, I'm committed to getting this right, to make high quality webcasts a forgone conclusion in any location. I want it to be as much like TV as possible, but I want to do it in a way that allows events to be creative about their formats, not cave into the pressure of ratings, to expose up-and-coming deserving skiers, not just see the same faces over and over, to be loyal to the people who understand and love this sport and not dumb it down to the point where broadcast skiing is a fashion show with crashes.
It's a lofty goal. I hope you feel it is worthwhile. And if you do, I hope you'll give us another chance. Next time, I won't let you down.
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
