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January 2010:
LONG LIVE SQUASHTV...
All you always wanted to
know about the new PSA site for Streaming ... |
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BRAND NEW…
 Psalive
is now an Archive only site.
Long Live PSASquashTV.
Rewind.
Here we are in Saudi, for the last tournament of the year.
Adrian, from Psalive, has officially announced the end of
the partnership between his company and PSA after the Nick/Ramy’s
final in Mumbai.
A lot of people are wondering what’s going to happen. Are
they going to have images for Saudi? For the ToC? Little
information filters from PSA. As ever, negative voices are
quick to be heard, “what are they doing, what a mess, we
don’t know anything, useless as ever…”
Cheers, thanks for
the vote of confidence... |
 What’s
going on is in fact very simple. In the background, PSA is
working triple hard with their new partners, Perform
(for the Streaming), and Total Sport Asia (for the TV
diffusion) to improve Squash’s profile on air…
It’s all supposed to happen in Saudi. But here we are in Al
Khobar, and we still don’t know anything as the tournament
starts. Alex and Lee looked a bit like conspirators,
to be honest, to the point I became a bit paranoid, and
thought they don’t want to speak to me.
But no. In fact, they are just working very hard with
Omar, formerly of Psalive, and Dominic, from Perform, to
make sure that for the quarters onwards, Squash viewers are
able to view the images in a quality far superior to what
we’ve been used to over the recent years.
The pressure was immense, so many people wishing them to
fail, of course. But of course, it worked. It worked fine.
Now relaxed and smiling, I had a little chat with Alex
and Lee, Omar, and of course Joey Barrington,
who’ll be the new Face (and Voice!) of PSASquashTv.
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"The fully
operational site www.psasquashtv.com will be ready for the
J.P.Morgan Tournament of Champions." |
Dominic
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"We are really focused on making our players 'sports stars' as they
play a large part in growing squash around the world.
We have some
of the best athletes on the planet, the final at the Saudi
International between Ramy Ashour and Nick Matthew proved that...."
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ALEX AND LEE AT THE HELM...
 Could
you take us through the process that got you to choose
Perform as associates in your new venture?
In all of our initial conversations with companies during
the tender process, our intention was to sell the internet
rights and let a company come in and run everything for us.
PERFORM were the stand out company for us, and if we were
going to take the sport forward in any way, we had to figure
out a way of partnering with them.
 But
in fact, you didn’t let them run it for you, did you?
Well, no. As discussions went forward, we looked at all of
the options and different models and eventually figured that
the best thing for PSA, its players and the sport was to
remain more in control of our own destiny but with the help
and guidance of PEFORM and its incredible infrastructure.
This obviously meant a larger initial investment on our part
and therefore more of a risk but a calculated one.
The upside of this path outweighed the downside and the
outcome of this means we are effectively still in control of
our own rights, and maintain full control to all of our
material and Intellectual Property.
A silly question, but if it’s a new venture, why did
you keep Omar Kandili, who used to work for Psalive? Surely
Perform could have provided you with new personnel?
Well, it was important that we kept complete control of the
finished product, and get somebody who knew about squash
and about what we wanted. Omar seemed to us the best choice.
He’ll be coordinating our equipment and systems for filming
and producing the matches for delivery to the web.
And will he be in charge of transmitting the images as
well?
No, PERFORM are responsible for the actual delivery of the
images from on-site at an event by, in the majority of
cases, using a flyaway satellite encoder.
 Now,
Saudi is behind us, viewers seemed happy with the streaming
of the event. Are you ?
From our initial testing in Saudi the pictures were arriving
back in Feltham in 800 milliseconds and in almost the same
quality as they left Saudi. This part of the project has
been where the expertise of PERFORM has been invaluable and
will help deliver a much better product for the end user.
They are more than a service provider, aren’t they ?
Yes, they have already proved to be an incredibly supportive
partner in every aspect and they are as excited as us about
producing a unique solution and portal for a small but
growing sport as we are.
Overall, the transition seems to have been going
rather smoothly. Any last words?
We just hope the players will be proud of this venture as it
is essentially theirs. Ownership of this will mean they care
more about what is appearing and hopefully the
professionalism of the sport will be improved.
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OMAR ON THE KEYBOARD...
 Tell us about your background in squash, Omar.
I'm one of those people that started playing squash years
ago and just became hooked on it. I worked a second job
contracting for PSA's previous web streaming partner working
on the PSALIVE production at most of the major PSA
tournaments from 2005 onwards.
The project was new and innovative when it first started and
was an alternative to a lack
of coverage for many squash
fans around the world. Various improvements have been
introduced over the years but there are still enhancements
to be made on the web production to raise the overall
quality and ensure consistency with television.
What was the turning point?
PSA signed new contracts with Perform (web streaming) & TSA/Sunset+Vine
(TV) just after the summer last year. I was planning to take
a few months break after coincidentally finishing my day job
around the same time when I was invited to meet with PSA. I
was offered a position in PSA managing all the technical aspects
of the Association, starting with the newly signed web/TV
productions. A fantastic opportunity and one I considered
carefully and accepted soon after.
 So, what's in the pipeline then for SquashTV...?
I do not know where to start with the plans and ideas that
are so quickly becoming a reality. The new PSA branding is
strong and will draw a clear line between the way things
used to be and how they will be in future.
The introduction of PSA Squash TV at the Saudi International
last month was just a taster of things to come - the service
launches at the Tournament of Champions in New York and will
feature live coverage of all 31 main draw matches, solid web
streaming delivery with speed/quality options for the
viewer, an improved graphical presentation, a dedicated
commentary team, and free highlights and interviews. I
highly recommend taking a look at the PSA Squash TV
"annual pass" when that is available as it is
unbelievable value for money!
I know PSA has got what I call "new toys" in
preparation, haven't they...?
Well, there is so much happening this year and I'll be
working alongside Alex Gough & Lee Beachill on many
projects; from implementing an automated "tri-ref system" to
digitising the PSA archives ensuring there's no shortage of squash
material during the quieter months.
I am optimistic, excited and confident about what we are
developing. We hope our hard work will become evident in the
weeks and months to come and the players, promoters & fans
will like what they see.
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JOEY ON THE MIC...
“I was really excited at the prospect of taking on such a job.
"The bits and pieces I have been involved with already have been a
real eye opener, made me really keen to become seriously committed
and the confidence to feel that after quite a long period playing
the pro circuit I can bring a much needed, fresh approach to what is
a vital promotional priority tool for our sport.
"I am sure that such a recent and indeed ongoing playing involvement
provides a different and necessary insight into the professional
game and its participants.
"I certainly don’t feel that player interviews will pose problems
considering the extraordinary competitive elements in match play, I
have generally over the years had a good interaction with other
pros, and I believe they will understand the nature of my job and
the way in which we all want the game to grow."
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