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Pleasing.
If you can communicate with it, then it becomes a marketing tool.
ashtag...what ?
I've never signed up to twitter, but have looked at a few peoples feeds. The amount of noise to genuine info is massive. How do people who follow large numbers of others wade through the sheer quantity of nonsense on it?
The shows are still entertaining, diverse and great fun to watch!
Anyone who doesn't have a genuine affection for the presenters, guests and analysts must be watching a different channel!
It is disappointing the show thread has been discontinued because amongst the humourous comments are often some gems of wisdom that can be read if you've missed the show, or if you've watched the show, and just want to read them again.
The shows are magic IMHO and the presenters bespoke for the job they do,
As far as the prizes went. I have won more than my fair share but to be honest they weren't necessary. I'd happily pay a subscription to watch the show just for the banter and warmth!
great. new people. can we have more maxallys and fewer tommyds please?
(ps. alan, just knew you'd be ok with this line. big respect really)
Anyone else get this message on twitter?
Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!
Thanks for noticing—we're going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon.
I've had a SkyBet account for yonks, and a poker alias for a while but only really started playing just before Christmas. I started playing regularly because of two main factors: one - I came in after a few drinks and stumbled across the channel, and two - what I found when I got there.
It was a live show with Orford and Tikay, and I was struck by Tikay's enthusiasm. I enjoyed his mannerisms and views on hands, and that the pair of them were having a great time. Tikay plugged the forum and its poker clinic, and mentioned a DTD tournament which ran on Mondays for cheap where this great community got together and had a load of fun and banter. I loved the fact people could send their hands in and these guys would comment on their play, it seemed easy and accessible to all, and I wanted to hear my name on the show. So I got involved.
I checked out the lobbies the following day, and got back into the game I'd tried and fell out of love with 5+ years ago. I found the Poker Clinic in the forums and found confirmation of the things I'd been considering, and learnt loads more too (reading others' hand postings rather than placing my own). I came back to the channel and to my dismay it wasn't live every day!! I played some games, got involved in (some small) UKOPS events (this 'celebration of poker' that Tikay was particularly excited by), and I loved the buzz of it all. I got to learn names of regular players through watching the show, and to find these guys who are taking down tournmaments every day posting in the forums and writing diaries, I thought it was incredible (it is!).
SPT London came around, I tried many a satellite and eventually made it. I was then contacted by one of the forum teams and felt the full force of the community spirit that exists on Sky. It felt great. I attended SPT and got to see and meet all the familiar faces from the TV, and the unfamiliar faces behind the familiar aliases from the site.
I play far too much for my own good now, and I'm hooked on the show!
For me, this is the journey that Sky need to take today's non-member on. The first big barrier to all of that is that no-one appears to know the channel exists! It needs promoting in some way, whether this is through twitter or Sky Sports events I don't know, I'm no businessman. I personally found the cash game a little slow, I'd have preferred to hear more of the chat and banter, I also felt sorry for Norman Whiteside - it wasn't a normal (or easy) game to play - pre-flop raises were getting no respect (as they all just wanted to be involved and have fun, which is fine), but I imagine it achieved its objectives.
I had thought recently that the live shows had started to get a little samey with the same people sending in their hand requests, winning prizes etc and I'm not surprised to see a 'freshening up'. I now love the channel, and it doesn't need to reach out to me anymore, instead it needs to demonstrate to the target audience what is on offer, and start their journey. Promote the sign-up offer, promote the interaction, promote the community but also PROMOTE THE CHANNEL!!
I obviously also have personal fews on the current content, but I've rambled on way too long already.
I think you told it as you found it and more likely how most people find it!
The only thing I think is missing is where you say it doesn't need to reach out to you any more. I think encouraging new members is paramount to building the site but those at intermediate stages of development still need encouragement to stay with the site.
No worries Geldy, & I'll reply further to all of the questions & comments where applicable as soon as I can clear my desk a bit, I'm a bit overloaded right now.
If there is more emphasis on getting new customers, how come you dont have any kind of advertising for upcoming poker tournaments etc during the 5 min breaks? Most of the "hot seat" items have been repeated to death, surely a few infomercials of what people could be winning etc would help promote the site?
I suppose i can now say what a gr8 site it is with odds from everything from reality TV shows to all sports. A must see for all punters. Certanily the best odds comparison site i,ve used and i,ve used a few
Morning all.
I promised to re-visit the thread, & try to answer all the questions.
There is a bit of an honesty problem here - if I had not explained the reasoning, the matter would have died away quietly, but I really like to explain why the Business, or Channel, do certain things. In doing so, it often throws up more questions than answers.
In short, everything is done for a reason.
Having said all that, I may be causing myself more problems, but let me just re-iterate a few things, & how the recent changes came about.....
I have explained WHY some things were changed recently - it was a matter of getting better balance between the different target markets that Ch 861 seeks to address.
Two of the most important ones are.....
The Community, & existing player base.
Potential new players.
Each requires a different approach, & the two had got out of balance recently.
And so......
....we had a Meeting, in London, with most of the 861 "Talent", the Producers & Head of Channel, & some serious suits from Head Office.
The suits reminded us all why they invest so much money in the TV Channel, & suggested that we might need to get a better balance between the different targets. Fair enough.
Once the suits had gone, we sort of agreed between ourselves to make some changes in the short-term, to correct the imbalance.
Not necessarily permanent changes, but get things back where they should be.This might mean a temporary over-correction, won't argue with that.
So it was agreed that in the near-term, the "old-style" Show Threads would not be run, & we would concentrate more on a wider range of targets.
There is nothing to prevent anyone starting a thread during or before a Show, & the Show WILL answer them, if they have time. Obviously, no Show can guarantee or promise to repy to every question, we never did or could, & never will, not all questions are worthy of TV time, or appropriate.
Questions can also be taken via e-Mail, PM, or Twitter.
Once we have corrected things, the Show Threads, old-style, MAY return.
We must never lose sight of one thing though. No Online Poker Site can justify the cost of a 24/7 Channel on its existing player base & Community alone. It would be wrong to suggest otherwise, it is a fact.
It's just balance, & the need to constantly evolve.
The feedback is really appreciated, thank you all.