I'm watching the World Cup at Willow TV

The World Cup starts tomorrow. Time for you to choose where to watch the games online.

I have written several posts about cricket livestreaming and I am not going to repeat myself and rewrite them here. You can just go and check the category page for livestreaming to get some background on Willow TV and ESPN Player.

Because for this World Cup, it was one those two who were going to get my money. (Check out this post if you want to know why I don’t like those peer-to-peer livestreaming sites.)

Willow TV vs ESPN

As you may know, I have been a big fan of Willow TV for some time now, but I also love the high quality ESPN Player offers.

To me, when both livestream the events I like to follow, it has always been a matter of choosing between Willow TV’s multi-platform (now including PlayStation, Google TV, etc, etc ..), multi-channel livestreaming combined with an awesome on demand service and ESPN’s top notch quality, which allows for decent full screen watching.

But I haven’t had to debate this subject with myself this time. It was settled from the moment Willow TV promised a glorious 3mbps livestream for the World Cup.

Willow TV added extra quality to the mix and I was sold.

Money, money, money …

Well, until I saw the price they asked for their World Cup package: a staggering 95 Euro (129 us dollars) … Compare that the 14,99 Euro to watch the entire World Cup at ESPN and suddenly there was a whole new argument on the table: money.

Don’t get me wrong; the complete package Willow TV offers is probably worth all that money. It really is an impressive set of features, but I won’t use all of them and the World Cup doesn’t mean that much to me.

So all this means I subscribed to ESPN Player? You’d think so, but no. I made another switch and eventually went for Willow TV’s Blockbuster package for 2011.

Blockbuster

It is a great name for a great deal: the World Cup package and a monthly subscription for the rest of 2011. The price: 147 Euro.

No small sum indeed, but I would have probably subscribed to their monthly package anyway, which would have cost me about the same.

A win-win situation for me.

How about you? How are you going to watch the World Cup? Are you going to watch it online at all? Are you willing to pay for it?

The most important question seems to be; can you watch cricket on it? Yes, you can.

At least with Willow TV you can. Just like on your mobile visit m.willow.tv and log in – you’ll need an account obviously.

And this is what it sort of looks like. Sort of, because keep in mind that these are screenshots of a livestream, so the actual quality of the video is better:

My humble opinion; it is very acceptable, but could be a lot better.

I have written several posts about where and how to watch live cricket online and to make it easier to find the most useful posts, here is a summary of those posts and an update on cricket livestreaming on the iPad.

Livestreams on pc

First up; choose whether you want to pay or not. Personally, I don’t care for those crappy peer-to-peer streams and generally pick one of the payed services from Willow TV, ESPN and Eurosport.

More on why I prefer paying for livestreams and where to get it.

For this Ashes series I didn’t really had much to choose. Only Willow TV and Sky (Player) offer cricket livestreaming and as I live in Holland, I have no access to Sky Player, like those in the UK probably can’t subscribe to Willow TV.

So Willow TV it is and no complaints here. I love their service, which is getting better and better.

The three major plus points of Willow TV:

1. Willow TV’s on demand service is better than anything I have ever seen elsewhere.
2. They almost always offer multiple sources  - including Sky Sports, which is nice if you’re looking for a more English view on proceedings during the Ashes.
3. And the quality of streams is improving, as they are now beta-testing a 1MB stream, which makes for really nice fullscreen viewing.

Livestreams on mobile devices

Two types of livestreams to look at here: audio and video. A bit of a disclaimer first; I own an iPhone and iPad, so Apple is the only brand I can tell you anything about

When it comes to radio apps, my favorite is ooTunes. During my one-hour drive from and to work this has been my lifesaver. During the English summer it kept me in touch with England’s games and the final games of the county season.

And now, during the Ashes, I listen to ABC’s cricket commentary (including stints from Jonathan Agnew) while driving the 100 kilometers to work.

Read more on ooTunes.

For video livestreaming on your mobile we turn to or friends at Willow TV again.

If you have an account and bought one of their packages, you can log in at m.willow.tv from your mobile device (you’ll be redirected www.willow.tv if your not using a mobile) and watch live cricket on the go.

I don’t regularly use it. I avoid using it when driving (audio only is less of a distraction, safety first!) and otherwise usually have my laptop at the ready.

Livestreams on iPad

Alas, there is still no website offering cricket livestreaming optimized for the iPad.

Willow TV does redirect you to their mobile site, so you could watch cricket on your iPad, but as the iPad is not a mobile phone in any sense, that just isn’t good enough for me.

I want high quality streaming on my iPad. Because when done right, it looks amazing.

If you want, you could also give ooTunes on your iPad a go, but like with Willow TV’s redirecting, it is not what I am looking for on this device.

Anything else?

Well, there probably is, but not that I have written about.

So if you know some other service, app or site I missed, why not let me know in the comments? I’d love to hear from you.

It looks amazing, doesn’t it?

I would love to watch cricket on my iPad. It would make me very happy.

As I am writing this, we’re well into day two of the final round, and I want to make sure you’re following the action at the BBC, who offer the most comprehensive live coverage of what happens at the different grounds with text updates, wicket alerts and seven audio livestreams.

The best streaming radio app in my view is ooTunes.

It is not free, but I find the small investment more then its moneys worth.

I use the app to listen to TMS when driving home from work, which – depending on how busy traffic is – sometimes means a two-hour drive. What better way to pass that time listening to TMS and stay in touch with what is happening in the Test?

Well, perhaps listening to Test Match Sofa, which is one of the over 23.000 stations available on the ooTunes app.

And come november, it might be fun to listen to ABC.

Check Willow TV for the complete fixture list.

The package includes:

• livestreaming of all the major series, including the T20 Champions League in september,
• access to their complete archive of 2009 and 2010 ..
• delivered in an unparalleled on demand service with their interactive scorecard

All of this for a meager $14,99 per month. If you ask me, this sounds like a great deal for everyone who loves cricket, but can’t get Sky.

What do you think? Is this offer from Willow TV getting your money’s worth?

The tournament will be broadcast on British Eurosport in the UK, on Eurosport2 in the rest of Europa but – more importantly – Eurosport will also broadcast the tournament online with their Eurosport Player.

The 2010 Champions League tournament will be played in South Africa from September 10 to September 26, and will feature the the top T20 teams from India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.

I have been to busy at work to watch it myself, but from what I read I missed a great game between the Netherlands and Scotland. Too bad we fucked up by dropping a catch and missing a stumping of the last two balls ..

If you did watch online, do leave a comment and share your views.