Paramount - Urgent action for members

[Rising Sun]

I can see a situation where Paramount was on board for free or heavily discounted member codes and they've reneged on it so they've been going back and forward to cut a deal

I think that's a strong possibility, as part of a general overall cooling of CBS's commitment. The other possibility is that APL told the clubs it was a done deal before it was finalised with P-, and P- have then decided not to go ahead with it (either because of the cooling of interest, or because they saw a chance to finesse a contribution from APL).

I saw a post somewhere from a WU fan who had contacted the WU membership department about this last week and had been told by the club that the codes had been issued but APL was now the roadblock for getting them issued to the clubs.

 

[turbo]

The other possibility is that APL told the clubs it was a done deal before it was finalised with P-, and P- have then decided not to go ahead with it (either because of the cooling of interest, or because they saw a chance to finesse a contribution from APL).

Seems entirely possible.

had been told by the club that the codes had been issued but APL was now the roadblock for getting them issued to the clubs.

Now that would be a really poor look for the APL. I can’t see how that sort of thing wouldn’t leak eventually from one side or the other. If that were the case they need to put out a statement explaining when members should expect to see the codes. People can understand it’s a bit of work to get them sent out along with the obligatory support ‘check your spam folder’, I didn’t get my email etc.. but they need to know they will be out soon and we’ll before round 1. This is not something people want to be stuffing around with a few days out from kick off.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I have given up waiting and have renewed.

If the Club eventually has to fork out for what they advertised they can take my discount as a donation.

 

[FFC Mariner]

I'm about 2 days behind you.

 

[Corsair]

I know it's not popular opinion but if this doesn't get sorted out within 1 week of season start I'll be contacting @Iain Shand for a full membership refund under the terms of sale (must request before a home game is redeemed). It's probably more economical for me to buy per game tickets or a yellow army anyway and tbh the sour taste of included membership to P+ has just really f##ked me off. This whole situation is basically some amateur shit I could write on the back of a napkin. FFS we're trying to grow this league can't we ask for the most minimal amount of professionalism from the APL and their "partners"?

 

[Tevor]

I have given up waiting and have renewed.

If the Club eventually has to fork out for what they advertised they can take my discount as a donation.

I did that when the last minute cancellation notice came through, had a feeling it was going to be a cluster and wanted to keep watching other content on P-. A bad look all around and such a shame.

 

[Tevor]

I know it's not popular opinion but if this doesn't get sorted out within 1 week of season start I'll be contacting @Iain Shand for a full membership refund under the terms of sale (must request before a home game is redeemed). It's probably more economical for me to buy per game tickets or a yellow army anyway and tbh the sour taste of included membership to P+ has just really f##ked me off. This whole situation is basically some amateur shit I could write on the back of a napkin. FFS we're trying to grow this league can't we ask for the most minimal amount of professionalism?

Everyone has to look after themselves and do what they consider is best. I have with what I’m comfortable with and that may not suit others. I will not judge, it’s a very bad look for all involved.

 

[FFC Mariner]

I know it's not popular opinion but if this doesn't get sorted out within 1 week of season start I'll be contacting @Iain Shand for a full membership refund under the terms of sale (must request before a home game is redeemed). It's probably more economical for me to buy per game tickets or a yellow army anyway and tbh the sour taste of included membership to P+ has just really f##ked me off. This whole situation is basically some amateur shit I could write on the back of a napkin. FFS we're trying to grow this league can't we ask for the most minimal amount of professionalism from the APL and their "partners"?

Understand the frustration. The APL is a disaster and the complete silence is treating customers with utter contempt.
However. Penalising the club seems to be attacking the wrong target.
As Ancient says, @Shaun Mielekamp can take mine as a donation.
In any proper league the clubs would be publicly smashing APL to distance themselves.
Need to grow a pair

 

[Ironbark]

I don't know a thing but it seemed to me that membership prices didn't really change too much with P+ added. I think it was free to ALeague members as a promotion and not something paid for additionally within the membership.

The assumption was that this would continue, but it appears P+ changed their minds late in the piece, maybe after reviewing their data or for whatever reason.

Leaves the clubs in a bit of a lurch after including it in their membership packages again and then having it removed by the provider. Now they're trying to negotiate as good a possible deal for their members as possible, but I think it won't be the free access again. I'm sure the clubs would have liked to have known this before releasing the membership packages in the first place!

Genuinely have no idea if this is the story, but it's what it looks like to me

 

[Tevor]

I don't know a thing but it seemed to me that membership prices didn't really change too much with P+ added. I think it was free to ALeague members as a promotion and not something paid for additionally within the membership.

The assumption was that this would continue, but it appears P+ changed their minds late in the piece, maybe after reviewing their data or for whatever reason.

Leaves the clubs in a bit of a lurch after including it in their membership packages again and then having it removed by the provider. Now they're trying to negotiate as good a possible deal for their members as possible, but I think it won't be the free access again. I'm sure the clubs would have liked to have known this before releasing the membership packages in the first place!

Genuinely have no idea if this is the story, but it's what it looks like to me

If the Homeless United member is correct then it may appear the Clubs thought the deal was still on the table and now it isn't so perhaps as they mentioned it is the APL whom have not advised the clubs on the P- position. The fact DGB mentions "an offer" is suggesting the league thought it would be the same as last year but it's not. Absolute cluster.

 

[turbo]

As Ancient say, @Shaun Mielekamp can take mine as a donation.

You might find the codes stack and your paid year + code redemption means you are sorted for next season too.

 

[Rising Sun]

I don't know a thing but it seemed to me that membership prices didn't really change too much with P+ added. I think it was free to ALeague members as a promotion and not something paid for additionally within the membership.

The assumption was that this would continue, but it appears P+ changed their minds late in the piece, maybe after reviewing their data or for whatever reason.

Leaves the clubs in a bit of a lurch after including it in their membership packages again and then having it removed by the provider. Now they're trying to negotiate as good a possible deal for their members as possible, but I think it won't be the free access again. I'm sure the clubs would have liked to have known this before releasing the membership packages in the first place!

Genuinely have no idea if this is the story, but it's what it looks like to me

I think you are spot on with your first point. The clubs weren't expecting to fund this, this was going to be a P- promotion. Either P- reneged or the APL jumped the gun and told the clubs they could offer it before P- had made their final decision.

However with your second point, I believe there will be free subscription, and the negotiations are around how the funding of it is apportioned between (P-, APL and the clubs), rather than trying to negotiate a discounted (rather than free) subscription for the members.

If it is the latter then it could turn into an even bigger mess than it is now - as someone has pointed out earlier in this thread, the clubs are on the hook legally to provide the free subscription so it will turn ugly if the clubs come back and say the free offer is withdrawn but good news you get 50% off.

 

[bikinigirl]

I don't know a thing but it seemed to me that membership prices didn't really change too much with P+ added. I think it was free to ALeague members as a promotion and not something paid for additionally within the membership.

The assumption was that this would continue, but it appears P+ changed their minds late in the piece, maybe after reviewing their data or for whatever reason.

Leaves the clubs in a bit of a lurch after including it in their membership packages again and then having it removed by the provider. Now they're trying to negotiate as good a possible deal for their members as possible, but I think it won't be the free access again. I'm sure the clubs would have liked to have known this before releasing the membership packages in the first place!

Genuinely have no idea if this is the story, but it's what it looks like to me

. i was told last year that my membership price had gone up to cover the Paramount inclusion

. this year there appeared to be some incredible value being offered with the lower ticket categories also including Paramount

. considering that i was told there was an increase last year to cover the cost of Paramount I was never under the impression the club was receiving the codes for free (otherwise they would have handed them out to everyone) - but i was also not naive enough to assume the club was paying full price

. honestly, the cost and inclusions of the lower categories had me thinking i was subsidising such memberships

• i mean @ $104 for a yellow membership is cheaper than a year of month-to-month Paramount subscription ... so essentially free
• even if the club gets the code for half price the membership is effectively $50 pa or just over $4 per home game ... which is less than the ticketek fee
• that excludes any other benefits
• a non-early bird platinum membership was $500 - so if those members have to pay again for Paramount they have a right to be especially aggrieved

. it has been stated in here before that the club has made the offer, not the APL, not Paramount ... but i can't imagine they would have made that offer without an agreement to fall back on

 

[Rising Sun]

i was told last year that my membership price had gone up to cover the Paramount inclusion

Renewals went on sale 9/6 last year and new memberships from 28/6 - the free Paramount subscription offer wasn't made until 28/7. So any increase would have had to be done pre-emptively whilst discussions were still on-going about the offer.

The email announcing the offer also said it was a free subscription for gold and platinum members - pretty sure they would be breaching consumer protection laws if they called it "free" but passed on the cost (in part or in full) surreptitiously via membership price increase. Probably a good idea for them not to talk about it if that did happen.

 

[Ozhammer]

I concur with BG, I was also told the cost of our memberships had been increased to not only cover the inclusions of P- but also because no increases had been applied by the club for a number of years, so CCM was trying to improve its income stream from memberships generally (which I don’t have a huge issue with per se).

I also think the reason CCM and some other clubs added P- as an inclusion in certain membership categories was to be able to demonstrate to CBS that it had a large subscriber uptake to support P- as broadcaster of the A Leagues, albeit by default rather than folks actually ticking the box to become a subscriber.

All in all, I am happy for P- to remain an inclusion within my membership and to continue paying the current membership cost but do not feel it would be appropriate for clubs to walk back that offer retrospectively given it was part of the renewal offering, as that would contravene the fair trading act and invite all kinds of dramas.

If there is going to be an unexpected financial hit to CCM and other clubs due to mishandling of the situation with P- by APL, perhaps that could be funded out of DGB’s bonus……

Just sayin’

 

[Corsair]

I concur with BG, I was also told the cost of our memberships had been increased to not only cover the inclusions of P- but also because no increases had been applied by the club for a number of years, so CCM was trying to improve its income stream from memberships generally (which I don’t have a huge issue with per se).

I also think the reason CCM and some other clubs added P- as an inclusion in certain membership categories was to be able to demonstrate to CBS that it had a large subscriber uptake to support P- as broadcaster of the A Leagues, albeit by default rather than folks actually ticking the box to become a subscriber.

All in all, I am happy for P- to remain an inclusion within my membership and to continue paying the current membership cost but do not feel it would be appropriate for clubs to walk back that offer retrospectively given it was part of the renewal offering, as that would contravene the fair trading act and invite all kinds of dramas.

If there is going to be an unexpected financial hit to CCM and other clubs due to mishandling of the situation with P- by APL, perhaps that could be funded out of DGB’s bonus……

Just sayin’

Spot on

 

[Corsair]

Clubs + APL + P-

 

[Ozhammer]

Clubs + APL + P-

Yeah but which one is which?

Oh wait, I think I’ve got it

Good - CCM
Bad - P-
Ugly - APL

How did I do?

 

[ccf]

Exactly 2 weeks to go and not a dickie bird.....

 

[Corsair]

Exactly 2 weeks to go and not a dickie bird.....

I believe a deal will be offered to members next week, being the next week after the week after next