When is Leeds United going to get LUTV right?

Leeds United have scrapped coverage of the the remaining preseason matches and will issuing refunds to customers as LUTV lets down fans once again.

After another embarrassing LUTV meltdown in preseason, the club has said it would refund any customers that spent £14.99 on the “package” for all of the preseason matches.

Per the club’s official website:

Following feedback from our supporters, the club would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any issues experienced on LUTV during our opening pre-season friendly games.

Unfortunately we have encountered sporadic technical problems with the suppliers we have used to broadcast our pre-season fixtures.

The method of broadcasting these ties is different to how we have successfully streamed games internationally during the 2017/18 season and we will be returning to these methods from the start of the new campaign.

Accordingly we will not be streaming the games with Oxford United, Guiseley or Las Palmas and full refunds will be automatically processed for all those supporters who have purchased the bundle package.

Once again, the club fails to take any responsibility for the poor product that was viewed by fans, both domestically and abroad.

Last year, the EFL opened up live streaming of matches to overseas customers as part of their iFollow service. They also allowed teams to opt-out of the service and make their own stand-alone service. Leeds chose to do the “stand-alone” service, and it has been plagued with errors, despite the high price that many fans paid for it.

Leeds charged £5 per match last season in a PPV set-up, with no “season-pass” available, as customers of the iFollow service enjoyed for those clubs that used that set-up. The quality of the broadcast left much to be desired, and contrasted greatly with the Sky broadcasts which were in full HD.

Last season’s preseason had streaming problems as well, and after refunding money, the club broadcast the final one for free. This year, however, they will not be showing any of the preseason fixtures at all, cutting off access for all overseas fans and those not lucky enough to be able to do midweek travel.

It’s 2018. Many other leagues broadcast to the entire world with far less problems than LUTV has had in its brief existence as a streaming service. It’s been rumoured to not even make money for the club, so why not use the iFollow service like the rest of the clubs? This really shouldn’t be that hard.