Rangers TV - an honest assessment

Baba Booey

Baba Booey

Well-Known Member
Living in the States, I've been a subscriber to RTV for quite a few years now and, to be honest, it's had its ups and downs. The current format is better than anything we've had before in regards to video/stream quality etc. and the amount of content is excellent value for money.

The recorded content the RTV folks put up is second to none. It is truly excellent. I love the "Inside Ibrox" videos, the training videos, the pre-season videos from abroad etc. Add to all of that, they release videos of single goals and match highlights. I genuinely cannot fault anything they do with regards to giving us a sense of how the place works - both at Ibrox and the HTC.

Where I think they DO fall down, though, is the actual matchday program itself. Look, I know it's been debated on here (almost to death) and I'm sure Tom Miller is a genuinely nice guy. There's no doubting his love for the club, but his commentary is stuck in the 70s and it's the same week in, week out. Like I say, I know some people will contest this, as I can tell he's a Rangers man but I'm just being honest, as a paying customer. It's not all his fault, though. The matchday stuff seems a little stale, with pre-recorded interviews etc. I wish they would put Alice or someone in a wee studio with someone else to analyse the game - we have a whole host of current/former players that we already rotate in the co-commentary position.

Anyway, I truly don't mean to turn this into a negative post - I'm honestly delighted with the value for money, even though I pay the most expensive subscription and I think the whole team deserves huge praise for what they do.
 
From what I have seen of RTV, the quality and content (with I’d imagine a pretty small budget,) is getting better all the time.

Where they fall down is the steps required to actually get a game or a clip on, especially from a standing start.

They need an app for Apple , google and amazon to save all the faffing about. No one uses pcs on the move.

PS after posting this I see Man City have an app on LGtv and MUTV is now on amazon fire sticks.

PPS The amount of future revenue that will be lost as Rangers tv is already all over the free streaming IPTV style mediums and YouTube/Facebook which will restrict any real growth. RANGERS should lead the way here, make RTV completely free and make money from advertisers and sponsors.
 
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Can't comment on the matchday package, as I'm at the games, but I've got to say the training videos, as well as well the "Inside Ibrox" footage for each game is excellent.

Always enjoy the interviews and match highlights too.

Terrific value, from my point of view.
 
It's progressing.

They need a dedicated app which is available on all devices for both mobile and TV.

The streams dipping and raising in quality all over a 90 minute game isn't acceptable in 2019.

They absolutely do need a studio.

I really don't fault Tom at all. He tries his best to pick up the slack for the co com which is usually an old player and a complete novice at commentating a match. I think he's much easier to listen to when he's given someone who has a knack for it like Andy Little.

You have to think about the kinds of budget the team is working with though and they're probably already massively over achieving.
 
The recent content has been superb, but the site navigation is an unmitigated disaster, find stuff purely by chance at times.

Regarding personnel, I think Tom Miller is a breath of fresh air and a fan just like us, some of his co-presenters leave a bit to be desired and whilst many have played for the Club, I often feel like if they weren't getting paid they'd be nowhere near Ibrox. Andy Littles "planned trip to the Megastore for the new strip" shows just how out of touch some of these guys are.

That doll Alice is pure cringe and her interviews feel so scripted, times she gets an answer to a question then invariably asks the same question later on in her interview, I bet if you put her on one of those Rangers Mind quizzes she'd get absolutely hee haw, mover her on please.
 
I’m down south so use RTV regularly.

I’m sat at home with fibre optic broadband that never has any issues at home and yet the quality of the picture rises and falls all match. Folk will say the problem must be at my end but I don’t see how?

Last two matches - St J and Marseille - I didn’t even need to use VPN so watched on brand new TV. Marseille was rubbish pic most of the match but sound fine and Thursday night was great pic most of the game but absolutely no sound. If I put it on phone it was fine but tiny screen I need to hold rather than feet up watching TV

I paid £20 for those game so it’s not an insignificant amount of money.

As to commentary I used to hate listening to Tom but used to it now and rather have any Bear than Sutton, Walker etc. I also hate watching with sound off as I want to hear the crowd.

What’s also frustrating is that any recorded pieces at half time play perfectly which reinforces my view that the live feed is a problem at RTVs end. I know very little about this stuff but I’ve seen it suggested on here before that RTV are not using enough bandwidth?

This could be a great source of revenue for the Club and I live the fact that I give a couple of hundred quid a year direct to Rangers. If they could sort the issues out I’d bin Sky, BT and all the rest and happily pay £3/400 a year for a season ticket but there’s no way I’m watching OF on RTV rather than a professional channel like Sky, despite having listen to Rangers hating cu,nts
 
Baba Booey said:
Living in the States, I've been a subscriber to RTV for quite a few years now and, to be honest, it's had its ups and downs. The current format is better than anything we've had before in regards to video/stream quality etc. and the amount of content is excellent value for money.

The recorded content the RTV folks put up is second to none. It is truly excellent. I love the "Inside Ibrox" videos, the training videos, the pre-season videos from abroad etc. Add to all of that, they release videos of single goals and match highlights. I genuinely cannot fault anything they do with regards to giving us a sense of how the place works - both at Ibrox and the HTC.

Where I think they DO fall down, though, is the actual matchday program itself. Look, I know it's been debated on here (almost to death) and I'm sure Tom Miller is a genuinely nice guy. There's no doubting his love for the club, but his commentary is stuck in the 70s and it's the same week in, week out. Like I say, I know some people will contest this, as I can tell he's a Rangers man but I'm just being honest, as a paying customer. It's not all his fault, though. The matchday stuff seems a little stale, with pre-recorded interviews etc. I wish they would put Alice or someone in a wee studio with someone else to analyse the game - we have a whole host of current/former players that we already rotate in the co-commentary position.

Anyway, I truly don't mean to turn this into a negative post - I'm honestly delighted with the value for money, even though I pay the most expensive subscription and I think the whole team deserves huge praise for what they do.
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Yeah I have got to agree with you, Tom talks too much and some of it is nothing to do with the match.An example of it on Thursday he asked Lovenkrands if he had ever been to Spain..WTF!!
 
Monster said:
It's progressing.

They need a dedicated app which is available on all devices for both mobile and TV.

The streams dipping and raising in quality all over a 90 minute game isn't acceptable in 2019.

They absolutely do need a studio.

I really don't fault Tom at all. He tries his best to pick up the slack for the co com which is usually an old player and a complete novice at commentating a match. I think he's much easier to listen to when he's given someone who has a knack for it like Andy Little.

You have to think about the kinds of budget the team is working with though and they're probably already massively over achieving.
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The stream only does that if you have the quality on auto. Just change it to the top setting.
 
Quite suprised at the stick Tom Miller takes on here.

He's unashamedly a Rangers fan and has a fair knowledge of the game and what's going on around Ibrox.

He may use more than a few cliches, but %^*& me, I'd rather listen to him all day long over anyone we get get on Sky, BT or terrestrial TV.

He seems a bit of an easy target for some on here.
 
Can tell Tom is a Rangers man and loves the club and at times he does a good job. I just wish someone would have a wee word and tell him to commentate on the actual match instead of droning on and on about what Peter Lovenkrands had for his tea the previous night etc etc.

The co commentators usually don’t help matters, Durrant being the worst with his now now now now patter.

....but again as most have said, I’d still rather listen to them than Craggs, Crocker and W@nker
 
I wonder if we move Tom to colour commentary and bring in a more serious play by play.

Keeps everyone happy.
 
For what it costs its absolutely brilliant. I love all the additional content and more often than not the quality is top notch. As others have said Tom does have a tendency to fill gaps with utter shite but it's better shite than the alternatives.

Plus when we're moaning about stadium announcers and commentators it generally means things are good :))
 
Baba Booey said:
... Where I think they DO fall down, though, is the actual matchday program itself. Look, I know it's been debated on here (almost to death) and I'm sure Tom Miller is a genuinely nice guy. There's no doubting his love for the club, but his commentary is stuck in the 70s and it's the same week in, week out.

Like I say, I know some people will contest this, as I can tell he's a Rangers man but I'm just being honest, as a paying customer. It's not all his fault, though. The matchday stuff seems a little stale, with pre-recorded interviews etc.

I wish they would put Alice or someone in a wee studio with someone else to analyse the game - we have a whole host of current/former players that we already rotate in the co-commentary position.
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Great critique on RTV, BB. I agree that the service has come on leaps and bounds in the last year or two.

You’re spot on about Tom Miller. He certainly comes across as a really nice guy, and his passion for the club is obvious. But, as someone said in a later post, he talks too much!

I’m old enough to remember Kenneth Wolstenholme (“Some people are on the pitch - they think it’s all over.”). He was the best football commentator I ever heard, because he knew when not to talk, and let the viewer watch the game.

I think we could cut back on the ‘shout outs’, too. I’m sure it’s a thrill for Big Tam in Baku, but it’s not what I’m paying to listen to.

I know it’s all down to budget, but it would be great if a portion of the pre-match could devoted to someone with a hand-held camera capturing the atmosphere around the Main Entrance, the Marble Staircase, even the hospitality lounges. The ex-players are in attendance on the day, even if they could step out of Lounge they’re in and say a few words on camera, it would add to the experience.

There are loads of archive matches on RTV. At half time, why not show a couple of minutes of an old game against the team we’re playing that day?
 
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I have difficulty finding videos, I don't understand why some (the pre matches media interview with Gerard +1player as an example) goes onto YouTube but not the rangers tv site??
 
I like Tom. Having presented a tv program or two myself (not a stealth comment BTW - just live streamed for an hour for my company internally) it makes me realise the guy is a God to have the energy to keep going for a whole match.

And as for the quality - I am abroad so have never had a quality issue and have also a long enough memory to remember the only Rangers content you got was reading the score in the paper the day after.
 
bear wi nae hair said:
I’m down south so use RTV regularly.

I’m sat at home with fibre optic broadband that never has any issues at home and yet the quality of the picture rises and falls all match. Folk will say the problem must be at my end but I don’t see how?

Last two matches - St J and Marseille - I didn’t even need to use VPN so watched on brand new TV. Marseille was rubbish pic most of the match but sound fine and Thursday night was great pic most of the game but absolutely no sound. If I put it on phone it was fine but tiny screen I need to hold rather than feet up watching TV

I paid £20 for those game so it’s not an insignificant amount of money.

As to commentary I used to hate listening to Tom but used to it now and rather have any Bear than Sutton, Walker etc. I also hate watching with sound off as I want to hear the crowd.

What’s also frustrating is that any recorded pieces at half time play perfectly which reinforces my view that the live feed is a problem at RTVs end. I know very little about this stuff but I’ve seen it suggested on here before that RTV are not using enough bandwidth?

This could be a great source of revenue for the Club and I live the fact that I give a couple of hundred quid a year direct to Rangers. If they could sort the issues out I’d bin Sky, BT and all the rest and happily pay £3/400 a year for a season ticket but there’s no way I’m watching OF on RTV rather than a professional channel like Sky, despite having listen to Rangers hating cu,nts
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I have to agree with all of this. I’ve experienced the same with match footage and prerecorded footage. A studio intro would be good, it would be a better way of introducing the interviews they play too. It would also make for a better half-time.

Tom Miller is great as the voice of RTV, but I think some of the co-commentators haven’t been briefed on what co-commentary is. If they can improve their technical analysis of the game surely the conversations with Miller will improve.
 
RTV is pretty good but if I'm being really critical, the camera quality could improve. A lot of the time, when showing a replay, you can't watch it properly. It's not a major issue, and it might cost a lot of money to put right. Tom Miller is Tom Miller :) like someone said, I'd much rather listen to him than the likes of BT /BBC/Sky commentators.
 
You only have to look at the comments from other fans (the oxford most recently ones for example) when they occasionally use RTV to watch a game if it’s the only way to see their team when they play us. Tom Miller’s commentary is just cringe worthy at times - I know he’s a genuinely nice guy and a diehard blue nose but so am i, doesn’t mean I should be getting the job :D
 
Following on from the comment about havibg a studio intro/ close out etc I think that’s a role Tom Miller would be really good at. Pair him there with the ex player

I’d get a new commentator and maybe controversially have Traynor as co-comm. I thought he used to be really good at that on the radio. I want comma that are positive but not cringeworthy

Ultimately it’s all down to cost. We need more £17 subscribers. Apart from anything else it should be a potential massive income source.

100000 subscribers on the £17 package should be the target which would probably net the club around £15 million per season after production costs.
 
The stuff that goes on week in week out is excellent. Love the training stuff when the squad goes away. I’ve sat and watched every minute from Malaga, Tenerife and Portugal when squad have been away since Gerrard came in. Inside training ground stuff great as are the interviews and “Rangers Mind” etc.

I’m on holiday, so watched the Marseille and some of the St Joseph’s game while I’ve been away. Tbh I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the commentary, he’s what I’d expect from a club’s own TV show and I’m glad it’s someone so passionate that does it. The coverage before, at half time and after could be a wee bit better if I was being picky.

But for my fiver a month I’m happy.
 
abz_bear said:
You only have to look at the comments from other fans (the oxford most recently ones for example) when they occasionally use RTV to watch a game if it’s the only way to see their team when they play us. Tom Miller’s commentary is just cringe worthy at times - I know he’s a genuinely nice guy and a diehard blue nose but so am i, doesn’t mean I should be getting the job :D
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What were the comments mate?
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Quite suprised at the stick Tom Miller takes on here.

He's unashamedly a Rangers fan and has a fair knowledge of the game and what's going on around Ibrox.

He may use more than a few cliches, but %^*& me, I'd rather listen to him all day long over anyone we get get on Sky, BT or terrestrial TV.

He seems a bit of an easy target for some on here.
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There shouldn't be an "aye but..." with Miller to be honest.

Just because Crocker is garbage shouldn't give him a free pass. Miller's commentary is absolutely brutal to listen to, Rangers fan or not. It's not as if he's the only Rangers friendly commentator out there and we're picking from a field of one.

The rest of the RTV product is moving ahead with the times. It's getting slicker, it's getting more professional, it's better and better with each passing season. But for me he's the only black mark on it. He's unlistenable IMO.
 
As stated above seems like a decent enough chap but his commentary is let's be honest absoloutely woeful. He's hard to listen to at times
 
Don’t have any issues with Tom Miller at all tbh. The guy is fine.

The much bigger issue with RTV is the replays. They’re pretty terrible.
 
bear wi nae hair said:
What were the comments mate?
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Just along the lines of “had to watch with the sound off” and a few thought we’d sourced a commentator from the 70’s, quite a few commented on how one sided it was but that’s to be expected from our channel so I’m not going to say that qualifies as a bad thing IMO.
 
Tom might not be the best, but by Christ, Ill take his commentary over Sutton, Walker, Craigan and the endless list of Rangers hating wankers any day of the week.

In fairness OP, like you said, you live in The States...lucky you not having to put up with the sanctimonious bile of hatred this Scottish shithole endlessly produces towards our great club.
 
Chris the Bandito said:
Following on from the comment about havibg a studio intro/ close out etc I think that’s a role Tom Miller would be really good at. Pair him there with the ex player

I’d get a new commentator and maybe controversially have Traynor as co-comm. I thought he used to be really good at that on the radio. I want comma that are positive but not cringeworthy

Ultimately it’s all down to cost. We need more £17 subscribers. Apart from anything else it should be a potential massive income source.

100000 subscribers on the £17 package should be the target which would probably net the club around £15 million per season after production costs.
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100000 @£17 is only £1.7 million before costs. I blame the schools.
 
sydneyger65 said:
100000 @£17 is only £1.7 million before costs. I blame the schools.
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100,000 x £17/month x 12 = ?

I don't mind Tom. He's clearly a fan & I think it's brilliant we can watch with our own commentating. I do wish they'd do a bit of vetting for our ex-players before having them on though. Like's been said, there's the odd one who hasn't a clue about Rangers outside of when they were playing & is just there to pick up a few beer tokens. It would even be preferable having other knowledgeable fans on that those types.

A studio is a great shout. It surely couldn't be that difficult to bang out & I don't know the ins & outs of streaming this kind of content but some matches you've barely had time to go for a piss & the after match review is over & the stream's cut. 15 minutes build-up is also a joke (albeit it's mostly half an hr).
 
Can't believe Miller is still there, he's brutal. Long overdue to be replaced. Other than that I'm a huge fan of RTV. 9 times out of 10 the co-commentator is really good to listen to but the squealing from Miller and cutting them off often ruins it.
 
Monster said:
It's progressing.

They need a dedicated app which is available on all devices for both mobile and TV.

The streams dipping and raising in quality all over a 90 minute game isn't acceptable in 2019.

They absolutely do need a studio.

I really don't fault Tom at all. He tries his best to pick up the slack for the co com which is usually an old player and a complete novice at commentating a match. I think he's much easier to listen to when he's given someone who has a knack for it like Andy Little.

You have to think about the kinds of budget the team is working with though and they're probably already massively over achieving.
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Go to the little icon of 4 squares on the bottom right if the screen and click on it. On the pop-up, change the quality from ‘Auto’ to ‘1080p(5Mbps)’. That usually does the trick for the varying quality and for buffering. The other night I actually had to drop down as low as 360p I think it was to get a non-buffering, stable picture. Once I did it worked perfectly - good picture and no buffering. Works a treat.
 
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bear wi nae hair said:
I’m down south so use RTV regularly.

I’m sat at home with fibre optic broadband that never has any issues at home and yet the quality of the picture rises and falls all match. Folk will say the problem must be at my end but I don’t see how?

Last two matches - St J and Marseille - I didn’t even need to use VPN so watched on brand new TV. Marseille was rubbish pic most of the match but sound fine and Thursday night was great pic most of the game but absolutely no sound. If I put it on phone it was fine but tiny screen I need to hold rather than feet up watching TV

I paid £20 for those game so it’s not an insignificant amount of money.

As to commentary I used to hate listening to Tom but used to it now and rather have any Bear than Sutton, Walker etc. I also hate watching with sound off as I want to hear the crowd.

What’s also frustrating is that any recorded pieces at half time play perfectly which reinforces my view that the live feed is a problem at RTVs end. I know very little about this stuff but I’ve seen it suggested on here before that RTV are not using enough bandwidth?

This could be a great source of revenue for the Club and I live the fact that I give a couple of hundred quid a year direct to Rangers. If they could sort the issues out I’d bin Sky, BT and all the rest and happily pay £3/400 a year for a season ticket but there’s no way I’m watching OF on RTV rather than a professional channel like Sky, despite having listen to Rangers hating cu,nts
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Surely if the issue was with the live feed at Rangers end then we would all be affected? It’s most probably something in your own setup. Here’s an example, I have 80Mb broadband at home on a fairly new Windows 10 desktop. RangersTV works like a dream. I visited my son on Thursday and he had 30Mb broadband. We watched the game on a slightly older Windows 10 laptop and encountered buffering until I adjusted the quality as per my post above. It’s worth a little experimenting with settings.
 
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I think Tom is fine because it comes through he’s one of us and does his job well. Perhaps too well. Where he could improve is to reduce the level of comments and analysis, and instead say who’s on the ball ( it’s not always easy to see on the streamed tv picture who’s got it). Also a wee bit less interjection from the guest pundit would be desirable. Andy Little gets it about right. Ian Durant talked enthusiastically but virtually all through the game. Basically a lot less comment and more saying simply who’s on the ball and we’ll be there. To qualify this constructive criticism, even as it is just now, it’s infinitely preferable to McLean, Sutton Crocker Walker et al.
 
The points regarding the commentator I can understand. Tom is a bit marmite. However, folk seem to be expecting Sky quality presentation and analysis from what is close to a one-man band operation. Fact is, if you ever watch other club tv channels like Liverpool, Man United or even the Dhims, it’s all very much the same. Rangers aren’t going to pay top dollar when there’s no need to. Bringing in Gary Linekar to present it isn’t going to result in a huge surge in subscriptions after all.:)
 
Cannot understand so many people getting this upset with Miller (well, I can, it’s follow follow and folk need something to moan about). To say he’s unlistenable is hyperbole to the extreme.

He does a consistent job for us at a low cost, there are no financial benefits of replacing him with a better but more expensive commentator, it makes no business sense. No one is tuning away from RTV because of Miller.

Shows how well things are going on the field that folk are now complaining about the RTV commentary, which by and large, is totally inoffensive.
 
I like Tom however he commentates like a die hard Rangers fan and at times it can be too much. When he describes one of our players displaying simple ball control and starts raving about "majestic touch" it gets to me. Against Marseille last Sunday I was close to switching the sound off.
 
Baba Booey said:
Living in the States, I've been a subscriber to RTV for quite a few years now and, to be honest, it's had its ups and downs. The current format is better than anything we've had before in regards to video/stream quality etc. and the amount of content is excellent value for money.

The recorded content the RTV folks put up is second to none. It is truly excellent. I love the "Inside Ibrox" videos, the training videos, the pre-season videos from abroad etc. Add to all of that, they release videos of single goals and match highlights. I genuinely cannot fault anything they do with regards to giving us a sense of how the place works - both at Ibrox and the HTC.

Where I think they DO fall down, though, is the actual matchday program itself. Look, I know it's been debated on here (almost to death) and I'm sure Tom Miller is a genuinely nice guy. There's no doubting his love for the club, but his commentary is stuck in the 70s and it's the same week in, week out. Like I say, I know some people will contest this, as I can tell he's a Rangers man but I'm just being honest, as a paying customer. It's not all his fault, though. The matchday stuff seems a little stale, with pre-recorded interviews etc. I wish they would put Alice or someone in a wee studio with someone else to analyse the game - we have a whole host of current/former players that we already rotate in the co-commentary position.

Anyway, I truly don't mean to turn this into a negative post - I'm honestly delighted with the value for money, even though I pay the most expensive subscription and I think the whole team deserves huge praise for what they do.
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Dont mind Tom at all better than the haters who comment on our games, BUT the f uckin feed is atrocious, truly amateur in 2019
 
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