Wanderers will undergo a digital makeover this summer – including the launch of a new in-house TV channel.
A revamp of the website and ticketing site, which have been tied-in with league mandated templates for several years, have long been in the pipeline.
But Neil Hart has now confirmed a timeline for the upgrades, which will include a in-house productions on matchdays, similar to that created at Plymouth Argyle, Charlton Athletic or Derby County, including interviews and highlights.
“We have gone out to tender to rebuild our entire digital infrastructure, which will include a brand new website,” he told the BWFC Supporters Trust’s AGM.
“We are coming out of the EFL’s digital deal this summer, at the end of the season, so there will be a new app, new e-ticketing and e-commerce, all in one with one single sign-on, and as part of that process we are just looking at how we stream it and whether we continue to work with the EFL with the iFollow process or whether we engage with a new streamer to stream the game, looking at that as a product, but we will as part of that process, launch Wanderers TV.
“It might not be where Charlton are now, but it will certainly build towards it and be a starting point.
“I am really keen about looking at that as a project. Loads of clubs do it – and Siobhan, who heads our comms is leading that project.”
The EFL has 12 months remaining on their current arrangement with the iFollow streaming service but are expected to significantly upgrade their own offerings as part of any future deal.
Wanderers made £500,000 from streaming last year, and while they are pressing ahead with plans to improve their own digital and online offerings, Hart said they will be able to fall in line with any future deals done at league level.
“If this summer we launched Wanderers TV we would have to work within the current broadcast agreements and the agreements with Sky Sports, BT and all of that. We would develop the content we wanted within those regulations,” he added.
“If that commercial agreement and those regulations changed then we will alter what our offering is.
“We can be flexible. We would never launch Wanderers TV and say we can broadcast ever single game because at the moment we can’t do that. But if it changed in the future we would incorporate it in.
“I do think football is going down that streaming route – Netflix, Amazon – where you can go in and buy the lot, or just your club. That is the direction I think the EFL will take the broadcast package but watch this space.”
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