The Season That Wasn't on Flo

B

brianwr112

Well-known member
Anyone else watch this tonight? I thought it was pretty well put together. Just wish it was longer. The PreShow was 30 minutes and the feature film was 20 minutes.
 
 
Seems weird to me that people bag on Flo so much. Do people wish that it just didn't exist? Because I see a lot of people on social media complain that it costs money to subscribe or they don't like their subscription model. Yet no one is forcing people to get it and guess what, it costs money to produce and televise the content. If the model that they were using didn't work for them to be able to make enough money to survive as a business, then I imagine that they would switch to a different model.

I've enjoyed watching the stories that they have produced and like that they cover so much wrestling. I'm glad they exist and hope they continue. Do I think some things could be improved, sure - I'm not a big fan of their commentating during matches, but I can always mute it if it bothers me enough.
 
I enjoy Flo hence why I have a subscription. Especially now that I'm not coaching at the HS level. This gives me more time to watch different teams around the country. I really enjoy the documentaries they do. Hopefully they can kinda use this time to put more together (understand they'll have to have already shot footage).

I haven't checked in awhile since my subscription renews annually but maybe a if they offered "In season" subscriptions it would make things cheaper for those that just watch live events during the HS/College season
 
WGTJ said:
Seems weird to me that people bag on Flo so much. Do people wish that it just didn't exist? Because I see a lot of people on social media complain that it costs money to subscribe or they don't like their subscription model. Yet no one is forcing people to get it and guess what, it costs money to produce and televise the content. If the model that they were using didn't work for them to be able to make enough money to survive as a business, then I imagine that they would switch to a different model.

I've enjoyed watching the stories that they have produced and like that they cover so much wrestling. I'm glad they exist and hope they continue. Do I think some things could be improved, sure - I'm not a big fan of their commentating during matches, but I can always mute it if it bothers me enough.
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I agree for the most part. I think a lot of people have forgotten just how little online coverage there used to be of wrestling or how hard it was to find videos (or maybe they just weren't alive before Flo).

I think a lot of the complaints stem from A) the fact that Flo advertises a monthly price but only allows annual subscription, and B) the video stream cuts out during big events too often.

Flo definitely could be improved, but their coverage was unprecedented.
 
UsedToBe103 said:
I agree for the most part. I think a lot of people have forgotten just how little online coverage there used to be of wrestling or how hard it was to find videos (or maybe they just weren't alive before Flo).

I think a lot of the complaints stem from A) the fact that Flo advertises a monthly price but only allows annual subscription, and B) the video stream cuts out during big events too often.

Flo definitely could be improved, but their coverage was unprecedented.
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On A, companies do this all of the time. For just pennies a day, you get blah, blah, blah...yet they don't have a daily price. That is just advertising and their business model. I get that people may not like their business model, but it works for them, obviously. Buy it or don't, but they are obviously not changing it (not directed at you, just the complainers).

On B, I used to have problems, but then I upgraded my internet speed and rarely have an issue. I can see this as somewhat of a legitimate complaint, but the problem could very well be their ISP throttling their service. Nothing that Flo can do about that. I'm sure that they do have some issues streaming though as does pretty much every streaming service at some point. I imagine that they also balance this with the cost to the customer. I don't imagine that they have the servers that Amazon and Netflix do and I'm not sure that I would pay for the increase if they went that route.
 
Here are my issues with Flo. They talk about how they want to promote and grow wrestling, then why have your subscription the way it is? You are going to get the die hard kids and fans regardless, but what about the new kids or, as their ex employee Willie liked to degrade them, the "part timers"? If they would offer even a trial and monthly memberships, they would have more subscriptions. Good luck getting parents of 1st year kids signing up for 150 up front when they don't even know if their kid will wrestle the next year.
Second, can't stand their commentators and their blatant bias to some teams and individuals. Part of that problem has been resolved with that idiot Willie gone, but it is still there and obvious.
Finally, for as much as it costs, the quality is still subpar many times and there is still too many technical issues that should not be occurring.
 
I guess I don’t understand why people have a problem with annual subscriptions. Lot’s of services are based on annual payments.
 
ProV1 said:
I guess I don’t understand why people have a problem with annual subscriptions. Lot’s of services are based on annual payments.
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Because it is a lot of money up front and you are stuck with it. At least with things like Netflix and Hulu you can cancel at anytime and be done. I get why Flo does it, they know that they will get a lot of people unsubscribing in the offseason. But simple solution is offer both monthly and annual (as well as a trial for crying out loud) like many services with a discount for the annual. That way you keep the die hards as well as more casuals like new wrestlers and those that are unsure.
 
CoachJules said:
Because it is a lot of money up front and you are stuck with it. At least with things like Netflix and Hulu you can cancel at anytime and be done. I get why Flo does it, they know that they will get a lot of people unsubscribing in the offseason. But simple solution is offer both monthly and annual (as well as a trial for crying out loud) like many services with a discount for the annual. That way you keep the die hards as well as more casuals like new wrestlers and those that are unsure.
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Flo does it because the business model works for them and that is how they have determined that they will best be able to maximize their product and survive as a business. Netflix and Hulu are not comparable to Flo at all in my opinion. Those services both offer a lot of content that they do not produce.
 
WGTJ said:
Flo does it because the business model works for them and that is how they have determined that they will best be able to maximize their product and survive as a business. Netflix and Hulu are not comparable to Flo at all in my opinion. Those services both offer a lot of content that they do not produce.
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I agree that this is probably the best model for a service like Flo, but they should not be coming out saying they are trying to grow wrestling at the same time. They only care about what most businesses do, making profit. As I said in my first post, I always had a big problem with Willie and I feel he hurts the sport with how he is (wrestlers do not matter unless they are in his ranking, D2 and D3 wrestling is not important, thinking wrestlers should just focus on wrestling, etc) but even with him gone it is still hard for me to get back into Flo when they glorify someone like Desanto all the time.
 
CoachJules said:
Because it is a lot of money up front and you are stuck with it. At least with things like Netflix and Hulu you can cancel at anytime and be done. I get why Flo does it, they know that they will get a lot of people unsubscribing in the offseason. But simple solution is offer both monthly and annual (as well as a trial for crying out loud) like many services with a discount for the annual. That way you keep the die hards as well as more casuals like new wrestlers and those that are unsure.
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You are stuck with it for the year you signed up. It also is on a credit card so you don’t need to pay it all at once. I’m pretty sure Flo, like all content and streaming services, have researched and analyzed many subscription models and find this one best suits their business. It is fine if you don’t value their content enough to subscribe, but that is your position. It is not a Flo problem.
 
WGTJ said:
On A, companies do this all of the time. For just pennies a day, you get blah, blah, blah...yet they don't have a daily price. That is just advertising and their business model. I get that people may not like their business model, but it works for them, obviously. Buy it or don't, but they are obviously not changing it (not directed at you, just the complainers).

On B, I used to have problems, but then I upgraded my internet speed and rarely have an issue. I can see this as somewhat of a legitimate complaint, but the problem could very well be their ISP throttling their service. Nothing that Flo can do about that. I'm sure that they do have some issues streaming though as does pretty much every streaming service at some point. I imagine that they also balance this with the cost to the customer. I don't imagine that they have the servers that Amazon and Netflix do and I'm not sure that I would pay for the increase if they went that route.
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Right, I have no problem with their business model. Even though they mention a monthly rate up front, you still see the $150 total before you confirm your payment, so no one is getting "tricked" as some people claim. But I do understand how this would steer more casual fans away.

I have one of the highest speeds that my ISP offers, yet I still have problems sometimes. It seems to happen when I'm watching a live event that a lot of people are tuning into.

One problem I've seen often which I don't think is related to internet speed (but I could be off on that) is when I'm streaming multiple mats of an event and then it will randomly give errors saying I've exceeded the maximum number of mats I can stream (even though I haven't) and then I have to reload them. I've seen it happen for other people too.
 
I dislike Flo because I have seen the transformation from the beginning. In the beginning it was about wrestling. Martin Flo would get coverage and interviews and it was great. It was refreshing because it wasn't the least bit commercial. It slowly morphed into the monster it is. They used to be all free, then certain events were behind the paywall, then wrestling was pay only but you could see interviews, not they offer absolutely no content for free.

The issue is they took something great and decided to completely commercialize it. Wrestling is just a vessel for profit. They dont care about it anymore then FloMarchingband or whatever the latest expansion is. My problem is taking a great idea and trying to turn it into a profit machine. Thats not even including the poor streaming, unnecessary stands on political topics, and extremely poor customer service.
 
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