Watching Together.
Parish watch-alongs. A broadcast is a better evening in a village hall with thirty other people than it is on a laptop, and about forty per cent of parishes have worked that out.
It is just a projector and a room.
There is no product here. A parish books its usual hall, points a projector at a wall, and puts the broadcast on. The technology involved is a browser and an HDMI cable, both of which have existed for some time.
What it produces is the thing a broadcast on a laptop cannot: thirty people reacting at the same time, in the same room, arguing about the yield figures as they land. The chat window is a poor substitute for that and nobody has ever pretended otherwise.
Five of the twelve parishes now run one for Harvest Live. The Cotswolds gets about forty people; The Broads gets eleven and is completely happy about it.
- 5 of 12
- parishes
- ~40
- the largest
- 11
- the smallest, contentedly
Running one.
Ask your warden.
It is a parish decision, made at a meet, not something we approve.
Book the usual hall.
The same room the parish already uses. Hall hire comes out of the tin, as always.
Claim watch-along places.
Two thousand are distributed across the parishes per broadcast rather than sold. They are a headcount, not a ticket.
Point a projector at a wall.
That is the entire technical requirement. Audio-only mode exists if the hall broadband is what hall broadband usually is.
Who runs one, and how many come.
| Parish | Runs one for | Typical attendance |
|---|---|---|
| The Cotswolds | Harvest Live, The Quiz | ~40 |
| The Peak | Harvest Live, The Quiz | ~28 |
| The Weald | The Quiz | ~34 |
| The Fens | Harvest Live, The Quiz | ~22 |
| The Broads | The Quiz | 11 |
| The other seven | The Quiz only | Varies |
The practical questions.
Not from us. It is a parish decision made at a meet. Nothing on Broadcasting is licensed in a way that would stop a room of people watching it together.
It usually is. Audio-only runs at sixty-four kilobits and a hall full of people listening to a harvest is a better evening than you would think.
No. Two thousand are distributed per broadcast and they are a headcount so we know how many people are in halls rather than a ticket.
Parish-run
Decided at a meet, not approved by us.
A projector and a wall
That is the whole technical requirement.
Audio-only works
And hall broadband usually needs it.
Costs nothing
Beyond the hall, which comes out of the tin.
Find your parish.
Twelve of them, all free, all with a date in the diary.
Get told before everyone else
One email a fortnight about what is actually happening in the fields, the brewery and the pub — including the bits that went wrong.
