THIS PRIDE BELONGS TO ANKARA
Starting its broadcast life 9 years ago, Klasspor is preparing to begin television broadcasting over the internet. Editor-in-Chief Bülent Atlas said, "We will achieve this without compromising our stance."
After 9 years, the Klasspor website has managed to become a branded publication organ in the Capital's media. The current excitement of the site, which applies journalism principles over the internet, is Klasspor TV. The channel, which will broadcast in television quality, will be Turkey's first internet sports television with a scheduled broadcast.
How did this project develop?
Klasspor TV is actually a project designed 3-4 years ago. The necessary steps for this started to be taken 2 months ago. Work in the studio is ongoing. The equipment is also largely completed. We broadcasted Gençlerbirliği's historic congress and Ankaragücü's important press conference live. We have very few shortcomings left. With their completion, we plan to start broadcasting in April.
Broadcasting on Facebook
How will it reach the audience?
It will work independently from Klasspor. It will make its broadcasts on Facebook. In the first stage, it will broadcast between 20:00 and 23:00 in the evening. We are also working on using other social media programs, but for this, the shortcomings in our country's infrastructure need to be resolved. It is important for readers to participate in the program, like it, dislike it, and ask questions. A very short time after the broadcast ends, the video of the program will be available to watch on youtube.
What will its features be?
It will be the first internet sports television with a scheduled broadcast program. It is very important for Ankara that we pioneer this while institutions with great resources do not. Newspapers attach importance to internet publishing today. This will be inevitable for televisions as well. We are also preparing for it to be watched in applications like Smart TV.
You are ahead of many local and national televisions or newspapers. It must be difficult to maintain this.
1,100 people watched Ankaragücü's press conference at the same time. Our new project will also bring mobility to Ankara sports. I think we will be effective in this sense. We will do something that doesn't exist, and this city will achieve it. Unfortunately, none of our local channels are visible in matches, at the end of matches, or in a development related to fans. The interest in sports from big brands is obvious. After the Ankaragücü match, the only one extending a microphone to club president Mehmet Yiğiner is Klasspor. We are the only ones next to the fans welcoming the team. These are important things. We must protect our values. We criticize and comment as required by journalism, but some things need to change in Ankara. We will continue to reflect our stance that the Klasspor reader is accustomed to on TV too.
There are special programs
Can you tell us about the programs?
We will make a special program for Ankaragücü, Gençlerbirliği, and Osmanlıspor, and this will be a first for those clubs. People who master the teams will prepare the programs. There will be guests. We want the program names to be colorful and fun too. We will also have programs that will attract interest for handball, basketball, volleyball, and amateur sports. We will boast about our city's successes and announce them. We will be on the broadcast with valuable friends, especially Meriç Enercan, Musa Samur, Buğra Ersavaş, Cevat Uğraş, Engin Kocabıyık. It will be an enjoyable program where there will also be live narration of the matches.
Is match broadcasting possible?
Yes, we want to broadcast matches next season. There are procedures to overcome legally. If these are resolved, a very important step will have been taken for internet sites. We are also trying to progress with examples for internet sports television broadcasting. We want to broadcast the matches of Ankara teams in the 2nd League and 3rd League. Our sponsorship negotiations continue for the duties and expenses to be given to the Federation. There are also very important matches in the amateur league. Since Ankara teams are not on televisions and in newspapers, we want to change this.
Followers got used to it
There are nearly 1 million followers. How did this success come about?
Our breaking point was in 2011. We started to be the opening page at that time. We became the first site people opened. We provided stability and continuity. When we continued our broadcasting in the same line, we provided the habit. After 2014, I started to show myself too. I started to be in more fields. As people started to see, their ownership also increased. When we said 'partisan sports site', the reader perceived this and truly embraced it. We tried to provide an alignment against Istanbul. For example, if we use a news report about Istanbul teams in the headline, we will draw a big reaction. We are talking about a site with nearly 1 million followers. It wasn't easy to achieve this.
ANKARA Milliyet