ClubCall
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Type of site
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Sports News |
|---|---|
| Owner | ICS Ltd |
| Revenue | Advertising |
| Slogan(s) | Football News Since 1986 |
| Website | https://www.clubcall.com/ |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1986 |
| Current status | online |
ClubCall is a British football information service, which was started as a telephone publishing business in 1986. It has since become a sports website and international mobile content provider.
ClubCall was launched as a club-by-club telephone information service by BT Supercall (1983–87), the UK's first audiotext business set up by Kieran Levis following deregulation of the telecoms industry, which for the first time allowed fans to listen to a telephone news service dedicated to their team.
Leading clubs in the then First Division (Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle United, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool) were among the first raft of teams signed up on a revenue share basis, whereby they received a percentage of income from the calls to their official information line which quickly proved popular among fans who could hear club news, interviews and commentary on the telephone by ringing an 0898 prefixed number. The success of the new service saw ClubCall expand to cover 72 teams in England and Scotland as clubs scrambled to be part of a new and significant revenue stream.
Local reporters, dedicated to a particular club, provided an at the ground news gathering service, which was fed back to ClubCall’s headquarters at Downham Road, Dalston, London where it was updated by a team of editors. One of the first appointed editors was radio reporter Ian Holding, one of the current owners of the ClubCall business.
In 1991, BT sold ClubCall to bookmaker Ladbrokes at a time when the premium rate telephone market was flourishing. Ladbrokes saw it as an opportunity to develop relationships with football clubs and to associate its brand with football which was becoming an increasingly important betting medium. The company operated ClubCall at a time when interest in football was heightened by the formation of the Premier League in 1992.
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