News Article: Montreal bars face a 1500% increase in broadcasting rights

[GoodKiwi]

you're not in the bar/restaurant business it shows.

1. there's not enough people going in bars during week nights, it wouldnt be worth it to pay the $ to show the games between monday and thursdays (and even sundays I'd say)
2. Molson (and Labbatt) products are expensive for bar/resto owners, profit margin is ridiculously low (way less than microbeers)

Plus he proposes a cover to watch a hockey game at a bar.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Plus he proposes a cover to watch a hockey game at a bar.

well, you can have covers for events in bars/restaurants, but not for hockey/football/NA football/baseball

AND

most bars already have some kind of specials to attract customers for week games.

 

[PuckSeparator]

The bars that can't cut it will just resort to streaming most likely since you can't not show the game if the guy down the street is.

I don't know, this all seems convoluted and really fishy (and due to the extreme nature of the increase, perhaps legally contestable). I'm really glad I cut my cable, media companies in this countries are complete and absolute scum. [MOD]

 

[Toene]

Been reading everyday for a while... Just signed up to give you clear info on this mess.

I own a wood oven pizzeria in rosemont. I used to show habs and impact.
It was just the price of cable. Now, the three groups rds/tsn ( bell media) tva sports (quebecor) sportsnet ( rogers) will start charging according to your liquor licence permit. I have 58 places on my permit. So instead of just paying the business cable service ( base+15 chaines ) it will be 90$ tva sport, 120$ rds/tsn, 100$ sportsnet. And i still need to pay for minimum cable!

i cannot wrap my head around the fact that i will pay close to 4k a year for sports... Can't either think of not showing the games...

It makes No sense business wise, but I might bite the bullet...

It depends on your customers. If they openly show interest for it and they say they want it to remain well it's another story. Ask the customers or even put a iPad with a poll site open on it so when people come for take-out or when they pay after sitting so they vote if they have interest. 4000 is not pocket change for restaurants in Plateau/Rosemont area because the rents are outrageous.

[MOD]

Good luck. There's something charming when you come into a restaurant or café when a Habs/Expo game playing... I dnt know it feels just so classic, couple of guys at the bar half-watching the game, barely talking, sipping on their bucks.

Sad that the Canadiens and the broadcasters like Sportnet and others dont understand that it's in their interest to broadcast it to the most people possible. Imagine you're a tourist visiting town with your family and you dont know much about hockey in your culture but you stop at a place for a bite and it happens to be a very entertaining game that plays that night, Pacioretty scores a hat-trick or something... well maybe this will tickle their interest and theyll look it up and be interested to eventually buy merch like a Habs cap or t-shirt or even go see a game.

It's an outdated business model. Some companies have understood it. Exposure is what counts. The most coverage you can get in social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), in places like supermarkets, restaurants, café, etc., the most your brand is recognized and talked about and it leads, exponentially, to even more people that know about your product or your brand. The people that want to enforce this cost raise for the rights dont even understand that if the game plays everywhere in town, their ads will also be shown everywhere in town. Hockey and the NHL especially is a business ran by old mentalities. «The more we charge, the more money we get!» And that's how you lose a generation to soccer, basketball, football, etc. By being outdated in your marketing.

 

[habdynasty]

Kind of off topic but how much is a beer at a Habs game ??

 

[OldCraig71]

Kind of off topic but how much is a beer at a Habs game ??

Free with the purchase of a $25 hot dog, not yet announced but I am speculating here while being hatefully sarcastic about the whole improved fan experience thing.

 

[lo striver]

Kind of off topic but how much is a beer at a Habs game ??

I am boycotting everything Mol$on related and have not been to BC in ~2 years, but I think it is 11.75-12$ for that piss they call 'beer'.

 

[le_sean]

Used to have cable just to watch sports. But streaming to the TV is so easy now. I can’t support these big tech companies anymore, it’s ludicrous. f*** the CRTC too. They are the evil enablers.

 

[habsfan909]

Is it better or worse than La Cage?

Worse.

 

[Kimota]

They should not worry about it, nobody will want to watch the Habs next year anyway.

Be patient and wait till 2019 for the return of Game of The Thrones and your bars will make a bundle.

 

[Yannman]

It depends on your customers. If they openly show interest for it and they say they want it to remain well it's another story. Ask the customers or even put a iPad with a poll site open on it so when people come for take-out or when they pay after sitting so they vote if they have interest. 4000 is not pocket change for restaurants in Plateau/Rosemont area because the rents are outrageous.

[MOD]

Good luck. There's something charming when you come into a restaurant or café when a Habs/Expo game playing... I dnt know it feels just so classic, couple of guys at the bar half-watching the game, barely talking, sipping on their bucks.

Sad that the Canadiens and the broadcasters like Sportnet and others dont understand that it's in their interest to broadcast it to the most people possible. Imagine you're a tourist visiting town with your family and you dont know much about hockey in your culture but you stop at a place for a bite and it happens to be a very entertaining game that plays that night, Pacioretty scores a hat-trick or something... well maybe this will tickle their interest and theyll look it up and be interested to eventually buy merch like a Habs cap or t-shirt or even go see a game.

It's an outdated business model. Some companies have understood it. Exposure is what counts. The most coverage you can get in social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), in places like supermarkets, restaurants, café, etc., the most your brand is recognized and talked about and it leads, exponentially, to even more people that know about your product or your brand. The people that want to enforce this cost raise for the rights dont even understand that if the game plays everywhere in town, their ads will also be shown everywhere in town. Hockey and the NHL especially is a business ran by old mentalities. «The more we charge, the more money we get!» And that's how you lose a generation to soccer, basketball, football, etc. By being outdated in your marketing.

Good stuff thanks!

 

[Gally11]

I had it out with them pretty good last year when it came out. At the time it was stupid, it went based on your liquor capacity and not viewing capacity. So even if only a third of your restaurant could see it you’d pay the full restaurant. I also think it’s stupid that TSN and Sportsnet (Bell and Rogers) can have the same insane increase overnight and it not be investigated as price fixing.

Everyone should be fighting this because this is them getting their feet wet for their ultimate goal and that’s PPV in playoffs. They want to eventually charge everyone per game in the playoffs and the price would depend on the match up. Like Habs Leafs they’d jack it up.

 

[ottawa]

That’s insane. People will have to pre-drink if they want to have any fun at a bar without going broke.

What? Why? You don't pay that fee lol, nothing changes for you. Just the bar owners that are getting f***ed

 

[nhlfan9191]

What? Why? You don't pay that fee lol, nothing changes for you. Just the bar owners that are getting ****ed

Won’t bars increase the price of alcohol to try and make up a bit of the difference on what they’re losing?

 

[ottawa]

Won’t bars increase the price of alcohol to try and make up a bit of the difference on what they’re losing?

I highly doubt that...because that means they'll have increased prices on non game nights (Monday, Weds, Friday, Sunday) too so people will go out drinking to bars that don't have the broadcasting license since they'll have cheaper beer.

I'm guessing food will be more expensive like nachos and wings.

Maybe a bar owner can chime in but I can't see a bar pricing themselves out of the market.

 

[L4br3cqu3]

Wonder if Molson will also augment sport channels broadcasting rights at some point too.

In an utopian future for the Habs, Molson will turn into the reincarnation of Bill Wirtz, and will achieve the plan of MB in turning the Habs into a vintage Blackhawks replica, while serving the best fan experience possible at the Bell Center, in an exclusive way, with 15$ beer and 12$ 'gourmet' hot-dogs.

 

[HuGo Sham]

Wonder if Molson will also augment sport channels broadcasting rights at some point too.

In an utopian future for the Habs, Molson will turn into the reincarnation of Bill Wirtz, and will achieve the plan of MB in turning the Habs into a vintage Blackhawks replica, while serving the best fan experience possible at the Bell Center, in an exclusive way, with 15$ beer and 12$ 'gourmet' hot-dogs.

....and a consistently unwatchable, shitty team for decades

 

[Habs]

I'm sure the situation is a lot different when you're profiting off their product and not paying a penny because you're steaming.

So sure you're streaming legally, but probably breaking a law elsewhere that could cost more than the $4,000-10,000

True. But there is no legal issue with watching over-the-air signals at this time, none at all. There has actually been a case where an establishment sued Bell for streaming a signal over their 'airspace' without permission. lol

 

[Bieber fever]

I see alot of people bashing Molson/habs organization but I tough this was 100% on Bell Media group ?

 

[ThaDevilGirl]

There are better options!

Oh, for sure.

 

[Tighthead]

There are better options!

Out of town travel for youth sports is the worst. Chain restaurants every time.

 

[Yannman]

I see alot of people bashing Molson/habs organization but I tough this was 100% on Bell Media group ?

And quebecor and rogers...

 

[Laurentide]

Eventually the chickens will come home to roost because there's a limit as to how much people or businesses will pay. It isn't a bottomless pit, no matter what the rights holders believe.

ESPN has been laying on-air personalities off with increasing regularity and Bell Media has shed a lot of people from all of its outlets. Rogers isn't making nearly as much money as they thought they would when they grossly overpaid for the NHL rights. People are cutting the cord and finding other ways to access games. The same thing that happened to the music industry when napster and spotify came along will happen to sports now that android boxes are increasingly a thing.

 

[groovejuice]

I see alot of people bashing Molson/habs organization but I tough this was 100% on Bell Media group ?

Everyone gets a cut. If the broadcasters charge customers more now, then at the next contract negotiations with the media, the NHL and individual teams will charge more for those rights.

Only the customers keep losing.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

That’s insane. People will have to pre-drink if they want to have any fun at a bar without going broke.

Welcome to Sweden when I grew up, we did a "rotblöta" as we called it and it literally means root soak/drench where I usually had a couple of bottles of cheap wine then went out to face the ladies at the clubs and bought a drink or two. One of the good things when I played gigs at pubs was the free beer.