Nhl.tv

[Shady Machine]

That's unreal.

Yeah I talked to gamecenter live people for like a week and they continued to ignore what I was saying and just came back to "we cannot get around local blackout restrictions". Yeah but you can CHANGE them when they don't make any damn sense.

 

[Penguins23]

Yeah my VPN service Private Internet Access stopped working when it switched over to NHL.tv. I'm not asking for a refund because it's likely more of a hassle than it's worth, but I suspect that trend will continue.

The thing is, the NHL is just shooting itself in the foot by doing that. They already have the local TV agreements. Why should they care if people want to fork over $150 a year for NHL.tv and then use a VPN to watch the games?

Unblock us has a free 1 week trial. If it works I'd recommend it. It's flawless for my wife's Netflix habit.

 

[Jimmypop316]

Made the jump last night as a former HS user, no hiccups or issue and the quality was fantastic (using the Kodi beta plugin and the 5k streams). The only issue was the stream doesn't seem to be as close to real time as HS used to be, theres about 30 seconds between live and the real thing. Hoping MLBAM can reduce this as time goes on.

 

[Shrimper]

I was blacked out from last nights game. I live 4220 miles away.

All because a channel I can't subscribe to was showing the game.

Never had this before, ruining the viewing.

 

[Shady Machine]

I was blacked out from last nights game. I live 4220 miles away.

All because a channel I can't subscribe to was showing the game.

Never had this before, ruining the viewing.

Gotta love those obscure blackout restrictions. Thanks NHL.

 

[pistolpete11]

I was blacked out from last nights game. I live 4220 miles away.

All because a channel I can't subscribe to was showing the game.

Never had this before, ruining the viewing.

I had that problem once when the Pens were playing the Coyotes. I called. They checked and said my IP address was showing that I was in Pheonix. I think I just reset my router, tried it again, and it was back to normal.

 

[Shady Machine]

I signed up for free trial of unblock us and still can't get NHL tv to work. Anyone having VPN success with NHL tv app please let me know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

[bandit2804]

hello

I signed up for free trial of unblock us and still can't get NHL tv to work. Anyone having VPN success with NHL tv app please let me know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

let you tube and google be your best and smartest friends in life...

 

[Cotton McKnight]

I signed up for free trial of unblock us and still can't get NHL tv to work. Anyone having VPN success with NHL tv app please let me know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I use PIA, and it works. I'm in Arkansas, NHL.tv thinks I am in Kansas City, I can't watch Blues games (see avatar), I really live in NHL.tv's Dallas Stars "zoned area." So I force NHL.tv to think I'm really in Texas, until the Blues play the Stars, then I let them think I've traveled to Mexico...

Now, anyone else having stuttering issues, I mean it's the next day and I'm on 100mbps and it is terrible (laptop running chrome, because Firefox is terrible now)?

Update: Moved on over to Edge (I know) and it's streaming flawlessly even with the VPN running!

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

Last year unblock.us worked for me up until game 6 of the finals and then it stopped working out of nowhere.. I almost missed Hornqvists goal, I had to find an alternate stream to finish the game.

This year I've done away with NHL.tv and I am going to try and just use the NHLstreams channel of Reddit.

 

[Corvidae]

I've been using PIA and NHL TV to watch any and every game around all the way through the Cup. I select a European server for nation games. You can even kill the VPN after the initial connection if there's slow down and it doesn't stop playback. The Kodi App is also smooth as hell.

 

[Darth Vitale]

Does anyone here use NHL.TV (Formerly Gamecenter)?

With a certain streaming site being taken down, I am considering picking up NHL.TV.. I had Gamecenter in the past, but I was completely annoyed with the Penguins national televised games blackout restrictions.. (I'm out of the Pittsburgh area) and the fact it doesn't show playoff games!

Just wondering if anyone here is out of market and use it to watch Penguin games and how many games are blacked out.. is it worth it?

I cancelled my subscription this year after using NHL.TV the last two seasons. Reasons:

1) They still black out local games (epecially if you live in an area served by Comcast).
2) They still black out NBCSN games during the season even though you've paid for the privilege.
3) They still black out several games in EVERY ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS (i.e. the ones shown on NBCSN).

In short, as usual, the NHL can't negotiate TV rights for the benefit of their fans to save their lives (just like the ESPN days); Comcast/NBC dictates the terms. And their terms are "to anyone who cut the cord, f*** you."

I'm not paying for that. When I asked NHL.TV customer service if there was anything that could be done about the playoff blackouts for paying customers I was given a bunch of feel-good nonsense that I really shouldn't worry, what a great deal I was getting. At which point my terms are "thanks for giving me less than I paid for, f*** you."

 

[Darth Vitale]

Also I might add: by failing to negotiate fair terms for paying customers, the NHL does exactly what it's trying to protect against — forcing people to watch illegal streams online. So good job Uncle Gary. Keep up the A+ work. Looking forward to the next lockout. Maybe you'll get a better TV deal for fans who pay to watch every game at that time?

 

[molon labe]

I do, every season.

Channels that overrule NHL.tv:
NBC
NBCSN
NHL-N

That was 18 games last year for the Penguins at the start of the season (I mark them in my office calender) - and 23 by seasons end. NHL-N likes to grab up Pens games towards the end of the season and it automatically trumps your subscription.

Amazon Fire still does not have an app - so you'll need to use an Apple TV, Playstation, Laptop, iPad, computer to get the service going.

You're essentially paying for 60 games. This year they gave me a $50 military discount..but in the past I was happy paying 2 dollars a game to stream. The NBC can be had with a 25 dollar over-the-air antenna found at Best Buy or Amazon, fixed cost for life. The NBCSN games I have SlingTV for - which is 25 dollars a month and paid for anyway for my girl's shows. You can also add/remove NHL-N from Sling at prorated rates for those crucial first round games at the end of the season.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I do, every season.

Channels that overrule NHL.tv:
NBC
NBCSN
NHL-N

That was 18 games last year for the Penguins at the start of the season (I mark them in my office calender) - and 23 by seasons end. NHL-N likes to grab up Pens games towards the end of the season and it automatically trumps your subscription.

...

You're essentially paying for 60 games. This year they gave me a $50 military discount..but in the past I was happy paying 2 dollars a game to stream. The NBC can be had with a 25 dollar over-the-air antenna found at Best Buy or Amazon, fixed cost for life. The NBCSN games I have SlingTV for - which is 25 dollars a month and paid for anyway for my girl's shows. You can also add/remove NHL-N from Sling at prorated rates for those crucial first round games at the end of the season.

The bolded part is what I have a problem with because it's EXACTLY what the big media companies want you to do. Like millions of other people, we smartly cut the cord on their BS "300 channels of nothing" package deals, and now it's hurting them. So they recoup their money by doing stuff like this. Blacking out niche cable sports channels to paying customers (because the NHL has no balls to stand up for us even though they own 100% of the rights to the product being televised), then supplying those blacked out games by some other cord-cutter service that THEY (Comcast) get a piece of. I am not paying $25/month so I can watch NBCSN hockey games, because there ain't much else on Sling that I need.

NBC over-the-air I do (antenna in attic) but the rest... they can suck it. I'm not paying twice for the right to watch a hockey game, and that's what the Sling TV setup is — paying twice.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I have a very hard time paying a package when the NHL still forces me to watch commercials. Dump the ads and I'll gladly pay a subscription fee.

 

[NMK11]

I just signed up for NHL-TV yesterday. Ive been out of market for years and watching games on regular or even cable TV have been impossible. I missed pretty much all of game 1 due to bad streams online and was having trouble finding something that worked well this past game. got frustrated and decided the cost was worth my frustration and enjoyment.

I have to say, while the quality on the ice was piss poor, the quality of the stream was fantastic. Chromecasting it to my TV was beautiful.

 

[dogthateats]

I signed up for nhl.tv last year and am on the fence about whether or not I will again this year. I didn’t let it renew bc I was frustrated with all of the blacked out games. The stream also froze on me a lot and I have very fast internet.

 

[Corvidae]

Also I might add: by failing to negotiate fair terms for paying customers, the NHL does exactly what it's trying to protect against — forcing people to watch illegal streams online. So good job Uncle Gary. Keep up the A+ work. Looking forward to the next lockout. Maybe you'll get a better TV deal for fans who pay to watch every game at that time?

I'm sure there's zero coincidence that they sold their TV rights to a network owned by a cable company. No conflict of interest at all, merely synergy.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I wish the NHL wanted my money, but with blackouts, I'll keep watching private youtube streams.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I signed up for nhl.tv last year and am on the fence about whether or not I will again this year. I didn’t let it renew bc I was frustrated with all of the blacked out games. The stream also froze on me a lot and I have very fast internet.

It sucks but vote with your wallet. It is the ONLY way the NHL will start taking complaints seriously and looking out for fans who pay money year after year to watch games (cord cutters or not - it shouldn't matter).

 

[Darth Vitale]

I'm sure there's zero coincidence that they sold their TV rights to a network owned by a cable company. No conflict of interest at all, merely synergy.

Did they actually SELL the rights to Comcast or are they just issuing the rights to the broadcasts year to year?

That is the normal way of doing it — you reach an agreement with various providers for the next X years to broadcast games, but the broadcasters never OWN the rights. The league always owns the rights in totality. I've never heard that the NHL sold them off but if they did that:

A) Is easily the dumbest thing they've ever done from a busines standpoint.
B) Shows they don't give two rats arses about paying fans.
C) Shows how short-term their thinking is.

More sure than ever I'm going to start looking for free streams. My 10+ years worth of patronage paying for games on TV obviously means nothing to them.

 

[dogthateats]

It sucks but vote with your wallet. It is the ONLY way the NHL will start taking complaints seriously and looking out for fans who pay money year after year to watch games (cord cutters or not - it shouldn't matter).

I think I am going to try to go without it. My problem is finding reliable streams online. I have found a couple of good youtube streamers, but I can't seem to figure out how to consistently find their streams. The only way I have found is by lucking out on reddit. I try to search their channels on youtube during a game and no content shows up.

 

[molon labe]

The bolded part is what I have a problem with because it's EXACTLY what the big media companies want you to do. Like millions of other people, we smartly cut the cord on their BS "300 channels of nothing" package deals, and now it's hurting them. So they recoup their money by doing stuff like this. Blacking out niche cable sports channels to paying customers (because the NHL has no balls to stand up for us even though they own 100% of the rights to the product being televised), then supplying those blacked out games by some other cord-cutter service that THEY (Comcast) get a piece of. I am not paying $25/month so I can watch NBCSN hockey games, because there ain't much else on Sling that I need.

NBC over-the-air I do (antenna in attic) but the rest... they can suck it. I'm not paying twice for the right to watch a hockey game, and that's what the Sling TV setup is — paying twice.

I get your frustration and admire the resolve by not doing what you're saying. My girl and I really like HGTV shows and American Pickers - otherwise we'd stick with Netflix and NHL.TV. SlingTV saves you from paying Oprah but you're still feeding the other garbage channels like CNN and there's just no way around it yet. If I could simply pay 2 dollars a month for each channel I wanted instead of Sling paying them between .30 cents and 1.50 I would happily do it as I'd only pay about 8 dollars a month for services.

Any way you look at it, SlingTV is better than cable. There's zero contract involved and you can cancel /add services at will. I added HBO for Game of Thrones, then removed it and added NHL-N for hockey season- then that will be removed after the draft.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I think I am going to try to go without it. My problem is finding reliable streams online. I have found a couple of good youtube streamers, but I can't seem to figure out how to consistently find their streams. The only way I have found is by lucking out on reddit. I try to search their channels on youtube during a game and no content shows up.

Good move. Yeah no doubt finding good streams can be tricky. Be sure to let the idiots at NHL.TV know why you're cancelling. Tell them others you know online are following suit because we're pissed about the NBCSN blackouts of the playoffs and big rivalry games, then just end the conversation when they feed you whatever BS they feed you.