Amazon acquires Monday night NHL package in Canada from Sportsnet - will broadcast games exclusively on Prime Video

[ORRFForever]

TV channels will be dead in a decade. Everything's going to be streamed.

Sportsnet's streaming service will likely survive because they'll be able to control the broadcast rights to the Jays, Raptors and local Leaf games. TSN's future is a little murkier because they don't have the Jays.

Amazon, Apple and Netflix have started dipping their toes into taking away sports content from the channels. They're going to push even harder because sports means guaranteed subscribers and there's a streaming service consolidation coming. Amazon and Apple are so rich they don't even have to make money on it. They can do it just to push out competitors.

I disagree with paragraph 1. TV has been around for a century and it will be around for another 100 years.

TSN has football (Canadian College, U.S. College, the CFL and the NFL in the summer / fall / winter. They have the World Juniors. They have March Madness. They'll be more than fine.

If Amazon, Apple and Netflix want the streaming rights to Canada, take em - they'll burn thru money like Rogers did.

The NHL will want a presence on Canadian TV - and that's something Amazon, Apple and Netflix cannot provide. TSN and Sportsnet should work together to negotiate a very profitable deal with the NHL for TV. If the NHL isn't interested in their terms, walk away and we'll see who blinks first.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Btw, as a big streaming aficionado, I can confirm that Amazon has the best quality when it comes to streaming, at least in terms of raw bitrate.

Sportsnet has a very low bitrate stream so I'd expect Amazon's to look significantly better since they don't needlessly limit the bitrate.

 

[Nakawick]

Not a fan of the younger generations’ primary means of consuming media having sports game rights?

This is where everything is headed, it makes sense

Yeah, I want a simple easy way to watch, I am not $&@ing around with different apps and websites. I’ll just stop watching as will a lot of others.

 

[barriers]

Can someone potentially clarify:

Does this mean, if something like this were to ever happen, that you’d need to subscribe to two different apps to watch all your games? That’s how it came across to me but not sure I got it right, thanks.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure in Canada you need to subscribe to 3 different services to access all the games already. Sportsnet, TSN, and NHL Centre Ice. Especially annoying considering Rogers acquired national streaming rights as part of their deal.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken though

 

[Masked]

I disagree with paragraph 1. TV has been around for a century and it will be around for another 100 years.

TSN has football (Canadian College, U.S. College, the CFL and the NFL in the summer / fall / winter. They have the World Juniors. They have March Madness. They'll be more than fine.

If Amazon, Apple and Netflix want the streaming rights to Canada, take em - they'll burn thru money like Rogers did.

The NHL will want a presence on Canadian TV - and that's something Amazon, Apple and Netflix cannot provide. TSN and Sportsnet should work together to negotiate a very profitable deal with the NHL for TV. If the NHL isn't interested in their terms, walk away and we'll see who blinks first.

TV has not been around for a century. Cable has been around for only about 50 years. Either way, tv stations as we know them are living on borrowed time.

Amazon and Apple can take away the CFL, the NFL, the World Juniors and March Madness just as easily as they can take away the NHL. The only properties they can't take are the ones owned by Rogers and Bell.

As for Rogers and Sportsnet working together to negotiate a deal? That's anti-competitive and illegal.

 

[Chet Manley]

I disagree with paragraph 1. TV has been around for a century and it will be around for another 100 years.

TSN has football (Canadian College, U.S. College, the CFL and the NFL in the summer / fall / winter. They have the World Juniors. They have March Madness. They'll be more than fine.

If Amazon, Apple and Netflix want the streaming rights to Canada, take em - they'll burn thru money like Rogers did.

The NHL will want a presence on Canadian TV - and that's something Amazon, Apple and Netflix cannot provide. TSN and Sportsnet should work together to negotiate a very profitable deal with the NHL for TV. If the NHL isn't interested in their terms, walk away and we'll see who blinks first.

Pretty sure that's called collusion.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure in Canada you need to subscribe to 3 different services to access all the games already. Sportsnet, TSN, and NHL Centre Ice. Especially annoying considering Rogers acquired national streaming rights as part of their deal.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken though

Unless a team has Sportsnet regional and national package. Then wouldn’t need TSN. Canucks might fall into this package and a couple of others.

 

[Masked]

Unless a team has Sportsnet regional and national package. Then wouldn’t need TSN. Canucks might fall into this package and a couple of others.

Anyone in the Flames, Oilers or Canucks viewing regions doesn't need TSN, they just need Sportsnet Premium. Everyone else would need TSN and Sportsnet Premium.

 

[WTFMAN99]

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, would you automatically get to stream NHL games?

I'd pay $10 a month to just stream sports channels.

 

[ranold26]

TV channels will be dead in a decade. Everything's going to be streamed.

Sportsnet's streaming service will likely survive because they'll be able to control the broadcast rights to the Jays, Raptors and local Leaf games. TSN's future is a little murkier because they don't have the Jays.

Amazon, Apple and Netflix have started dipping their toes into taking away sports content from the channels. They're going to push even harder because sports means guaranteed subscribers and there's a streaming service consolidation coming. Amazon and Apple are so rich they don't even have to make money on it. They can do it just to push out competitors.

It won't matter if the games are on cable, satellite or streamed....the price to the end consumer is what will matter. People are struggling and this product is niche. Quite frankly, if the trend continues, I can see leagues capping out tickets/attendance/broadcasting revenue soon. There is a reason all of them have jumped on the gambling bandwagon.
The league can sell all they want, but if less people are buying, it will drop. Just look at Bally or Rogers etc..
We're at a tipping point in sports consumption imho. People are even cutting their cord cutting services.

 

[brentashton]

I disagree with paragraph 1. TV has been around for a century and it will be around for another 100 years.

TSN has football (Canadian College, U.S. College, the CFL and the NFL in the summer / fall / winter. They have the World Juniors. They have March Madness. They'll be more than fine.

If Amazon, Apple and Netflix want the streaming rights to Canada, take em - they'll burn thru money like Rogers did.

The NHL will want a presence on Canadian TV - and that's something Amazon, Apple and Netflix cannot provide. TSN and Sportsnet should work together to negotiate a very profitable deal with the NHL for TV. If the NHL isn't interested in their terms, walk away and we'll see who blinks first.

Longevity means nothing. If you don’t adapt and innovate you can be relegated to history. Blockbuster, Polaroid, fax machines, Kodak, the list goes on. OTA TV will survive but it won’t have the ad revenue to be able to buy sports programming. Streaming will/has overtaken TV. Aggregators of streaming will occur as a pseudo-cable style model. But not TV as we once knew it.

 

[Golden_Jet]

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, would you automatically get to stream NHL games?

I'd pay $10 a month to just stream sports channels.

Just on Monday’s in Canada.

 

[Masked]

It won't matter if the games are on cable, satellite or streamed....the price to the end consumer is what will matter. People are struggling and this product is niche. Quite frankly, if the trend continues, I can see leagues capping out tickets/attendance/broadcasting revenue soon. There is a reason all of them have jumped on the gambling bandwagon.
The league can sell all they want, but if less people are buying, it will drop. Just look at Bally or Rogers etc..
We're at a tipping point in sports consumption imho. People are even cutting their cord cutting services.

Hockey? Niche? In Canada? That's beyond absurd. There's nothing more mainstream in Canada than hockey.

The reason they've jumped on the gambling bandwagon is that it's available to them now and the gambling sites are willing to pay big money for the advertising.

 

[boredmale]

Maybe Sportsnet can replace it with Monday Night Curling

 

[Golden_Jet]

Maybe Sportsnet can replace it with Monday Night Curling

Curling gets good numbers in Canada, but TSN has the rights.

 

[ranold26]

Hockey? Niche? In Canada? That's beyond absurd. There's nothing more mainstream in Canada than hockey.

The reason they've jumped on the gambling bandwagon is that it's available to them now and the gambling sites are willing to pay big money for the advertising.

Dude, 90% of the NHL's revenues come from the USA.
Rogers in hockey utopia is struggling with their package, not to mention Winnipeg.
The gambling just wasn't magically allowed to happened, all the leagues lobbied for it.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Dude, 90% of the NHL's revenues come from the USA.

lol that’s false, and not even close on the numbers, it’s more like 70%

 

[Avsfan1921]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure in Canada you need to subscribe to 3 different services to access all the games already. Sportsnet, TSN, and NHL Centre Ice. Especially annoying considering Rogers acquired national streaming rights as part of their deal.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken though

To my knowledge currently, as an Avs fan, I get all Avs games through Sportsnet+ premium. My buddy, an oil fan, has not said anything to me either about missing any on the app. But the Avs are the only one I can speak confidently on.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Dude, 90% of the NHL's revenues come from the USA.
Rogers in hockey utopia is struggling with their package, not to mention Winnipeg.
The gambling just wasn't magically allowed to happened, all the leagues lobbied for it.

Roughly a third of the league's revenue comes from less than 25% of its teams. Talk about a baseless fact provided here.

 

[Masked]

Dude, 90% of the NHL's revenues come from the USA.
Rogers in hockey utopia is struggling with their package, not to mention Winnipeg.
The gambling just wasn't magically allowed to happened, all the leagues lobbied for it.

You're ignorant about the topic. 90% of the NHL's revenues do not come from the USA. If we go by Forbes's franchise valuations, the Leafs and Oilers alone bring in almost 10% of the NHL's revenues.

Just because Rogers may be struggling with the cost of the NHL package doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth it to a company that was well run. Have you looked at the Rogers financials to know that the NHL national package is not producing a net benefit for them?

 

[ranold26]

lol that’s false, and not even close on the numbers, it’s more like 70%

Ok, my bad 70%. It's still a significant number.

 

[ranold26]

Roughly a third of the league's revenue comes from less than 25% of its teams. Talk about a baseless fact provided here.

So my number was incorrect, not baseless. 70% is still significant.
It doesn't negate the the other things mentioned.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

3-4 years ago they had the NHL.tv app for fans to subscribe and watch games, that was the worst decision by the NHL to decommission it. I bet that turned so many fans towards a VPN and streaming it other ways online without any revenue going to the NHL.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So my number was incorrect, not baseless. 70% is still significant.
It doesn't negate the the other things mentioned.

Roger’s package is struggling moneywise, but not like the bankruptcy of regional deals in the US.

 

[ORRFForever]

Longevity means nothing. If you don’t adapt and innovate you can be relegated to history. Blockbuster, Polaroid, fax machines, Kodak, the list goes on. OTA TV will survive but it won’t have the ad revenue to be able to buy sports programming. Streaming will/has overtaken TV. Aggregators of streaming will occur as a pseudo-cable style model. But not TV as we once knew it.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Rogers has tried streaming the NHL and they've lost their shirt.

As for me, I couldn't care less about streaming - nor does any of my circle. We watch TV and the NHL only has 2 ways of getting sports to Canadians - TSN and Rogers.

Again, if I were those 2 providers, I'd offer a dual, take it or leave it, package to the NHL - for much less than what Rogers paid 10 years ago.. Then I walk away and wait for Bettman's call.

Pretty sure that's called collusion.

1) They've offered dual packages to the NBA and MLS. No complaints.

2) Let the NHL sue TSN and Rogers under Canadian anti-trust. We'll see where that gets them.