Blackout Games

[GoBuds14]

What are NHL Blackouts? Here’s what you need to know - Sportsnet NOW

Maybe I’m missing something here and correct me if I am, but I just don’t see how this is good business. Last night, the Montreal/Vancouver game was blacked out for over half of the country, literally 2 of the biggest markets in the NHL. Considering there are no fans at the games, and the amount of cross-country games due to this new division, I don’t understand how this helps grow the game.

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[Bandit]

Welcome to the world of corporate greed.

 

[HBK27]

The blackouts are just antiquated at this point.

Especially when it comes to Center Ice. I live in NJ and I can't get Devils/Rangers/Islanders games unless I subscribe to a cable service, DirecTV or Fubo. I'm done with cable service, don't want to toss a dish on my house and Fubo TV flat out sucks. I'd gladly pay to have center ice to watch my team, but that's just not an option as all those games are blacked out. So, I find another way to watch without giving the league money.

 

[Prairie Habs]

Habs fan in saskatchewan here. We're in the jets, flames, and oilers viewing regions, so 3 of the 6 teams the Habs play this year.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Netflix, Disney, Hulu, or Amazon should invest in Sports broadcasting productions, and just do it themselves.

 

[HBK27]

Part of the problem is that major cable companies such as Comcast and Cablevision own prominent teams in the league - not sure if there are others. But they are going to do what they can to force consumers to keep subscribing to their cable services and live local sports is one of the few bargaining chips they still have left.

 

[HBK27]

Netflix, Disney, Hulu, or Amazon should invest in Sports broadcasting productions, and just do it themselves.

They can't without purchasing the rights to those games.

A simpler solution would be to eliminate blackouts for Center Ice or put together a package to allow consumers to watch games for their favorite team and use some of those proceeds to compensate the local TV provider for those games from purchases within that area.

 

[GoBuds14]

Habs fan in saskatchewan here. We're in the jets, flames, and oilers viewing regions, so 3 of the 6 teams the Habs play this year.

We’re in Ontario, we pay for sportsnet and they still blacked out the Montreal game last night, yet we could watch the Vegas game. The NHL is clearly behind the NBA and NFL in terms of viewership for various reasons, garbage like this doesn’t help

 

[Perfect_Drug]

They can't without purchasing the rights to those games.

Aren't the rights up after this season?

Amazon already investing in NFL.

Anyways, most analysts consider cable to be dead. There's more Netflix subscriptions than Cable.

Sports will likely be the next battle in the streaming wars:
Will The Next Battle In The Streaming Wars Determine The Future Of Sports?
The Future of Sports Streaming In a Cord-Cutting Age
The Future of Sports and Streaming


NHL shouldn't sit on this.
All TV deals should be non-exclusive even at massively reduced prices.

 

[HBK27]

Aren't the rights up after this season?

Amazon already investing in NFL.

The national rights are, though I'm not sure how much that helps regarding blackouts in local markets.
I believe those are all individual contracts.

At the end of the day, I'd pay good money to just have the ability to watch my favorite team's games regardless of what services I subscribe to.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

We’re in Ontario, we pay for sportsnet and they still blacked out the Montreal game last night, yet we could watch the Vegas game. The NHL is clearly behind the NBA and NFL in terms of viewership for various reasons, garbage like this doesn’t help

How does that work? I assume you are in Pembroke or some other part of Ontario that overlaps with the Canadiens territory?

 

[barriers]

In Canada Rogers owns all broadcast and digital rights (they lease some to Bell/TSN though) and games under a blackout in Canada is just Rogers blacking out Rogers customers because they think they can squeeze another dime out of you. Stop giving them money and the blackouts will stop eventually.

Even though ONE company owns all digital rights, you would need to subscribe to 3 streaming services to see every game. 2 of those services are controlled by Rogers.

Please, anyone, correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[Dust]

The NHL blackout rules have always felt backwards to me. Other leagues in the past have had blackouts within the local region to try to entice fans to go to the game to watch. I don't agree with this either as you're only catering to part of your fanbase that has the money to attend in person, but at least in theory it had some logic to it. Blacking the games outside your region, is really all about $$$. You're forcing people to pay for Center Ice.

 

[GoBuds14]

The NHL blackout rules have always felt backwards to me. Other leagues in the past have had blackouts within the local region to try to entice fans to go to the game to watch. I don't agree with this either as you're only catering to part of your fanbase that has the money to attend in person, but at least in theory it had some logic to it. Blacking the games outside your region, is really all about $$$. You're forcing people to pay for Center Ice.

I had Center Ice one year which wasn’t cheap and they blacked out every single Leafs game, not including the the Saturday night national broadcasts ones.

 

[Dust]

I had Center Ice one year which wasn’t cheap and they blacked out every single Leafs game, not including the the Saturday night national broadcasts ones.

All of the national broadcast games (at least in Canada) were blacked out on Center Ice. Years ago I worked for a cable company and it was always a pain to explain this to customers.

 

[Golden_Jet]

In Canada Rogers owns all broadcast and digital rights (they lease some to Bell/TSN though) and games under a blackout in Canada is just Rogers blacking out Rogers customers because they think they can squeeze another dime out of you. Stop giving them money and the blackouts will stop eventually.

Even though ONE company owns all digital rights, you would need to subscribe to 3 streaming services to see every game. 2 of those services are controlled by Rogers.

Please, anyone, correct me if I'm mistaken.

They don’t own any of the regional TSN rights. 4 teams have TSN regional rights. Rogers owns the National rights, and some regionals.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I had Center Ice one year which wasn’t cheap and they blacked out every single Leafs game, not including the the Saturday night national broadcasts ones.

Then you live in the Leafs region.
To get rid of local blackouts, then someone or somehow the 35 million say in local rights the team needs to make up, and that money isn’t coming from Centre Ice .

 

[cliffclaven]

The blackouts are just antiquated at this point.

Especially when it comes to Center Ice. I live in NJ and I can't get Devils/Rangers/Islanders games unless I subscribe to a cable service, DirecTV or Fubo. I'm done with cable service, don't want to toss a dish on my house and Fubo TV flat out sucks. I'd gladly pay to have center ice to watch my team, but that's just not an option as all those games are blacked out. So, I find another way to watch without giving the league money.

yep this is where I’m at now. I have sling and for 3-4 years the blue package was perfect. I’m in Iowa so I got Comcast Chicago, and Fox Midwest plus nbcsn and nhl network. Sling dropped all RSNs last year and upped my price $5/month. And now all hawks/blues/wild games on nhl network are blacked out also. So I found other ways. It’s infuriating however.

 

[CanadienShark]

I'd be fine paying to watch games if not for blackouts. Such a stupid, archaic idea.

Whatever... Free, high quality streams are readily available.

 

[tny760]

that's why i don't pay them any more. speak with your pocketbook, or else they'll never learn

 

[sting13]

The blackouts are just antiquated at this point.

Especially when it comes to Center Ice. I live in NJ and I can't get Devils/Rangers/Islanders games unless I subscribe to a cable service, DirecTV or Fubo. I'm done with cable service, don't want to toss a dish on my house and Fubo TV flat out sucks. I'd gladly pay to have center ice to watch my team, but that's just not an option as all those games are blacked out. So, I find another way to watch without giving the league money.

It's actually real simple. If you and others watching local games on Center Ice, Cable companies don't get nothing. The NHL doesn't get the big TV contracts. All leagues need the big contracts to survive. NHL Center Ice, MLB TV etc. were designed to give you more games at a decent cost but not replace local TV.

 

[SPF6ty9]

I'd be fine paying to watch games if not for blackouts. Such a stupid, archaic idea.

Whatever... Free, high quality streams are readily available.

This is literally the only reason I don't buy CenterIce. So dumb.

 

[bert]

What are NHL Blackouts? Here’s what you need to know - Sportsnet NOW

Maybe I’m missing something here and correct me if I am, but I just don’t see how this is good business. Last night, the Montreal/Vancouver game was blacked out for over half of the country, literally 2 of the biggest markets in the NHL. Considering there are no fans at the games, and the amount of cross-country games due to this new division, I don’t understand how this helps grow the game.

It wasblacked out on both sportsnet and center ice for me. Which I pay for. Couldnt watch it at all.

 

[steveat]

I have an NHL.tv subscription and use a VPN if need be..I'm overseas now...There are even blackouts in the UK, but in other EU countries, I haven't run into any blackouts.

 

[barriers]

It's actually real simple. If you and others watching local games on Center Ice, Cable companies don't get nothing. The NHL doesn't get the big TV contracts. All leagues need the big contracts to survive. NHL Center Ice, MLB TV etc. were designed to give you more games at a decent cost but not replace local TV.

In Canada the big TV contract included all digital rights. The cable company controls Centre Ice and is blacking out their own content.