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

[Belial]

You've never worked or owned a business. Most, like 80+% of bars either don't make money or they're just barely breaking even and it's not worth spending 129+$ on a garbage product on a Wednesday night and the bar flies are your only customers.

Trust me, aside from specifically located sports bars on Friday, Saturday nights and even then it usually only INCREASES from the norm during a post-season run, your sales will not "go up like crazy".

Then just don't show the games and that's all! Geez...

 

[Sorinth]

This seems like it will backfire big time. Dedicated sports bars will have no choice but to pay up or will close down. But most others will probably just drop it.

Some will get creative, and find ways around like allowing customers to access say a slingbox feed of the games on their phone or provide tablets at tables for ordering food but also allow them to stream the games. Some places might even go old school and have a radio.

But seriously, I can't think of the last time I went to a bar with the specific intention of watching a Habs game. It's a nice to have, but not the reason I would actually go.

 

[optimus2861]

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

Your 'example' is not on-point, as the establishment has no right to the airspace or the transmission frequencies above / within their property.

If you were to try playing sports events only available via an HDTV antenna, and otherwise cutting the cord, you can still run afoul of provisions in copyright law dealing with 'public performance'. It's one thing for you, in your home, to cut the cable subscription, put up an antenna, and watch only what's 'freely' available. Quite another for a bar / restaurant to do so as a public-facing business where dozens or potentially hundreds of patrons could gather to watch. The business doesn't have the right to put on a 'public performance' in this way without dealing with the broadcast rights holder. And if they were caught doing so, you can be damn sure that Rogers would take them up on it.

It's absolutely greasy, anti-competitive, collusion-like behaviour on the parts of Bell & Rogers, something which the CRTC really ought to smack down. But I kid. The CRTC is completely toothless when it comes to this aspect of Bell / Rogers operations. They either don't understand, don't care, or have enough former telco execs working with them that they're just fine with it.

 

[MasterDecoy]

go old school and have a radio.

 

[Laurentide]

You've never worked or owned a business. Most, like 80+% of bars either don't make money or they're just barely breaking even and it's not worth spending 129+$ on a garbage product on a Wednesday night and the bar flies are your only customers.

Trust me, aside from specifically located sports bars on Friday, Saturday nights and even then it usually only INCREASES from the norm during a post-season run, your sales will not "go up like crazy".

I think that the only reason why a lot of bars even had TV's was because it used to cost them next to nothing to have them. Now that it does cost real money I expect a lot of non-sports bars will simply not pay for the sports channels or get rid of their TV's entirely. Most bars don't even bother turning the sound on except during the playoffs anyway. The games on TV are just "background". The only ones that will pay will be actual sports bars because it will simply be the cost of doing business for them. But be prepared for fewer sports bars because they can't make much money if they're spending all their profits on cable.

Aside from a playoff run, these bars won't make a dime from having games on TV in their establishments. Maybe they should get a rebate on their bill if the Habs don't make it to at least the second round.

The fact of the matter is that going to a bar to watch a game is becoming a thing of the past. It's something you do in your 20's as an excuse to drink with your buddies. As you get older, get married, have kids and move to the suburbs, you have less time and are less inclined to even want to go to the bar to watch a game you can get for free in your own rec room. You're more likely to invite your buddies over to the man cave to watch the game or go to someone else's house to watch it rather than a bar. And the 20-something's of today are millennials who watch everything on their phones.

The last time I went to a bar for the specific purpose of watching a sporting event was when I went to Seattle to watch the Superbowl a few years back in the hopes that the Seahawks would win and I could be part of the celebration but I was a year too late. Seattle blew it in the final minute and everyone just went home.

 

[Beaker]

I enjoy the occasional visit to 1909 when I’m in town.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Then just don't show the games and that's all! Geez...

so, you were wrong... yet you insisted...

 

[Price is Wright]

But seriously, I can't think of the last time I went to a bar with the specific intention of watching a Habs game. It's a nice to have, but not the reason I would actually go.

I goto the bar to watch basketball. I stopped going to bars to watch hockey after seeing two old Red Wings fans get in a fight about Mark Howe.

 

[Habaneros]

I recently saw a creative fix where a bar set up computer stations hooked up to projection screens where you could pay to play or watch what you wanted to on the computers. So come game time people pitched money in and everyone rented the computers to load streams of the basketball game.

Someone will shut them down one day I'm sure but the fees are getting dumb. They don't realize if you charge too much, you'll just push people to stay home and steal illegal feeds. Nobody wins then.

lol..is there any law against bringing you own TV into a bar?

Let's say i hook my cellphone stream into back of a TV

Carrying in a 24 inch computer monitor..lol geez even a 42 inch flat panel TV very doable

New promotion"Bring your own TV and stream night"..lol

If you want to carry around a 24 inch screen everywhere ya go, is that against the law?

 

[Laurentide]

Your phrasing is unfortunate. Neither the Habs nor the NHL give away anything, especially broadcast rights. They sell them very dearly indeed. In fact everyone along that gravy train makes money with the exception of the end user, the fan.

The Expos gave them away for free didn't they? And still there were no takers and they had to broadcast over the internet.

 

[Laurentide]

I'll enjoy an ice cold Canadian, Michelob Ultra or Bud light or whatever while at home on a sunny day. No biggie. I won't pay 6 bucks for a pint of Bud Light, sorry. It's cool if you do but I just can't wrap my head around paying that much for it. 24$ for a 24 pack yeah! No problem there lol.

The beer snob is ready for the RockFest with his craft beers

View attachment 122651

When I used to own a vacation property in the US I'd stock my beer fridge with cheap swill. I could get a 30-pack of Miller Hi-Life or Busch for $15 (50 cents a can) If all you're doing is sitting around the campfire anything cold and wet will suffice. But when I go to a bar and they charge me through the nose for a pint, I want that pint to be a good one. I don't drink a lot or often so if I'm going to order a beer it's not going to be an afterthought. So no, the fact that Molson Canadian or Coors Light is on special today isn't going to entice me to buy. I'd sooner drink a glass of free ice water, which tastes better than most Molson products.

There's little point in being a craft beer snob. First and foremost, the people who make the stuff are hypocrites who are only hoping to become big enough to get bought out by one of the big macro-breweries so they never have to work again. The big boys are buying up the craft and microbrew labels left and right. Why do you think you can buy a so-called microbrew from Eastern Canada in a BC liquor store? Because it's probably owned by Molson or Labatt. Additionally, there's only so much you can do with beer recipes before they become weird for the sake of weirdness. I don't need my beer infused with watermelon, thanks very much. If I want a fruit salad in my beverage I can drink sangria. And what's with all the damn hops? At a certain point, you have added all the hops you can add and now you've turned your product into a food challenge like ghost peppers or super-hot chicken wings. Enough with the hops, already!

 

[groovejuice]

The Expos gave them away for free didn't they? And still there were no takers and they had to broadcast over the internet.

I don't remember specifically because by then I was disgusted by what Loria did to the franchise, and was no longer watching. MLB should have taken over the team.

 

[NotProkofievian]

When I used to own a vacation property in the US I'd stock my beer fridge with cheap swill. I could get a 30-pack of Miller Hi-Life or Busch for $15 (50 cents a can) If all you're doing is sitting around the campfire anything cold and wet will suffice. But when I go to a bar and they charge me through the nose for a pint, I want that pint to be a good one. I don't drink a lot or often so if I'm going to order a beer it's not going to be an afterthought. So no, the fact that Molson Canadian or Coors Light is on special today isn't going to entice me to buy. I'd sooner drink a glass of free ice water, which tastes better than most Molson products.

There's little point in being a craft beer snob. First and foremost, the people who make the stuff are hypocrites who are only hoping to become big enough to get bought out by one of the big macro-breweries so they never have to work again. The big boys are buying up the craft and microbrew labels left and right. Why do you think you can buy a so-called microbrew from Eastern Canada in a BC liquor store? Because it's probably owned by Molson or Labatt. Additionally, there's only so much you can do with beer recipes before they become weird for the sake of weirdness. I don't need my beer infused with watermelon, thanks very much. If I want a fruit salad in my beverage I can drink sangria. And what's with all the damn hops? At a certain point, you have added all the hops you can add and now you've turned your product into a food challenge like ghost peppers or super-hot chicken wings. Enough with the hops, already!

I agree. That stuff hasn't caught on yet, and I don't think it ever really will here in Europe. Most IPA's I've had over here are at least tastefully done, and are more about the late-boil hops than those piney simcoe laden abominations we have back home.

The thing about the micro-brewery fad is that it got huge in the U.S. They're such a huge market of entrepreneurs and consumers that whatever they think is great is widely considered to be great. Remember back when used-motor-oil Imperial stouts occupied basically all top 10 spots on beeradvocate? I don't think I've ever seen one over here, not even in Finland which has a historical connection with the brew.

 

[Laurentide]

I don't remember specifically because by then I was disgusted by what Loria did to the franchise, and was no longer watching. MLB should have taken over the team.

I just remember feeling embarrassed for Dave Van Horne, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, being reduced to calling games over a tinny, dial-up internet feed. It sounded like he was broadcasting from the international space station, not Olympic Stadium.

 

[beowulf]

They forgot to raise the bar broadcasting rights last year

And this makes it right?

 

[groovejuice]

I just remember feeling embarrassed for Dave Van Horne, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, being reduced to calling games over a tinny, dial-up internet feed. It sounded like he was broadcasting from the international space station, not Olympic Stadium.

Van Horne and Duke Snider were an amazing broadcast team.

 

[beowulf]

I am just going off of what I delt with in the bar I ran--we paid a yearly license to show ALL nhl games--whether the canucks were playing or not

That's how it works, it's basically for the NHL center ice package. Same with the other major sports leagues and any tv channels a business might have. Or at least that's how it was way back when I worked at Bell Express Vu while in university.

 

[Laurentide]

Van Horne and Duke Snider were an amazing broadcast team.

Nothing like Dave and Duke on the radio. And you used to be able to listen to them from coast to coast. That Expos radio network is yet another thing that the Blue Jays worked hard to destroy and replace with their own.

 

[Habs Halifax]

And this makes it right?

There is no right or wrong in this world... only what you can get away with without breaking the law

 

[ECWHSWI]

When I used to own a vacation property in the US I'd stock my beer fridge with cheap swill. I could get a 30-pack of Miller Hi-Life or Busch for $15 (50 cents a can) If all you're doing is sitting around the campfire anything cold and wet will suffice. But when I go to a bar and they charge me through the nose for a pint, I want that pint to be a good one. I don't drink a lot or often so if I'm going to order a beer it's not going to be an afterthought. So no, the fact that Molson Canadian or Coors Light is on special today isn't going to entice me to buy. I'd sooner drink a glass of free ice water, which tastes better than most Molson products.

There's little point in being a craft beer snob. First and foremost, the people who make the stuff are hypocrites who are only hoping to become big enough to get bought out by one of the big macro-breweries so they never have to work again. The big boys are buying up the craft and microbrew labels left and right. Why do you think you can buy a so-called microbrew from Eastern Canada in a BC liquor store? Because it's probably owned by Molson or Labatt. Additionally, there's only so much you can do with beer recipes before they become weird for the sake of weirdness. I don't need my beer infused with watermelon, thanks very much. If I want a fruit salad in my beverage I can drink sangria. And what's with all the damn hops? At a certain point, you have added all the hops you can add and now you've turned your product into a food challenge like ghost peppers or super-hot chicken wings. Enough with the hops, already!

you're talking about something that barely exists in Quebec, Labatt/Molson do not own micro-brewreries here, they're partner with (probably distribution contracts nothing more) that's all.

and in bars/restaurants, Labatt/Molson could very well disappear and people wouldnt notice. Well, old people maybe...

 

[Habs13]

I guess they expect low ticket sales for this crap they have on the ice and are instead going to lower the bars broadcasting to try get sheep back in seats.

 

[Habs13]

Bell (TSN/RDS) has the rights to about 60 games.
Videotron (TVA-sports) owns all Saturday/playoffs games.

What's a "playoff" game? That sounds fun!

 

[Habaneros]

How many more years until this happens?lol


Any fans wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey will be charged a yearly fee of $5 dollars.....

 

[OldCraig71]

How many more years until this happens?lol


Any fans wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey will be charged a yearly fee of $5 dollars.....

If they continue under Bergevin I would say it's very far off.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

How many more years until this happens?lol


Any fans wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey will be charged a yearly fee of $5 dollars.....

They should pay us to wear it.