NHL.TV / Center Ice Discussion - Part III [See the warning in OP]

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goonybird

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I highly recommend nobody pay for this service until it goes through a season without lengthy service disruptions and is optimized for Chromecast.

Dropping service in the last 90 s of the season is inexcusable but also completely predictable. Casting to a TV is a disaster and they are invariably garbage for the first two weeks of the season every season. And yet it continues. Over and over again
 
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FMichael

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Reading numerous comments about issues with NHL.TV is concerning since I doubt it'll be much better when ESPN/Disney takes over.

I haven't had any issues with NHL Center Ice via DirecTV, but what concerns me are the 'exclusive' games on ESPN+ and how many I'll likely miss.
 
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Quack Shot

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Reading numerous comments about issues with NHL.TV is concerning since I doubt it'll be much better when ESPN/Disney takes over.

I haven't had any issues with NHL Center Ice via DirecTV, but what concerns me are the 'exclusive' games on ESPN+ and how many I'll likely miss.

I’ve used ESPN+ for other games and it’s been fine, haven’t had any problems.
 
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timorous me

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Apr 14, 2010
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If you ever watch a replay of an event on ESPN+ right now--I tested this with an MLS game the other night--the functionality is notably inferior to NHL.tv. Using the Roku app, for instance, the biggest problem is that they show the full time, say, 2 hours and 38 minutes.

This doesn't matter much for most soccer games (unless it's an event like the Euros where extra time exists), but for hockey, if you see a game lasted 2 hours and 33 minutes versus one that lasted 2 hours 55 minutes, you're immediately spoiled and know it's an overtime game. And if you're watching down the stretch and see there's only a couple minutes left in the replay and your team is down a goal, well, pretty obviously they're not going to overtime; they're losing. It's kind of a big deal.

Plus they don't have any quick jumps. NHL.tv (on Roku) you can jump ahead to period starts. And MLB.tv, for instance, you can quickly jump one minute ahead at a time with one click, which at least helps you not have to look up and be spoiled by the game time while watching a replay.
 
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Mach2

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You're right about ESPN+'s shortcomings, but it's better than the Bally Sports app. In my area I must use the new Bally Sports app on Roku to watch my "local" NHL team's games. The Bally app's volume is way low and the rewind/forward commands are terrible, and navigating the app is sheer guess work. Bally/Sinclair spent a mint to establish this streaming app for accessing their regional sports networks, but this app is a total train wreck. Hope they fix it before the start of the next season, but I have yet to find any link or address to send them feedback.
 

Mach2

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Repeating here what I read on another HF thread, and verified today on the NHLTV site/subscribe:
"To stream out-of-market games next season, please subscribe to ESPN+"
 

wolfgaze

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Is there an app available for accessing content with a paid subscription? Or do we have to go through a website service? I only watch/view hockey so I'm not familiar with going through ESPN for anything... Would appreciate any background info as to how this will work with regards to ESPN. (Thanks)
 

Quack Shot

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Is there an app available for accessing content with a paid subscription? Or do we have to go through a website service? I only watch/view hockey so I'm not familiar with going through ESPN for anything... Would appreciate any background info as to how this will work with regards to ESPN. (Thanks)

It’s all through ESPN+, it’s an app with a paid subscription
 
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SirJW

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Repeating here what I read on another HF thread, and verified today on the NHLTV site/subscribe:
"To stream out-of-market games next season, please subscribe to ESPN+"

Does that mean we will need an ESPN+ sub and a Center Ice sub though ESPN+?
 

GoalieEd

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Oct 9, 2008
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Does that mean we will need an ESPN+ sub and a Center Ice sub though ESPN+?
Espn plus alone will get you the out of home market games not on national broadcast by either espn, abc, or turner networks from what I can tell.
 
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FMichael

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Does that mean we will need an ESPN+ sub and a Center Ice sub though ESPN+?
Espn plus alone will get you the out of home market games not on national broadcast by either espn, abc, or turner networks from what I can tell.
From what little I know and have read - ESPN+ will get you those 75 'exclusive' games that is covered under the monthly fee.

On the other hand - NHLTV (streaming version of the NHL Center Ice) will now be taken over by ESPN/Disney...I am not sure if that is covered under the monthly fee - I get the impression that there will be an additional cost for that programming (the usual $130 to $140 early bird rate for the 82 game season).

Copied/pasted from NHL.com...Additionally, the NHL's out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription.
 
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Clare2904

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Do we know yet if there are going to be changes here in Canada? I have used Centre Ice for the past few years but the price is just ridiculous, especially when I add on the cost of TSN/Sportsnet.

Will the nhl.tv app still be an option?
 

ellja3

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May 19, 2014
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Apologies if this has been asked before, but I suppose expansion draft won't be available on Gamecenter? (European here, would rather not have the struggle of trying to find alternatives at 3am).
 

Mach2

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Apologies if this has been asked before, but I suppose expansion draft won't be available on Gamecenter? (European here, would rather not have the struggle of trying to find alternatives at 3am).
FWIW: In the USA, Seattle's expansion draft will be carried on ESPN2 at 8pm EST.
 

littletonhockeycoach

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Do we know yet if there are going to be changes here in Canada? I have used Centre Ice for the past few years but the price is just ridiculous, especially when I add on the cost of TSN/Sportsnet.

Will the nhl.tv app still be an option?

I don't believe so. The NHL.TV app gets replaced by ESPN+. I'm expecting the app to go dark any day now and cancelled it so it would not auto renew. I was told that all NHL.TV functionality - including the game archive - was to migrate to ESPN+.

I subscribed to Center Ice for a number of years but my provider only set aside 2 HD channels for HD broadcasts. So I switched to NHL.TV which was multi platform and all HD and was pretty satisfied with it.

I used NHL.TV via VPN to access Avalanche broadcasts because my provider refuses to carry the Altitude network. (And still refuses to pick it up.) NHL.TV Avalanche broadcasts - home and away - were blacked out for me if my server geo- location was determined to be in the Av's local viewing area.

I am very concerned that ESPN+ is said to be VPN UNFRIENDLY meaning I'm back to square 1 with respect to watching the home team.

Oh well, there are other ways to slay this dragon..........
 

littletonhockeycoach

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From what little I know and have read - ESPN+ will get you those 75 'exclusive' games that is covered under the monthly fee.

On the other hand - NHLTV (streaming version of the NHL Center Ice) will now be taken over by ESPN/Disney...I am not sure if that is covered under the monthly fee - I get the impression that there will be an additional cost for that programming (the usual $130 to $140 early bird rate for the 82 game season).

Copied/pasted from NHL.com...Additionally, the NHL's out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription.

This means the cost to watch the NHL is going up? I already know that I will have add an ESPN+ subscription to my cable package. But I thought that gave one access to the 1000's of out of market games. You are telling me that I have to pay another fee to access the syllabus of formerly NHL.TV games I used to watch? Plus subscribe to ESPN+?

Hell, I can't even watch local market games here (w/o VPNing or catching streams) because my provider and the local sports network (Altitude) won't agree to a contract.

Remember the cable days when the NHL (Zeigler) blew it with Sport Channel which virtually no one had in their channel menu?

Bettman and the owners just keep shooting themselves in the foot because of their greed when it comes to making broadcast decisions.
 

Big Muddy

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Dec 15, 2019
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Repeating here what I read on another HF thread, and verified today on the NHLTV site/subscribe:
"To stream out-of-market games next season, please subscribe to ESPN+"

Is there an app available for accessing content with a paid subscription? Or do we have to go through a website service? I only watch/view hockey so I'm not familiar with going through ESPN for anything... Would appreciate any background info as to how this will work with regards to ESPN. (Thanks)

Ya, I've been a NHL.TV subscriber for a couple of years and don't really understand what this means either.

In my case, I live in Texas but tend to watch teams from Canada (Ontario mostly). That's why I got NHL.TV in the first place. Every game was available on NHL.TV, and I would just select the one I wanted and watched it. There were only a few games blacked out and they tended to be local Dallas Star games, or the odd game that was a national broadcast game from NBC.

Will I no longer be able to do this on NHL.TV this upcoming season? I live in Texas so if I want to watch the odd Stars game I just switch over to cable, so that has never been a problem before.

I'm not sure what "out of market" games means, so terminology like that isn't helpful (unless a clear definition is provided of course).

I used to get NHL Center Ice but the wonderful cable company in these parts (Spectrum) did not offer it when I first moved here. I think Spectrum announced that they now carried Center Ice. Spectrum's service is pretty crappy and low quality though - lots of outages & not a good picture (old coaxial network I guess).

Hope someone replies and thanks as I am also on Auto Renew for NHLTV.com.
 
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jkrdevil

UnRegistered User
Apr 24, 2006
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Ya, I've been a NHL.TV subscriber for a couple of years and don't really understand what this means either.

In my case, I live in Texas but tend to watch teams from Canada (Ontario mostly). That's why I got NHL.TV in the first place. Every game was available on NHL.TV, and I would just select the one I wanted and watched it. There were only a few games blacked out and they tended to be local Dallas Star games, or the odd game that was a national broadcast game from NBC.

Will I no longer be able to do this on NHL.TV this upcoming season? I live in Texas so if I want to watch the odd Stars game I just switch over to cable, so that has never been a problem before.

I'm not sure what "out of market" games means, so terminology like that isn't helpful (unless a clear definition is provided of course).

I used to get NHL Center Ice but the wonderful cable company in these parts (Spectrum) did not offer it when I first moved here. I think Spectrum announced that they now carried Center Ice. Spectrum's service is pretty crappy and low quality though - lots of outages & not a good picture (old coaxial network I guess).

Hope someone replies and thanks as I am also on Auto Renew for NHLTV.com.

Out of market means games that would not ordinarily be available in you home market (the city you live in basically). In your case these would be the games on the Stars regional broadcast plus the national broadcast (this year that will be games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and NHLN — last year it was games on NBC, NBCSN and NHLN).

Starting this upcoming season NHL.tv in the US is being absorbed by ESPN+. That means to get all those extra games that were part of NHL.tv (like most of the Leafs/Sens games you mentioned) you have to subscribe to ESPN+. In addition, there will be 75 games that will be exclusive to ESPN+ and won’t be available on the regional channel of the teams playing in those games.
 

FMichael

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Dec 22, 2010
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Out of market means games that would not ordinarily be available in you home market (the city you live in basically). In your case these would be the games on the Stars regional broadcast plus the national broadcast (this year that will be games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and NHLN — last year it was games on NBC, NBCSN and NHLN).

Starting this upcoming season NHL.tv in the US is being absorbed by ESPN+. That means to get all those extra games that were part of NHL.tv (like most of the Leafs/Sens games you mentioned) you have to subscribe to ESPN+. In addition, there will be 75 games that will be exclusive to ESPN+ and won’t be available on the regional channel of the teams playing in those games.
To add to your post...Will there be any additional charge for what was the NHLTV so those of us can watch our favorite team throughout the season.

I honestly would be pleasantly surprised if the monthly fee covered ALL games...The statement below seems a bit vague.

Copied/pasted from NHL.com...Additionally, the NHL's out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription.
 

Big Muddy

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Dec 15, 2019
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Out of market means games that would not ordinarily be available in you home market (the city you live in basically). In your case these would be the games on the Stars regional broadcast plus the national broadcast (this year that will be games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, TBS and NHLN — last year it was games on NBC, NBCSN and NHLN).

Starting this upcoming season NHL.tv in the US is being absorbed by ESPN+. That means to get all those extra games that were part of NHL.tv (like most of the Leafs/Sens games you mentioned) you have to subscribe to ESPN+. In addition, there will be 75 games that will be exclusive to ESPN+ and won’t be available on the regional channel of the teams playing in those games.

Thanks for the feedback!!!

Yes, perhaps my circumstances are less common, but to watch the games of the teams I follow, I've had to have either Center Ice, or more recently NHL.TV. So, I guess pretty well all the games I watched were "out of market".

So, I guess I'll have to get ESPN+, or see if Spectrum (the cable company that is available in my area) carries Center Ice. Kind of drag really having to go through a bunch of steps all over again as I was on an Auto-Pay arrangement with NHL.TV (and Center Ice before that). And I kind of hate Spectrum given how bad their service has been and due to large number of outages I've experienced. But, that might be the simplest arrangement possibly.

I tend to watch a couple of games every night from the season opener to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup, so that's around 500 games per year. I'm an addict. LOL.

BTW - Who owned NHLTV.com? I thought it might have been Rogers who is a Canadian cable and wireless cellular company, but that was just a guess.
 
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Big Muddy

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Dec 15, 2019
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To add to your post...Will there be any additional charge for what was the NHLTV so those of us can watch our favorite team throughout the season.

I honestly would be pleasantly surprised if the monthly fee covered ALL games...The statement below seems a bit vague.

Copied/pasted from NHL.com...Additionally, the NHL's out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription.
Ya, even with a 31 team league, there is more than 1,000 games.

31 teams x 82 games = 2,542/2 = 1,271 games

But, there is 32 teams now, so 32 teams x 82 games = 2,624/2 = 1,312 games

Not sure why they mentioned 1,000 games in connection to NHLTV.com because I think NHLTV had more than 1,000 games. Something seems odd unless there were more blacked out games than I thought.

What is ESPN + monthly fee btw? I only paid $130 for NHLTV.
 
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FMichael

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Dec 22, 2010
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Ya, even with a 31 team league, there is far more than 1,000 games.

31 teams x 82 games = 2,542

But, there is 32 teams now, so 32 teams x 82 games = 2,624.

Not sure why they mentioned 1,000 games in connection to NHLTV.com because I think NHLTV had more than 1,000 games. 1,000 games is not even half of the total games in a NHL season. Something very strange and fishy is going on there.

What is ESPN + monthly fee btw? I only paid $130 for NHLTV.
I'm guessing there's 2 teams per game...So cut the number you have above (2624) in half equals 1312 games.

Anywho - I'm going to wait patiently for the specifics regarding the cost for what was NHLTV before I jump ship.
 

Big Muddy

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Dec 15, 2019
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I'm guessing there's 2 teams per game...So cut the number you have above (2624) in half equals 1312 games.

Anywho - I'm going to wait patiently for the specifics regarding the cost for what was NHLTV before I jump ship.
Damn, your right. I should have thought about that - duh. Time to fix my post. LOL.
 
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