News Article: Colorado Avalanche Media Coverage Part VI

[Ararana]

I've used NordVPN, Surfshark, ProtonVPN, and ExpressVPN. Nord has been by far the best for me.

I'd avoid Proton and Express. Proton prioritizes privacy over streaming quality - not a bad feature depending on what you're looking for but bad for the context of this conversation. Express was acquired by KAPE and they went to shit.

At the moment, can't really go wrong with any of Nord/SurfShark/CyberGhost.

I have been on SurfShark the last two years (landed a pretty good Christmas time deal years ago) and have done all my ESPN steaming off them with with no real problems.

 

[henchman21]

I'd avoid Proton and Express. Proton prioritizes privacy over streaming quality - not a bad feature depending on what you're looking for but bad for the context of this conversation. Express was acquired by KAPE and they went to shit.

At the moment, can't really go wrong with any of Nord/SurfShark/CyberGhost.

I have been on SurfShark the last two years (landed a pretty good Christmas time deal years ago) and have done all my ESPN steaming off them with with no real problems.

Surfshark gave me issues, but Proton was the worst for me of that group... and likely for the reasons you listed. I get that for free through my work and it is utilized there for data sensitivity. Nord has worked most of the time for me. Not perfect, but I didn't feel like I was chasing down issues every couple of days. More like every week or two. Now granted it has been a few months since I've had to rely on it... so who knows with the updates that both will be implementing for this next season. Will see in about a month how bad it is.

 

[Toothless Legend]

KnightTime is $70 per year and it features more games.

Kroenkes gon' Kroenke

 

[Ararana]

Surfshark gave me issues, but Proton was the worst for me of that group... and likely for the reasons you listed. I get that for free through my work and it is utilized there for data sensitivity. Nord has worked most of the time for me. Not perfect, but I didn't feel like I was chasing down issues every couple of days. More like every week or two. Now granted it has been a few months since I've had to rely on it... so who knows with the updates that both will be implementing for this next season. Will see in about a month how bad it is.

One thing I'd suggest is testing out different proxy locations. I live in Texas but I hit San Jose as my primary proxy because I've had the best success, performance-wise, on that server with SurfShark. Denver, for example, is technically closer but I saw significantly worse performance. Typically you want to find the closest proxy to you, but if that server is under too much stress location starts to become secondary. Just don't connect to a proxy in Europe and complain about streaming quality

 

[AvBuff]

As a Denver-area Comcast customer who pays an extra $100 a month for Fubo just to watch Avs/Nuggets games on my Roku stick . . . $20 a month for the Kroenke app is a steal. Once it hits Roku, adios Fubo.

Was listening to the Altitude honks on the radio this morning. They pretty much admitted that the Altitude/RSN model is no longer viable (no kidding) and that all the layoffs we saw this summer was Kroenke cutting costs. Thing is, they could have come up with this solution years ago - this isn't revolutionary. But they were too busy (unsuccessfully) suing Comcast in federal court.

 

[sethro109]

New Lauren?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

No mention of DVR or rewind or stuff like that.

 

[RockLobster]

They either made a mistake on mentioning an Annual cost (which usually averages out to be less per month than going monthly) and actually scrapped that part, or they will release that price in the future. But there ARE people out there who prefer to pay an annual cost for their streamers.

 

[Pokecheque]

New Lauren?

No, she's the new Scott Hastings.

 

[Ceremony]

Are you only allowed to work for Altitude if you're called Katie or Lauren? Is this why Alexis never got to be on my television?

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Only if you're outside the Altitude broadcast rights area.... Or use a VPN.

Still not great for Comcast people. I guess it's cheaper than Fubo. I wonder what the stream lag will be? There was next to none on Evoca, but when that died, I haven't found a good solution. Fubo and Direct TV+ are always a good 36 seconds, to a minute behind acual live coverage.

I also wonder if it'll be easy to pause your sub during the off season.

Am I reading it right that you only get the other Altitude content on the Avs that broadcasts regularly during the week of you live in the broadcast area? I would consider paying for it over ESPN+ if I can get that stuff on the other side of the country.

ESPN+ has a pretty good anti-VPN feature, apparently. I know I've tried in the past and it's not been successful. These goddamn companies are catching on and will always tamp down on this shit, all in the name of the almighty dollar.

I was still getting it to work with specific devices as late as last year to Canes games.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

I'm starting to wonder what VPNs some of these users are using, you get what you pay for in the VPN world. And yeah ESPN's $11/month + another ~$15/month VPN fee and you're paying just a few bucks more than Altitude+ but you get the entire league.

I personally use VPN for so many things, sports streaming is pretty far down the list of justifications for that expense.

$15 a month? Using one that works that cost me a hair under $7 a month but I buy it for the year.

 

[Ceremony]

I use Nord and when I had to use it to get around blackouts on NHL TV I periodically decanted to Portugal and it all worked fine.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

I use Proton, and while it is an excellent VPN and my favorite I have used to date, it does seem like ESPN+ catches on to their IPs relatively frequently and I have to play whack-a-mole to find one they haven't.

I usually found an endpoint in Georgia (the state, not the country) as I wouldn't run into any other local blackouts like you can do if you choose a different NHL team city.

As for performance when on the VPN, I figured a way around this on my smart TV. I would open the ESPN+ app with the VPN running, choose my stream and connect, and then I would minimize the app, go to Proton VPN, disconnect, and ESPN+ never seemed to recheck, so it let me continue on the stream no longer connected to the VPN.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

New Lauren?

Katy has been with Altitude for quite some time, only she's on the Nuggets side of the network. I'm guessing there won't be a new Lauren/Katy on Avs broadcasts this year. Just Kyle doing the show from Ball Arena at home games, and interviews via headset on road games.

 

[Ararana]

As for performance when on the VPN, I figured a way around this on my smart TV. I would open the ESPN+ app with the VPN running, choose my stream and connect, and then I would minimize the app, go to Proton VPN, disconnect, and ESPN+ never seemed to recheck, so it let me continue on the stream no longer connected to the VPN.

I did this exact trick when the NHL did their own streaming. Always made me laugh, funny that ESPN is no better.

 

[sethro109]

Am I reading it right that you only get the other Altitude content on the Avs that broadcasts regularly during the week of you live in the broadcast area? I would consider paying for it over ESPN+ if I can get that stuff on the other side of the country.

Yeah, Altitude+ is only for people inside of their 9 state coverage area.

No, she's the new Scott Hastings.

Ohhhhh. I don't watch basketball, so I had no idea who she was.

 

[S E P H]

Yeah, I'm not sure how charging 20 bucks a month will convince me to buy their service instead of using a high-quality kitten. Seems they think they're Louis Vuitton.

I personally use VPN for so many things, sports streaming is pretty far down the list of justifications for that expense.

Running away from a crazy ex or the government?

 

[Ararana]

Running away from a crazy ex or the government?

Yes.

Ted talk, please don't believe for a second a VPN hides you from the government.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

I don't know if I can justify $19.99 extra a month, when I already have the means to stream affordably. I want to see whether there is any contract lengths etc, having 20 games on local TV is cool though. I wish we'd gone all in on local TV the way other teams have, that would have been ideal. But fair play, they are doing something, its more affordable than cable is/was, I will be surprised if it does well enough to not be canned within a few years.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Yeah, Altitude+ is only for people inside of their 9 state coverage area.



Ohhhhh. I don't watch basketball, so I had no idea who she was.

Well fudge. At least with Fubo I can just tell them I live there and it works.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1839357585969098901

 

[The Merchant]

lol $20/mo is ridiculous.

 

[Gumballhead]

lol $20/mo is ridiculous.

It's pretty standard. I don't think there are a lot of examples of these stand alone services but Marquee Sports Network which basically is all Cubs, costs that much. At least with Altitude+ you get the Nuggets and Avs.

Hopefully you'll get the ability to start from start or rewind -- Marquee is really shitty about that. You can rewind a little bit if you come in late, but it's glitchy and half the time it shoots you back to live. For $20 a month you should be able to watch any way you want and have a few "DVR" features. Then again, whoever they get to make these apps are likely not in the same league as whoever does the major streaming apps -- and even a lot of those suck on certain platforms. I hope it works well for you guys nearer to Colorado.

 

[Pokecheque]

Ohhhhh. I don't watch basketball, so I had no idea who she was.

Yeah, Katy Winge has been their courtside reporter for a while now, so she's their Lauren/Katie but she also does color commentary for certain Nuggets games, I dunno if Hastings is eyeing the door or not.

I know you didn't care about any of that but I excel at giving people information they didn't want.