Grow Up NHL - Blackouts

[Craig Ludwig]

Sat down to watch the only, THE ONLY NHL game being played this afternoon, between the Leafs and Penguins. Any Canadian NOT living in Ontario is blacked out and cannot watch a Sunday afternoon NHL Hockey Game.

Wake up NHL, this is an absolute dinosaur rule. You know what the NFL did, the most popular sport in North America by a mile? They eliminated the blackout in 2015.

Anyone can illegally stream it, is that what you are encouraging NHL, illegal streaming?

There's no good reasoning for it, none. The explanation is always that regional broadcasters bought the rights to the game, well then Mr. Regional Broadcaster why don't you offer/sell it nationally? But it's an NHL rule, what unexplainable benefit does this do for the NHL, limiting the amount of Canadians that can watch an exciting NHL game ????

And I can guarantee you that hardly a soul will go out and buy the NHL package because of the blackouts, if that is one of their reasonings.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb....

Click to read more...

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I still don’t get this Blackout issue.

Back to illegal streaming I go..

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Sat down to watch the only, THE ONLY NHL game being played this afternoon, between the Leafs and Penguins. Any Canadian NOT living in Ontario is blacked out and cannot watch a Sunday afternoon NHL Hockey Game.

Wake up NHL, this is an absolute dinosaur rule. You know what the NFL did, the most popular sport in North America by a mile? They eliminated the blackout in 2015.

Anyone can illegally stream it, is that what you are encouraging NHL, illegal streaming?

There's no good reasoning for it, none. The explanation is always that regional broadcasters bought the rights to the game, well then Mr. Regional Broadcaster why don't you offer/sell it nationally? But it's an NHL rule, what unexplainable benefit does this do for the NHL, limiting the amount of Canadians that can watch an exciting NHL game ????

And I can guarantee you that hardly a soul will go out and buy the NHL package because of the blackouts, if that is one of their reasonings.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb....

Even if you're in Ontario, it's blacked out in certain areas of Ontario as you're considered to be in the Ottawa, or Montreal regions and it's blacked out.

People in the states apparently have it even worse.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Sat down to watch the only, THE ONLY NHL game being played this afternoon, between the Leafs and Penguins. Any Canadian NOT living in Ontario is blacked out and cannot watch a Sunday afternoon NHL Hockey Game.

Wake up NHL, this is an absolute dinosaur rule. You know what the NFL did, the most popular sport in North America by a mile? They eliminated the blackout in 2015.

Anyone can illegally stream it, is that what you are encouraging NHL, illegal streaming?

There's no good reasoning for it, none. The explanation is always that regional broadcasters bought the rights to the game, well then Mr. Regional Broadcaster why don't you offer/sell it nationally? But it's an NHL rule, what unexplainable benefit does this do for the NHL, limiting the amount of Canadians that can watch an exciting NHL game ????

And I can guarantee you that hardly a soul will go out and buy the NHL package because of the blackouts, if that is one of their reasonings.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb....

Well said. I am more than willing to pay, but not paying insane prices for "packages" that force include the NBA and other sports I don't care for (this is the only legal cable way to watch in Canada). Sportsnet now premium is awful value but more importantly doesn't work well so I ditched it this year after using it for 2 years.

The result is, me watching illegal streams and someone who usually watched 1 game a day watches the Leafs and that is it for the most part outside of random days. NHL literally pushing me away as a fan.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Even if you're in Ontario, it's blacked out in certain areas of Ontario as you're considered to be in the Ottawa, or Montreal regions and it's blacked out.

People in the states apparently have it even worse.

Why would it be blacked out if I live in Massachusetts??

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Why would it be blacked out if I live in Massachusetts??

That's just f***ed.


I remember like 10, 13 years ago I tried to watch a Florida - Nashville game and it was blacked out

 

[Mr Kot]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU HAVE TO PURCHASE ALL THE STREAMING SERVICES FOR EACH GAME AND GIVE THE NHL ALL YOUR MONEY FOR EACH ONE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

 

[SJSharksfan39]

The NHL should either Nuke NHL Network or put it on ESPN+. The fact that network exists and dictates what games are and are not blacked out on weekends is a travesty.

 

[Ezekial]

I still don’t get this Blackout issue.

Back to illegal streaming I go..

So there's these things called television production companies who produce a video product for viewership. Ad revenue based on commercials, sponsorships, etc. pay for the production of the broadcast. They pay the league for the exclusive rights to the product in which they sell. The networks are packaged and sold to people in their local markets and they want people to pay for those packages so they can continue to pay for a product to produce.

If nobody pays the cable company to watch the product, then they won't have money to produce the broadcast and we will instead be paying networks individually to access their productions, most likely paying more for each "a la carte" choice of networks rather than the entire package of channels. Out of market games will never be shown on your package, so that's getting additional eyeballs on your product who would've never been able to access them, which is beneficial. Whereas making in market games available to people without cable hurts the wallet of those who produce the broadcast.

In the coming years the networks will continue to fail and the production infrastructure will have to be sold to streaming services to produce their own broadcasts (ie Thursday night football on Amazon prime)


Until then it's not the NHL blacking you out, it's the local cable networks, the model is outdated.

 

[Laus723]

Was it not on espn+ in Canada? It was on TNT in South Florida and watched but saw it was also on espn+

 

[rojac]

So there's these things called television production companies who produce a video product for viewership. Ad revenue based on commercials, sponsorships, etc. pay for the production of the broadcast. They pay the league for the exclusive rights to the product in which they sell. The networks are packaged and sold to people in their local markets and they want people to pay for those packages so they can continue to pay for a product to produce.

If nobody pays the cable company to watch the product, then they won't have money to produce the broadcast and we will instead be paying networks individually to access their productions, most likely paying more for each "a la carte" choice of networks rather than the entire package of channels. Out of market games will never be shown on your package, so that's getting additional eyeballs on your product who would've never been able to access them, which is beneficial. Whereas making in market games available to people without cable hurts the wallet of those who produce the broadcast.

In the coming years the networks will continue to fail and the production infrastructure will have to be sold to streaming services to produce their own broadcasts (ie Thursday night football on Amazon prime)


Until then it's not the NHL blacking you out, it's the local cable networks, the model is outdated.

No, backouts and regional broadcasts are a league policy for the NHL, MLB, and NBA.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Act your age NHL! You’re being a bunch of Kwyjibos!

 

[SladeWilson23]

I can't watch regional Flyers games. I don't have access to Philly regional sports networks, nor can I watch on ESPN+. There are a smattering of Flyers fans in my area of Northwestern NJ, so I feel bad for them.

 

[Ezekial]

No, backouts and regional broadcasts are a league policy for the NHL, MLB, and NBA.

Yes. It's a network agreement to support the broadcaster's rights in local markets.

Multiple MLB teams literally have their own networks/streaming rights to their games already.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Just sail the high seas….

Problem solved.

 

[brentashton]

Sat down to watch the only, THE ONLY NHL game being played this afternoon, between the Leafs and Penguins. Any Canadian NOT living in Ontario is blacked out and cannot watch a Sunday afternoon NHL Hockey Game.

Wake up NHL, this is an absolute dinosaur rule. You know what the NFL did, the most popular sport in North America by a mile? They eliminated the blackout in 2015.

Anyone can illegally stream it, is that what you are encouraging NHL, illegal streaming?

There's no good reasoning for it, none. The explanation is always that regional broadcasters bought the rights to the game, well then Mr. Regional Broadcaster why don't you offer/sell it nationally? But it's an NHL rule, what unexplainable benefit does this do for the NHL, limiting the amount of Canadians that can watch an exciting NHL game ????

And I can guarantee you that hardly a soul will go out and buy the NHL package because of the blackouts, if that is one of their reasonings.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb....

Sail the seas. You won’t miss a thing/

 

[Ghost of Murph]

The closest NHL team to me is a 4 hour drive. The 2nd closet 6 hours. ESPN Plus blacks me out of both teams' games. Odd thing is there is no regional coverage of either team in my area. Makes no sense to me. Can't get either team via cable/dish. Can't get them with ESPN Plus. Not going to drive for hours to see games. Silliness.

 

[ijuka]

Blackouts are a product of a seriously outdated philosophy. The modern approach is to maximize reach. Blackouts intentionally minimize reach.

I'll always stand by the opinion that this is a terrible approach. Maximizing reach is the key to growing the game. Then they wonder why hockey remains niche.

 

[Boomstick]

Flames fan in Ontario, I'd say 80% of Flames games are blacked out on Sportsnet in Ontario, same as Canucks and the other Alberta team. I watch every Flames game so it's all good, but it's useless to even have Sportsnet. They'll play Utah vs San Jose on 4 channels and black out the one Canadian team on the other. Annoying.