Grow Up NHL - Blackouts

[KrisLetAngry]

Blackouts are a product of a seriously outdated philosophy.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.

Agreed.

Netflix crushed pirating by offering a service to watch movies easily.

Sports should do the same. Make it easy to watch sports.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Jokes on you , hockey is completely free on the internet , every game of hockey in any timezone in any league on earth in any region is at the tip of your fingertips for free guys what are we even talking about.

Imagine giving your hard earned money to sportsnet , rogers or ESPN.

It's absolute blasphemy to me

That's my point, NHL encourages fans to illegally stream when there are all of these blackouts, it's asinine.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Why is there still an NHL Network? What the heck do they show the rest of the time when they're not covering the occasional game (resulting in blackouts for many hockey fans)?

 

[Profet]

I once signed up to pay for NHL network. And then I realized as a resident of NY, that I'm blacked out from basically everything I could possibly care about. I cancelled within an hour of signup.

There are so many teams in my regional coverage area or whatever, that it felt like most games were just unavailable to me. Making the product useless.

 

[Toby91ca]

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).

This isn't true, you can simply purchase NHL Centre Ice. I live in the Toronto area and Sportsnet and occasionally TSN carrying a lot of different games, but when it's a Cdn team, other than Toronto, it's blacked out....in those cases though, if I want to see that game, I just flip over to the Centre Ice channel.

I suppose there are arguments to be made in terms of whether it's better to grow the game by having cheaper options for people to view the product, but that's a different discussion....pretty sure the NHL doesn't do the blackouts, it's the local cable companies.

 

[Leafs87]

The best part is that even if you pay for NHL network you’re still subject to blackout of the local team. That was a huge wtf concept. You essentially are asked to pay for local cable and NHL network when travelling as NHL network won’t work for your local team. No wonder no one watches.

 

[tmg]

Agreed.

Netflix crushed pirating by offering a service to watch movies easily.

Sports should do the same. Make it easy to watch sports.

I mean, Netflix also followed this script.

Netflix was huge when it had everything and everyone got it because they could count on mostly anything they wanted to see being there.

Other companies jumped in and realized their best path to subscribership was to have things people wanted to see but couldn’t see on Netflix. So by entering agreements that not only gave them the content, but denied Netflix the content, these rivals got subscribers.

This is pretty much the hockey model now. There used to be a centralized reliable way to follow your team. But separate interests bought off exclusive chunks to show or withhold as best suits their own margins, and the end customer no longer has a reliable single provider for what they want and used to be able to get.

I fear the day this becomes prevalent in streaming music. Most things are on all the services. But can you imagine if one artist you love … Spotify has some of their catalogue exclusively, Prime has some, Youtube has some, Apple has some? Ugh. Though seems inevitable.

 

[Ezekial]

"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."

Welcome to the 21st Century Buck Rogers. It's not local anymore. My Bell Fibe subscription allows me to watch TV anywhere I like in the world (up to 5 devices). So no, a blackout has nothing to do these days with local markets because I'm paying for it IN my local market. Let me repeat that: I'm paying the local broadcaster through my subscription and they STILL black out games if I'm out of province. It's just a fabricated construct now based on antiquated technology. It's flat-out stupid.

Yea I know, like I said the model is outdated. Idk what Canada is like for streaming rights I live in the USA, if a game is locally/national on cable it's blacked out in that area on espn+ who solely advertise the out of market aspect.

Jokes on you , hockey is completely free on the internet , every game of hockey in any timezone in any league on earth in any region is at the tip of your fingertips for free guys what are we even talking about.

Imagine giving your hard earned money to sportsnet , rogers or ESPN.

It's absolute blasphemy to me

It's free on the internet for you as long as other people pay to allow them to afford to produce the broadcast for you.

You shouldn't be belittling those people you should actually be thanking them for allowing you to do what you do.

 

[DaveG]

The best part is that even if you pay for NHL network you’re still subject to blackout of the local team. That was a huge wtf concept. You essentially are asked to pay for local cable and NHL network when travelling as NHL network won’t work for your local team. No wonder no one watches.

that one's always fun. Local broadcast doesn't show up on ESPN+ because it's on NHL network, but can't use a VPN to watch either.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I mean, Netflix also followed this script.

Netflix was huge when it had everything and everyone got it because they could count on mostly anything they wanted to see being there.

Other companies jumped in and realized their best path to subscribership was to have things people wanted to see but couldn’t see on Netflix. So by entering agreements that not only gave them the content, but denied Netflix the content, these rivals got subscribers.

This is pretty much the hockey model now. There used to be a centralized reliable way to follow your team. But separate interests bought off exclusive chunks to show or withhold as best suits their own margins, and the end customer no longer has a reliable single provider for what they want and used to be able to get.

I fear the day this becomes prevalent in streaming music. Most things are on all the services. But can you imagine if one artist you love … Spotify has some of their catalogue exclusively, Prime has some, Youtube has some, Apple has some? Ugh. Though seems inevitable.

Yea that is definitely a worry of mine.

Companies love the subscription model and splitting it up to get there piece.

If eventually sports gets too expensive and alternatives to watch don't exist. I will just stop watching.

With wage stagnation and inflation I have better things to spend my money on like survival.

 

[SomeDude]

Blackouts do nothing but hurt the league. People will just move on to find other stuff to watch/fill their time with.

It is such a stupid concept. I’ve only been able to watch about 5 Pens games this year because I refuse to spend $200+ a month on the only cable provider left that carries the channel that shows games. I’ve listened to many games but am finding myself less and less interested. I didn’t even bother watching yesterday on a national broadcast.

 

[Golden_Jet]

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.

I’m not forced to include NBA games, you could just get centre ice as well. Appears you have Roger’s, as they don’t have centre ice.
There are 2 legal options, not just Roger’s.

 

[Rec T]

Everyone knows VPN's are a thing, right? No blackouts in VPN world

At least for me ESPN recognizes when I have the VPN on & requires it to be turned off to watch anything

(this post brought to you by way of Phoenix as I sit in KY...)

 

[Ceremony]

In Europe (or the UK at least) I pay 99 USD a season and get every game live or on demand with no blackouts. It's a good system, the NHL should expand it.

 

[Barsky]

At least for me ESPN recognizes when I have the VPN on & requires it to be turned off to watch anything

(this post brought to you by way of Phoenix as I sit in KY...)

Oh wow, that's ridiculous, screw ESPN. Thankfully Sportsnet isn't that high tech, as much as I hate giving them my money

 

[HockeyVirus]

This isn't true, you can simply purchase NHL Centre Ice. I live in the Toronto area and Sportsnet and occasionally TSN carrying a lot of different games, but when it's a Cdn team, other than Toronto, it's blacked out....in those cases though, if I want to see that game, I just flip over to the Centre Ice channel.

I suppose there are arguments to be made in terms of whether it's better to grow the game by having cheaper options for people to view the product, but that's a different discussion....pretty sure the NHL doesn't do the blackouts, it's the local cable companies.

Not true. Center ice had a free trial a few weeks back I liked it and was willing to pay for it. Rogers website pretty clearly states you cannot purchase it individually. Only available through their "super sports pack"

Watch sports online with Super Sports Pak - Rogers

Quench your thirst for sports with Rogers Super Sports Pak.

www.rogers.com

I’m not forced to include NBA games, you could just get centre ice as well. Appears you have Roger’s, as they don’t have centre ice.
There are 2 legal options, not just Roger’s.

Yeah I have Rogers. They suck ass

 

[Ezekial]

In Europe (or the UK at least) I pay 99 USD a season and get every game live or on demand with no blackouts. It's a good system, the NHL should expand it.

That's the dream right there, every game is out of market. Luckily for me all non-nationally televised games for my team are out of market. If they're on national TV I have YouTubeTV for other live sports.

I personally get a ton of value out of my $60 a year espn+ sub between the Wings, pga golf, and volleyball for my gf. I get why it's extremely frustrating, I hope they figure out a model to allow everyone to pay a reasonable $X to watch their team every game without worry.

 

[DaveG]

At least for me ESPN recognizes when I have the VPN on & requires it to be turned off to watch anything

(this post brought to you by way of Phoenix as I sit in KY...)

yep this is also an issue, depends on who your VPN provider is but even using Nord some locations are auto-blacked out for me (Denver) whereas some VPN hubs they haven't put that on yet. And Nord tends to be one of the better VPNs to use to avoid their detection blackouts.

I actually like ESPN+ otherwise (watch a ton of college BB and FB on there) but the lack of being able to watch my local teams without having to go through a VPN is a huge pain.

 

[Boomstick]

Yup, exactly.

So in this scenario, without the out of market package. You will get the National flames games but not the regional night games.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

In Quebec, since the TVA sports/Rogers (I believe?) deal almost 10 years ago, you can't get all Habs games under one subscription. You need to subscribe to RDS for some games, then TVA sports for some other games. I would be willing to pay one provider for all Habs games, but it is absurd to have to pay twice for one thing, knowing nothing else in their programming is of any interest to me.

Hell, I'd even consider paying a bigger monthly amount to catch all NHL games to watch the occasional game from other teams, but even that is not offered.

 

[Avsfan1921]

One of the biggest tragedies missed so far in all of this: You pay a premium for an app (in my case Sportsnet) just for the luxury to watch most of your teams games in glorious 720p.

$350 to “watch” a game where every time there is a slap shop you spend the next 5 seconds trying to locate the puck because you are watching on the equivalent of a potato.

 

[WreckingCrew]

At least for me ESPN recognizes when I have the VPN on & requires it to be turned off to watch anything

(this post brought to you by way of Phoenix as I sit in KY...)

Yea, see for a long time I did things the legal/"right" way, had local cable for games and NHL.TV for others. Then when then NHL/cable provider combo started making me need more packages to catch games because they spread shit out across networks, i switch to the "most legal" way I could (paying for ESPN+/NHL.TV but using VPN to get around blackouts). Now ESPN+ won't even let you watch ANYTHING if it SENSES a VPN being used (and won't let you turn off GPS on mobile), and since the NHL doesn't have it's own app/service like it used to, f*** YOU NHL...I'll sail the 7 seas and now I can watch any game and you and the networks get nothing from me. I'd gladly pay to do it the "right" way if you'd just let me. Why the f*** should I pay for a service to watch every OTHER team except the ones that are local to me? That's like asking me to pay for cable but I can't watch any new shows, only the reruns...

 

[RogerRogerr]

The "New Cable" (Youtube, Prime, Netflix, Disney/ESPN/Hulu) wants live sports because there is a lot of ad revenue to be had. NHL on Prime is great, but it's not enough. They really need to partner up big with either Youtube or Prime to have a really sizable offer.
The NHL is rarely forward thinking and is generally not the first one of the big 4 sport to do a bold move. But they were bold and the first to locate a team in Vegas and the opportunity is once again there for the taking.

 

[waitin425]

You know what they should do if they were f***ing smart?(they arent) just have a normal subscription for each f***ing NHL team so fans can do a one time non refundable sub for the season and they get to watch there fav team for the f***ing season. This black out shit is so f***ing stupid.

A habs streaming channel that also plays Laval games. TR games. Does special games from time to time including SKA and Michigan to give us a glimpse of our prospects. Mix in highlights shows. Exclusive content for practices and interviews, etc....well take my money dammit.

 

[Caps8112]

said this in another thread just recently but the NHL will lose fans over this BS. Been watching the caps since the 80s. I dont watch anymore because Im not spending 15-20 mins trying to find where the game is and how much whatever dumb app costs. It was on the same channel for like 30 years. Now I have to have monumental or espn+ or some other BS app. The greed is ridiculous. As someone said above, Id pay for one subscription that has all of the caps games on it but Im not paying for multiple and then at game time i turn it on and its blacked out. Rather the league fold.