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Upstate NY blacked out more often every season

mgftp

Registered User
Oct 24, 2011
49
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Any info on this? Other fans upstate must be struggling like myself. I can't recall the time line exactly but in my market this never happened 3 years ago but it seems to happen more and more each season since then. Judging by my guide no game again tonight.

Only answer I have gotten from anyone (MSG, NHL, Cable Co.) is that it's because of the expansion of TV rights for the Buffalo Sabers market. But I can't get an answer as to why some Ranger games are available and why others aren't.

The weirder thing is it doesn't look like I could even watch the game on GameCenter tonight if I wanted to since it's blacked out on there since the game "airs in my local market".... seems like the NHL has got something seriously wrong.

I used to have a good link where I could catch games in nearly HD quality when this was going on, but I lost it :(
Click to read more...
 
mgftp said:
Any info on this? Other fans upstate must be struggling like myself. I can't recall the time line exactly but in my market this never happened 3 years ago but it seems to happen more and more each season since then. Judging by my guide no game again tonight.

Only answer I have gotten from anyone (MSG, NHL, Cable Co.) is that it's because of the expansion of TV rights for the Buffalo Sabres market. But I can't get an answer as to why some Ranger games are available and why others aren't.

The weirder thing is it doesn't look like I could even watch the game on GameCenter tonight if I wanted to since it's blacked out on there since the game "airs in my local market".... seems like the NHL has got something seriously wrong.

I used to have a good link where I could catch games in nearly HD quality when this was going on, but I lost it :(
Click to expand...

consider it a blessing. im in syr and im blacked out alot.

its the nights im not that seem to be the worst....
 
Have family in the area. They have Verizon Fios, with 6 MSG Channels (2 HD, 4 non), plus NBCSN and NHL Network, said they've seen every game.

Even in my area, I will notice a BBall game on MSGHD but a hockey game on MSG.
 
Upstate, NY here. I got sick of the black outs. Heard rumors they were better on Directv.

Last season I had 2 black outs. (Directv with Center ice). This year - I have not had one yet and just checked my guide, game is not blacked out on MSG either.

If you're a hockey fan, I cannot stress how awesome Directv with Center Ice is.
 
even with cable if you have center ice you will see all the games, but the blackouts are just ridiculous. i am in the binghamton area
 
The Sabres used to be on the Empire channel. When the Regis family went off to prison the whole logistical network they'd built up disappeared as well and for some reason upstate New York Rangers fans have since been saddled with Sabres games often in place of their own games. Frustrating that the MSG network seems okay with it. Personally I could give a **** less about Buffalo or their sports teams and have been streaming blacked out Rangers games ever since this ******** started--and FWIW Streamo this year provides a very good quality picture. So be it.

As a final aside Rick Jeanrette may just to be the worst hockey announcer in the business. Definitely a homer to the nth degree--not that there aren't a number of others like that. I find his voice really aggravating. Very bombastic. Reminds me of Rush Limbaugh.
 
It doesn't seem though that it's just a matter of MSG broadcasting the Sabers instead of Rangers because many times the MSG channel the Rangers are supposed to be on is just off air during the Rangers game.
 
It's an agreement with the channel provider - they broadcast over the normal broadcast.

If you lived in a different area you'd have the "regular" MSG programming.

Time Warner is trash, I work with a Rangers fan who has TW and he's constantly *****ing about black outs.
 
If you have time Warner cable try channel 1553. I don't know where you're located but I have watched every game on that channel. It's SD but its better than not being able to watch my team.
 
macehockey24 said:
If you have time Warner cable try channel 1553. I don't know where you're located but I have watched every game on that channel. It's SD but its better than not being able to watch my team.
Click to expand...

Yea, I found some games on weird channels other nights but quality is always horrendous.

Ok so 1553 says it'll have the game tonight but judging by what is on now it's the same problem. It's a super small picture, you got the same thing? Big black margins all around the sides - looks less than SD to me, unless I am just spoiled with HD.
 
I can definitely sympathize with this. I grew up in Utica and pretty much everyone was a Ranger fan. Devils probably came in second cause of the Utica Devils, Marty played there before he was full-time in NHL, etc.

The NHL really doesnt know its markets very well, because this has just pissed everyone off in that area, but its a money ploy to get you to pay more to watch them.

Buffalo teams are only popular in WNY, on the whole. Theyre the butt of a lot of jokes, as they should be. **** city, **** teams. No idea why anyone would willingly cheer for their teams tbh.
 
mgftp said:
Any info on this? Other fans upstate must be struggling like myself. I can't recall the time line exactly but in my market this never happened 3 years ago but it seems to happen more and more each season since then. Judging by my guide no game again tonight.

Only answer I have gotten from anyone (MSG, NHL, Cable Co.) is that it's because of the expansion of TV rights for the Buffalo Sabres market. But I can't get an answer as to why some Ranger games are available and why others aren't.

The weirder thing is it doesn't look like I could even watch the game on GameCenter tonight if I wanted to since it's blacked out on there since the game "airs in my local market".... seems like the NHL has got something seriously wrong.

I used to have a good link where I could catch games in nearly HD quality when this was going on, but I lost it :(
Click to expand...



Theres that brilliant Bettman logic.
 
Heyoooo said:
I can definitely sympathize with this. I grew up in Utica and pretty much everyone was a Ranger fan. Devils probably came in second cause of the Utica Devils, Marty played there before he was full-time in NHL, etc.

The NHL really doesnt know its markets very well, because this has just pissed everyone off in that area, but its a money ploy to get you to pay more to watch them.

Buffalo teams are only popular in WNY, on the whole. Theyre the butt of a lot of jokes, as they should be. **** city, **** teams. No idea why anyone would willingly cheer for their teams tbh.
Click to expand...

The Rangers have much deeper roots in the area I grew up in than any other NHL team. Growing up--you could catch about 30 + Rangers television games per season--(Jim Gordon, Bill Chadwick) on the WOR channel. No other team including the Sabres were available ( apart from weekend national broadcasts of whoever happened to be the chosen by the national tv people that week) so long time hockey fans here tend to be Rangers fans. Those marketing for the NHL don't seem to have a clue in this regard. Yeah--there's some Sabres fans around here now but they hardly outnumber Bruins, Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Penguins fans and the Rangers still have more than any of them.
 
I am in Ithaca (Syracuse market, MSG Zone 2). It is Sabres territory all the way to Albany. The NHL allows up to 50 Rangers games a year, but this year there aren't supposed to be any blackouts. I get every Rangers and Sabres and most Devils/Isles games on Directv. Even last year, I got every Rangers and Sabres game and most Devs/Isles. I had TWC for years and they are the worst for screwing up blackouts and lousy picture quality. Directv absolutely rules.
 
All Rangers, Islanders, and Devils games are blacked out in the Sabres' primary market (Buffalo and Rochester).

All Sabres games are blacked out in the Rangers, Islanders and Devils primary markets. (Rockland, Westchester, Northern NJ, Long Island).

Once you leave the primary markets, the NHL has rules in place to ensure teams don't encroach other team's outer markets. A maximum of 50 to 60 Rangers games can be broadcast outside the NYC direct marketing association. The number of games varies from season to season depending on the NHL Schedule.

For those of you with DirectTV who haven't had any blackouts this year but live outside of the NYC direct marketing association, are you subscribed to NHL Center Ice?
 
MSG and the Rangers have been on in Utica for over 40 years, so excuse us if we're a little skeptical that the NHL comes in about 6 years ago and suddenly says "oh now youre a Sabres market."

Utica is ~165 miles to NYC as the crow flies. Buffalo is ~185.

Albany is four hours from Buffalo, and two from NYC, and its in the Sabres market? Gimme a break.
 
mgftp said:
Any info on this? Other fans upstate must be struggling like myself. I can't recall the time line exactly but in my market this never happened 3 years ago but it seems to happen more and more each season since then. Judging by my guide no game again tonight.

Only answer I have gotten from anyone (MSG, NHL, Cable Co.) is that it's because of the expansion of TV rights for the Buffalo Sabres market. But I can't get an answer as to why some Ranger games are available and why others aren't.

The weirder thing is it doesn't look like I could even watch the game on GameCenter tonight if I wanted to since it's blacked out on there since the game "airs in my local market".... seems like the NHL has got something seriously wrong.

I used to have a good link where I could catch games in nearly HD quality when this was going on, but I lost it :(
Click to expand...

I'm in Syracuse, game was on MSG2 (Verizon FiOS), was also on center ice (Tampa feed)...
 
Couple reasons -

1. DirecTV has the bandwidth to allow for "overlapping" territorial boundaries.
2. If MSG dictates certain areas are still covered by MSG, and the provider has the ability to show the programming, the programming is shown.
2a. DirecTV will then add that channel as an RSN (Regional Sports Network) to those areas. For example, DTV is 634-MSG, 635-MSG+, 636-MSG2, 637-MSG+2, 638-MSG(Buffalo).
3. NHL territorial rights only extend out a certain radius or by geographic region*. They are expanded by the RSN's ability to get into homes outside the radius. The problem on cable in upstate NY is that MSG is the channel for ALL NY hockey teams, and instead of having MSG-NYC and MSG-Buffalo (which used to be the case when it was MSG and Empire), there's only one channel. Seems like the areas in which Empire went to got priority, even if nobody actually watched it.
4. Center Ice will show the opponent broadcast in the areas outside the official "territorial rights" zone, hence someone in Syracuse with DTV will see the Rangers on MSG, and will see the opponent broadcast as well on CI.

*-I live in Charlotte, NC. We are still in the Hurricanes rights zone even though we are well over 100 miles from Raleigh. However, cable subscrbers get the Nashville Predators games on tape delay, and used to get the Atlanta Thrashers on tape delay.
 
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