I'm starting to find it annoying how CBC buys national broadcast rights for games, then airs them only in certain regions. IE if you're in BC right now, its the vancouver game over the winnipeg/detroit game.

I don't think the cable company should have to carry another couple of channels, just for saturday hockey games, but it'd be nice, if CBC only planned or air it in a region.

anyways it'd be nice if they made the games regional in licensing. This way you could pick them up on centre ice or gamecentre live.

The streaming feed on CBC is awful in quality, so its not really an option.

It really only leaves one to use a vpn to circumvent the blackout.

Comon NHL and CBC, please free up the games if there not actually airing in a specific region.

Once CBC's current contract is up, I believe that's it for them. They'll never be able to outbid the Bell/Rogers Leaf alliance.

I do agree that blackouts are inexcusable in this day and age :-(

It doesn't matter who buys the rights to the games, regional blackouts will still apply if the game isn't sold out.

Agreed: Regional blackouts have nothing to do with the broadcaster. If anything, be upset at the NHL, or the team itself.

Ugh I don't think you guys understand.

Every game broadcast on HNIC has national distribution rights by CBC. This means they can't be aired on centre ice or gamecentre live.

The problem is, CBC buys rights to games that air at the same time. They end up airing different games in different regions. This means sometimes you can't watch the game you want, because they're playing the other one.

I have centre ice/gamecentre live for out of market games, but CBC owns the national rights to the games, so even if they aren't airing my local CBC, they get blacked out.

This has nothing to do with the game being sold out or the team. I'll maybe blame the NHL, but mostly I blame CBC.

It'd be like sportsnet pacific buying the national rights to canucks, even though its only aired in bc. This would keep the games from being allowed to be aired on centre ice/gamecentre live.

I just think its idiotic that CBC buys national television rights, without the intent to actually air it.

I would say blame the NHL since they are the ones that sell national rights.

I also don't think the Bell/Rogers partnership in buying MLSE will have anything to do with national rights or automatically mean CBC is done. People seem to be treating this like Bell and Rogers have merged or something. There isn't anything that says they have to bid together for the national rights. I think odds are they bid separately, and end up outbidding the CBC, but that would have happened without them buying the Leafs anyway.

Zod, I understood your point.

As an alternative solution, what about subscribing to "time shift" channels with your provider? For example, with Bell, I can watch CBC stations from across Canada.

Also, "NHL Centre Ice" is on free preview right now if I'm not mistaken...

Or are you strictly receiving CBC over-the-air?!

They end up airing different games in different regions. This means sometimes you can't watch the game you want, because they're playing the other one.

Makes perfect sense to me. If I lived in BC, why would I ever want to watch the Leafs
or the Habs over Vancouver or vice versa? I wouldn't.
Regional broadcasts are common in all major league sports.

Doesn't sound any different than what the networks do with the NFL and MLB.
example:
http://www.the506.com/nflmaps/2011/wk14.html

You have more options with a satellite dish.
example:
http://digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=144572

I also don't think the Bell/Rogers partnership in buying MLSE will have anything to do with national rights or automatically mean CBC is done. There isn't anything that says they have to bid together for the national rights. I think odds are they bid separately, and end up outbidding the CBC, but that would have happened without them buying the Leafs anyway.

I understand what you're saying. But my recollection was that the odd Blue Jays game was available on CBC and CTV prior to Rogers' ownership of the Jays. Now, it's impossible to see the Jays on conventional TV (unless they make it to the playoffs perhaps). And many times on cable, you need a digital box, as some games are only on SN1--a digital only station.

CBC has another two years of broadcast rights for HNIC. I suppose we'll find out what happens then.

If they only aired one Saturday night game, it would be the Leafs 80% of the time because that's the highest ratings getter. Then we'd have people complaining about how only the Leafs are on Saturday night instead of their local team.

As usual, you can't please everyone. What they're doing now works for more people then the alternatives.

Although I'm not a hockey fan, and this doesn't really effect me, but for those that love hockey one question?

For all the CBC channels in each city why don't they do a survey on which team is most poular in their own city?


I know their some fans that live in Edmonton and are Leafs fans, and so on.But I honestly can'r see majority of fans in one city favoring a team not from their own city? Although I'm not sure about the Sens, sometimes you wonder at Leafs/Habs games vs Sens if their more of their fans in the stands then Sens fans.

At least this way CBC can judge the fan base support?

But I guess with the 'timeshifting CBC channels' at least this way you canm watch your team more or less.

I use Shaw for my television. They only have the 1 CBC HD feed. To be fair, I know cable companies are pressed for space for more HD channels. It seems unfair for them to need to carry 1 or 2 extra CBC stations, just to air a hockey game from time to time.

As for gamecentre live. It came free with my centre ice subscription. The problem with that is, CBC has the national broadcast rights. Any game aired on CBC is subject to blackout restrictions for all of Canada on centre ice/gamecentre live. This sort of sucks when CBC opts not to air a game in a particular market, unless your cable co. does timeshift cbc with a region that happens to be playing the other game, you can't see it.

That being said. I did some googling, learned about VPN's, and found a way to bypass the region lockout in Canada. Watching it through my laptop's HDMI onto my TV isn't quite as good as watching an actual HD channel, but its still leagues better then SD or CBC's online stream. It did take me one period of hockey to figure it out, so I only got to watch the last two.

I understand what you're saying. But my recollection was that the odd Blue Jays game was available on CBC and CTV prior to Rogers' ownership of the Jays. Now, it's impossible to see the Jays on conventional TV (unless they make it to the playoffs perhaps). And many times on cable, you need a digital box, as some games are only on SN1--a digital only station.

CBC has another two years of broadcast rights for HNIC. I suppose we'll find out what happens then.
I think back then, Labatt's owned the broadcast rights and would make deals with CTV (BBS, ONT or whatever else they called themselves over the years), TSN and CBC. I don't think all 162 were available either. I think the difference from back then when the team owner also owned the broadcast rights to now where the team owner also owns the broadcast rights, is Rogers can show the games, where Labatt's couldn't. Labatt's had to make deals, Rogers doesn't. Rogers has the space to fill now, where back then, there were fewer channels, and each partner had other stuff to show as well.

Doesn't CBC stream all HNIC games on the Internet? If they don't show the game you want to watch on TV in your area, they are technically still available via computer.

Also don't expect this to change much if someone else buys the rights. National rights are worth more to the NHL then regional rights are, they're not going to get rid of them. They also get higher total ratings showing multiple games because more people in Montreal will watch the Habs then the Leafs (and more people in Toronto will watch the Leafs).

That's unfortunate for some people, but I'm a Leafs fan not in the Leafs region so I can't get most of the games anyway without CI (which is way too expensive). The national games are an improvement for me. :P

A. Here in Saskatchewan, we get CBC Regina, Toronto, and Vancouver; effectively giving us access to most of the games.

B. CBC also likes to do online streaming, thankfully.

majortom,

Makes perfect sense to me. If I lived in BC, why would I ever want to watch the Leafs
or the Habs over Vancouver or vice versa? I wouldn't.
Regional broadcasts are common in all major league sports.

Except for the fact there are thousands of people who live in provinces other than the one in which their favorite team resides. It makes no sense for the CBC to be able to decide which game somebody watches on Saturday night which is the power they have with these rights. I'm a Leaf fan who lives in AB. I couldn't care less about the Oilers. I want to watch the Leafs. If CBC decides they aren't going to show the Leaf game Saturday night, I can't watch it other than on a lousy stream. All games should be available on Center Ice. That's what it's for, so someone living in another market can watch that game. Blackouts are in effect for local games, not games in a city 3000 Km away.

All games should be available on Center Ice.
I agree with ya there.
Though it's still not unusual in major league sports for broadcasts to be regional like that.
To me, your best option for out of town sports is a modern CBAND satellite system.

It isn't CBC's fault. They air the local games in HD in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. That your provider doesn't carry these stations is your providers fault.

Bell is better than most as it carries HD CBC feeds from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and SD feeds in the other cities.

I know if CBC hasn't carried a Flames game on a Saturday, they allow RSNW to carry the game.

^^^I agree. The problem is with your service provider, not the CBC. Complain that you want CBC Toronto and if they don't listen, switch to another service provider that will and tell them that is why you are switching and if enough people do it, maybe they will learn their lesson.