Comments on: Ultimate Fighting in Broadcast Rights

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:41:42 +0000

I don’t have cable or sat TV at home and I stream every NHL game – no blackouts, ever – at hockeystreams.com. They don’t have long contracts and you can do one day, one week, one month, etc. I have the three-month at $39 right now and will re-up in January to finish the season. I run it on my newish MacBook, via my wireless router, and from Verizon FiOS internet. They have three different streams (HQ, HD and HD+) and it works perfectly for me. NHL.com online is god-awful and you can’t watch any Caps games if you are in the D.C. area.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:44:19 +0000

Oh one other thing, is you have to look at who, Viacom, Comcast, or independant, is providing the channel to Cable/Sat provider.
Take for instance the NHL channel. It is part of TSN Group which is owned in part by ESPN which is ABC so when they sell it to Cable/Sat they may include it as part of the ESPN package. Where the NBA channel used to be available if you bought the sports package on DTV or the NBA season package. So when Comcast made customers buy a sports package for the NHL channel it could be due to how they buy channels from content providers.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:33:04 +0000

Nat, I don’t know what area you live in, but no local channels is rare these days on DTV. As a former employee her are some tips. Sign up for paperless billing, then use an address in a big city near you and tell DTV you “moved” based on the zip you give them you will get the local channels of that area.
In regards to Starz, they most likely buy it in bulk so regardless if they have 1 customer with Starz or 100,000 they pay the same price. So they make you feel better because you are getting movie channels for free, but it cost them nothing.

By: NS2NOVA

NS2NOVA — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:41:36 +0000

You also bring up a good point for those of us who are either on the road or, like Gary can’t watch the game, and are required to listen to Kolbe’s excellent broadcast via internet.
Why can’t the Caps strike a deal with a radio broadcaster that can reach beyond the Beltway, in either direction.
A couple of times last year we wanted to hear the game because we were on travelling home late and wanted to stay on top of the action until we were home and could watch it. And it would be nice when we have lame play-by-play talent (I’m looking at you Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczec), to kill the sound and tune in the radio broadcast.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:20:18 +0000

We left DirectTv for Verizon FIOS, it’s far more reliable for us and we got a great package deal for phone, internet and tv!

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:44:59 +0000

I took my daughters to Glory Days last night for the free wings that came as a result of the Opening Night win. More importantly, we looked forward to watching the Caps-Flyers. Instead, nothing, because Glory Days uses DirecTV.
How sad is it that one of the Caps’ primary sponsors can’t even show their games on the “Vs.” nights because of this nonsense?

By: MulletMan

MulletMan — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:57:40 +0000

Gary, I just moved and at that time switched from Cox to V-FIOS, and have never been happier. I was able to get the expanded HD channels along with Center Ice-HD, NHL-HD, and VS-HD.
The tech that did the install a week before Center Ice went live this year had their service dept contact me over the phone and set up the Center Ice subscription. Installation took about 2 hours for two cable boxes and internet. He arrived at 8:45 in a 8-12 window.
I did help the tech out by running new coax cable prior to his arrival, so he just had to hook up the terminals and then I was in business.

By: Paint Drinking Pete

Paint Drinking Pete — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:36:09 +0000

I have a feeling this is a return on Comcast’s hold out on airing the NFL network the past two seasons. Unfortunately it is we fans that have to have pay the ultimate price.
The other gripe I’ve had with DirecTV is the fact that the NFL, MLB, and NBA network channels are all part of the basic lineup but the NHL network is not? (at least not at my sister’s house anyway).
I know a lot of people gripe about not wanting to have to pay extra for a “sports package” or extra tier for Versus, but in my opinion that is 100x better than having zero option at all.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:12:49 +0000

I am also in the same Directv boat! I called and complained and received free Starz (it’s free because it sucks). I also was given free Center Ice $168 value. And after all of this I still could not watch the game last night…until..My son found it on a free web site that was mentioned before. Something like justin.tv. So there are options out there you just have to search for them. Watching on my 20 inch cpu monitor was better then not watching at all!

By: DC Sports Chick

DC Sports Chick — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:04:49 +0000

It’s interesting because DirecTV’s reactions are all over the map. Some people are getting offered free Center Ice, some are getting free Starz for three months, some are getting $50 off Center Ice. I’m sure it has to do with where people are in their subscription package, but still.
I agree that Comcast is horrible. We had their service in our last place and it never worked well.