NHL Streaming Service Descends Into Blackout Hell; NHL Threatens Anyone Trying To Circumvent Blackouts
from the puck-that dept
While we have written quite a bit about major professional sports leagues marching towards expanded streaming options for viewers, and while each league is making progress in that direction, not all of the leagues are equal in how they're going about it. The NHL has been by far the least progressive in this arena, which is somewhat strange given how much more progressive it has been on other issues of modernity. On streaming, however, there seems to be some flip-flopping, with the league banning the use of services like Periscope by journalists, but then seeking to piggyback on baseball's fantastic MLB Advanced Media product to get better streaming to its viewers. The entire point of increased streaming options is to get the product out to as many people as possible, grow the fanbase, and ultimately rake in more money via increased viewership.
Which is what makes is supremely odd to see the NHL fail so hard recently with its streaming product and react to that failure by menacing anyone who might try to route around it. If you weren't already aware, a recent upgrade to the league's NHL.tv product appears to have instituted a refreshed round of blackout rules for games at the exact time when other leagues are attempting to minimize the impact of blackouts. Per Deadspin:
We’ve been getting tips all week from frustrated NHL.tv customers who installed NHL.tv’s new upgrade this week, only to see the entire service dissolve into an malfunctioning mess of blackouts. At pretty much any time when games are on, the @NHLTVSupport account’s mentions are full of hordes of complainers and angry people trying fruitlessly to be able to watch games on the platform they paid $160 for.In addition to the surprise blackouts suddenly rearing their ugly heads, it appears that NHL.tv is having trouble working across certain devices for whatever reason. Chromebooks in particular appear to be affected, but other devices render the stream into a pixelated hell-scape. This is particularly problematic for a sport that relies so heavily on high-res viewing in order to follow the puck and the action in an arena where color differentiation is much more limited than with other sports.
But adding insult to injury is the all-caps threat clause the NHL slid into the update.
IF YOU CIRCUMVENT OR ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMVENT ANY BLACKOUT RESTRICTION OR OTHER USE RESTRICTION: YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE TERMINATION AND A CHARGE OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00) FOR EARLY TERMINATION WILL BE APPLIED TO YOUR CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD; YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO LEGAL ACTION; AND THE NHL RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REPORT SUCH MISCONDUCT TO APPROPRIATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.Lovely. So a product that doesn't appear to work as advertised, served up to a customer base that appears to have been ill-informed about the blackout rules subsequently put in place for the product, is now on notice that doing anything to address this beyond waiting for the NHL to get their shit together will lose their subscription, be charged a fine, and be reported to the authorities for legal action.
Not exactly the best way to win over existing and new customers, NHL, particularly given that you're the league that can least afford to lose any fans.
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Filed Under: blackouts, hockey, streaming, video
Companies: nhl
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'Would you like some lemon juice and salt for that paper cut?'
Congrats to the NHL for doing everything in their power to make piracy of their games the better option I guess, as pirates only face the last problem if they get caught, they don't have to pay for a broken service first.
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Re: 'Would you like some lemon juice and salt for that paper cut?'
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Stupid Customer Tax?
Seems to me like this is a situation where short-term greed works, despite killing any future long-term goals. At least when Hulu stopped working on my devices, they didn't take my money and then charge me a early-termination fee for stopping my subscription. They acknowledged the fact that I had tried to work with them for six months, refunded the payments for all six months worth of testing, and allowed me to walk away. (Now that I have a Roku 4, I should have a device capable of working with their service, and should check them out again.) Other companies (Sling, Netflix, etc.) do similar. Seems to me that this contract is entirely unconscionable, and the only goal is to charge people not to deliver anything, and hope that they are too stupid to care.
Then again, the same is true with MLB.tv right now...the only reason I'd suggest anyone buy MLB.tv is if they are interested in watching the team from somewhere else, and don't care about the few times that that team happens to play the home team. Unless that has changed recently, which I don't believe it has, watching your home team is still unavailable. I know people who bought MLB.tv only to find out they couldn't watch the team they wanted to.
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Re: Stupid Customer Tax?
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Re: Re: Stupid Customer Tax?
I still struggle to see why this is a thing...if you are a cable subscriber (other than being away from your TV,) why wouldn't you just turn on the cable, switch to Fox, and watch the game.
I am not a cable subscriber, thus a reason to want MLB.tv. Hopefully they drop the cable subscriber requirement soon.
I am a season ticket holder of my home team, and would love to be able to watch the games not played at home (as the current blockout covers both at home games of the home team, as well as away games for the home team.)
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FTC, FCC legality
The US Government allows them to exist because in some situations having a monopoly is advantageous to many competitors. In theory, the government heavily regulates these monopolies. In practice, lobbying dollars tend to speak louder than voters.
The thing is, that breaks down when a large issue causes the population to band together. In this case, either the Federal Trade Commission, or the Federal Communication Commission could change their rules to disallow blackouts.
They have a pretty big case for deceptive trade practices if someone paid for something, and are then being threatened if they attempt to obtain what they paid for.
Looks like the NHL is about to lose quite a bit of money. Either through lost subscriptions, or from lawsuits and regulation. Heck, it will probably face all three.
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Less common, Auckland's CBD losing it's power supply again.
:D
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"If you won't watch it in person, you're not watching it via tv" basically.
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If I have NHL.tv in Southern California, I am not allowed to watch any Kings or Ducks games, because they are broadcast on my local cable provider $$$.
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Sounds legit.
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NHL.tv is something I would pay for IF I could watch ANY team no matter where they are or who they play.
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Damn glad that the Blackhawks aren't available in Madison.
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Blackouts are an effort to force fans to buy tickets to see the game in person.
So if your a fan and resident of New York you are prevented from watching home games on TV and via streaming. Your only legal option is purchasing an expensive ticket and watch in person.
It's a great way for the league to say Fuuuuuuuuck you Mr. Fan! I bet it works really well at building the fan base.
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Why did the Atlanta Braves decide to move up to the burbs where the new stadium is not served by public transport? Because that's where the rich people are who won't go to the dirty dangerous, and "dark" city. Fuck the truck driver who wants to take his son to a game. The team owners don't need him anymore.
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The ill will generated was enough to stop the NFL from doing it, I guess it wasn't enough to stop those wacky stick-puckers from giving it a go.
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Not anymore.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000480822/article/nfl-suspends-local-blackout-policy-fo r-2015
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They want the fans to pay $160 to watch the games AND buy tickets to go to the home games both. That way they get paid twice, which is better than getting paid only once. See?
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For example, If you live in Washington and the Capitals are playing at home and/or the game is on regular TV in your local you won't be able to watch the stream. Completely ridiculous. The league is just not getting how people want the content delivered.
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I'll do yiu the favor though, a blackout is what happens when you drink too much alcohol, OR, in this case, someone hits you in the face so hard, as to knock you the hell out!!
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Annnnnd this is why I just pirate it
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Sounds like the sort of stuff illegal scammer would do not a legitimate business.
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Hello class action bait and switch
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This is also the same league that was outwitted by two goons who had the foresight to remove each others helmets.
This is not a league with management built to last.
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1) If a game is not sold out, it cannot be broadcast in its "home" area.
2) A game cannot be streamed to someone in its "home" area, mainly because of licensing arrangements between the leagues and local broadcasters.
3) A game cannot be watched on a regional station being watched outside its "home" area. For example, if you get a regional sports network (NESN or SNY, for example) as a part of your satellite package and you are outside those areas, games shown on those networks will be blacked out for you.
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As it stands, games between US teams may be available when Canadian teams are blacked out - so this may be a way of transferring revenues to those franchises from rabid hockey fans up North.
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Of course, it's not sanctioned by the NHL which is why it's good.
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Leafs tickets sell out every single time due to all the scalpers and suits, yet local games are always blacked out due to Sportsnet or TSN covering those games. Why pay $160+/yr for that garbage.
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NHL and Streaming
1) the MLB Content Delivery Network (CDN) is much worse than the GCL CDN was. Just ask all the foreign viewers that are not having streaming issues that can be directly traced to a poor CDN.
2) MLB is much more agressive in enforcing blackout rules so the new NHL.TV product is also. Resulting in many US veiwers no longer able to view games that they could previously.
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whocares
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NHL TV
The they have a tremendous product but are really screwed up trying in a totally inept manner delivering the product.
Buffering is totally atrocious and should be an embaressment tho anybody associated with the NHL
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New NHL.TV a gigantic step backward
Dear NHL, I buy your licensed goods (which there are prescious little available) and I go to hockey games in my local market. I don't know who you are trying to appeal to, but you've lost me.
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GameCenter
However, after doing some research I came across a sort of hack. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising, and ITS FREE. You will need a bit of tech sauvy to get it up and running but it should be worth it for HD sports.
Here is the link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLStreams/comments/2jq1ba/the_lazy_mans_program_for_vlc_all_oss/
Good luck, and fuck NHL Game Center
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close. Yep. 200 miles from San Jose is where I live. But their games are blacked out. I
guess because of bay area cable sports network CSN. Okay. I get that. But today it's
Buffalo vs Columbus. The only NHL game being played today. And it's blacked out on
NHLTV. So it's on NBCSN, right? No. They're showing poker. And not strip poker.
Regular poker. Which became a sport at the same time as spellin bee's, I guess. But,
anyway, 1) not in local market 2) no local tv coverage 3) no national tv coverage. And
the game is blacked out, why exactly?
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Nhltv stinks
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black out
why the hell would i sign with this bunch???
why the hell would anyone want to sign with this bunch???
i think it's time for a little pay back.( OK CUSTOMER )
TIME TO TELL ROGER'S... STOP THE BLACK OUT'S... (OR)
GOOD BUY TO YOUR GREEDY CABLE SERVICE.
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blackouts
Customers should be made aware before their purchase NHLtv of what toronto maple leaf games will be blacked out. I feel that I have paid for a services that I am not able to receive.
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The way the nhl.tv blackout policy works
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NHL blackouts
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