26CornerBlitz Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 http://sabres.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=92852&navid=DL|BUF|home The Buffalo Sabres and Bell have announced that Sabres games will now be carried on Bell TV in Southern Ontario. Sabres games, previously available on NHL Center Ice, will now be included as part of Bell TV regular programming – at no extra cost – starting with the Oct. 10 matchup against Columbus. http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2013/10/08/sabres-ring-in-canadian-television-deal Buffalo Sabres fans in southern Ontario can finally watch their team on television. The Sabres have reached an agreement with Bell to televise 51 regular-season games beginning with Thursday’s home game versus the Columbus Blue Jackets. Buffalo games have not been available in the southern Ontario market, other than nationally televised games, for about 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Money grab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Only problem is that its only available through Bell. Anyone with Cable is still out of luck around here. I really don't want to switch my internet and cable over to them just to catch 51 Sabres games, but its probably cheaper then Centre ice on Cable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Money grab Terry's trying to get in on fracking in Ontario. Only problem is that its only available through Bell. Anyone with Cable is still out of luck around here. I really don't want to switch my internet and cable over to them just to catch 51 Sabres games, but its probably cheaper then Centre ice on Cable If you live in the region, you will be blacked out on Centre Ice, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattPie Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Only problem is that its only available through Bell. Anyone with Cable is still out of luck around here. I really don't want to switch my internet and cable over to them just to catch 51 Sabres games, but its probably cheaper then Centre ice on Cable Call your cable company and ask nicely about it. When they say it's not available, make like you're going to move to Bell. They'll probably discount you at least. What'll suck is this *may* mean Center Ice will be blacked out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Call your cable company and ask nicely about it. When they say it's not available, make like you're going to move to Bell. They'll probably discount you at least. What'll suck is this *may* mean Center Ice will be blacked out now. Pretty sure it's blacked out: http://sabres.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=685981&navid=DL|BUF|home&utm_campaign=Wildfire+Message+-+Southern+Ontario+to+get+%23Sabres+games+on+Bell...&utm_content=po_520623&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Pretty sure it's blacked out: http://sabres.nhl.co..._source=Twitter While Sabres games will now be available to all Bell Fibe and Satellite TV customers in the Southern Ontario region at no extra charge through the regular Bell TV package, games will not be available in the region on NHL Centre Ice or the NHL GameCenter online application Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 While Sabres games will now be available to all Bell Fibe and Satellite TV customers in the Southern Ontario region at no extra charge through the regular Bell TV package, games will not be available in the region on NHL Centre Ice or the NHL GameCenter online application But is that only if you have Centre Ice through Bell?If you have Cable, you don't have the ability to view the games on a non Centre Ice Channel, but this was a question I was wondering about. Could this deal with Bell screw over anyone who has Cogeco Cable and Centre Ice? This would piss me off and I would actually agree with the "Money grab" comment (even though i know it was just a joke), great way to get Sabres fans using Cable over to Bells Satelitte service. Adding a little bit of fuel to the Conspiracy theorists around here, IIRC Bell & Rogers were the companies that joined together to buy the Leafs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Unless there's some reason to be livid about Bell (and there's some reason to hate every content distributor), I'm pretty sure that this is a big win for the Sabres and Ted Black. Regionalizing the fan base, giving long time Canadian Sabres fans what they've wanted, getting increased ad revenue, etc. The possibility exists that this dael may expand to other content distributors in Southern Ontario in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Unless there's some reason to be livid about Bell (and there's some reason to hate every content distributor), I'm pretty sure that this is a big win for the Sabres and Ted Black. Regionalizing the fan base, giving long time Canadian Sabres fans what they've wanted, getting increased ad revenue, etc. The possibility exists that this dael may expand to other content distributors in Southern Ontario in the future. Its great that finally they have been able to get a deal done to show games here. You can catch almost all the Leafs games here on tv in Niagara, yet its a longer drive to get to the ACC then the FNC Problem is that its only one tv service provider, its not like they made a deal with a tv station, that could broadcast the games to all TV services. For most people (most people I know in niagara) have cable, and not Satelitte, so it would involve switching your service over to get the games. i would be furious right now if I had already paid for Centre ice or Game Centre on Cable like I had in the past and found out they are now blacked out. I was going to wait til next week to sign up since Centre Ice has been free or they have played the games on TSN (NBC games vs 'Wings and Lightning) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 The games shouldn't be blacked out because it isn't nationally televised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 i would be furious right now if I had already paid for Centre ice or Game Centre on Cable like I had in the past and found out they are now blacked out. There would have to be some sort of resolution for this, but it may require the usual ridiculous amount of bitching via telephone to get. And in the end, to get Sabres, it'd almost certainly require switching. The games shouldn't be blacked out because it isn't nationally televised. Not the case I know of. I have Center Ice in Los Angeles, and the center ice feeds are blacked out in favor of the local feeds for both the Kings and the Ducks. If the games are available locally, ie you're in the team's market (OR the games are nationally televised) then the Center Ice feeds are blacked out. Generally this only screws you if you have Center Ice and don't get NBCSN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampD Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 The games shouldn't be blacked out because it isn't nationally televised. Does that matter? GameCenter blacks out local games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattPie Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Right. All the Flyers games are blacked out here in Philly, whether they're on Comcast SportsNet or national TV, because they are available in the area. Not to rehash the discussion in the gamecenter/CI trhead, but that's why cable stations pay money to sports teams for the rights. They want to 'guarantee' that all the eyeballs that want to watch the Sabres are watching their ads between plays. Cogeco (or whomever else is up there) has to either accept that some folks are going to leave for Bell, or try to license the games for their own system (assuming Bell didn't get an exclusive contract). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Right. All the Flyers games are blacked out here in Philly, whether they're on Comcast SportsNet or national TV, because they are available in the area. Not to rehash the discussion in the gamecenter/CI trhead, but that's why cable stations pay money to sports teams for the rights. They want to 'guarantee' that all the eyeballs that want to watch the Sabres are watching their ads between plays. Cogeco (or whomever else is up there) has to either accept that some folks are going to leave for Bell, or try to license the games for their own system (assuming Bell didn't get an exclusive contract). Only times there is no blackout is when the local affiliate NBC 10 airs Flyers games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Right. All the Flyers games are blacked out here in Philly, whether they're on Comcast SportsNet or national TV, because they are available in the area. Not to rehash the discussion in the gamecenter/CI trhead, but that's why cable stations pay money to sports teams for the rights. They want to 'guarantee' that all the eyeballs that want to watch the Sabres are watching their ads between plays. Cogeco (or whomever else is up there) has to either accept that some folks are going to leave for Bell, or try to license the games for their own system (assuming Bell didn't get an exclusive contract). The only difference in this situation is that we are talking about a service provider airing the games for free on their service, and not a network/station. This isn't NBC, or TSN, or Sportsnet here picking up the games to air them, its Bell. This would be like Time Warner getting the rights to air their games on their service instead of Direct TV or Dish network, etc. I don't know of any other team that has a similar agreement, and they haven't gone into too much detail in the articles as to the availability of airing the games on other service providers. Bell currently has phone (landline and Cell), Satelitte, and internet services they provide, so its understandable that if you have Bell satelitte or internet, you won't get the games on Centre Ice or Game Centre through Bell. Unless the Sabres signed an exclusive agreement that bell is the only service provider to carry Sabres games in Southern Ontario, I don't know if they can black out Centre ice or Game Centre on other providers in the area. I wonder if the league would allow them to work out an exclusive deal with Bell though, that would hurt the NHLs pockets because now you had a large area of fans subscribing in Southern Ontario to Centre ice and Game Centre who now may not want the service if they can't watch Sabres games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattPie Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Bell currently has phone (landline and Cell), Satelitte, and internet services they provide, so its understandable that if you have Bell satelitte or internet, you won't get the games on Centre Ice or Game Centre through Bell. Unless the Sabres signed an exclusive agreement that bell is the only service provider to carry Sabres games in Southern Ontario, I don't know if they can black out Centre ice or Game Centre on other providers in the area. I wonder if the league would allow them to work out an exclusive deal with Bell though, that would hurt the NHLs pockets because now you had a large area of fans subscribing in Southern Ontario to Centre ice and Game Centre who now may not want the service if they can't watch Sabres games I understand what you're saying, and you may have a point with the TV station vs. picming up games angle. But, for awhile Comcast wasn't licensing Comcast Sports to anyone else on the Philly area (Verizon FIOS, really) so you had to get their cable to see the games. They were still blacked out on GC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 IF they don't black out other carriers, this is a great thing. It's painfully stupid that people on the wrong side of a river can't see the games on TV. The Sabres should be doing all they can to ensure everyone from Hamilton east end up cheering for the b&g rather than the Evil Empire at the other end of the QEW. (Sorry Millbank) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 It is my belief, and I'm willing to hear discussion to the contrary, that it is always better to have a team available on a regular-tier distribution (like included in reasonable tier of cable or satellite) than it is for that team to be available only on costly Center Ice/Game Center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 IF they don't black out other carriers, this is a great thing. It's painfully stupid that people on the wrong side of a river can't see the games on TV. The Sabres should be doing all they can to ensure everyone from Hamilton east end up cheering for the b&g rather than the Evil Empire at the other end of the QEW. (Sorry Millbank) Notably, the Bell coverage area ends outside of Hamilton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Sabres have posted a map of the broadcast radius, which extends 50 miles (exactly I think) from the arena. Stops just east of Hamilton. My only guess is that they have to be specific about where the broadcast goes. They also include a long, long list of Canadian postal codes that are in the broadcast area, which to me as an American reads like somebody barfed Alphabet Bet soup all over a Speak N' Spell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repster Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Here's the deal: Anyone like me that does not have Bell Satellite TV or Fibre optic service, does not get games on the Cogeco cable version of NHLCI - except the Saturday night games that the Sabres can't show. Hockey Night in Canada has exclusive national rights for Saturday night games, so the Satuday Sabres games are available on NHLCI according to the Cogeco schedule. As you can see, games that are not on Saturday have an N/A next to the schedule. So, I will definitely not be paying the cable company for the Saturday night games only, and will have to rely on the internet IF I want to watch. I called Cogeco and they said that they are not in negotiations with the Sabres, in repsonse to my direct question if they were. That's not to say that the Bell deal is exclusive, but right now it is. Funny how things work out, this was the first year since it was available to homeowners that I wasn't going to buy it anyway. http://www.cogeco.ca...standard_hd.pdf The equivalent situation is living in Buffalo and having Time Warner Cable but the Sabres were only available on DirecTV as apus had mentioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKnowPhysics Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Write your Congressman. Haha, just kidding. In reality there may be no way for your cable company (Cogeco?) to distribute only to the negotiated (NHL broadcast rules mandated??) 50 mile radius. I don't know, but that could be a technological barrier for Cogeco, one that's pretty easily overcome in satellite receiver box technology for Bell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Sabres have posted a map of the broadcast radius, which extends 50 miles (exactly I think) from the arena. Stops just east of Hamilton. My only guess is that they have to be specific about where the broadcast goes. They also include a long, long list of Canadian postal codes that are in the broadcast area, which to me as an American reads like somebody barfed Alphabet Bet soup all over a Speak N' Spell. You have a problem with how we use a 6 character code of Numbers and Letters up here?Guess its not as fancy to have L3C2H8 as the name of a show instead of 90210? Here's the deal: Anyone like me that does not have Bell Satellite TV or Fibre optic service, does not get games on the Cogeco cable version of NHLCI - except the Saturday night games that the Sabres can't show. Hockey Night in Canada has exclusive national rights for Saturday night games, so the Satuday Sabres games are available on NHLCI according to the Cogeco schedule. As you can see, games that are not on Saturday have an N/A next to the schedule. So, I will definitely not be paying the cable company for the Saturday night games only, and will have to rely on the internet IF I want to watch. I called Cogeco and they said that they are not in negotiations with the Sabres, in repsonse to my direct question if they were. That's not to say that the Bell deal is exclusive, but right now it is. Funny how things work out, this was the first year since it was available to homeowners that I wasn't going to buy it anyway. http://www.cogeco.ca...standard_hd.pdf The equivalent situation is living in Buffalo and having Time Warner Cable but the Sabres were only available on DirecTV as apus had mentioned I would make the switch, but figure I will wait to hopefully sell my house first and move, then at the new place go with Bell if they will continue to broadcast the games for free (I'm just waiting for the hook from them where they will do this for a year or 2 for free, get a bunch of new subscribers, then move it to make it a package deal. From the games so far, It doesn't look like I will be missing much by not watching. And if they keep looking bad, its possible through stub hub that I can attend a game or 2 a month and actually spend less then I would have with Centre Ice or Game Centre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom webster Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Unless there's some reason to be livid about Bell (and there's some reason to hate every content distributor), I'm pretty sure that this is a big win for the Sabres and Ted Black. Regionalizing the fan base, giving long time Canadian Sabres fans what they've wanted, getting increased ad revenue, etc. The possibility exists that this dael may expand to other content distributors in Southern Ontario in the future. I agree, it is potentially a huge deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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