So I don't have cable TV. I watch all of my TV online. All via legit sources. I have an NHL Gamecenter Live subscription. I wanted to watch the Vancouver Canucks game tonight. Since it is a nationally televised game it is blacked out for 48 hours. GAH!!!! This is 2010 more and more of media is moving to the internet. Why are we protecting these old media sources. I paid for my subscription, I should be able to watch the game live.
I find it frustrating too. I don't subscribe to NHL Gamecenter Live (still using old fashioned cable) but I also find it exteremely annoying to find a game on TV, on a channel that I subscribe to and find out that it is blacked out in my area. I would find it even more frustrating to have subscribed to a service like the one above that promotes itself as a way to "watch live out-of-market games in more ways than before" and then in the fine print say "Blackouts and other restrictions apply." I just don't understand such a business mentallity when people are willing to pay to see certain games and they won't allow it for whatever reason.
I got to watch the game today. It was pretty good. I've always though the blackout rules were silly. People will still go see a game in person even if they can watch it on TV. As SlickyPants mentioned they advertise it as a way to watch 40 out of market games a week. Well for someone in Texas you can't get much more out of market than Vancouver. At least since Austin does not have an NHL team the only time I will have to deal with the black outs is when the game is national carried. Every day more and more media is moving to the internet, and it is proving to be very profitable for content providers. So instead of NBC trying to protect the advertising revenue for the Versus network, they should be find ways to take my money. I'm willing to give it to them.
I was just checking out the Canucks website out of curiousity and they stream games in partnership with Rogers Sportsnet. They charge 2.99 per game and surprise, surprise: only available to users residing in B.C. and Yukon. It boggles my mind. Bah. I've streamed Canucks games on CBC's website before but I'm not sure if they have restrictions in place for those outside of Canada. If not, it might be a good way to get a few Canucks games streamed.
Yeah I checked into that. The CBC won't stream video to people in the US. I can understand the CBC not streaming to folks outside the country, since they are supported by the tax payers. Thought it would be nice for them to have an option for folks in other countries to pay for the service. It is also really crazy for Rogers to only stream to paying users in BC and Yukon. I would be paying so why do they care where I am located. I would expect Rogers to have peering agreements with the US internet backbone providers, so it shouldn't cost them any extra. I was driving home from physical therapy when tonights game started. I was able to listen via my smart phone using the Bell Media app. In fact the app had a whole mess of radio stations I could listen to. That is what I am talking about. The goal of the internet is to make the world flat. I understand that it costs money, so I am not asking for free. Anyone in the world should be able to consume content from anywhere in the world. We are slowly moving that way. The traditional media is going kicking and screaming, which is making it take much longer. The silly thing is that the infrastructure for distributing content over the internet is so much less expensive than that of traditional media.
