XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: sk.politics, man.politics, mtl.general   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   On 12/13/2014 9:36 PM, gregcarrsober@gmail.com wrote:   
   > I watched the Jets and Canucks lose tonite and it cost me 0.   
      
   Enjoy that while you can.  They're weaning their hockey games from CBC to their   
   own SUBSCRIPTION-ONLY channels.   
   They'll keep you hooked on 'free' for awhile longer, then as the games progress   
   towards playoffs and the Stanley Cup, you're going to find the games on the   
   subscribed channels only.   
   Welcome to Rogers ownership of hockey night in Canada . . . .   
   ____________________________   
   montrealgazette.com  December 13, 2014   
      
   It's a strange new world, but we keep watching   
      
   [- - -]   
   And, as was so often the case this fall, conversation at some point turns to   
   the strange new world of hockey on TV that’s recently been imposed on us.   
   This   
   is the first season under the blockbuster 12-year, $5.2-billion deal between   
   telecom giant Rogers and the National Hockey League, and it’s a radical   
   change   
   for hockey fans across Canada.   
      
   Until this year, your Saturday nights were pretty simple. If you wanted the   
   Habs in English, you watched Hockey Night in Canada on CBC and got your blood   
   boiling during the first intermission as Don Cherry waxed not-so-poetic about   
   his love for the Leafs, the Bruins and our country’s military men.   
      
   Now it’s, not to put too fine a point on it, full-on confusion. The Canadiens   
   game might be on City — where’s that, you may well ask — or on   
   Sportsnet. Or on   
   Sportsnet 360, which I’d never heard of before this fall. The one sure thing   
   is   
   the Montreal game won’t be on CBC on a Saturday night, because that choice   
   spot   
   on the dial is reserved exclusively for the Maple Leafs because … well,   
   because   
   we apparently live in the Leafs Nation.   
      
   (Funny eh? We thought the coverage couldn’t possibly get more Toronto-centric   
   than it was under the CBC regime but at least the CBC, under fan pressure, had   
   added many more Habs games in recent years. But Rogers has made its preference   
   clear, never ever allowing anyone but T-Dot’s losing hockey club to occupy   
   the   
   prime position at 7 p.m. Saturdays on CBC.)   
      
   On the French side of the dial, you now have to have a subscription to TVA   
   Sports to get the Habs game in the language of Béliveau on a Saturday night.   
   In   
   fact, you now need subscriptions to both TVA Sports and RDS if you want to   
   watch every game in French. If you want all of the NHL games in the language of   
   Gretzky, then you need subscriptions to all the Sportsnet channels, including   
   Sportsnet 360 and FX Canada.   
      
   So it’s confusing, costs you more money, isn’t nearly as Habs-friendly as   
   Rogers sports guru Scott Moore promised and hockey fans across the country   
   still have to deal with the irritating fact that so many games are blacked-out   
   in different markets. More on that last point later.   
      
   New blackouts   
      
   The other irritant for hockey fans in general and Habs fans in particular are   
   the blackouts. Many viewers outside Quebec who want to see Canadiens games are   
   finding themselves out of luck. The RDS games are only available in the   
   Canadiens’ “regional” TV market, which has been defined by the NHL as   
   going   
   from Belleville, Ont., east to St. John’s, NL. Before, the RDS Habs games   
   were   
   all available right across the country.   
      
   “It’s increased the offer but at the same time, it has fragmented the   
   offer,”   
   said Richelieu. “Not all the consumers have subscriptions to the channels.   
   It’s   
   more choice and you have to pay for it. We’re hearing some consumers   
   complaining about that.”   
      
   Richelieu says the lack of availability of games nationally is a huge issue.   
      
   “In my opinion, this is problematic, especially if you’ve subscribed to a   
   (cable or satellite) package,” said Richelieu. “I don’t think it’s   
   fair to not   
   allow consumers access to Winnipeg Jets games because the viewer is in the   
   Montreal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators region. If you pay for the package, you   
   should have access to all the games. This issue of regionalizing the games in   
   order to extract as much revenue as possible from this TV deal is definitely   
   unfair to consumers.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)