Sabres on NHL Centre Ice in Canada??

[macbb]

Can anyone answer the following, or point me in the right direction to ask? ...

 

I'm located in Hamilton, ON. I'm thinking of getting NHL Centre Ice through Cogeco Cable, because I want a way to watch the Sabres. Right now, I can't get the Sabres games (legally) in Canada, because MSG isn't available to us.

 

My concern is that, being relatively close to Buffalo, and also being close to Toronto (yuck), will I have problems with blackouts of Sabres games?

 

Has anyone in Canada subscribed to Centre Ice, and if so, where were you, and were you able to get the Sabres games? Ideally, it would be nice to hear from someone who gets Centre Ice through Cogeco, so I'm sure :) , but I'll take any information I can get.

 

I've tried talking to Cogeco, but all they can do is read the "blackout rules", which really don't say too many specific things. I've asked them for a phone number for whomever operates "Centre Ice", but they don't have one. I'd take that if anyone has it.

 

The last thing I want to do is make a non-refundable commitment, and then find out that I can't watch the team I really want to watch!! :)

 

Thanks in advance for any info!!

 

macbb

[Hawerchuk]

I don't know really. But this is from InDemand Sports with CenterIce.

 

Blackout questions

 

Q: WHAT ARE BLACKOUTS?

A: Blackouts are when a televised game cannot be shown in certain areas.

 

Q HOW ARE HOME MARKETS DETERMINED?

A: By television households and the surrounding geographical area.

 

Maybe BUF is part of Canada's Geographical area concerning TV? But it doesn't provide specifics about Canada. Here is that link. Sorry, this really didn't help that much..

 

http://www.indemand.com/sports/nhl2004/index.jsp

[Guest ron-in-DC]

Another option for you to look into would be if your cable company offers a sports package of Fox Sport Channels - such as the MSG sport channel. I know my cable company did not - but switched to the dish/satellite and they offer for 5.99 a month all the national Fox Sports Channels such as Ohio, Sunshine (FLA) NESN (Bos), MSG. Since MSG is now the carrier of Sabres games you get the Sabres games - Centre Ice does not have their own Sabres game production - they pick-up the feed from MSG. Check into a dish as it gives you more options. I made the switch and have now enjoy more hockey and baseball and NFL Network for 12% less than I paud for cable and now dont pay the $ 120 for Centre Ice.

[Larry Playfair]

Another option for you to look into would be if your cable company offers a sports package of Fox Sport Channels - such as the MSG sport channel. I know my cable company did not - but switched to the dish/satellite and they offer for 5.99 a month all the national Fox Sports Channels such as Ohio, Sunshine (FLA) NESN (Bos), MSG. Since MSG is now the carrier of Sabres games you get the Sabres games - Centre Ice does not have their own Sabres game production - they pick-up the feed from MSG. Check into a dish as it gives you more options. I made the switch and have now enjoy more hockey and baseball and NFL Network for 12% less than I paud for cable and now dont pay the $ 120 for Centre Ice.

But since you are in DC how can you guarantee that the MSG feed you will get will be the sabres game, and not the rangers?

[shrader]

But since you are in DC how can you guarantee that the MSG feed you will get will be the sabres game, and not the rangers?

And he could easily be screwed over by the blackout rules because of the Caps.

[Taro T]

Can anyone answer the following, or point me in the right direction to ask? ...

 

I'm located in Hamilton, ON.  I'm thinking of getting NHL Centre Ice through Cogeco Cable, because I want a way to watch the Sabres.  Right now, I can't get the Sabres games (legally) in Canada, because MSG isn't available to us.

 

My concern is that, being relatively close to Buffalo, and also being close to Toronto (yuck), will I have problems with blackouts of Sabres games?

 

Has anyone in Canada subscribed to Centre Ice, and if so, where were you, and were you able to get the Sabres games?  Ideally, it would be nice to hear from someone who gets Centre Ice through Cogeco, so I'm sure  :)   , but I'll take any information I can get.

 

I've tried talking to Cogeco, but all they can do is read the "blackout rules", which really don't say too many specific things.  I've asked them for a phone number for whomever operates "Centre Ice", but they don't have one.  I'd take that if anyone has it.

 

The last thing I want to do is make a non-refundable commitment, and then find out that I can't watch the team I really want to watch!!  :)

 

Thanks in advance for any info!!

 

macbb

This probably doesn't help any, but last time they played, the blackout rule in the States for DirecTV and Center Ice worked as follows.

 

Regional cable games that weren't national games (ESPN & ESPN2) were blacked out on the individual regional cable outlets. The games were shown in the Center Ice channels. Center Ice would only show the game but you could see the pre and post game shows on the regional sports channels if you had the sports package.

 

The only games that were blacked out on Center Ice were the Sabres and the ESPN & ABC games. Those games could be seen on the "Basic" package. Except for a handful of games that weren't broadcast by either team, an Atlanta - Sabres game comes to mind, all the games were available if you had Center Ice. This included a couple of games that the Sabres didn't show on Empire.

 

The link to DirecTV's blackout rules (which may or may not be helpful to you) is

 

http://www.directvsports.com/Subscriptions...rIce/Questions/

 

My guess is that where you are at, the Leafs would be considered your primary market; so their games would be blocked out for you and whichever HNIC games you get would be blocked out, but you'd be able to see those games on regular channels. Unless the Sabres get a cable or satellite outlet in Canada, I do not expect that the games would be blacked out for you.

 

Again, this is all conjecture, but it's how DirecTV worked it last time in the States.

 

Dave.

[Guest Repster]

Can anyone answer the following, or point me in the right direction to ask? ...

 

I'm located in Hamilton, ON. I'm thinking of getting NHL Centre Ice through Cogeco Cable, because I want a way to watch the Sabres. Right now, I can't get the Sabres games (legally) in Canada, because MSG isn't available to us.

 

My concern is that, being relatively close to Buffalo, and also being close to Toronto (yuck), will I have problems with blackouts of Sabres games?

 

Has anyone in Canada subscribed to Centre Ice, and if so, where were you, and were you able to get the Sabres games? Ideally, it would be nice to hear from someone who gets Centre Ice through Cogeco, so I'm sure :) , but I'll take any information I can get.

 

I've tried talking to Cogeco, but all they can do is read the "blackout rules", which really don't say too many specific things. I've asked them for a phone number for whomever operates "Centre Ice", but they don't have one. I'd take that if anyone has it.

 

The last thing I want to do is make a non-refundable commitment, and then find out that I can't watch the team I really want to watch!! :)

 

Thanks in advance for any info!!

 

macbb

Hi macbb,

 

I've had the Centre Ice package from Cogeco in St. Catharines for the last few years and I've always been able to see every Sabres game as long as the game is being televised. There may have been one or two games in the last couple years that neither team has televised a particular game but it's rare. Don't worry about the blackout thing. It's really pretty stupid the way they put it. If a game is on TSN for example, like Buffao/Tampa October 13th, that means the MSG coverage of the Sabres game will be blacked out, you have to watch the TSN coverage of the game. In the last few years, when the Sabres were on Empire, most of the time it was the Empire coverage of the game that Centre Ice picked up. Sometimes it would use the opposing team's telecast, and sometimes you could pick from either team's telecast. Now that the Sabres are on MSG, I don't know if Centre Ice will show the same amount of Rick and Jim as previous but hopefully they will. MSG says it will be showing 75 games this year, and OLN has 2, so the other 5 games would have to be seen from the other team's telecast (assuming they're broadcasting the game). Oh, by the way, if the Sabres are playing the Leafs, you'll can only see it on the Leafs local coverage. If the Sabres are playing another Canadian team, you won't get the Sabres coverage of the game, you'll get the Canadian team's broadcast. Enjoy it, it's worth the money, especially now when the game is over and you can catch a shootout from another game before going to bed.