Sabres TV question

[lawnboy1977]

Ok, I've been out of the loop this year a little bit as far as hockey goes, and I am curios about the Sabres television schedule. I noticed that the Sabres are on MSG network now and FSN NY. I also noticed that station carries games from the Knicks, Islanders and Rangers. My question is this, how is someone like me who lives out of the state of NY supposed to know when they will show what games. I live in Arizona, if I added MSG of FSN NY to my cable package, am I able to select what games I see of do those networks only show the NY area teams i you sign up out of market. Anyone living out of state or in state have an answer to this question?

[Taro T]

There have been several posts about this, primarily around the start of the season, you can check the archive for more info, but here is the reader's digest version.

 

While MSG broadcasts the Sabres games in WNY (they took over the Empire contract with the Sabres), they only show the games IN WNY. Being in Arizona, the only way you will see Sabres games on a regular basis is by getting Center Ice.

 

Whether the games end up on MSG or FSNY in WNY will not affect you in the least. The national feeds of both channels will be the feed shown in NYC.

 

BTW, IMHO, CI is definitely worth the money. You will see EVERY regular season NHL game that is not broadcast on OLN or NBC provided one of the 2 teams involved broadcasts the game in it's local market in English. In '03-'04, there was only 1 Sabres game that I hoped to watch that wasn't on CI (one of the Atlanta games in Buffalo) and that was because neither the Sabres nor Thrashers showed the game.

[mphs mike]

For what it's worth I am a first season Center Ice subscriber. Living in Memphis I have had DirecTv for several years. I was ok listening to the game on the internet and watching Hockey Hotline on Empire. Without Empire I plunked down the $125 and have really enjoyed it.

[Saber61]

i think i might go for the half way deal on center ice... well see how my cable company runs this type of deal.

[Carmel Corn]

Has any out-of-towners found a way to get the post game show? The Center Ice package cuts the feed to MSG almost immediately after the game.

[nfreeman]

Has any out-of-towners found a way to get the post game show? The Center Ice package cuts the feed to MSG almost immediately after the game.

 

 

DirecTV offers the regional sports networks package as a premium item (ie an extra $12 or so per month -- like HBO). This gives you every Fox sports net, MSG, & similar channels from around the country -- probably 40 or 50 of them in total. Before Empire went dark, it was included as part of this package, and you could watch Sabres postgame coverage on Empire -- which was NOT included with CI.

 

I canceled the regional sports network package after Empire went off the air. I am not sure whether the WNY version of MSG is included in the regional sports package (see above -- this is a diff. version of MSG from the regular MSG that is shown in NY and is definitely part of the package). It may be, b/c I think there are a bunch of "alternate" versions of the regional channels that show up in the channel guide. If you have DirecTV, I would call them and persistently keep them on the phone until they get someone who can answer the question.

 

If you don't have DirecTV, you might be able to get this regional sports network package via digital cable, but I don't know whether or not this is the case.

 

Good luck and go Sabres.

[Sabresince70]

The Sabres post game show is not available in PA on Directv. Center Ice gives you the games, but that's it. But if you are a hockey fan along with being a Sabres fan Center Ice is Heaven! As of now, the MSG that is available in WNY is not able to be purchased as some of the Network feeds are (for instance you can purchase Fox LA and NYC feeds for 5.00 a month if you are in, say, the Philly market.

[Taro T]

In Rochester w/ DirecTV we don't even always get the post game show. We are supposed to get it, but the alternate feed oftentimes cuts out right after the game is over like it does on CI.

 

If the post game show was the old Hockey Hotline, this would bother me tremendously. Since the new show isn't nearly as good, I usually just switch to one of the later games when the Sabres game is over regardless of whether Shootout is available.