NHL Center Ice new lower pricing and question on HD broadcasts (or lack thereof)

[lancorp]

So, after waiting and pondering, we subscribed to the last part of the NHL season about two weeks ago, agreeing to the $120 or so on directv for the remaining subscription to NHL Center Ice.

I see now that the price is $80. Anyone know when the price dropped? If it was just a few days after I subscribed, I'll call to complain and ask for a credit.

Second thing--my wife's favorite team, the Vancouver Canucks, are rarely shown in HD on NHL Center Ice on directv. Anyone know why? Other Canadian teams are regularly shown in HD, but look up the Canucks, and the majority are only in SD. They're a FIRST PLACE TEAM for cryin' out loud. It's not like no one wants to see them!! Who/what determines what gets shown in HD and what gets shown only in SD?

Been a long time Directv subscriber (1999).

 

[Mr Tony]

Since its a Canadian team the HD feeds are not as accessible to NHL CI as a US feed. Its a known "issue". Yes I know Rogers Sportsnet Pacific and Sportsnet One Canucks carry the games in HD but the feeds arent always available.

 

[Rattler94]

It would be great if NHL Center offered Hockey Night in Canada co-starting Don Cherry. For those that don't know him, search for video on Youtube. I luv that show and was ROTF when my wife said years ago "...that's not a sport coat he's wearing, that were someone's curtains..."

 

[Jables]

Typically game one of HNIC is shown (with intermission material, including Hotstove and Coach's Corner) on NHL Network, channel 215. This channel is included if you have NHLCI.

And as for lack of Canadian HD, it's because D* doesn't want to pay for it.

 

[lancorp]

Not sure I agree. There are plenty of HD feeds of Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto and Edmonton games. Really, it looks like someone has something against Vancouver!

And, WHY THE HECK aren't any of today's (Sunday) games on NHLCI? There are at least 5 games on today and while NBC is broadcasting two of them (Hockey Day in America), the other ones are not on NHL Center Ice. Seems like I'm paying for nothing.

 

[lacubs]

Not sure I agree. There are plenty of HD feeds of Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto and Edmonton games. Really, it looks like someone has something against Vancouver!

And, WHY THE HECK aren't any of today's (Sunday) games on NHLCI? There are at least 5 games on today and while NBC is broadcasting two of them (Hockey Day in America), the other ones are not on NHL Center Ice. Seems like I'm paying for nothing.

the "only" Canadian team they show in HD is Toronto. not Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, but, they do have the other team broadcast in HD you can watch

 

[JerseyMatt]

I mainly have CI for the Devils, but honestly there aren't a whole lot of games that AREN'T in HD. The ones that aren't, is because DirecTV isn't getting an HD feed from the venue. For example, when there are a bunch of teams playing in the NYC area at once, we experience "channel overflow". The Devils, Rangers, Islanders, Knicks, Nets, and Seton Hall Pirates all have to share 2 channels (MSG/MSG+, both HD). On nights where 3 of the teams are active, there is a 3rd channel (MSG+2) which is NOT HD. It doesn't matter who your provider is, games on +2 are in SD, even Cablevision (who owns MSG Networks) customers don't get HD on +2. I have never seen a MSG/MSG+ feed of any of the teams that isn't HD. Only the +2's (shows up as NY1a in the guide).

 

[robjlevin]

I mainly have CI for the Devils, but honestly there aren't a whole lot of games that AREN'T in HD. The ones that aren't, is because DirecTV isn't getting an HD feed from the venue. For example, when there are a bunch of teams playing in the NYC area at once, we experience "channel overflow". The Devils, Rangers, Islanders, Knicks, Nets, and Seton Hall Pirates all have to share 2 channels (MSG/MSG+, both HD). On nights where 3 of the teams are active, there is a 3rd channel (MSG+2) which is NOT HD. It doesn't matter who your provider is, games on +2 are in SD, even Cablevision (who owns MSG Networks) customers don't get HD on +2. I have never seen a MSG/MSG+ feed of any of the teams that isn't HD. Only the +2's (shows up as NY1a in the guide).

The Nets and Seton Hall have nothing to do with this. The Nets are on YES and we can eliminate college games, too. As for the overflow, MSG has begun to broadcast them in HD but (and no big surprise here) they're only available to Cablevision subscribers. For anyone outside the NYC DMA they'd be able to get those games on the other team's RSN if it's being broadcast.

The only thing missing from DTV are the Canadian broadcasts with the exception of some Leafs games on SportsNet Ontario.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

As far as getting HD broadcasts from Canadian teams,the only thing I can recommend is ordering NHL Gamecenter & stream the games online or on a Roku box.

 

[TheRatPatrol]

The Canadian HD feeds are available, but D* doesn't want to pay for them. They get the Maple Leafs HD feeds because they already have a access to the HD feed for Blue Jay baseball games for MLBEI. Unless the NHL forces networks to give an HD feed for NHLCI (MLB requires this) I wouldn't count on them coming to D* anytime soon.

 

[jukierules]

A constant headache for me because I'm a Flames fan. It seems silly that they will carry the Leafs games but no other teams. I usually watch the other team's HD feed and listen to the game online on Flames radio. It syncs perfectly, and save me some headaches. Case in point, it spared me from listening to that jackwagon Jack Edwards when they played the Bruins last night. It's not ideal, but it works. I would be very surprised if we ever saw those games come about in HD for their respective stations on Direct. The NHL just isn't high enough on the priority list to merit the extra cost.

 

[grb]

Not sure I agree. There are plenty of HD feeds of Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto and Edmonton games. Really, it looks like someone has something against Vancouver!

And, WHY THE HECK aren't any of today's (Sunday) games on NHLCI? There are at least 5 games on today and while NBC is broadcasting two of them (Hockey Day in America), the other ones are not on NHL Center Ice. Seems like I'm paying for nothing.

NBC apparently had the rights to 4 of the 5 games on Sunday "Hockey Day in America". According to the ESPN schedule, these games were not even broadcast in their local markets. The 5th game was the outdoor game in Calgary and was broadcast on Versus only.

Seems like a strange time to have a free preview week for Center Ice (2/14 to 2/20) when in fact there were no games available on Center Ice on 2/20. This didn't make me want to run to the phone and order the rest of the season...

I switched from Dish near the end of January and was fully paid up for CI ($173, I think). Of course this was not transferable to D*, and I declined the $123 offer to see the remaining 1/3 of the season (+ playoffs). It looks like others felt the same way and the price was reduced to $80 for the last quarter of the season -- still too much for me. I might have gone for $50 - $60, but most of the playoff games are broadcast by Versus, the NHL Network and later on NBC anyway.

 

[Mr Tony]

NBC apparently had the rights to 4 of the 5 games on Sunday "Hockey Day in America". According to the ESPN schedule, these games were not even broadcast in their local markets

I got the local game on Sunday. Wild/Wings here on Minneapolis NBC

edit: after some looking, that is wrong. The 3 early games went to the local markets. The 2nd game was a national game and the last one was on Vs.