Sportsnet has ruined hockey - Page 3 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Armchair Quarterback · 03-31-2016, 09:31 AM

double post

Armchair Quarterback · 03-31-2016, 09:33 AM

Yah the production is mediocre, but you gotta laugh. I mean, it's funny -- it's almost like CBC knew what they were doing or something. Decades of broadcasting experience tends to do that.

CroFlames · 03-31-2016, 09:40 AM

For people here who think Sportsnet is good enough or they see nothing wrong with it, I say watch a few NBC broadcasts and come back to the thread.

From top to bottom, NBC blows Snet out of the water for their production of hockey games as well as their marketing of games.

Flames Draft Watcher · 03-31-2016, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benched

I love how I get 'regionally blacked out' for Oilers games from Calgary. (why would I watch them? Sometimes I like the visiting team

)

They can't even split up cities, it's "Alberta teams" all blacked out...

I also hate the gamecenter doesn't ask you your cable provider, so you can't watch it on a mobile device even if you have a valid cable provider with the SN channel...not sure if that's a SN contract thing, or a fail NHL thing. But it still sucks.

You can use the Sportsnet app to watch games broadcast on Sportsnet on your phone.

calgaryblood · 03-31-2016, 09:45 AM

The only good thing to come out of the new contract is Leah Hextall and our PBP guys. Leah Hextall is amazing to listen to. Good looks aside she's one of the best to watch on any panel.

The PBP guys are a huge improvement over the years. Only complaint would be they spend a little too much time chit chatting during the game play.

mikeecho · 03-31-2016, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toonage

Also kills me that John Shannon, an ex TV producer is one of the worst at it.

Came here to say this.

Sure, he's been in the business a long time and has made some contacts within the league, but... 1) he never seems to use those contacts to breaks any news; and 2) they have him analyzing the game which he has no real insight into beyond what the average and sometimes below average joe has already figured out through years of playing beer league.

I like the former players as analysts...awkwardness and all. They can at least add some true context. Shannon adds nothing.

CroFlames · 03-31-2016, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

The only good thing to come out of the new contract is Leah Hextall and our PBP guys. Leah Hextall is amazing to listen to. Good looks aside she's one of the best to watch on any panel.

The PBP guys are a huge improvement over the years. Only complaint would be they spend a little too much time chit chatting during the game play.

Let's not get carried away now about Leah. She's no Duthie. I am still very much happy to have her though, that is for sure.

Rick & Kelly go without saying. Simply the best.

Enoch Root · 03-31-2016, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Across the board, on anyones TV TSN and cbc broadcasts are of higher quality than Sportsnets. The Flames is worse then the national one too. It's not just the picture, it's the sound as well.

Mike Ball and Kelly Hrudey have been excellent additions. That is all.

Precisely this.

The Flames telecasts are the worst quality of all the games on TV - including other Sportsnet games. It drives me insane.

As for everything else - meh. There have always been, and will always be, announcers I like and don't like. Whatever.

Just please deliver the best quality picture possible.

And thank you for Ball and - especially - Hrudey

heep223 · 03-31-2016, 10:00 AM

I don't even watch any of the pre/post/intermission content anymore. The only ones worth watching in the past were CBC and TSN (sometimes) anyways. It's mostly a bunch of baloney, with a few exceptions, and I'd rather cruise CP.

I'm just happy Hrudey and Ball are our boys because they're awesome.

The only things that annoy me are when the sound screws up (which seems to be about once every three games) and the HD cameras are terrible.

taxbuster · 03-31-2016, 10:38 AM

I watch most of the Flames games at home (in BC on a "Calgary" Bell dish) and find the quality to be OK but rarely exceptional. Frequently there are colour differences between cameras - which I think is likely not SN's fault unless it's their cameras. I like Rick and Kelly, but most of the other games I watch with the sound off. Sometimes I play Derek Willis and sync it up, which is OK but unexceptional.

When I'm on the road I take what I can get. Sometimes it's "mice hockey" on my iPad or iPhone via Bell TV - subject to regional blackouts. Sometimes its the crappiest-ever streams from someone. Every once in a while I'm pleasantly surprised by one of the out-of-town games teams' broadcasts. The Boston crew was pretty nice to the Flames and had lots of good knowledge on them. Beats listening to Oilers homers talking only about Connor.

Personally speaking, I'd care less about the mediocre production values if the Flames were a better club. When the game is boring or dreadful (can anyone say "duck pond"?) then my thoughts tend to wander. I don't watch other teams at all other than maybe a fast check-in for a few minutes.

I don't watch pre- or post-games at all any more - not even on HNIC on CBC. The ever-hipster Strombo just does nothing for me, though occasionally the discussion crew is pretty good. I do miss Friedman though as he's generally got good perspective.

Overall rating for SN now? Probably a C-. The old CBC HNIC was likely closer to an A- (loved the video montages!) and the regional games on TSN were a B- depending on which nauseating colour guy was on.

I think we can whine, bitch and complain, but I don't suspect it will make a bit of difference to Rogers SN as they now will desperately cut even more costs to try to stem the red ink flowing from a bust of a season, no Canadian playoff teams and cord-cutting fans. Not gonna get better, folks.

GreenLantern2814 · 03-31-2016, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

The only good thing to come out of the new contract is Leah Hextall and our PBP guys. Leah Hextall is amazing to listen to. Good looks aside she's one of the best to watch on any panel.

The PBP guys are a huge improvement over the years. Only complaint would be they spend a little too much time chit chatting during the game play.

If they had more to talk about, they would. Only so much lipstick you can put on this pig of a season before you just start gabbing with your buddy.

darthma · 03-31-2016, 10:45 AM

The Flames are not playing well right now. It's Sportsnet's fault.

topfiverecords · 03-31-2016, 10:54 AM

Meh, I watch the hockey game not the broadcast. PVR.
Commercial. 4 clicks on the 30second advance.
Icing/Offside. 1 click on 30sec & 1 click on 7sec back.
Intermission. 36 clicks on the 30sec with a quick pause to check out Leah Hextall.

The Yen Man · 03-31-2016, 10:56 AM

Just by getting rid of Healy and Cox, they'd be significantly better. They're about as good of commentators as Hiller is currently as an NHL goalie. At least with Hiller, he was decent once. Healy and Cox have been awful from the get go.

Erick Estrada · 03-31-2016, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I honestly don't care about the diff. between 720p and 1080p. How big a difference is it, really?

We don't really get 1080p TV feeds out west as it's typically 720p or 1080i what most people are seeing on their TV's. Problem is that RSN hockey feeds IMO have always looked like 480p upscaled to 720p/1080i due to how compressed their signal is to save bandwidth.

troutman · 03-31-2016, 10:58 AM

I pretty much just watch the games and pay no attention to pre-game and intermission discussions.

Don't you all flip around channels during breaks? Go to see what Trump is up to on CNN.

Fire of the Phoenix · 03-31-2016, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darthma

The Flames are not playing well right now. It's Sportsnet's fault.

Seriously? People can't think SN sucks because it must be because the Flames are no good right now? Is that what you're saying?

The Flames could have 120 points right now and I doubt it would change anyone's opinion that Rogers is amateur hour and embarrassing compared to what we were used to prior to the 12 year abortion.

Fire of the Phoenix · 03-31-2016, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troutman

I pretty much just watch the games and pay no attention to pre-game and intermission discussions.

Don't you all flip around channels during breaks? Go to see what Trump is up to on CNN.

I used to enjoy the intermission because I like more hockey talk, I'll take as much as I can get. Or rather, I used to. Now I change the channel because the personalities are so annoying.

calgaryblood · 03-31-2016, 11:18 AM

Also want to point out SN has always been horrible. And it's not SN has ruined only Flames hockey for me as it's always been terrible on SN it's I used to look forward to the 15-20 or so games on TSN and CBC and those professional broadcasts were a breath of fresh air. When you get 82 games on SN it's always a downer.

And then TSN knew how to market games to make it fun to watch even if the Flames weren't playing. SN doesn't know how to make the games interesting.

Erick Estrada · 03-31-2016, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darthma

The Flames are not playing well right now. It's Sportsnet's fault.

So were fans singing RSN's praise last season? I recall the same complaints.