How To Watch The Flames in BC - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 09:39 AM

I currently am living in British Columbia. Many of the Flames games fall under a regional blackout with Sportsnet/NHL so I cannot watch on Sportsnet. I am currently a Telus Optic TV subscriber. What is the best way to ensure that I can watch every Flames game. It is essential that I can record or watch a game often an hour or three after the game starts. Suggestions?

Johnny Makarov · 01-14-2021, 09:44 AM

Ask a friend or family member who lives in Calgary to "lend" you their shaw or telus login.

calumniate · 01-14-2021, 09:48 AM

I'm in montreal and did the NHL live thing. Use it through my PS4 and works alright

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Ask a friend or family member who lives in Calgary to "lend" you their shaw or telus login.

That would work to watch live, but would not enable me to watch a recorded (pvr) game. If the game is in Ontario I often need to watch later.

Winsor_Pilates · 01-14-2021, 09:50 AM

So annoying that they have regional blackouts this year.

Best bet is to get NHL Live instead and cancel your cable subscription to Sportsnet.
That's the only legitimate way to get the games as far as I know.

Jethro Choicebro · 01-14-2021, 09:52 AM

Center Ice through Telus will get you there. (edit: I assume you can PVR Center Ice?)

Or go the online route - NHL.tv combined with a vpn or dns service to avoid the blackouts. Or other online options

activeStick · 01-14-2021, 09:54 AM

If you get NHL Live, you won't need a VPN. All Flames games will be available there without a VPN since you're in BC.

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calumniate

I'm in montreal and did the NHL live thing. Use it through my PS4 and works alright

Are you able to watch a game later or do you have to watch live. What if the game starts at 5:00 and I cannot start watching until 8:00.

KootenayFlamesFan · 01-14-2021, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jethro Choicebro

Center Ice through Telus will get you there. (edit: I assume you can PVR Center Ice?)

This. I've had CI for years and years, love it.

calumniate · 01-14-2021, 09:58 AM

Indeed greybeard! You for sure can.. even days after.

The reason why I like the PS4 route is that you can implement settings so it doesn't show you the live scores and spoiler the whole thing on you

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jethro Choicebro

Center Ice through Telus will get you there. (edit: I assume you can PVR Center Ice?)

Are there no blackouts for Center Ice? I believe you can record but wondering if the same blackout rules apply?

Jethro Choicebro · 01-14-2021, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greybeard

Are there no blackouts for Center Ice? I believe you can record but wondering if the same blackout rules apply?

They black out the National and regional games that will already be available on SN. So would give you access to all the flames games they otherwise dont show in BC

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/support/...nhl_centre_ice

topfiverecords · 01-14-2021, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Ask a friend or family member who lives in Calgary to "lend" you their shaw or telus login.

This is bad advice. This will not do anything. You're still out of region.

Since you have cable and a PVR, get Center Ice.

When the Flames play the Canucks in Vancouver, or National games it will be blacked out on Center Ice. You will need to PVR Sportsnet or CBC for HNIC.

Galakanokis · 01-14-2021, 10:12 AM

Centre Ice for sure, zero issues watching Flames games. You can obviously watch live or record through the PVR at home. You can also stream it if you are not home but only live or a fully recorded game, you cannot start a stream mid way through. All in all works really well but can be expensive.

Is Shaw carrying CI this year? I do not see it on their website.

Jethro Choicebro · 01-14-2021, 10:18 AM

For me hockey was the last hold out for cable tv, so just moving to BC I dropped cable completely and going the online route

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calumniate

Indeed greybeard! You for sure can.. even days after.

The reason why I like the PS4 route is that you can implement settings so it doesn't show you the live scores and spoiler the whole thing on you

Thanks calumniate. I don’t have a PS4 (not a gamer) but I assume I would be able to get NHL Live on my iPad and just HDMI it to my tv and make it work.

Greybeard · 01-14-2021, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jethro Choicebro

For me hockey was the last hold out for cable tv, so just moving to BC I dropped cable completely and going the online route

Yeah, I’m beginning to wonder if dropping cable and going the app/streaming route is the best answer. No cable fees and convert those $ into Netflix, NHL Live, etc. Thanks.

getbak · 01-14-2021, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Best bet is to get NHL Live instead and cancel your cable subscription to Sportsnet.

If you cancelled Sportsnet, would you be able to watch the national broadcasts? Also, as a BC resident, I don't think you'd be able to watch any of the games against the Canucks because they would either be national broadcasts or Canucks regional games, which make up 18% of the Flames' games this season.

It looks like Sportsnet offers something called "Sportsnet Now +" which includes access to all Sportsnet channels plus NHL Live and some other stuff if you like European soccer or rugby: https://secure.snnow.ca/pricing

It's $250/year if you buy a full year in advance, which I think is cheaper than buying NHL Live and Sportsnet separately.

bc-chris · 01-14-2021, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

Centre Ice for sure, zero issues watching Flames games. You can obviously watch live or record through the PVR at home. You can also stream it if you are not home but only live or a fully recorded game, you cannot start a stream mid way through. All in all works really well but can be expensive.

Is Shaw carrying CI this year? I do not see it on their website.

i just went to the shaw webpage and did it thru their "chat with an agent" thing
i'd like to thank deana from vancouver for hooking me up!
i don't think shaw could add it to any accounts until today (for some reason!)
it's $189 + tax

it took a total of 12 minutes from the time i started to chat to being done! i like that chat feature

Winsor_Pilates · 01-14-2021, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getbak

If you cancelled Sportsnet, would you be able to watch the national broadcasts? Also, as a BC resident, I don't think you'd be able to watch any of the games against the Canucks because they would either be national broadcasts or Canucks regional games, which make up 18% of the Flames' games this season.

It looks like Sportsnet offers something called "Sportsnet Now +" which includes access to all Sportsnet channels plus NHL Live and some other stuff if you like European soccer or rugby: https://secure.snnow.ca/pricing

It's $250/year if you buy a full year in advance, which I think is cheaper than buying NHL Live and Sportsnet separately.

I thought NHL live would show everything.
Didn't realize there would be blackouts for Canucks region or national region games.
That's super annoying, I really don't want to pay for 2 services and have no use for Sportsnet outside of watching Flames games.
And they wonder why people go for illegal sources