I hate Sportsnet.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Mightyfire89

Oh for pete’s sake. Be happy you can watch almost every Flames game now. In the 80s we got to watch about 25 games a year or so, maybe approaching 50 a year in the early to mid ‘90s.

Pissing and moaning about this stuff is such BS

Why, this is silly, in the past there were lots of things that were worse, so we should use that metric now? lol

SN, TSN, they are all obsessed with the big market in Toronto and Montreal, ask anyone who works for them about how much they even think about the western teams and they'll tell you we are just barely on their radar.

I would be upset too if SN is showing a game with only American teams over a game involving a Canadian team, that's absurd.

Plus I'm also bitter that Calgary vs Tampa barely made a peep on all the hockey sites, a game with the top conference leaders going at it in what was arguably one of the best games of the year.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I have the GameCentre subscription, as do others here I know.

That said I prefer the game to just be on (mostly because my Bell remote doesn't change my TV's inputs so I have to manually switch over to the Chromecast and back... first world problems, I know, I know).

I get that we're spoiled in all games are broadcast, and I understand there are blackouts. The issue here is that the Rogers deal was presented as Saturday games were national, and now there is an asterisk that basically said "Western team afternoon games don't apply". That seems like BS.

Today's Blues game is on SN-West not nationally televised.

Yes, I can look back and say when I was a kid I only got a handful of games, late at night, after my bedtime. But you know what? Its 2018, I can order pizza via an app on my phone, have high def cables shipped directly to my house in two days, and watch cat videos from dusk until dawn. It is totally fair to hold our sports entertainment in 2018/2019 to a standard of 2018/2019.

Imagine going to the movie theater and being told 1986picture and sound quality is fine because that's how it was when you were a kid? Stop being so spoiled! We wouldn't stand for that, so it's fair to complain about this.

That said GFG

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

I get that we're spoiled in all games are broadcast, and I understand there are blackouts. The issue here is that the Rogers deal was presented as Saturday games were national, and now there is an asterisk that basically said "Western team afternoon games don't apply". That seems like BS.

Today's Blues game is on SN-West not nationally televised.

Eastern team afternoon games don't apply either. Today's Habs-Knights game is not national and Senators matinees are not national either. I know both of those teams have those games on regional TSN but, SN didn't pick them up.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I didn't realize it happened to Eastern teams too. Seemed like every afternoon game was broadcast across all SN channels.

The point of Canadian teams playing on Saturday still stands, there shouldn't be a potential exemption for morning/afternoon games.

I'm happy to be wrong on the Eastern teams, at least the unfairness is more balanced.

[Fuzz]

My minor complaint is that they pretend a game is done in 2.5 hours, so if you do any PVR'ing or pausing live near the end of the game, you have to extend your recording every time. If you forget, and just pause live, you get screwed when the 2.5 hours is up, and it is usually the last 2 minutes of the game. It's a minor annoyance, but I don't see why they don't just schedule 3 hours. GRUMBLE GRUMBLE.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Mightyfire89

Oh for pete’s sake. Be happy you can watch almost every Flames game now. In the 80s we got to watch about 25 games a year or so, maybe approaching 50 a year in the early to mid ‘90s.

Pissing and moaning about this stuff is such BS

He can’t watch almost every game. 39 is less than half.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

My minor complaint is that they pretend a game is done in 2.5 hours, so if you do any PVR'ing or pausing live near the end of the game, you have to extend your recording every time. If you forget, and just pause live, you get screwed when the 2.5 hours is up, and it is usually the last 2 minutes of the game. It's a minor annoyance, but I don't see why they don't just schedule 3 hours. GRUMBLE GRUMBLE.

I always PVR every game adding 2 hours no matter how I plan on watching it. Even if I’m in the dome. Never know what’s going to happen and I’m not missing one minute of this season.

[Huntingwhale]

I was a GC subscriber for 2 years. I tried to do the right thing and give them my money to have access to flames games. But between the stupid blackouts, piss poor video player, scores being spoiled even when deactivated, and terrible customer service, they are never getting another penny from me.

The back breaker for me was going to London, England and having the jets vs preds playoff series blacked out for me in my hotel room. Couldn't even watch playoff hockey in my hotel room because of some dumb agreement the NHL has with some London broadcaster.

So F it. Found a sweet stream site that streams at 60fps, the video player loads in seconds instead of minutes. I can select video quality. And no blackouts.

The NHL messed up putting forth a horrible product and driving away ppl like me who were willing to pay.

[Duke43]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I subscribe to every Sportsnet channel, and Gamecentre Live. I spend a lot of time out of town in hotels. So when I'm in Alberta, but the hotel doesn't have the sportsnet channel the Flames game is on, I still can't watch on Gamecentre because it's blacked out since I'm technically still in the broadcast region. So my options are either watching the game legally via Sportsnet Now on my laptop in laggy 240p #### quality, or finding a full HD illegal stream.

I tried giving you my money Sportsnet but since you couldn't hold up your end of the bargain, I'm seriously considering unsubscribing from everything and just always using the illegal streams

Buy a VPN service

[Igottago]

I tried out Sportsnet Now Plus (I'm in Vancouver and it gets me the out of market Flames games on Sportsnet West)...terrible product. The quality of the streams is horrible and the lagging and buffering should just not be happening. The game against Dallas basically became unwatchable in the third period. Definitely cancelling. I've used TSN streaming and its extremely stable and better looking. I even have a better internet speeds now and Sportsnet streaming still sucks.

I am considering going with NHL gamecentre streaming for the rest of the season. I remember it being pretty good when I used it in the past -- surprised to see some negative impressions here.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Mightyfire89

Oh for pete’s sake. Be happy you can watch almost every Flames game now. In the 80s we got to watch about 25 games a year or so, maybe approaching 50 a year in the early to mid ‘90s.

Pissing and moaning about this stuff is such BS

I watched every game in the 80s on grey market satellite. It feels good to return to my roots with reddit streams when the services I pay for let me down.

Your failure to get the level of service that was achievable in the 80s shouldn’t mean you accept crappy service now.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Duke43

Buy a VPN service

Meh the illegal streams seem to work for me. I've never had luck with a VPN that wasn't laggy as hell

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Duke43

Buy a VPN service

VPN lags it considerably. I've tried various services and always had issues. Sometimes you miss a chunk of the game just trying to find a good server.

It shouldn't even have to come down to that. If you need a VPN to watch your own team, the NHL screwed up forcing you to do that.

[Phagoof]

Sportnet has been a joke for over a decade now, I gave up on them long ago.

[Boreal]

Ok, let’s be specific here.

Sportsnet the Fan 960
Sportsnet West
Sportsnet 360

or Sportsnet all of the above?

I’m pretty close to all of the above. Watching the visitor feed when it’s possible really illustrates what crap they pump out for production.

[Inferno]

Another thing I find stupid about blackout restrictions is in my case even when the Jets aren't playing that night I get blackouted. If you want to black me out because you're "protecting the Jets' region" atleast do it on nights they actually play.

People are going to cheer for who they want to cheer for no matter where they live. I barely got to watch the Flames growing up until Sportsnet first started but I still became a fan because of Fleury. And forcing people to only be able to watch one team can backfire. The biggest reason I can't stand the Leafs is because every Saturday night it seemed like the Leafs vs someone.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by Igottago

I tried out Sportsnet Now Plus (I'm in Vancouver and it gets me the out of market Flames games on Sportsnet West)...terrible product. The quality of the streams is horrible and the lagging and buffering should just not be happening. The game against Dallas basically became unwatchable in the third period. Definitely cancelling. I've used TSN streaming and its extremely stable and better looking. I even have a better internet speeds now and Sportsnet streaming still sucks.

I am considering going with NHL gamecentre streaming for the rest of the season. I remember it being pretty good when I used it in the past -- surprised to see some negative impressions here.

Agree with everything here. I am in Alberta but dont have Satellite or cable so subscribe to sportsnet now. Its brutal. The Buffering is rediculous. I can stream 3 TVs at a time in HD netflix but cant get through a game on SN Now without bufferring and is like 90s quality picture.

for $25 per month its garbage. I guess I have learned to live with it ......

[PepsiFree]

Odd, I had game centre and switched to Sportsnet Now this season. I find it remarkably better for Flames games and in overall quality. I never have buffering or picture quality issues and haven’t run into near as many issues with not being able to watch a game).

Get better internet?

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Odd, I had game centre and switched to Sportsnet Now this season. I find it remarkably better for Flames games and in overall quality. I never have buffering or picture quality issues and haven’t run into near as many issues with not being able to watch a game).

Get better internet?

Ive got 4MB/sec, should be more then enough. Live out of town have streamed MLB.tv, netflix, HBO on demand, tsn go. all work without buffering/have HD picture. Maybe you have fibre optik. its not an option. Cell is is too sketchy for a telus hub.

Its random too. Some days doesnt buffer much, others its nonstop. I know enough to make sure nothing else is using up bandwidth.

[codynw]

I can find a a not legal stream to any NHL game in 15 seconds and the NHL/Sportsnet has no simple/affordable option available to make it so I don't have to do that. Why don't they want our money?