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Habs schedule on TV


Stephane Pichette

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I hate to be a pain in the ass, but do we have any further clarity here? I get that if you're a Rogers customer, you are in clover. What has grown ever-more-muddled in my mind is if you're not. What are the choices for someone who is:

1. 'outside the designated viewing region'

2. Not a Rogers subscriber

3. Not interested in paying through the nose for specialty rip-offs services like Centre Ice, but just wants to access 'normal' (i.e., affordable) channels?

Has anything changed from Fagstein's original list?

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There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the $60 RDS games package. Some say it's available at the start of the season, others say it won't be available until January. Some carriers are claiming that they won't be offering the package although I think part of that stems from the fact that no one seems to know when it can be offered.

Basically, if you're not in the designated viewing region, you're forced to subscribe to Game Centre Live or Centre Ice to access the 42 regional games, pending some sort of clarification to the above. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a Rogers subscriber (if you are, you can save on GCL for a bit), those are the two legal options.

Regardless of what your TV carrier is, you can access the 40 national games as long as you have subscriptions to the following: At least one of Sportsnet E/O/W/P, SN 360, CBC, and City TV.

Hope that helps.

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There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the $60 RDS games package. Some say it's available at the start of the season, others say it won't be available until January. Some carriers are claiming that they won't be offering the package although I think part of that stems from the fact that no one seems to know when it can be offered.

Basically, if you're not in the designated viewing region, you're forced to subscribe to Game Centre Live or Centre Ice to access the 42 regional games, pending some sort of clarification to the above. It doesn't matter whether or not you're a Rogers subscriber (if you are, you can save on GCL for a bit), those are the two legal options.

Regardless of what your TV carrier is, you can access the 40 national games as long as you have subscriptions to the following: At least one of Sportsnet E/O/W/P, SN 360, CBC, and City TV.

Hope that helps.

It does! You are da man as always, Brian. Thanks.

So, 40 (legal) games is what I'm stuck with here in BC, I guess. I suppose I can make up at least some of the difference by tuning into radio feeds (assuming I'm free to listen at 4 PM). Not the end of the world, but definitely a drag.

EDIT: quick follow-up - does TVA Sports get me anything beyond the 40 mentioned above? Fagstein has them carrying 22 'national' games; are those duplicates of games also carried on the channels you list? He also mentions the following:

"Other regions (English):

  • 2 games also on TSN3 (against Jets Nov. 11 and March 26)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet Flames (against Flames Oct. 28)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet West (against Oilers Feb. 12)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet Pacific (against Canucks Dec. 9)"

All of those sound like they could be within my viewing area (although I don't know what "Sportsnet Flames" is). Are these anything to worry about?? I keep trying to squeeze blood from the stone that is the broadcasters' hearts.

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It does! You are da man as always, Brian. Thanks.

So, 40 (legal) games is what I'm stuck with here in BC, I guess. I suppose I can make up at least some of the difference by tuning into radio feeds (assuming I'm free to listen at 4 PM). Not the end of the world, but definitely a drag.

EDIT: quick follow-up - does TVA Sports get me anything beyond the 40 mentioned above? Fagstein has them carrying 22 'national' games; are those duplicates of games also carried on the channels you list? He also mentions the following:

"Other regions (English):

  • 2 games also on TSN3 (against Jets Nov. 11 and March 26)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet Flames (against Flames Oct. 28)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet West (against Oilers Feb. 12)
  • 1 game also on Sportsnet Pacific (against Canucks Dec. 9)"

All of those sound like they could be within my viewing area (although I don't know what "Sportsnet Flames" is). Are these anything to worry about?? I keep trying to squeeze blood from the stone that is the broadcasters' hearts.

TVA Sports won't get you any extra games. They have the season opener (which is a Sportsnet game) and 21 Saturday contests, all of which will be on one of Sportsnet, CBC, or City.

You're likely in the Vancouver designated broadcast region which means you should get the December 9th game on Sportsnet Pacific. The other ones are all subject to their own teams' viewing regions (in Alberta or Manitoba).

Sportsnet Flames, by the way, is a companion channel used when Sportsnet West has two games at the same time (since EDM/CGY share the same region). If the Edmonton game is on SN-W, then the Calgary game is on SN-Flames. Last year, there were also SN-Oilers, SN-Canucks, and SN-Sens channels used for overflow (and I believe at one time, Vancouver games on SN-Canucks were PPV but that was abandoned quickly).

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TVA Sports won't get you any extra games. They have the season opener (which is a Sportsnet game) and 21 Saturday contests, all of which will be on one of Sportsnet, CBC, or City.

You're likely in the Vancouver designated broadcast region which means you should get the December 9th game on Sportsnet Pacific. The other ones are all subject to their own teams' viewing regions (in Alberta or Manitoba).

Sportsnet Flames, by the way, is a companion channel used when Sportsnet West has two games at the same time (since EDM/CGY share the same region). If the Edmonton game is on SN-W, then the Calgary game is on SN-Flames. Last year, there were also SN-Oilers, SN-Canucks, and SN-Sens channels used for overflow (and I believe at one time, Vancouver games on SN-Canucks were PPV but that was abandoned quickly).

You are the king, dlbalr. Thanks!

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Something resembling an official statement from RDS:

https://twitter.com/RDSca/status/514562168113889282

RDS do not have the authority to widen the #Habs broadcast zone which unfortunately does not include any locations situated west of Ottawa.

Also, for anyone wondering what regional zone they may be in, here are some maps: https://secure.shawdirect.ca/promotions/english/blackoutmaps/?WT.mc_id=snet1

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BEV started allowing the CBC Montreal channel that I subscribe to, to show the Habs Saturday night games in English, which was wonderful. They've only done that the past 2-3 years, and before that every CBC channel was forcing us to watch Leafs games due to what I thought was their blackout conditions. Of course I subscribed to CI to avoid that, plus my wife is a Red Wings fan so the subscription is a must in our house. I also subscribe to the French sports packages so I already get both RDS and TVA, so I should be covered for all Habs games in one language or the other.

I'm concerned that Sportsnet will not follow the same pattern with the English broadcasts. The proof is in the pudding some say, so I'll be a skeptic until they start broadcasting the regular season games next month.

They haven't put the regional schedules in there yet but it can be said with 100% certainty that RDS will have all of the other games. Here's the press release that says they're carrying 60 games: http://www.bellmediapr.ca/Network/RDS/Press/RDS-and-Montreal-Canadiens-Announce-

There's 22 with TVA Sports (the season opener plus 21 on Saturdays), meaning that the remaining 60 will be on RDS.

As for whether or not you'll get the games, were you able to access the TSN Habs feed the last few years? If yes, then you're fine. If no, you won't be able to see the RDS games.

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BEV started allowing the CBC Montreal channel that I subscribe to, to show the Habs Saturday night games in English, which was wonderful. They've only done that the past 2-3 years, and before that every CBC channel was forcing us to watch Leafs games due to what I thought was their blackout conditions. Of course I subscribed to CI to avoid that, plus my wife is a Red Wings fan so the subscription is a must in our house. I also subscribe to the French sports packages so I already get both RDS and TVA, so I should be covered for all Habs games in one language or the other.

I'm concerned that Sportsnet will not follow the same pattern with the English broadcasts. The proof is in the pudding some say, so I'll be a skeptic until they start broadcasting the regular season games next month.

Sportsnet will follow a different model than what CBC did. On Saturdays, there will be one CBC game at 7 PM (shown across all CBC affiliates), one on City TV (shown across all affiliates), one on the main Sportsnet channels (E/O/W/P), one on SN1, etc. As long as you have a CBC station, you'll get any games that will be on CBC.

As for the French feeds, did you get games on TSN-Habs last year? If so, you'll get the games on RDS. If not, you won't even though you're subscribed to the channel, they'll be blacked out. But since you get Centre Ice, you'll still be covered (it sounds like the RDS games will be on CI).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks to my constant lobbying and my contacts with the cable company, Eastlink Cable is now offering the 'french package' of Centre Ice for only $59.99 for the season. You get 60 Canadiens games and 54 Senators from Centre Ice using the RDS feed. It is a one-time lump sum payment added to your next cable bill. The games on RDS will be available on Eastlink channels 464 and 465. Now we'll once again have access to all 82 Canadiens games in our viewing region.

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Thanks to my constant lobbying and my contacts with the cable company, Eastlink Cable is now offering the 'french package' of Centre Ice for only $59.99 for the season. You get 60 Canadiens games and 54 Senators from Centre Ice using the RDS feed. It is a one-time lump sum payment added to your next cable bill. The games on RDS will be available on Eastlink channels 464 and 465. Now we'll once again have access to all 82 Canadiens games in our viewing region.

Good work, man. I ended up getting the same thing here in Kingston with Cogeco (thanks for the headsup, Brian). I get those same channels, but with 495 & 496 in HD.

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Good work, man. I ended up getting the same thing here in Kingston with Cogeco (thanks for the headsup, Brian). I get those same channels, but with 495 & 496 in HD.

Yep, I did the same.

Silly though because if we had Shaw we could get RDS habs games not blacked out.

Cogeco messed up the blackout areas.

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Yep, I did the same.

Silly though because if we had Shaw we could get RDS habs games not blacked out.

Cogeco messed up the blackout areas.

True enough. I'm just glad that there was a way to get all the games. I'd grown spoiled with RDS these past years.

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