saw this from the NYT...Americans in border markets used to watching CBC's olympic ocverage are going through withdrawal. Not us! :)

Americans Grumble as CTV Replaces CBC as Canada’s Olympics TV - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/sports/olympics/21cbc.html)

IMHO CTV is doing a CRAPPY job at broadcasting. They are doing the American thing and having little sports coverage, and lots of background stories on athletes. I dont care about that, I want to see the sports. Then they break away to some side story and say you can get the full coverage on a pay channel somewhere else. Just rediculous...

I wish CBC would take back over the olympics, at least they cover it well.

I agree toaster...Also why are they showing the same thing on 4 different channels?

You scroll through the guide and there is a bucnh of different channels showing the games yet you flip through and 3 may be carrying the same thing in the same language

So CTV, TSN & Sportsnet may be carrying the same event

I agree toaster...Also why are they showing the same thing on 4 different channels?

You scroll through the guide and there is a bucnh of different channels showing the games yet you flip through and 3 may be carrying the same thing in the same language

So CTV, TSN & Sportsnet may be carrying the same event


Obviously you guys aren't watching the NBC coverage. Now I only get CTV for my alternative coverage; however I find the only time I am switching over to the NBC channels is to get the HD version of what I am watching on CTV, and that is basically for Hockey.

NBC would like you think that all events take place at 8pm eastern time, while forcing a taped event down your throat. I will take CTV's coverage any day to NBC's.

Yes, NBC's coverage is really lacking, but they are right about CTV, TSN & SportsNet not doing the best of job either. CBC did seem to have better coverage in past games.

At least I got to see the full hocky game last night in HD on Bell because of CTV.

NBC thought showing Ice Dancing was better then showing the USA -vs- Canada game.

At least I got to see the full hocky game last night in HD on Bell because of CTV.

NBC thought showing Ice Dancing was better then showing the USA -vs- Canada game.

Scott, maybe Dish's answer to upstate new york's subs HD problems with 61.5, is to partner with Bell and let all of us get TSN, Rogers sportsnet, and all the other canadian networks in HD:rolleyes::D

is to partner with Bell and let all of us get TSN, Rogers sportsnet, and all the other canadian networks in HD


Nice thought....but lotsa luck. I've been waiting for 40 years for American and Canadian cable & satelllite providers to "partner" with each other and let us watch programming from the opposite sides of the border.......but no, the broadcasters maintain it's their right to control who is allowed to watch what. Even with the recent addition of SRC's (French side of CBC) Internet programming, if you're in the US and try to watch their programming, a pop-up appears telling you that it's not available outside of Canada "due to broadcasting rights". What a crock of BS......IMHO.

Nice thought....but lotsa luck. I've been waiting for 40 years for American and Canadian cable & satelllite providers to "partner" with each other and let us watch programming from the opposite sides of the border.......but no, the broadcasters maintain it's their right to control who is allowed to watch what. Even with the recent addition of SRC's (French side of CBC) Internet programming, if you're in the US and try to watch their programming, a pop-up appears telling you that it's not available outside of Canada "due to broadcasting rights". What a crock of BS......IMHO.

What you say is correct to a certain point. The border states (atleast in NY and Michigan) have been receiving Canadian Stations on our cable systems, for decades. Perhaps that is due to the fact they are available OTA to us.

So why can't dbs provide us with the canadian programing. We already get some with the NHL Center Ice Package, and they certainly provide plenty of other programming from other countries for a fee. It would most certainly be a revenue stream for the two DBS companies.

Perhaps that is due to the fact they are available OTA to us


Yes, I believe you are correct on that. I have lived in several communities in New Hampshire. Some of them received Canadian programming (via cable, in the early days of cable TV) and some didn't. The ones that didn't heard from me personally, and their reasoning (excuse) was that the village was out of the range of OTA. That reasoning didn't make me feel much better when it was time for Hockey Night In Canada and it wasn't available due to rules invented by the bureaucracy.

Unfortunately (for me), I'm of the age and mentality that "if the signal is up there in the air, be it OTA, cable, or satellite, it should be legal to be received and decoded, after payment of the appropriate fees, of course." To be denied access due to "rights of broadcasters" has about as much meaining for me as.......well, enuf said.

Sorry to have gotten off-topic.

Unfortunately (for me), I'm of the age and mentality that "if the signal is up there in the air, be it OTA, cable, or satellite, it should be legal to be received and decoded, after payment of the appropriate fees, of course." To be denied access due to "rights of broadcasters" has about as much meaining for me as.......well, enuf said.

Sorry to have gotten off-topic.

agree with you 100%. if it's there, I'll try to get it. (but I will NEVER steal it)

I will say this, watching CTV last night for the US v. Canada hockey game I didn't have any feelings that the coverage was biased. I thought they called the game well and discussed both teams - exactly what one would expect from Canadian hockey coverage.

It also reminds me why guys here came up with the term HD-lite, the yellow at the bottom of the boards isn't supposed to be fuzzy ;)

It amazes me the way hockey gets so little respect from the american major broadcasters. Last night was another example with the game only being on MSNBC & MSNBC HD only in SD:

NBC Says Puck You to Hockey Fans | HD-Report (http://www.hd-report.com/2010/02/22/nbc-says-puck-you-to-hockey-fans/)

I agree the CTV commentators were very good last night and are so most nights.

At least I got to see the full hocky game last night in HD on Bell because of CTV.

NBC thought showing Ice Dancing was better then showing the USA -vs- Canada game. Weak arguement scott, you could have easily watched game in hd on dish via msnbcHD

Weak arguement scott, you could have easily watched game in hd on dish via msnbcHD

As my post above said, although it was on the MSNBC HD channel it was not broadcast in HD format.

As my post above said, although it was on the MSNBC HD channel it was not broadcast in HD format.

Well I saw the game in stunning HD on MSNBC-HD !!! :rolleyes:

Well I saw the game in stunning HD on MSNBC-HD !!! :rolleyes:

You should tell HD Report they are full of poop then. You can add comments at the bottom of the page:

http://www.hd-report.com/2010/02/22/nbc-says-puck-you-to-hockey-fans/#more-4034

Weak arguement scott, you could have easily watched game in hd on dish via msnbcHD

The game was in HD on TWC also, and the pq was very similar to the pq I used to receive from Dish. Directv doesn't have msnbc hd, and are beginning to look like they have real problem with hockey. First the Vs bull and now this.

It amazes me the way hockey gets so little respect from the american major broadcasters.
Probably has something to do with the ratings (or lack thereof) that the NHL gets.

As for the crappiness of the HD feed on MSNBC-HD, blame CTV for that, as it was just as bad on CTV-HD.
NBC can only show what they get from the pool feed provided by CTV.

Personally I just skipped both sets of announcers after a while and watched the direct feed on the free PPV-HD feeds provided on Bell. It was nice to here the slaps of the puck, grunts of the players, and cries of the fans instead of the talking heads.

Probably has something to do with the ratings (or lack thereof) that the NHL gets.

No doubt that is a huge part of it. I guess poker is just that much better than NHL hockey to the US subscriber lol.

A funny thing they said this morning on ESPN's mike & mike is that curling is the most watched olympic event so far in the US.

THE CTV feed looked better thet he MSNBC HD feed. And the announcers were much better.

A funny thing they said this morning on ESPN's mike & mike is that curling is the most watched olympic event so far in the US.Curling has a big novelty factor to it, so people watch it. And since with every slide the stones can/will change positions, it keeps people interested in a match.

For Hockey, they already know they don't like it, so they don't bother to watch it.

I had a meeting with about 40 store managers today, and at least 6 or 7 of them had asked if I saw the Canada US game the other night (here we are two days later) and talked about watching it. Only one of them I know to have every been a hockey fan, and most know that I am a hockey fan. I think it had much better viewership than I expected.

In fact, one complained that they only saw about 20 seconds of it on NBC, I asked if he knew it was on MSNBC and he said his hotel room didn't get it.

What suprised me, very few of them are hockey fans, but enjoyed the game.

It's true that the US broadcasters are strictly ratings driven, hence the crappy Olympic coverage if you don't care for hours and hours of Ice Dancing, Figure Skating, etc. I have been really happy with my new SD setup that I finished just in time for the Olympics. I am a Curling and Hockey nut, and enjoy(ed) playing and watching both for many years.

I am looking forward to watching Kevin Martin and Norway in the Curling Gold Medal game on TSN in a couple hours. The Hockey coverage has been great too, but the bias I've seen this year is bad. Very little or no mention of the classless Canadian Women's victory celebration which included underage drinking on the ice that got them into hot water, yet they slammed Ohno for his comments after he was DQ'ed in the 500M short track final.

AC, bah humbug, the girls worked their fannies off to get to the level where they could win gold. Let them enjoy their gold medal in peace. One of the best times in life would be when you can celabrate an olympic gold medal with your team-mates. Good on them, and all the effort they put forth. An 18 year old drinking a beer after winning an olympic gold medal in a safe enviorment should be the very least of anyone's worries. Live and let live.

True, much ado about nothing. But what do you think the reaction in Canada would have been if Team USA had won and they were the ones who had done that? It would have been a different reaction for sure.

The coverage by CTV in my opinion was great, so much so that I felt sorry for those in the US watching the NBC broadcasts. A friend stopped over and commented on the lack of or how so few commercials on TSN/CTV stations.

I did notice where CTV has started the short biographies and stories about the athletes and provided less coverage of the lesser participated sports.

Excellent on all accounts and so happy I have Canadian Television. (Bell)

Pooka