NHL Center Ice, Any HD Broadcasts, Home and Away Feeds ??

[NY Rangers 07]

Good Afternoon,
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the "Center Ice" package through Direct. I'm new to Direct (had it two weeks) and of course had to have Center Ice and Sunday Ticket.
With the hockey season about to start I'm reading alot of posts on the NY Rangers website that Dish Network will be offering both Home and Away feeds of the same game, as well as HD broadcasts of games. Does Direct offer the same thing with their package and HD broadcasts?? Just getting a feeling I signed on with the wrong dish company for being such a huge hockey fan. Any and all insight greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
Steve

 

[eddieras]

Hey Steve- i too am a huge hockey fan - and a ranger fan at that (you post over on the NYR bb, too??). i've had directv and centre ice for going on 10 years- but they do NOT show both feeds. and this is huge for me - i love sam and whats his name (miss JD big time). sometimes its so painful to watch other broadcasts. directv did show some extra HD games on channels 94, 95. not sure what's in store this season.

i've been looking to switch to dish because in the past they have showed both feeds -plus a canadian one on occasion and now i hear they're getting the NHL Network. also, i've read here that they will show games on HD RSN's (thru CI of course).

I really want to confirm all this before i make the switch.

 

[NY Rangers 07]

Yeah, I've been posting on the BB since 2001, under many different names and accounts as webby seems to like to boot you for some undisclosed reasons at times as I'm sure your well aware. Names like HockeyInPNW, HockeyInItaly (when I was stationed there) couple I don't remember and I currently post under "Floccinaucinihilipilification".
Anyway, I just signed up with Direct so wouldn't I get stuck paying some fees if I were to terminate service? I think I'm obligated to 1 year??. The only real big thing besides hockey I care about for service is HD, with all the new HD coming online via direct I would like to stay, and is the main reason I switched from Time Warner. Would most certainly stay if they start carrying MSG HD. Has anyone confirmed whether or not it is or is not coming to Direct this year?? If not direct, is it going to dish? I'll pay the termination fee if I can get MSG HD !!!

 

[stuckingoo]

Hey Steve- i too am a huge hockey fan - and a ranger fan at that (you post over on the NYR bb, too??). i've had directv and centre ice for going on 10 years- but they do NOT show both feeds. and this is huge for me - i love sam and whats his name (miss JD big time). sometimes its so painful to watch other broadcasts. directv did show some extra HD games on channels 94, 95. not sure what's in store this season.

i've been looking to switch to dish because in the past they have showed both feeds -plus a canadian one on occasion and now i hear they're getting the NHL Network. also, i've read here that they will show games on HD RSN's (thru CI of course).

I really want to confirm all this before i make the switch.

I'd be careful about Dish and pro sports. They pulled the rug under MLB fans by passing on EI. And in regards to CI, they are still negotiating with the NHL. Look on their website and the CI section is still blank. I've given up on Dish and am switching on DirecTV because they jack with the sports fan too much. It's true that the multiple feeds are great but they are not commited to any of these sports packs.

 

[eddieras]

wow - stuckingoo may be right - just received the following email from ceo@echostar

We are currently still negotiating with the NHL Center Ice Package and I haven’t heard anything regarding the NHL network. As far as the feeds we broadcast it would only be in one feed.
Let me know if you have any other questions and once I hear anything more of the Center Ice package I will let you know.

 

[ccash]

Good Afternoon,
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the "Center Ice" package through Direct. I'm new to Direct (had it two weeks) and of course had to have Center Ice and Sunday Ticket.
With the hockey season about to start I'm reading alot of posts on the NY Rangers website that Dish Network will be offering both Home and Away feeds of the same game, as well as HD broadcasts of games. Does Direct offer the same thing with their package and HD broadcasts?? Just getting a feeling I signed on with the wrong dish company for being such a huge hockey fan. Any and all insight greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
Steve

Steve,

What website are you seeing this on?

 

[eddieras]

Steve,

What website are you seeing this on?

i've seen this (dish showing both feeds, HD, NHL Network) on these boards-- it's all over the place. however, there is also much conflicting info as noted in my email from Matt at Executive Communications (see previous post).

 

[stuckingoo]

i've seen this (dish showing both feeds, HD, NHL Network) on these boards-- it's all over the place. however, there is also much conflicting info as noted in my email from Matt at Executive Communications (see previous post).

I subscribed to the Dish CI package last season and I can tell you for sure that they did broadcast both feeds. That email that you have cited either represents a change in their CI broadcast policy or he just flat out misspoke.

 

[roachxp]

CI on E* this season will be HD for almost all games too, including NHL Network which is lauching soon. On Monday Charlie Chat they said they only have a few lose ends to tie up (maybe to get a long term deal like 5 or 6 yr deal so Direct doesn't try to steal it exclusivly)

 

[eddieras]

i do hope you're right that he misspoke - both feeds is a huge draw for me. i've tried calling back Matt but i keep getting his voice mail.

 

[NY Rangers 07]

i've seen this (dish showing both feeds, HD, NHL Network) on these boards-- it's all over the place. however, there is also much conflicting info as noted in my email from Matt at Executive Communications (see previous post).

Why are things so difficult?? I mean I'm going to be paying through the nose for Center Ice, Sunday Ticket, HD pack, Sports Pack etc.... That all adds up on the bill I get at the end of the month to alot more than I was paying with TW.
At this point shouldn't we all KNOW what it is we are getting for the money we are spending?? These companies act like it's some big G-14 classified issue we're dealing with. IT'S TELEVISION !!!!! Let me know what I'm paying for!!. That is a right I have as a customer, is it not???
Even if it is a contract issue and things have yet to be "Closed", why not let me know what I would be getting when it does!. Frustrating indeed,,,,,

 

[stuckingoo]

Why are things so difficult?? I mean I'm going to be paying through the nose for Center Ice, Sunday Ticket, HD pack, Sports Pack etc.... That all adds up on the bill I get at the end of the month to alot more than I was paying with TW.
At this point shouldn't we all KNOW what it is we are getting for the money we are spending?? These companies act like it's some big G-14 classified issue we're dealing with. IT'S TELEVISION !!!!! Let me know what I'm paying for!!. That is a right I have as a customer, is it not???
Even if it is a contract issue and things have yet to be "Closed", why not let me know what I would be getting when it does!. Frustrating indeed,,,,,

I don't know how many Dish subscribers to CI there are but with Extra Innings there were 270K for D* and 50K for E* in '06. So, take a guestimate of the CI subscribers for Dish. 10K? Dish has, what, over 12M subscribers. The exact number doesn't matter because, in the end, you represent less than one tenth of one percent. So, my guess is that they are trying to squeeze the best deal they can out of the NHL and if that makes a very small number of their customer base nervous, they are not going to care much.

 

[capsfan]

After reading the transcript of Charlie Chat and the proclamation of *E to have most Center Ice games in HD this year as well as NHL network, I'm a little nervous.

I just got *D on the promise of more HD channels but mostly because of the HD RSN's that are supposed to go live in October. I believed that with the NHL CI package along with HD access I would be able to get all of the NHL games in HD on their various RSN's. No one seems to be able to confirm this. There also doesn't seem to be any date as to when the NHL network is launching on *D. I'm hoping I didn't jump the gun. If *E customers are watching the CI in HD while *D customers watch CI in SD I'm going to be highly annoyed. How is it that *E can promise most CI in HD while *D may black-out the HD broadcasts??? If this happens I may have to pay an early termination fee and jump to *E.

 

[charper1]

Charlie Chat and the proclamation of *E to have most Center Ice games in HD this year as well as NHL network, I'm a little nervous.

I read that "most games", as in the majority compared to the total; not "the most"; as in more than any other outlet.

As far as CONUS RSNs after they go live; will they not still be subject to all the prevailing BO rules the leagues mandate/control?

 

[capsfan]

That's how I read it too but *D only claims "some" which is a far cry from "most". If the RSN's are conus and you have CI, HD access and all of the RSN's then in theory you shoudn't be blacked out. However *D has a history of milking customers for extra money to access HD sports programming(ie NFL ST and MLB EI "superfan"). There is no such option for CI and I'm just concerned as nobody seems to be able to confirm or deny anything in regards to this.

 

[charper1]

Sorry but I do not do NHL but have never had any issues with the other "fan pkgs" price-wise or service-wise. I only get BO'd when one of my locals has the broadcast rights and by current rule/law your DBS service must abide, they do not make it up or control it; but maybe we are in line for changes.

 

[capsfan]

What other packages do you get? They don't black out the HD feeds on the various RSN's? I thought you couldn't get the HD feeds without superfan?

 

[charper1]

I have never paid specifically for NFL SuperFan, and there has been no special HD feed package for the NBA, but when NBA game were on their respective RSN yet out of my market, they were blacked out, they were viewable via the League Pass; trust me the whole DMA and broadcast rights BS is exactly that; BS and the NAB/affiliates, the FCC and leagues should all be hung IMHO.

 

[capsfan]

I know. I agree with you. I've been playing this game with satellite dishes for many years trying to get out of market pro sports. In the early 90's I got a C-band dish only to find all of the professional sports blacked-out on the RSN's except my local teams. Then they were not blacked out.....and then they were blacked out unless you had the various sports packages...which I could live with. Now with HD we're being forced to get so-called "superfan" packages just for the luxury of watching HD which we should be entitled to already! I mean we're paying for the HD receivers, HD access fees, RSN's and various sports packages only to find out that the HD feeds are blacked-out unless you buy superfan(ie MLB EI etc.)! Now I would like to know if that trend will continue with NBA league pass and NHL CI or if we are going to recieve the HD games on the various RSN's that we should be entitled to. D*'s CSR's can't even agree on this!

 

[nhl66pens]

When I first got CI years ago, if you paid for CI you got to watch the games on the NHL Channels (700's) or on the RSN. Then, one year they changed it so when the game started, you had to go to the 700's to watch the game, but the last few years it was back to if you paid for the game you could watch it on the 700's or the RSN's as long as it wasn't a game in your local area. If it was, then the RSN for the other team would be blacked out. For instance, I live in the Crapitals area, so if the Pens are playing the Craps, I couldn't avoid listening to the whiny sounds of Craig Laughlin by going to FSN Pittsburgh.

I have no idea how they are going to handle HD broadcasts on the RSN's and CI but as someone else mentioned, they occasionally would show games on 92, 93 and/or 94 and on HD Net (CH 79 - I think). I'm hoping they include the HD broadcasts as part of the package on the RSN's but I guess we'll have to wait and see.