NHL Center Ice

[Islandguy43]

Good point!

I would be more likely to consider paying the increased CI charge for the new season.

Actually, I think Charlie should reduce the CI price for this season, seeing as how he has saved "us" all this money by not paying for HD rights for some of the RSN's over the past 2 years. I wonder what he's done with all the savings...

Obviously you haven't been to a hockey game recently. Basically the cost of CI is the equivalent or less of a family of four attending a regular season game in the upper deck sections.


For the amount of games you get, regardless whether they are sd or hd, it is still a bargain for $159; and a lifesaver for displaced hockey fans from their home team.

 

[grb]

Obviously you haven't been to a hockey game recently. Basically the cost of CI is the equivalent or less of a family of four attending a regular season game in the upper deck sections.


For the amount of games you get, regardless whether they are sd or hd, it is still a bargain for $159; and a lifesaver for displaced hockey fans from their home team.

Yes, it has been a year and 1/2 since I attended an NHL game. And I know how much it costs, although I know it is more expensive in Buffalo than in L.A. I also watched USC trounce Ohio State in the Rose Bowl in HD on Saturday. Some people paid upwards of $5,000 for a seat at that game. It cost me nothing. Now that was a bargain!

To you, the $159 is a bargain. Maybe you feel $259 is a bargain, too. The truth of the matter is that the great majority of Dish subs do not subscribe to CI, so to them it is not a bargain at all. The point is, Charlie has a limited number of potential CI subs and he should try to improve upon that by offering a high quality product -- i.e. more HD, especially when he increases the price.

I consider the $159 a relative bargain, too -- but I am retired and living on a pension, so I have hard decisions to make on where to spend my money, bargain or no bargain.

 

[dishcomm]

Yes, it has been a year and 1/2 since I attended an NHL game. And I know how much it costs, although I know it is more expensive in Buffalo than in L.A. I also watched USC trounce Ohio State in the Rose Bowl in HD on Saturday. Some people paid upwards of $5,000 for a seat at that game. It cost me nothing. Now that was a bargain!

To you, the $159 is a bargain. Maybe you feel $259 is a bargain, too. The truth of the matter is that the great majority of Dish subs do not subscribe to CI, so to them it is not a bargain at all. The point is, Charlie has a limited number of potential CI subs and he should try to improve upon that by offering a high quality product -- i.e. more HD, especially when he increases the price.

I consider the $159 a relative bargain, too -- but I am retired and living on a pension, so I have hard decisions to make on where to spend my money, bargain or no bargain.

Check the listings for each game. You must make a choice. If the Buffalo feed isn't available in HD but the opposing team's is, which do you watch? I know many Sabres fans. And I am aware that Rick Jeanneret is a virtual God in Sabres fandom. Right now as it stands MSG isn't available in HD but many of the Sabrs opponents broadcasts are in HD. So you may have to hold your nose and watch the other guy..... For now.

 

[Islandguy43]

Check the listings for each game. You must make a choice. If the Buffalo feed isn't available in HD but the opposing team's is, which do you watch? I know many Sabres fans. And I am aware that Rick Jeanneret is a virtual God in Sabres fandom. Right now as it stands MSG isn't available in HD but many of the Sabrs opponents broadcasts are in HD. So you may have to hold your nose and watch the other guy..... For now.

That works in the buffalo area too, but then you must "move" inorder to receive that out of town feed on the nhl ci package Then with your 722 you could turn the audio off and play with the video to match up with the radio, but that is really a "pita"; so its either put up with the lousy sd feed, switch to direct or even worse twc.

 

[wolfjc]

Good point!



Actually, I think Charlie should reduce the CI price for this season, seeing as how he has saved "us" all this money by not paying for HD rights for some of the RSN's over the past 2 years. I wonder what he's done with all the savings...

I really think that Charlie does NOT control how much CI costs because over on D* they charge the same price.
I think that the NHL controls how much CI costs.

 

[grb]

Check the listings for each game. You must make a choice. If the Buffalo feed isn't available in HD but the opposing team's is, which do you watch? I know many Sabres fans. And I am aware that Rick Jeanneret is a virtual God in Sabres fandom. Right now as it stands MSG isn't available in HD but many of the Sabrs opponents broadcasts are in HD. So you may have to hold your nose and watch the other guy..... For now.

All things being equal, I would always opt for the Sabres broadcast. Besides Rick, I enjoyed Mike Robitaille and Jim Lorentz, both of whom I was acquainted with or played against as a teenager (Jim Lorentz). I was disappointed to find Jim wasn't with the broadcast group last year and never did find out why...

Unfortunately, out of the 41 away games for the Sabres last year, fewer than 10 were in HD. They play a lot of games against Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and none of the Canadian games are in HD on Dish CI. Dish CI did not carry HD for Rangers, Islanders and Bruins. That covers a great number of Sabres away games. And with the Sabres home games, it seems none of the visitor's broadcasts were in HD, which seems to be the common practice for team away game broadcasts for the NHL.

So while it may be an advantage to be a Sabre fan outside the Buffalo area, the HD advantage is very small...

 

[ehren]

i'd pay $20 more for all the Canadian HD feeds and CSN-Philly HD like Directv uses for the Phillies in Extra Innings.

 

[grb]

I really think that Charlie does NOT control how much CI costs because over on D* they charge the same price.
I think that the NHL controls how much CI costs.

The NHL controls how much CI costs the provider. The provider decides how much they charge the subscriber.

If CI is the same price on D*, then D* offers the real bargain because they have the most HD games by far. In other words, Charlie is pocketing all the savings he is supposed to be providing us by not contracting HD rights with the RSN's...

 

[Visitor]

I'm still trying to figure out where to get Center Ice from - Dish or Time Warner Cable NYc. It will depend on which service has more HD, and I am inclined to believe (from other posts here) that Dish has more than Time Warner. I've read that Time Warner would usually have one or two HD games a night broadcast on one channel (that leads me to believe that the second game, if any, would be a west coast game). I don't know how true this is. And I've never ordered CI from Dish before but from what I read here, it sounds like the experience would be a lot better on Dish and I probably would have more access to HD games I think. I am leaning toward Dish and if anything, using the 722 is a much more pleasant experience than that SciAtl box from TWCNYC...

And Centre Ice on BellTV is $199CAN which comes out to like $187US - so not going there I don't think despite them saying that they will have 250 games in HD this season.

 

[Rangers4me]

I'm still trying to figure out where to get Center Ice from - Dish or Time Warner Cable NYc. It will depend on which service has more HD, and I am inclined to believe (from other posts here) that Dish has more than Time Warner. I've read that Time Warner would usually have one or two HD games a night broadcast on one channel (that leads me to believe that the second game, if any, would be a west coast game). I don't know how true this is. And I've never ordered CI from Dish before but from what I read here, it sounds like the experience would be a lot better on Dish and I probably would have more access to HD games I think. I am leaning toward Dish and if anything, using the 722 is a much more pleasant experience than that SciAtl box from TWCNYC...

And Centre Ice on BellTV is $199CAN which comes out to like $187US - so not going there I don't think despite them saying that they will have 250 games in HD this season.

I switched from TWC to Dish for NHLCI. I know it's not as good as DTV for HD games, but TWC only has 1 or 2 games a night (on GameHD) in high def. In my market they didn't even have the GameHD channel.

 

[darrencp22]

I got approval to put a dish up on my apartment complex's roof. I currently have TWC and they are about the same price as Dish Network.

The only reason I would switch is if I will get more HD hockey with NHL Center Ice.

How many games were in HD last year? Any idea if it supposed to be more this year?

Also, any word on if/when MSGHD will be added? I know it is uplinked, but the VOOM stuff has put it on hold.

Hey there.. huge Ranger fan here myself. In any event, dont expect MSG HD any time soon from what I understand. This is the major reason I left Dish for DirecTV. Word is D forked over some decent $ to get it. Dish's overall HD coverage of center ice is pittiful. Same limited teams in HD.

 

[Visitor]

I switched from TWC to Dish for NHLCI. I know it's not as good as DTV for HD games, but TWC only has 1 or 2 games a night (on GameHD) in high def. In my market they didn't even have the GameHD channel.

How many games in HD would Dish's CI typically have on a typical night? I know, I've read all that D* is better but D* is not an option for me and I'm trying to find the best solution for the options I have. Looks more and more like it will be E*

And games can be saved to the External HD right?

 

[grb]

How many games in HD would Dish's CI typically have on a typical night?

Typically, Dish had ony 10-15% (I may be generous here) of games in HD last season. And when they did, often they would have the same game (home and away) in HD. Sometimes the HD NET game would be the same game, for a total of 3 versions of the same game in HD at the same time, with all the rest of the games on CI in SD. Very frustrating.

That's why it irks me that Dish has increased it's CI price by $10 while providing no improvement in service over last year. If D* can provide substantially more HD than Dish and still charge the same price as Dish, then Charlie is pocketing the money that he claims he is saving us through his hard nosed negotiations.

He shouldn't raise the price until he can provide the full product that is available out there. I would gladly pay the increase to receive the games in HD that are broadcast in HD -- some of the SD quality is absolutely horrific.

 

[crimpshrine]

Again it's not Dish raising the price...It's the NHL! If you had cable you would pay the same $159 like every other provider, plus some cable companies don't even offer a HD channel with there Center Ice package...So it could be a worse deal

 

[grb]

Again it's not Dish raising the price...It's the NHL! If you had cable you would pay the same $159 like every other provider, plus some cable companies don't even offer a HD channel with there Center Ice package...So it could be a worse deal

I believe Dish could offer CI at the same price as last year and take less profit. This is not a flow through price. The NHL does not charge Dish $159 so Dish can charge its subs the same amount. There is a margin involved in Dish's pricing and it appears to be the same margin used by D*, which has a better product.

I believe there are worse deals out there but I'm not interested in worse deals. Like any smart shopper, I want the best value for my money and Dish is not offering value that is equal to or better than the best value out there. And since Dish advertises itself as the best value provider, it ought to at least equal the best value in the market. And if for some reason it can't offer the best product, it should adjust its price accordingly.

 

[crimpshrine]

Well the only thing I can tell you is go for the better deal and stop complaining about it. It's not that hard..

 

[grb]

Well the only thing I can tell you is go for the better deal and stop complaining about it. It's not that hard..

Hey, I was just expressing my opinion. Tell you what -- you don't tell me what to do and I won't tell you what to do -- with one exception as follows: if you don't approve of people expressing their opinions, stay out of the opinion threads. It's not that hard

 

[crimpshrine]

I don't really care if you express your opinions or not and I'm not even taking up for Dish..But basically you are saying that Directv has the better product, so I was just saying it's not that hard to switch. Complaining on here does no go, have you emailed Dish about your thoughts and concerns? I would like more HD hockey just like you but talking about Dish's prices and coverage on here will do no good...

 

[grb]

Complaining on here does no go, have you emailed Dish about your thoughts and concerns? I would like more HD hockey just like you but talking about Dish's prices and coverage on here will do no good...

Read my post.

I was expressing my opinion. I was not looking for a solution from anyone here on the Dish forums. My opinion is that Dish is second rate in its CI package.

You need to understand the difference between an opinion and a complaint. A complaint is directed to the cause of the problem and no one here is the cause. If I wish to complain, I will complain to Dish. If I wish to express an opinion, I will do so in this forum.

 

[crimpshrine]

You need to understand the difference between an opinion and a complaint. A complaint is directed to the cause of the problem and no one here is the cause. If I wish to complain, I will complain to Dish. If I wish to express an opinion, I will do so in this forum.

It seems to me you are expressing your opinion and complaining at the same time. Maybe you need to understand the difference between the two. So if you are saying all this stuff and know WE can't do anything about it, who are you really talking to? Yourself?

Again, if you don't like the product Dish is offering, choose another company that fits your needs! Then you can save all this time you have wasted on "expressing your opinion"...