Sports Blackouts

[RealisticDave]

I live in eastern Arkansas about 60 miles NW of Memphis, TN. I receive FoxSports Southwest on DISH as my "regional sports channel." For years, I've watched Dallas Stars hockey, but this season many games are blocked to me. I thought it was because I was no longer in Dallas Stars "territory" (per the NHL website and territorial restrictions) because I'm 445 road miles from Dallas. But my closest NHL team is Nashville Predators ('only' 268 road miles) and when their games are shown on FoxSports Alternate Channels, they're always blocked to me---so I guess I'm not in Predators "territory" either? I can see blocking home games to 'locals' to encourage ticket sales, but I'm a long ways away from Dallas and Nashville. I'm not going to 'hop down' to a local game too often. This week, the NHL Network even blocked a Dallas Stars game to me, even though it was shown on a day after, replay basis---go figure?!?

To confuse me even more, the NBA (and I'm not particularly a basketball fan) seems to have it figured out with DISH and FoxSports. Whenever a Dallas Mavericks game is shown on F/S Southwest, it's always blacked out to me---but often a Memphis Grizzlies game is shown on a FoxSports Alternate Channel, and those are not blocked to me. So---apparently--I'm in the Memphis Grizzlies "territory?"

Seems like the NHL, FoxSports, DISH or somebody needs to develop a coherent black-out policy for NHL games. I must be in the local territory for some NHL team and I can't figure out why if the Dallas Stars block games to local Metroplex viewers that I would be treated as such---I'm not!

 

[hckynut]

Dave...

FOXSW is running a lot of the Stars games as surcharge events (they're charging the DBS providers an additional fee to air)... Therefore, DISH has elected not to carry these games. The same is happening with a lot of the Blues games on FOXMW.