Moved to Washington state recently and have contact in BC who could do the "brokerage" for free. My main interest is being able to see Vancouver Canucks games in HD - which are mostly on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific - something Bell broadcasts. What should I do? Get the Bell package/equipment, self-install and hope it works? Or is there another local network that will be able to show me these hockey games - HD is a must!
Watching Canadian HD hockey channels in Seattle
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Center Ice via U.S. cable (or FIOS) provides very few HD games. Dish & DirecTV would get far more HD games, but generally not the Canucks via Sportsnet -- you'd get the broadcast from the U.S. network carrying the game, if any. The U.S. version of the NHL Network also carries Hockey Night in Canada and a few TSN games.
Bell or Star Choice (with a service address in Canucks territory) will get you Sportsnet Pacific in HD.
Bell or Star Choice (with a service address in Canucks territory) will get you Sportsnet Pacific in HD.
this is a reliable website:
Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com
Starchoice dishes are Anik F1R and Anik F2
Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com
Starchoice dishes are Anik F1R and Anik F2
The problem is that there are NO US paid TV providers, cable or staliate, that show any Canadian HD other than the NHL network. On Saturday night the NHL network carries the whole Hockey Nite in Canada package in HD.
I have no idea why we can't get the north of the boarder HD feeds but we can't.
I hope this changes for next season. I would love an answer to why there aren't Canadian HD feeds other than the one you mentioned.
The Canadian television channels are not licensed to provide programming in the U.S. They could be, if they thought they could get cable and satellite carriage. But the biggest issue would be with exactly what a lot of people want - stuff like hockey games already have the rights sold to U.S. companies. I'd kill for a "CBC America" type of channel, but it would probably not be able to carry the hockey games.
True, but not really the issue at hand regarding the NHL and other sports packages. We're talking about individual games, not channels per se. We have gotten Sportsnet and even RDS games in Center Ice down here, just not in HD. We used to get CBC games before the NHL Network started showing them this season.
We've gotten some Sportsnet Jays games in HD in the EI package on DirecTV.
Most likely, DirecTV and Dish are not willing to pay the price offered to them for the Canadian HD games for the NHL package.
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Exactly - Rogers and TSN charge providers extra for the HD feed plus there would be an extra transport fee payable to S.B.S. So unless these customers push their providers - no HD
xlay,
I have StarChoice in Seattle. It works great.
I got my dish from KuSat. I already had the service and receiver from my place in Port McNeill.
StarChoice's website talks about the hockey available. Hockey on Star Choice - Star Choice
I have StarChoice in Seattle. It works great.
I got my dish from KuSat. I already had the service and receiver from my place in Port McNeill.
StarChoice's website talks about the hockey available. Hockey on Star Choice - Star Choice
Price for HD Sports pak is going up to $2.99 from $1.99 in April.
Not a surprise as SC is now paying .50 for TSN2 HD and apparently will add Golf HD sometime after Buffalo feeds are dropped.
Do you think the reason Dish and Directv don't show the Canadian HD feeds is because they don't have enough HD capacity to do so? I find that the only HD games that Dish shows are the ones from the RSNs that they already carry. Anything else, forget it!
Hopefully next year we'll have the Canadian fees in HD. The more of us complain about it, the chances are we'll get them eventually. Remember the days on Directv when you would ONLY get the Canadian feed when the U.S. team was not carrying it on their RSN.
Hopefully next year we'll have the Canadian fees in HD. The more of us complain about it, the chances are we'll get them eventually. Remember the days on Directv when you would ONLY get the Canadian feed when the U.S. team was not carrying it on their RSN.
The reason that the HD feeds arn't shown in the US, is because there is no sustainable market for it.
Every US network that has tried to do hockey, has failed miserably in the ratings. Except for a few cities in the North (and they are covered by RSN's), there is no Hockey market in the US.
And without a big market, carriers arn't going to bother spending the money to show hockey, especially when they'll never make the money back.
Every US network that has tried to do hockey, has failed miserably in the ratings. Except for a few cities in the North (and they are covered by RSN's), there is no Hockey market in the US.
And without a big market, carriers arn't going to bother spending the money to show hockey, especially when they'll never make the money back.
Yes and no. There's certainly enough of a market to make Center Ice a viable proposition. However, paying the providers for HD Canadian feeds would mean a price increase for that package, which is likely not a cost-effective move.
