National Hockey League Embraces TV Placeshifting

Egadfly writes "The 'placeshifting' technology that allows digitally recorded shows to be watched in several locations is growing increasingly popular. One particular reason for this popularity is because it enables sports fans to view locally blacked-out games over the Internet. The National Hockey League (NHL) has announced that it will actively support placeshifting by signing an agreement with SlingBox-maker Sling Media. The agreement will allow the company's "Clip+Sling" technologyto share both live and recorded NHL programming over the Internet. Significantly, this has happened only days after Major League Baseball (MLB) launched a public denunciation of placeshifting, accusing SlingBox owners of violating the law by sending television content over the Internet and accusing Sling Media itself of violating contracts with cable and satellite TV companies."

Re:Um yeah....about that

[Anonymous Coward]

You misspelled "trying to promote." HTH.

Seriously though, hockey is a great exhilerating sport to watch live. You don't even have to know anything about it. It's a ballet of finely controlled aggression. It's John Woo on ice with sticks instead of guns. On tv, you have to know the game. The puck is so small and fast, the reactions are lighting quick the game is extremely hard to produce, and the experience of watching the game changes. You the viewer have to infer the possibilities of what you can't see, developing a accurate expectation to get a similar buzz of intensity from the game. Does that mean I watch the NHL no I don't. I watch minor league hockey, because I can go to those games.

Re:Um yeah....about that

[Anonymous McCartneyf]

I don't get local NFL blackouts either--haven't had them for over a decade--but I suspect that not all the tickets sold to sell out the games for my local NFL team are being used. It has a strong fanbase, but not quite as strong as the Packers, and I think that some games are being sold out because radio shows are buying all the unsold tix for give-aways.
Or to put it another way: I've seen local games on TV that had a lot of empty seats in the stands.

Preakness

[windside]

As a hockey fan, it pains me to say this, but the people suggesting this is a desperation move by a league struggling to stay relevant in the USA are absolutely right. Low ratings for game 3 on NBC are one thing, but the real icing on the cake was when NBC pre-empted overtime during the Sabres-Senators series to show a pre-game show for Preakness. In Canada, this caused a minor outrage, but it didn't really matter since CBC showed the whole glorious game. In fact, I doubt many people up here know what "Preakness" means. Sounds like a soft drink or something. Any NHL fan can tell you the sport is floundering stateside: During the first-round series between Calgary and Detroit, it was damn near impossible to get tickets to watch the (utterly horrific) Flames on home ice. Meanwhile, some friends of mine traveled to Detroit and snapped up tickets on game day! And they were cheap! And they were great seats! And the Wings were playing about 100x better than the Flames. Finally, and slightly more on-topic, at the beginning of the playoffs, CBC announced that they would be doing on-demand streaming for all broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada. At the end of the day, the league is pulling out all the stops trying to convince US audiences they should care about hockey. The Placeshifting issue is just one example of that. It won't work. Maybe they should convince NBC to fire Brett Hull, then people would be able to stomach the NBC telecasts? No, probably not. Sigh.

Check out Joost

[Charcharodon]

Just picked up an invite for Joost, guess it from the same guys that made Skype. It works very well, you can even watch all the NHL play off games to stay on topic.

It'll be entertaining to see when this takes off (It's not a matter of if, the beta is that good.) how loud the networks start screaming when these guys not only eat their lunch, but drink all their beer too.

Re:Noone watches anyways

[rbochan]

I'd imagine NBC's _godawful_ audio has something to do with that too. One of the biggest media companies on the planet, and their audio guys can't even stop the pumping and breathing from the compressor/limiters. It's pathetic. Boys, that threshold setting is there for a reason!
And besides the shitty audio, if a game doesn't finish within regulation, NBC's bound to cut to a rerun of Friends or some shit.

NHL likely to follow new tech

[duckle]

I'm glad to see it. A few years back the NHL started introducing "special effects" like creating a sort of "halo" around the puck to easily spot it behind the boards or the red trail when the puck broke a certain speed. I suppose if they didn't change with the times they'd still play without helmets and have chain-link instead of Plexiglas...

I stand corrected on the attendence numbers.

[attemptedgoalie]

I just go by what I see when I watch the games on Center Ice.

I'm sure my northern bias is in play when I watch the game and yell "Look at all those empty seats! Stupid hockey in the south!"

And I bought my HDTV for hockey. If you can't be at a game to watch the play develop, HD is the next best thing. Standard definition games are fine when the Canadians are running the cameras. They generally pull far enough back that you can see the play develop. But the jackasses at the game in the front few rows know it, sit there on their cell phone and stand up and wave every time the puck goes in their end since they know they're on TV now. Yes, Detroit, I'm looking at you.