NHL Center Ice on DISH

Directv is still the sports leader.

 

Where the pack 12 network at of Directv

 

Dish no longer carries MSG, so if you need that channel, that would be a deal breaker for you. Dish dropped MSG some 8 years ago.

 

I haven't seen this season's price yet, but it was $150 last season. All regular season games are carried as far as I know, but games are often blacked out in their home market per league requirements. Many games are carried in HD, but not all. I don't know if that's a network or Dish decision.

 

I just received my renewal notice, its $160 this year, they have me set up to pay installments on it. Not sure if you have the option to pay all upfront if you choose. You get all games carried by FSN regionals (both feeds) and you get the AT&T regionals also. As stated above, MSG is out and last year I noticed that the Rogers SportsNet games from Canada were SD only. The only time the MSG problem is impactful is when two MSG teams are playing each other, otherwise you get the game from the opponent's feed. Plus NHL network shows a lot of games and may have a Rangers game on from time to time.

If you have a strong wifi you might want to consider the NHL.TV streaming package, price is similar and no network contract issues. Plus replays on demand.

 

Those NHL Network games are blacked out for in market viewers, instead they get a different game on the alternate channel.

In market viewers are also blacked out of games on Center Ice and NHL.tv involving their teams. The Albany DMA is in MSG's Zone 2, that sweet spot where they're considered in market for all 4 of the NY/NJ NHL teams. So where he is, he'll be blacked out of any game MSG and MSG Plus are airing locally involving Rangers, Devils, Islanders and Sabres.

 

I just switch from Direct tv to Dish. I signed up for Center Ice and is very disappointed with blackouts. I am a Nashville Predators fan and more games are blacked out than not. Never had this problem with Direct there was always a way to view the Predators games. If I would have known this I would not have made the switch from Direct.

 

Your Dish CI subscription includes access to the NHL TV app. You may be able to stream the games there.

 

I can't speak for Center Ice, however I did notice that MLBEI did carry some games from RSN's that are in the current FSN dispute. I presume that the source of MLBEI is Major League Baseball and not the RSN's in dispute so some games got though that were sourced from the otherwise blacked out networks. In the case of CI they carry Canadian feeds. So I wouldn't judge CI (or any other OOM Sports package) by the lack of RSN carriage.

 

We're avid Redwings fans, and so far every Fox Detroit game feed has been available on CI on Dish. The only games we went to NHL TV for were a couple of pre-season games before CI kicked in for the regular season. NHL.com even found a couple of non-broadcast games for us that appeared to be the same home team feed they use for the arena big screens and the premium private boxes. Scrolls like, "Please remain in your seats until a whistle blows." kind of gave it away...

 

I tried the NHL app and that did not work. I should not have switched to Dish. Blackouts were never a problem with Direct.

 

"Our agreements with sports leagues and associations restrict us from showing events near where a game is played or broadcast locally. In other situations, national networks like ESPN and TNT have exclusive distribution rights to some events."

"Sports blackouts are controlled by the leagues, associations, and networks that purchase the rights to broadcast individual games. To protect their rights, DIRECTV must enforce their restrictions and air a blackout message."

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/directv/KM1022959

 

If you're in the Preds blackout area, Dish currently has a dispute with FOX Sports Tennessee. This is a separate issue from Center Ice, this is a "local" RSN dispute.

CI only covers out of market games.

 

If I would have known that I would miss more than 50% of the Predators games I would not have purchased Center Ice from Dish.

 

Not able to watch out of market games either.