NHL GameCenter Live for watching live Leafs games in the US

[PrestigeWorldwide]

I am a die-hard Leafs fan, living in Sharks territory, near San Jose, CA (I share Sharks season tickets as they are accessible and actually available / affordable!).

I have been doing my best to watch live Leafs games here, but from my experience it is not easy.  I don't want to have to find a pirated website to watch the game chopped out at 14.4 kbps, so last year I bought the NHL Center Ice package through Comcast and I was thoroughly underwhelmed.  There was maybe one Leafs game available per month.

This year, I'm considering buying a Single-Team Package for GameCenter Live using my AppleTV.  It's $106 for the year instead of the $140 I shelled out for Center Ice last year.

Any other Leafs fans living south of the border dealing with this same issue?

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I am a die-hard Leafs fan, living in Sharks territory, near San Jose, CA (I share Sharks season tickets as they are accessible and actually available / affordable!).

I have been doing my best to watch live Leafs games here, but from my experience it is not easy.  I don't want to have to find a pirated website to watch the game chopped out at 14.4 kbps, so last year I bought the NHL Center Ice package through Comcast and I was thoroughly underwhelmed.  There was maybe one Leafs game available per month.

This year, I'm considering buying a Single-Team Package for GameCenter Live using my AppleTV.  It's $106 for the year instead of the $140 I shelled out for Center Ice last year.

Any other Leafs fans living south of the border dealing with this same issue?

Be careful with that, when I subscribed a few years ago they'd blackout every game shown on NHL network, which was every HNIC and often times any game shown nationally, so NBC games got blacked out too.

It might have changed, but check in to it.

 

[Britishbulldog]

I tried those as well to watch the Leafs on the East Coast of Canada instead of Ottawa and Montreal but got blacked out after shelling out LOTS of cash.

I switched to hockeystreams.com last season and have been thoroughly impressed.  It is 'gray market' but after throwing hard earned money at the other 2 options to watch the games online, only to get blacked out by the televised games which I couldn't get, I was more than unhappy.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I am a die-hard Leafs fan, living in Sharks territory, near San Jose, CA (I share Sharks season tickets as they are accessible and actually available / affordable!).

I have been doing my best to watch live Leafs games here, but from my experience it is not easy.  I don't want to have to find a pirated website to watch the game chopped out at 14.4 kbps, so last year I bought the NHL Center Ice package through Comcast and I was thoroughly underwhelmed.  There was maybe one Leafs game available per month.

This year, I'm considering buying a Single-Team Package for GameCenter Live using my AppleTV.  It's $106 for the year instead of the $140 I shelled out for Center Ice last year.

Any other Leafs fans living south of the border dealing with this same issue?

Be careful with that, when I subscribed a few years ago they'd blackout every game shown on NHL network, which was every HNIC and often times any game shown nationally, so NBC games got blacked out too.

It might have changed, but check in to it.

When I was using GCL the last 2 seasons I had a US IP address and was never blacked out for a single game.

But I also thought they were ending the blackouts but could be wrong on that.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

I'm in Seattle and have had Center Ice for TV and don't remember ever having a game blacked out.  I wish there were more HD feeds, but I never miss a game.

EDIT: I checked from my area and 15 Leaf games were blacked out last year using GameCenter Live. I would stick to the TV package or check out Reddit NHL streams. You can find HD streams there hosted on youtube so no pop-ups and really nice video.

 

[PrestigeWorldwide]

Thanks all for the replies.  Blackouts are a big problem.  I even received a letter informing me of a class action lawsuit against the NHL last year for how awful the TV viewing experience was, but it sounds like the settlement will have little impact on blackouts.  There's an interesting discussion of this here:  http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2015/6/15/8783249/nhl-tv-settlement-settlement-game-center-live

I'm not into having to plug my computer into my TV every time I want to watch a game, so I may just try out the Single Team Game Center package after doing a bit more research.  A friend of mine had it last year and had lots of problems with blackouts but after contacting Apple he got his money back.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Check out this link for the games Fri/Sat and look for a youtube stream from Nicholas Cage. He usually has a youtube-based HD stream up. Carlton usually has it in his GDT.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLStreams/

 

[OldTimeHockey]

The only games blacked out in Canada are regional games for the Leafs. It does work out to 26 games though.

I am unsure of what is blacked out in the States. Here's a link explaining their blackout rules. You can also enter your ZIP to find out your blackouts. The part that worries me is this:

Nationally televised games are also subject to blackouts in NHL GameCenter LIVE? as well. In the United States all Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final games will be nationally televised.

 

[Boston Leaf]

Ive never had a problem with Game Center myself

 

[trojanweed]

i use www.hockeystreams.com  never had a blackout or issues.  have a roku box and theres an app for it, so i can watch it on my big screen in hd.

 

[PrestigeWorldwide]

The only games blacked out in Canada are regional games for the Leafs. It does work out to 26 games though.

I am unsure of what is blacked out in the States. Here's a link explaining their blackout rules. You can also enter your ZIP to find out your blackouts. The part that worries me is this:

Nationally televised games are also subject to blackouts in NHL GameCenter LIVE? as well. In the United States all Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final games will be nationally televised.

I ended up going for the Game Center Live Single-Team Package for the Leafs for $105 for the year and it's been amazing so far.  The resolution and data rate are excellent even when traveling in Asia, and probably my favourite thing is that you can choose whether you want to watch the home team's broadcast or the away team's.  This means I am actually able to watch Hockey Night in Canada, something I haven't done in years!  I watched the HNIC version of the Pens game the other day and it was a great taste of watching the game as it should be broadcast with high quality commentary and camera angles.  I also like switching between the home and away feeds after controversial plays to see how each side analyzes the play, it's pretty funny how wildly different the analysis can be.

My only complaint so far is that if you aren't watching the game live, there is a display at the bottom of the screen that shows you when all the goals are going to happen for each team which is a spoiler if you don't know the result already.

As for the possibility of no playoff games due to blackouts, I don't think that's something I'm going to have to worry about for the Leafs this year 

 

[ZBBM]

My response to this is, I'll buy an NHL single-team package when there are NO blackouts.  Blackouts are to TV what rotary-dialing a live operator to make a long-distance call is to telecom.  In a smorgasbord world I ought to be able to buy a pack of exactly the games I want to watch, no more and no less.

 

[Jolly good show chaps]

Does anyone know if the blackouts on NHL CenterIce or Game Center Live apply outside of North America?

 

[Arn]

JGSC, it depends if there's a local broadcaster who shows games. In the UK Premier Sports has the rights so if the Leafs are on the NHL GC is blacked out. There are easy ways round it though. I paid for Premier Sports this year though as they also show Swedish Hockey League and occasional British Elite League games along with NHL On the Fly

 

[Jolly good show chaps]

JGSC, it depends if there's a local broadcaster who shows games. In the UK Premier Sports has the rights so if the Leafs are on the NHL GC is blacked out. There are easy ways round it though. I paid for Premier Sports this year though as they also show Swedish Hockey League and occasional British Elite League games along with NHL On the Fly

Interesting. What's the way around it? I'd prefer not to get Premier Sports as I'll be watching via a tablet much of the time and I want the best quality picture and they won't always be showing the Leafs.

 

[Highlander]

I was told by Rogers when I renewed my account recently (they lowered my bill by 60 a month, thru in a PVR, and Game Centre and Shomi) that Game Centre will work in Arizona this winter.

 

[riff raff]

I was told by Rogers when I renewed my account recently (they lowered my bill by 60 a month, thru in a PVR, and Game Centre and Shomi) that Game Centre will work in Arizona this winter.

Betcha it doesn't

 

[Arn]

JGSC, it depends if there's a local broadcaster who shows games. In the UK Premier Sports has the rights so if the Leafs are on the NHL GC is blacked out. There are easy ways round it though. I paid for Premier Sports this year though as they also show Swedish Hockey League and occasional British Elite League games along with NHL On the Fly

Interesting. What's the way around it? I'd prefer not to get Premier Sports as I'll be watching via a tablet much of the time and I want the best quality picture and they won't always be showing the Leafs.

I use Unblockus. Costs about ?3 a month though I think you get the first month free if you want to try it out. It allows you to change your computers location. Also means you can get access to different Netflix regions and the like

 

[princedpw]

Ok.  I live in the Philadelphia area and need my Leafs fix after going into hibernation over the past 2 years.

I think I'm going to get NHL Gamecenter single team (Leafs) subscription so I can watch on my ipad or apple tv.

I assume I can watch games the next day instead of live, right?  (eg: I missed Matthews debut and I think that might have been a mistake so I'd like to go back and watch it)

Am I making a mistake?  Let me know!

 

[Highlander]

I was told by Rogers when I renewed my account recently (they lowered my bill by 60 a month, thru in a PVR, and Game Centre and Shomi) that Game Centre will work in Arizona this winter.

Betcha it doesn't

Yes it did and it worked perfectly, watched a lot of game, nice they started at 5PM and still had the evening to do other things