The NHL season opens Thursday night with four games. Two of them are scheduled to be broadcast nationally on Versus. That's good for the NHL, until you consider that Versus still does not have a contract with DirecTV. Millions of NHL fans are expected to spend Thursday night in the dark, unable to (legally) watch the Capitals-Bruins and Sharks-Avalanche games.
While NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has apparently talked to both sides, the NHL has taken action to show what side of this dispute they're on. On NHL.com, there is a link where fans can e-mail DirecTV about the issue, but not one to e-mail Versus, which is the NHL's national television partner.
Evidently, DirecTV is the only party involved that should have to field complaints from NHL fans.
There have been rumblings in the last 48 hours that the dispute could end in time for the openers Thursday, but that doesn't appear to be happening.
Depending on who you want to believe, DirecTV has offered to put the games -- and only the games -- on while the contract is taken care of. Versus has either not received a formal offer on this, or they have refused.
A DirecTV customer service representative told FanHouse Thursday that the company is "working very hard" to get a deal done for Versus. An e-mail to DirecTV received a similar response, while attempts to reach out to Versus have been unsuccessful. Network president Jamie Davis did tell the New York Times they have received "over 100,000 calls" from people looking for help.
FanHouse first reported about this dispute in August. Unless a miracle happens, it will indeed stretch into the NHL season, thus having a potentially adverse affect on Versus' most important broadcast property.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-01-2009 @ 5:59PM
Kris said...
DirecTv is overrated any way. When put next to dish they are also overpriced. I stick with cable myself. I love having on demand (so far only on cable) so I don't have to set up recordings for shows I don't know about. There is also tel-com but that isn't available everywhere yet. It runs on fiber-optic so the HD is far better. DirecTv compresses the signal down so much that it doesn't qualify as HD to me.
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10-01-2009 @ 6:06PM
lurvuc said...
I dont think any one provider should have rights to a game, if your in New England we should be able to see it on NESN. They have people for it, instead im blacked out cause direct TV bitched out, and Comcast is a greedy company.
Thanks media moguls for ruining the first day of the season. Grow up what is a few bucks to give the general populace the ability to watch already a hurting sport for fan base.
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10-02-2009 @ 8:40PM
Jeffrey said...
NHL CenterIce on Directv stinks.
On the first night they only had 2 games and neither was in HD.
Tonight they only have one game. (Phi/Car) WTF???? THe Rangers/Pitt game isn't on CenterIce. I had that package last year when I had Dish Network on it was alot better. On the one game they do have tonight they only have 1 feed. The Carolina feed. No Philly feed. @ nights and only 3 games,1 in HD and single feeds for all 3 games. No way I'll order it when the free preview is done.
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10-03-2009 @ 2:23PM
helenrichardb said...
Does anyone know which Philadelphia Flyer games are blacked out by Fios[verizon] Tv. Could not get last nights game, Flyers versus Hurricanes.
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11-17-2009 @ 3:01PM
briancr250r said...
i had direct tv for a short while and the signal was poor and lost too often...i went as far as purchasing a new tv(sony 36" hdtv.. ...love it!)... to make sure the problem was not mine... direct tv and the installer kept promissing to fix but never did...i forget what i payed for the original install..when i got my first bill i told them i was not paying them until the problem was fixed...still they did nothing but promise to fix they never recieved another penny of mine!! i have heard good things about dish though. i think comcast is a fair deal and the will actually work with you to keep your money comming in.
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