Slightly off topic, but I used to pay the $25/month USD for Center Ice (or whatever the program is called). I watch 2 teams regularly and only care about them, but I was still fine to pay the full $25 for the convenience. I only watch games on my iPhone or Linux PC, I effectively don't own a TV or a streaming box.
Reality of the situation is that I could not watch 1/2 of the games I wanted to because of blackout rules and other broadcast conflicts. If a game is blacked out, I'm screwed. If a game is playing on the NHL Network, I'm screwed. If a game is playing nationally, I'm screwed. I'm paying $25/month to catch 1, maybe 2 games a week.
I no longer pay to watch hockey. There are other means that have a substantially better experience and I never miss a game. The NHL did this to themselves due to their antiquated business model and hubris.
My parents cut the cord and one of their only holdups was live sports. They have been trying to watch MLB this year and now they have found out the odd game for their favourite team is an "Apple exclusive". So they were left with the option of buying yet another subscription or trying to figure out how to get a pirate stream working. And the main app for streaming the game sucks. The quality almost always degrades. Can watch YouTube or Twitch live no problem in 1080p60fps but Sportsnet can't even seem to do 360p without buffering on Chromecast devices.
Unfortunately these companies have little incentive to improve. Because what can my parents do? Go watch on a competitor? That isn't an option because of the stupid exclusivity deals. It is like how EA has a monopoly on most sporting franchises for being the only one who can produce games. You end up in a state where they release year after year new games that often suck, but no other company can compete as they can't use the franchise or players in their games.
Exclusivity almost always seems to be a negative for the public.
The stream quality is my experience as well... I was shocked the first time I watched a 60fps hockey game (and it wasn't on sportsnet or NHL channel).
There are ways to not have any issues catching any game you want to watch, but older people are simply not going to be stream hunting... but that's what all the young people are doing.
Yeah you're so right about that. People my age will just pull up sport streams like it's just a regular simple thing. Often it's so easy that I've realized many people don't even realize it's an illegal stream. It's always such a sad state when you can get better quality, no blackouts, at no cost. The incentives are really in the favour of pirating.
Just like how I've gone back to pirating tv shows. It's just easier and more reliable. I don't want to hunt for where each tv show is on which network. Streaming is starting to feel no different than having to buy cable packages. It used to just be simple and cost effective to just have Netflix. But now each company got greedy and switched to exclusivity. Each with their own shitty video players.
I have Amazon Prime and have a better experience watching Amazon Exclusives via a downloaded file on Plex than I do using their player. Especially considering Amazon's service has ads that play mid tv show.
I guess a lot of this comes down to the same principle I mentioned in my original comment. Exclusivity is almost never a good thing for a customer. Whether it's streaming or ISPs that have a monopoly on internet infrastructure, it's never good for the customer.
Reality of the situation is that I could not watch 1/2 of the games I wanted to because of blackout rules and other broadcast conflicts. If a game is blacked out, I'm screwed. If a game is playing on the NHL Network, I'm screwed. If a game is playing nationally, I'm screwed. I'm paying $25/month to catch 1, maybe 2 games a week.
I no longer pay to watch hockey. There are other means that have a substantially better experience and I never miss a game. The NHL did this to themselves due to their antiquated business model and hubris.