During the lockout that saw the axing of the 2004-05 NHL season, ESPN optioned to drop its contract with the NHL. OLN, the Outdoor Life Network, entered a contract with the NHL, offering 58 regular season games along with a number of playoff games. Ignoring the obvious point that hockey isn’t an outdoor sport (with the odd exception), OLN could have done a good job with its coverage.
And by all accounts, the first game aired by OLN wasn’t too bad. There were apparently a few technical glitches, and the commentating wasn’t all that good (which isn’t surprising, given it’s an American channel), but it gave OLN its largest audience on a Wednesday evening, barring its coverage of the Tour de France.
Tonight OLN was supposed to be showing the game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Now that’s not a game to be excited over, but beggars can’t be choosers. I haven’t watched hockey in ages.
So what do I find when I turn on OLN at 1? Some bullshit 25 worst outdoor jobs show. At 2? I don’t know, it wasn’t guys skating on ice. Maybe they’re holding it back until 4 because we’re in Hawaii and for some stupid reason they want to show it at 4 like for the west coast. Nope. Something about boat cops around the Florida Keys.
The reason? Apparently Comcast (OLN’s parent company) is holding the NHL like a carrot in front of cable companies. If a cable company doesn’t have OLN in its basic cable, then that cable company gets bullshit outdoor shows instead of hockey games. As reported on multichannel.com (sorry, it’s subscription-only, but go to this thread to see the text), OLN “will not make NHL games available to distributors on which OLN is available to less than 40% of its subscriber base.” I guess that means me in Hilo, because I sure the fuck am not getting any NHL games on OLN.
I don’t know who to be more pissed off at, OLN or the NHL. The NHL should be pissed that OLN is fucking with its fans this way, but they should be on the warpath right now trying to fix things for their fans who only want to watch a hockey game. The fans should be pissed that they’re getting fucked around this way. God knows I’m pissed off right now. OLN is, as far as I can tell, the only way I could get a chance to see NHL hockey in Hilo, and now they go and fuck me over. I can’t get NHL Center Ice on digital cable because my cable company dropped it on account of the lockout. I can’t get NHL Center Ice on DISH Network without springing another $399 for a 36″ dish to point at the west coast satellite. I might be able to get it on DirecTV if I can find a DirecTV installer on this island, and even then, they might screw me over like DISH. And now I can’t even get hockey on the basic digital cable I pay way too much money for.
It’s horseshit, plain and simple. Horseshit. And we fans are buried underneath a giant pile of it. Thanks a lot, OLN, thanks a fucking lot.
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#1 by Geof F. Morris on October 11th, 2005
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I blame the NHL for going with cocksuckers like Comcast. :)
[And I'm pissed that my cable company doesn't offer Center Ice. GAH!]
#2 by hockeylovr on October 12th, 2005
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call those jerks at OLN
Phone: (203) 406-2500 Fax: (203) 406-2534
and let them know what a bunch of BS this is
#3 by David on February 16th, 2006
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Here Here! I totally agree. I was soooo looking forward to seeing hockey again. Then I find they’ve moved games from ESPN to OLN? Never heard of it. Come to find out, it’s on a digital-only channel in which I’d have to pay an extra premium to have. Thankfully I didn’t subscribe because as it turns out, they’ve blocked the games since it’s not on a basic channel anyway. What kind of BS is that? Here is a league that should be trying to gain back its fans and much of America can’t even get the channel. I live in Tulsa (not my fault… I’d move in a heartbeat if I could) and not only do I NOT get OLN, but the NBC affiliate here doesn’t carry NHL games either. College basketball is what I found the first Saturday NBC was supposed to have a game. I give up. No longer a fan.