NHL Flames game regional blackout confused

[jf]

Greetings,
This season a few games have been blacked out for regional restrictions. These are Flames games locally blacked out on SNW, the following is from the Telus website.

"Any Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers games on Sportsnet West or the Sportsnet ONE companion channels Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet Oilers can only be seen in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Nunavut."

So if I understand the above correctly a Flames game on Sportsnet west or one, can only be seen in Alberta. The games that have been regionally restricted have met the above criteria , this makes no sense. I called in a few times and no one can explain this issue. I even had my programming checked and my channels reloaded.
I can log in to Sportsnet website using my Telus optik login and watch the game online but I cannot watch it through my set top box on Telus optik. How is that possible?

I have had Telus Optik for over 5 years this is the first year that I can remember not being able to see every Flames game.

Regards
JR

[Nighthawk]

The NHL blackouts have existed for decades. They are really aggrivating. Unfortunately the NHL just doesn't care and just wants money while blocking the games in specific markets.

Why do blackouts exist?

Regional blackouts are a mandate of the NHL, designed to cultivate and protect a team’s home market. Every team in the NHL has a number of “regional” games–which are sold by the team to a regional broadcaster and are available only to those in a team’s broadcast region–and “national” games, which are available for anyone to watch from coast-to-coast.

From: https://nhllive.com/en/support-game-availability (The website is for NHL Live but the blackouts apply to all networks including Sportsnet which is also offered by Rogers.)

[jf]

Thank you for your reply but that does not answer my question I am not an NHL live subscriber I'm an optiK user in Calgary and the Flames game is blacked out according to this link on the Telus website it should not be.

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/support/article/nhl-blackout-information

Any Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers games on Sportsnet West or the Sportsnet ONE companion channels Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet Oilers can only be seen in Alberta,

Jf

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

Yes, Sportsnet Oilers and Sportsnet Flames are local channels to Alberta specifically. No other region can see what is aired on them. The blackouts apply to those channels also. That's why the guide often has the content of those channels listed as Blackout Oilers or Blackout Flames unless there is a non blacked out game on. Keep in mind that Telus does not control the content the broadcasters choose to air on their channels.

Check the game schedule here and filter it for Alberta and the Flames and you'll be able to see which are blacked out here. Yes it's an NHLLive page, and it includes Sportsnet as Rogers owns both. The NHLLive page I previously linked to outlines the blanket conditions for a blackout in Canada. 

If Sportsnet's app or website doesn't realize what market you live in, you may be able to view the game that way, at least for now. That would be the most likely reason you can view the blacked out games online and not on the set top boxes. Optik only airs the direct feed broadcast from Sportsnet. The blackout page from before specifically says: Blackout / authentication rules are applied based on where you are accessing the game from, not based on billing address. Since the Sportsnet app and website are 100% separate from Telus, you'd have to check with Sportsnet/Rogers as to why you can view the content there, though it is likely that your IP address shows up as a different province on a geolocation search online.

[jf]

Thanks for the detailed reply , that was helpful…… one more question if this is a regional restriction I would assume this would affect all SNW viewers in Alberta ? My Father has Shaw and had no black outs of Flames games this season. Or would Telus and Shaw have different arrangements with Sportsnet?

JR