With no hockey games scheduled over two nights it can only mean one thing; that is is once again Christmas (or as WildWing64 likes to say Annual Gift Day).
So we would like to extend our holiday wishes to you all and wish you all a Merry Christmas, and if Christmas isn’t your thing a very happy *insert something here*.
Happy Holidays all.
From KevKev, Wildwing64 and BigMan.
With ESPN losing the rights to the NHL across Europe this summer it led to a lot of confusion and changes to the way we watch NHL in Europe. Badly publicized at first and ignored by much of the mainstream media, fans took it upon themselves to search forums, blogs and the likes to find out what is going on.
We here at PowerPlayGoal.com also feel your frustration, we are after all in Europe so it feels like it is almost our duty to keep you all up to date on what is going on, and we have spent time scouring the sources to come up with the following table. Those of you who have visited us before may recognize it from our last update (Click Here to see), however please note that we have updated it. Thankfully it is looking a little more positive now, with many countries having ESPN America and some having two channels. Spain is still in the dark however as at this time no information can be found.
| TV | Internet | |
| Sweden | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Finland | Yes, selected games on Pay TV only All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Norway | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Denmark | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Iceland | Yes, ViaSat (Pay TV) and ESPN America | Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Ireland (and N.I) | Yes, Selected games on Setanta | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Czech Republic | Yes, Selected games on Nova Sports and ESPN America | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Slovakia | Yes, Selected games on Nova Sports and ESPN America | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Portugal | Yes, Selected games on Sport TV and ESPN America | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| UK | Yes, Selected games on Sky Pay TV | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Germany | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Netherlands | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Belgium | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Switzerland | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Spain | No | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Italy | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Russia | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Poland | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live availableto all |
| Latvia | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
| Hungary | ESPN America is showing selected games | Yes, GameCenter Live available to all |
That pretty much covers the changes to the NHL for now, keep in mind some contracts are only for a year and we shall have to wait and see what moves companies like ESPN make to pick up further markets such as the UK and Ireland. The Nordic regions however are tied into ViaSat for the next few years so these will not change and it is likely there will be no GameCenter Live support there for the future. Notably, whilst ESPN have regained much of the rights in Europe, ESPN Player is now out of the story as the online rights are sold separately to the TV ones, thus allowing a better deal for all fans outside of the Nordic Countries. As a GameCenter Live user myself, I will say it is fantastic, and for any of you with doubts experience has shown it can run well on broadband as slow as 1mb. For more in-depth reading read you can check out our review of the program here.
I’m KevKev, and I hope that you can enjoy all the hockey games offered this season. It’s sure been a crazy season so far.
For the latest articles, hockey trivia and random hockey messages, why not follow us on Twitter? @PowerPlayGoal
So a bit of time has passed since we last looked at this topic. For those of you out the loop, or in need of a reminder the NHL sold broadcasting rights to Medge / AMI in Europe ending any deal it had in place previously with ESPN.
As the summer dragged on there was little news on the topic and by the time the preseason was just a few weeks away there was no deal in place for either offline or online broadcasting of the NHL.
This changed shortly after the start of the preseason and the NHL announced that GameCenter Live was going to be made available across Europe.
However one week in to this new service fans based in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland lost all service to GameCenter and some were informed of them receiving a full refund as the service was no longer on offer.
This coincided with rumours that ViaSat had picked up the rights to broadcasting and had ordered the NHL to cease GameCenter live subscriptions.
This rumor was only the half truth however over the past few weeks with little news on the subject the actual outcome has now become more apparent.
Users in the Nordic countries (read: Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway) who had previously signed up to GameCenter Live have had their subscriptions grandfathered and will be allowed to enjoy GameCenter Live throughout the 2011-12 season. NHL Vault subscribers currently will still receive classic games for $4.99 a month and this offer is still (at the time of writing) open to users in the Nordic countries. Whilst it does not offer live games, NHL Vault will offer you the previous nights games on demand so great if you don’t plan to watch the game live and wish to hide from the score all day. NHL vault does not have an App for the iPad, iPhone, PS3 or any Android device so that may help swing your decision process.
People in the Nordic countries who didn’t sign up to GameCenter Live in time will however now have the chance to see the NHL games that they desire thanks to the new deal just made with Viasat.
This deal is different depending on country but the basics are as follows:
TV
In Sweden, viewers will have the option to watch selected games on Pay TV channel ViaHockey and also selected NHL games for free on the companies free to air TV channels, TV10.
In Norway, it is similar to Sweden with games being shown on premium channel Via Hockey, however certain free games will be aired on TV4.
In Denmark, again pay TV games on Via Hockey with certain free games aired on TV2.
Finland looks a little worse off with all hockey games being aired on Viasat Hockey and Nelonen Pro TV. At this time there is no word on free TV games for Finland.
Here’s the most important part of the deal, and something for those of you thinking “Well what if they don’t show my team?” – from January 2012, ALL NHL games will be aired on TV. Solved one other issue?
This TV deal is in place for the next 5 years so chances are it will not change much . Prices are unconfirmed but will match what viewers currently pay for the premium TV services.
A new NHL news show is being created specifically for the game, and ViaSat is committed to bringing Nordic fans the very best hockey coverage and experience.
Online
For those of you looking for an online experience, your wait has been answered also. Across the Nordic region viewers will be able to catch all NHL games on ViaPlay, the online viewer from ViaSat. This service is hoped to integrate an NHL GameCenter style experience however unfortunatly at this time there is no time frame inplace for this online service to begin but we do hope it is soon. Prices are not confirmed but currently it is expected to follow the current ViaPlay price of 199SEK (or about $29 US) and currently there are no words on whether you will able to buy “just hockey” versus all sports on offer.
For those of you in the UK who want to watch hockey, your two options are either pay for Game Center online / NHL vault, or so long as you have Sky TV, for £8 a month Premier Sports TV will be offering you a selection of NHL game live on air through the season.
Its been a confusing ride so far and is hard to follow for people around Europe. To aid you here is a table of what you will get:
| TV | Internet | |
| Sweden | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Finland | Yes, selected games on Pay TV only All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Norway | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| Denmark | Yes, Selected games for free, others on Pay TV All Games TV aired from January 2012 |
Yes, ViaPlay will offer all games shortly |
| UK | Yes, Selected games on Sky Pay TV | Yes, GameCenter Live availableto all |
So for you NHL fans in Northern Europe, I hope we here at PowerPlayGoal.com have helped make it a bit clearer what you should expect this season.
Im KevKev, and this is PowerPlayGoal.com. If you want to keep up to date with our latest articles; why not follow us on Twitter? @PowerPlayGoal
