Blackouts

[mknycto]

I am in Toronto. Are there any games blacked out for me other than some Leaf games? For instance if there are games that do not involve the leafs but are available on TVA sports (a channel that I do not subscribe to but is available). Are those considered "in market"?

[Chadwickst]

This blackout sucks cause I thought the point of it was I can watch the games anywhere. If I have cable but am not at home I can watch my local team, but it's blacked out. Today I am even getting blacked out on the Saturday night national leaf game. So I live just out side of Toronto and I can't watch any leafs games at all unless on the tv. What's the point. Am very unhappy with Rogers NHL center ice

[kanatablues]

Abysmal service. I like the Leafs but sorry, they aren't my favorite team. I do like to watch them, though, very exciting. All my services are with Rogers, can't believe they still haven't figured this mess out. They did last year for a bit, seems to have been a struggle this year.

Upset me enough to get me to post, yet another time while I can't watch the game online at home. Could watch on TV but wrong room atm. Sorry, can't sign up for any more Rogers services so I don't know why the grief.

It's a death by small cuts, so many things done so poorly.

[BuddyRich]

To further my problem, about 15 minutes into the 1st period it began to work on the ATV.

Great.  Then about 10 minutes left in the 3rd period streaming stops and I get the blackout message on AppleTV and my iOS phone app.  Had to use the CBC stream.

I understand the blackout rules, this was the national HNIC game, its the free game!  Shouldn't have been marked as blacked out at all for anyone!

[RogersMaude]

Good evening,

Thank you for your posts!

I know how upsetting it is to experiencing issues streaming your favorite game.

We appreciate you took the time to bring this up to our attention.

Blackouts only apply to in-market NHL games. National games and out-of-market games are not subject to blackouts.

• Rogers has included all national games and out-of-market games in Rogers NHL LIVE™. Playoff games are nationally broadcasted and will also be included.

Blackouts are applied based on four criteria:

1. The region where a fan is when they view a live NHL game
2. The NHL team or teams that are considered in-market for that region
3. Whether the fan is attempting to view a game involving the in-market team(s) for that region
4. Whether the game they are attempting to watch is a regional game or a national game

When you're trying to watch an in-market game you'll only be able to access that game on television from the local broadcast partner that owns the TV rights. Within Rogers NHL LIVE™ that game will be blacked out.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

RogersMaude

[fredramsay]

Back again with the same issues.

Tried to watch the Leafs game on my Roku last night and i get a message that my subscription has expired.

Immediately got on the live chat to get it fixed.  Explained the situation and how it had happened in the past.  Missed the entire first period before part of my issue was resolved.  Again I was able to watch on my phone but not my roku or computer.  Same old geolocating issue i presume. 

Is there anyone at Rogers who can come up with a permanent fix for this problem?

I have missed at least 8 or 9 Leafs games as a result of this issue.  The sole reason i went with Rogers was for this free subscription to NHL live.  With all the time i have spent on the phone with the help line and in the live chats to get these issues resolved it hardly feels like i'm getting free subscription.

[ronbursey]

Wow exact same issue as mine, caused by them removing the free access because of switching my cell phone plan.  did you get this worked out?

[fredramsay]

Haven't got it resolved yet this time but in the past someone from rogers has messaged me and they somehow fix the geoblocking problem I keep having. For some reason the fix doesn't last longer than a month.

[fredramsay]

Blacked out of another Leafs game on this free Rogers NHL Live free subscription.

Have had this issue fixed 4 or 5 times now and nothing sticks.

Is there anyone working at Rogers that can fix this issue til the end of the regular season?

[RogersTony]

Hello @fredramsay,

Not being able to catch your favourite teams play due to Blackout issues is a major pain, I know how disappointing it can be to miss the big games.

I have reached out directly to the team that handles the Geoblocking issues and they have added the IP Address that you have provided to an exemption list so you should not experience any issues going further. IP addresses assigned by Rogers are dynamic and will change after a certain amount of time which could be why the issue started up again.

Let us know how it goes for you when the next game is on Tomorrow at 7:00 PM EST.

Any other community members facing blackout issues with out-of-market or national games can reach out to us via PM @CommunityHelps and we can take a closer look.

For more information on our private messaging system check out our blog.

RogersTony

[fredramsay]

Hey Tony, I am still being blacked out from the last leaf game.

[leafaninottawa]

Highly unsatisfactory Rogers NHL Live performance - incorrect blackouts, cannot Chromecast

Hi. I purchased Rogers NHL Live back in September. I am not otherwise a Rogers customer, as I get my Internet from Teck Savvy. I live in Ottawa, and I want to watch Leafs games, so Rogers NHL Live seemed like the ideal product for this. Unfortunately it has been a constant frustration. Moreover, your technical folks have been unable to resolve the problem in spite of several long discussions between me and them.

My case # is C127836060. The last time I heard from your tech support group was an automated text message on November 30, 2017.

I will attempt to describe the problem.

For the vast majority of Leafs games, no matter where they originate (Toronto or a road game) I get a Blackout notice when I try to log on using my television or my PC. I am told that I live in a region that is "Blacked out" for leafs games in spite of the fact that I quite clearly do NOT. However, sometimes (rarely), I CAN watch a game on the TV or PC. There is no apparent pattern to this. Moreover, I can almost ALWAYS watch a game on my phone or tablet. SOMETIMES I can Chromecast a game from the tablet or phone to my television, but that is also not guaranteed and it is also completely unpredictable. Sometimes I start out being unable to even see a game on the tablet, only to have that change part-way through a game. I have been told all sorts of things - usually, it comes dowm to an IP Address issue - but this does not seem to make any sense since the signal coming to my tablet and phone originates with TeckSavvy and arrives via their modem and is then distributed via WiFi throughout my house - so it should all be the same IP address. And why, if I can see the game on my tablet, can I not Chromecast it to a TV? I should add that I have even isolated the TV  - removed all devices, cables, and so on - and yet the signal cannot be Chromecast. This is entirely frustrating. 

If anyone else reads this post and has had a similar experience, please let me know. 

[ytee]

Florida blackout

I’m in SW Florida and a number of Leaf games including tonight’s is blacked out. The only other broadcast is on one of the NHL channels. Is that included as a blackout game? It is also a free game, should I not be able to get it. Not happy. I got almost all games last year

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @ytee

Thank you for posting your concern in the Community. I certainly appreciate your position, blackouts can be disappointing, however, they are a mandate of the NHL designed to cultivate and protect a team’s home market. Both National and Regional game blackouts still apply outside of Canada, so, please keep in mind that if a game is available on TV where you’re travelling to, you will not be able to access the game in Rogers NHL LIVE. You can check our knowledge base article to know more about blackouts. 

Thanks,

RogersMoin

[kramer80]

Hi, I've had issues with Leaf games being blacked out for me all year long. I live in the GTA and I am a Rogers cable customer and have it linked to my account with all the proper channel subscriptions. Why does this keep happening and how can I fix it?

[RogersTony]

Hello @kramer80,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Rogers Community Forums!

As a fellow Leafs fan, I know how disappointing it must be not being able to watch them play the Rogers NHL Live service due to regional blackout restrictions.

You can use the TV Authentication feature on Android and iOS mobile devices to sign into your Cable Subscription from your provider. If you are subscribed to the channels that own the broadcast rights you can view the games on your Mobile devices. Regrettably, all other devices are not eligible for TV Authentication and will experience blackout restrictions for in-market games.

If you are using an Android or iOS mobile device and are experiencing Blackout issues after TV Authentication we'll need to investigate this further. Feel free to send us a PM @CommunityHelps and we can get started on this for you. For more information on our Private Messaging system please Click Here.

RogersTony

[Uklamen]

I am having the same issues. I also can never get through to live chat for support. I live in Ottawa and every Leafs game has been blacked out. When vs Ottawa and Montreal I accept.. but not every other game.

I can only watch the Leafs on a device that has GPS (cellphone and tablet) but not on my PS4/Xbox1/PC/Roku tv/Firestick via Kodi.

This has gone on too long without a resolution. I have to resort to the free . streams online just to watch the game on a decent screen.

Please contact me so I can get a refund because until this geo location issue is solved, the service is not providing as advertised.

[Joedeck]

I am no longer a Rogers customer, but when I had this same issue the only solution was for Rogers to send me a new modem that had an Ottawa geo IP, as my modem thought it was located in Toronto. Crazy but that solved the issue. Good luck.

[RogersYasmine]

Hello @Uklamen,

Thanks for being a part of the Community and congrats on your first post! 

I agree that if you live in the Ottawa region, there should be no reason why all of the Leaf's games are blacked out for you on certain devices. That doesn't sound right and I wouldn't be very impressed myself. 😟

We'd like to take a closer look into this for you to see how we can help! When you have some time, please send us a private message to @CommunityHelps so we can assist you further. For more information on our Private Messaging system, please CLICK HERE.

Thanks so much!

RogersLaura

[Datalink]

@RogersYasmine, this appears to be an issue that arises every year.  It also begs the question of when the last time that an IP address-geolocation update was provided to the various Geolocation services, including the services that the NHL uses to stream their games.  Same applies to baseball and any other sports services that stream their games.   Last that I had heard, @RogersDave had provided an update maybe two years ago?  Don't remember the date.  @RogersDave has since left Rogers.  So, if no one has picked up this task, then it stands to reason that anyone attempting to watch a sporting event via modem connected device might be blacked out as the event's geolocation service believes that he or she lives in a local market area.  Notice @Uklamen's comment:

"I can only watch the Leafs on a device that has GPS (cellphone and tablet) but not on my PS4/Xbox1/PC/Roku tv/Firestick via Kodi"

So, that implies that via the cell phone path, its possible to watch a game, but, thru the modem, with an incorrect IP geolocation, @Uklamen is out of luck.  

So, personal opinion, first place to start is to look at the IP address - geolocation updates, as in, have they been done recently, or was the last update provided by @RogersDave?

[leafaninottawa]

Hey, everyone. I live in Ottawa and i have exactly this problem. I have called Rogers probably a dozen times and all I get is a run-around. Everyone professes to have never heard of the problem before. I have been shunted from one hopeless conversation to another. Ultimately I was given the phone number for NHL.com in Pennsylvania, where they were much more interested in actually helping, but could not resolve the issue. My signal comes from Teksavvy and thankfully their technicians dug in to the issue a bit and found this thread. Learning that there are other folks with the same problem is like finding survivors after a nuclear apocalypse. Anyway, that was just venting. One issue that I have and which i don't see mentioned here is that I can get the games on my tablet but I cannot Chromecast them to my TV. That seems weird to me, but I am not technically proficient so maybe it makes sense. Do you guys have this issue as well? I can also say that SOMETIMES I can get a Leafs game on my TV using NHL Live, but not always. I have kept a log of the games I could and could not watch on my TV and it would be interesting to know if others have had the same success, or if it's just random. Of course the main thing is to find a solution. I would be VERY interested in finding out how to get a modem from Rogers that will solve this problem, so if you can point me in the right direction it would be fantastic. Like others, I have been dealing with this problem for over a year.

[leafaninottawa]

Hey. I am very interested in learning how to convince Rogers to help me out with exactly the same problem. I live in Ottawa and want to watch Leafs games, and I have been going up the wall with these blackouts for all of last year and now again this year. I get my signal from Teksavvy, not Rogers, and although Teksavvy has been very helpful they haven't been able to resolve th eproblem themselves. They suggested that i go to Rogers and demand to be "whitelisted" (which as far as I know means that Rogers just bypasses the blackouts somehow). But if there is a piece of hardware that can fix this, how do I get it? Cheers!