I don’t know about anywhere else in the U.S., but the first time I ever heard about the Canadian team PPV thing - by watching said game via our NHL Center Ice package, no less - I thought it sounded ridiculous.
As far as I know, all the NHL teams here either have contracts with Fox Sports or another network, or (as in the case of the Avalanche or the NY teams) the teams have their own network, which carries every game except the ones broadcast nationally.
Why do they torture Canadian hockey fans that way, Alanah?

Posted by Amy from Colorado on 03/25/08 at 05:41 PM ET

Amy -- Maybe they’re just torturing me, and everyone else becomes just peripheral victims in their real mission to make me miserable??

On the off chance that it’s not all about stressing me out (and that’s marginally possible, I suppose...) I’d say it’s actually about the fact that there are always conflicts every year, of about a dozen games that can’t be picked up by any of the networks. In the past, this meant we simply didn’t get the games (especially since Center Ice wasn’t available in BC till this season). But nowadays, every single game is broadcast, ostensibly because PPV picks up the slack.

So I guess we’re lucky in a way… but still, PPV isn’t done nearly as well as it could be for the price.  It frustrates me to no end.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 03/25/08 at 06:10 PM ET

No American market that I know of has PPV broadcasts for ANY major team sport. I was stunned when I heard about the practice in Canada a couple of years back. It seems to be confined to the Western teams, am I right? I never hear anything about a Leafs or Sens contest being on PPV.

Back when I was a kid in Philadelphia, a lot of Phillies and a few Flyers games did air on a local cable channel called PRISM, which was a pay channel like HBO. The channel cost something like $10 a month, and aired bad movies when it wasn’t airing sports. So in a way, that wasn’t too dissimilar, I guess, but it wasn’t exactly PPV in the sense that you mean here.

Posted by Sam from Minneapolis on 03/25/08 at 06:15 PM ET

On the other hand, here in Minnesota (as hockey-mad a market as there is in the US,) we still don’t have all the Wild games on TV. So if you asked whether I’d prefer that to stay the way it is, or for the non-broadcast games to be offered on PPV, I’d very likely choose the latter, I guess…

Posted by Sam from Minneapolis on 03/25/08 at 06:16 PM ET

I can only speak for Pittsburgh games, but every game is televised on FSN Pittsburgh unless it was picked up nationally.  So we are pretty lucky.

Posted by Michelle from Pennsylvania on 03/25/08 at 06:32 PM ET

Thanks for the linkage. On the other side of the coin, very few English Premiership games are aired on public television in the UK. The vast majority, I think, are only accessible courtesy of a premium channel.

Posted by Darren from Vancouver on 03/25/08 at 06:38 PM ET

Doh! A free night with no wife ‘n kids, and my local pub isn’t carrying the PPV. Watching Iginla’s hat trick the other night on HNIC has me terrified for the results of tonight’s game. Usually at least Ohlund would give him a bit of trouble. And it sounds like Kiprusoff is rounding into form again. Predictions? I’m saying 3-1 Flames, just to mentally prepare for the worst (I love being wrong this way).

Posted by Jeremy from Summerland, BC on 03/25/08 at 06:55 PM ET

Not to make you all jealous… although you should be … because I get to witness tonights game with my own eyes (albeit less than 20/20 vision) and make up my own ridiculous - most likely blue-collar - commentary in my head from section 104. 

The only benefit to living in Cowtown so far is that when the ‘Nucks beat the Flamers I’m probably the only person smiling in the whole city.  At least thats how I envision it…

Posted by LOUiE from Cowtown on 03/25/08 at 07:04 PM ET

In Detroit, the last game that wasn’t aired on television was on March 6, 1996, when Chris Osgood scored a goal against the Hartford Whalers.  Back in the day, about 70 Wings games were televised, but since 96, we’ve had every game on one network or the other, and Fox Sports Detroit just paid something like a billion dollars to sew up the Wings, Pistons, and Tigers for the next 10-15 years.  There are serious growls when games are co-opted by Versus, but we generally see 65-70 games on Fox Sports Detroit and the rest on national networks (and the fact that it’s considered criminal if your cable or satellite provider doesn’t include the CBC helps).  The Wings have contemplated doing PPV quite a bit over the years, but the reaction’s been about as pleasant as listening to sports talk radio discuss the Lions--the complaining is vicious, and it never ceases.  Maybe this qualifies for a “moreover,” because the out-of-towners’ reaction to the NHL Network swiping five games from Center Ice this season was like trapping Chris Chelios and Gary Bettman in a room with nothing to eat but copies of the CBA. 

We’re really, really lucky.  Some fans are just flabbergasted when they find out that some teams’ fans see maybe fifty-five games on TV.  Wings fans expect to see every game, whether they live in Detroit or Dubuque, and it’s a privilege and a half to have that sense of entitlement.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/25/08 at 08:00 PM ET

What pisses me off is that the ONLY reason I even have Cable is for Canuck’s games. Even at that I only have basic cable.

As you know, basic cable = no digital = no PPV possible.

Someone outta stream it somehow. Cause I HATE PPV games.

Posted by Laker from dapuddle on 03/25/08 at 08:26 PM ET

PPV isn’t done nearly as well as it could be for the price

The understatement of the year.  The broadcasters never look or sound as though they are prepared during the radio breaks (when the commentators go to commercial for radio), the content of the broadcasters “input” and “insight” is pathetic, and the intermission segments are as stale as week-old bread. 

And yet, I spent $13 dollars on the stupid thing.

Posted by Temujin from Smithers, BC on 03/25/08 at 09:56 PM ET

There are serious growls when games are co-opted by Versus…

No kidding.  Hate it.

I don’t think I’d pay extra for any games, just out of annoyance since I’m paying so dang much for cable anyway, why pay extra because they want a few more bucks?  I have better things to do with my money.

I know some of the Senators games are on PPV, because one of the Sens bloggers refers to it as “pay-per-screwed.” I don’t know about Toronto or Montreal, though.

I can’t see PPV working in the US for hockey.  Even in healthy television markets, there isn’t so much demand that I think the networks or teams could get away with it without fans pulling out the sporks and safety matches - or ignoring it, which would be even worse.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/25/08 at 11:20 PM ET

Two quick goals, Iginla missing #50 by about thismuch, most of the Canucks looking like they’d rather be at a day spa while Luongo once again tries in vain to carry the whole lot of them on his stressed-out pre-partum back…
You are absolutely right, Alanah. They are trying to torture you.  And you might not believe it coming from an Avs fan, but you have my sincerest sympathy and empathy, for approximately 22 more hours. 

Posted by Amy from Colorado on 03/25/08 at 11:41 PM ET

Okay, so I live in the boonies and can’t even get the game on radio. Sirius doesn’t carry NHL anymore (damm XM exclusive bs) so I am forced to listen online which is even more annoying as it drops out every once in a while.

Should it be so hard to be a fan?

Why do they always lose the PPV games?

Posted by Laker from dapuddle on 03/26/08 at 12:19 AM ET

Thanks for all the thoughts, everyone.

But Jeremy, I’m very annoyed with you…

And Amy? Bring it on!

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 03/26/08 at 05:35 PM ET

The thing I don’t get is tuning into one of the so called ‘sports channels’ when the PPV game is on and I see some fat loner playing poker?

#1 Who let the fat loner out of his mom’s basement
#2 There is more money in airing poker than a Canucks game in a hockey crazy market?
#3 Or maybe there are enough paying for PPV?
#4 How is the fat loner going to get home to mom’s house if he loses his bus fair when he goes ‘all in’?

Posted by Laker from dapuddle on 03/26/08 at 05:44 PM ET

I know I can be annoying. I’ve even been accused of not being a true fan for employing these psychological mechanisms. But after years of blind faith and crushed expectations, I had to develop a new strategy for my fandom in approaching every game:

Always expect the worst—a loss at the very least, at least one brutal injury to a key player, and some form of cruel humiliation from a particularly hated opposition player.

(like maybe Phaneuf slashing someone in the face with no penalty, then turtling and somehow drawing a penalty, then seeing him laughing after scoring a back-breaking goal on the ensuing power-play)

Anyway, with this approach, nearly every game feels like a victory. “Sure, they lost by two goals, but nobody got maimed and the humiliation factor was less than expected!”

Posted by Jeremy from Summerland, BC on 03/26/08 at 06:31 PM ET

Here in Carolina, we only have about 60 of our games covered by Fox Sports South.  A few on national cable.  That means we’re forced to buy Center Ice just to watch our own games.  It’s a great investment anyway, but for those who don’t have digital cable, they’re in the dark for 20 or so games.
PPV wouldn’t fly.  Nobody would buy the games.  I’m completely amazed that they still do it in Vancouver.  What is this?  The 1970’s?

Posted by David Lee from North Carolina on 03/29/08 at 07:12 PM ET