NBA League Pass Question

[Trillmatic90]

How does this blackout thing work? If I live in Toronto where Raptor games are aired locally (and nationally in Canada) will I be blacked out from watching them on league pass? I wanna know cause I was planning on getting it this season.

 

[drama23]

thats how it exactly works.  
if a game is nationally televised, it'll be blocks.  i dont think it applies to cable channels like ESPN

 

[jaysfiend23]

im mad its $169 usually around this time last year it was $99

 

[JLD1523]

If you get them locally why does it matter?

 

[jpzx]

I'm going to have to watch a lot of the Timberwolves games from class...

So are you guys saying I wouldn't be able to watch them/they'd be blacked out because I'd be watching them in Minnesota? Even if they're not nationally televised on TNT or ESPN.

 

[blazers21ntnp]

Originally Posted by JPZx

I'm going to have to watch a lot of the Timberwolves games from class...

So are you guys saying I wouldn't be able to watch them/they'd be blacked out because I'd be watching them in Minnesota? Even if they're not nationally televised on TNT or ESPN.

If games are being broadcast on television in your region, they're blacked out on League Pass. All the T'Wolves games on FS North will be blacked out on LP if you're in Minnesota.

 

[dmbrhs]

So you live in Toronto and want to watch the Raptors, which are broadcast on local TV? I fail to see the problem here. Why would you want to watch them on league pass? Unless you have some weird affinity for listening to the visiting team's announcers.

 

[finallyfamous]

Really the main 2 reasons for League Pass are 1. Living somewhere that doesn't show your team (living in Chi, favorite team Grizz) or 2. Just a huge NBA fan

 

[scientific method]

It is going to be free through Jan 8, starting tomorrow and for 1 price ($169) you get league pass, mobile, and broadband for the season, or you can pay $30 a month for just the broadband. I got the email the other day.

http://www.nba.com/leaguepass/?cid=nba_12_BN_Mkt1215

 

[wilroc]

Originally Posted by jdizzle75

If you get them locally why does it matter?

I'm from NYC so of course we get Knicks games broadcasted locally but I'm out of state for school. I want to be able to watch my Knick games up here in Vermont. I'm still kind of confused about the whole blackout thing as well.

 

[dmbrhs]

If there's a local broadcast (and you're within a certain mile radius, like the NFL) then it's blacked out on League Pass for the home team. It happened to friends of mine who were huge Brandon Roy fans. They got LP back when he was on the Blazers, but Seattle was considered within the blackout range so tey couldn't watch home games. They all managed to get refunds after it was explained to them. Comcast Seattle eventually added the Oregon Sports Network (or whatever it's called) that carries all Blazer games. It's still not in HD, but it's something.

Edit: I should clarify that Seattle was considered a "home" market for the Blazers after the Sonics left, so it fell under the spirit of the rule, not the radius rule.

 

[al3xis]

Originally Posted by Wilroc

Originally Posted by jdizzle75

If you get them locally why does it matter?

I'm from NYC so of course we get Knicks games broadcasted locally but I'm out of state for school. I want to be able to watch my Knick games up here in Vermont. I'm still kind of confused about the whole blackout thing as well.

you get Celtics games on Comcast up there, right? And no MSG?
Knicks games would/will not be blacked out. 

 

[scott frost]

Do the Raptors have their own local TV deal?

I dont know how other regions work, in terms of teams having their own networks/deals, but if I was strictly watching the Celtics I wouldnt have to buy league pass to do so.

 

[Trillmatic90]

Thanks for explaining bruhs. The reason I wanted league pass is cause my dad switched to a cable provider that charge extra to watch sporting channels

 He didn't want to pay extra, so I thought me and my bro can just split league pass but this regional blackout is giving me second thoughts.

 

[physicx]

that sucks dude. im a raptor fan in edmonton and they also blackout the games here because they have games on all the cable networks anyways

i had league pass last year during school and got carried away with the whole "watch 4 games at the same time" spiel

the school emailed me and told me i was prolly doing something illegal (torrenting) cause i exceeded the bandwidth limit almost everyday

they cut my wi-fi privileges as a result

 

[alleniversonfan01]

League Pass's blackout rules screw me. They blackout all Knicks games because MSG is in my region as a channel. But Comcast doesnt offer it. So I gotta resort to streaming when I wanna watch non nationally televised games.

But w/e, it makes not ordering the league pass that much easier.
Plus they dont even offer all the games in HD. If im paying you close to 200 in this day in age. They should be HD. I know all the local  FoxSports channels are showing them in HD so dont jerk me around and give me this SD garbage. 

 

[bostonmarc]

This will be the first year since the started league pass I will not get it. Until they make all games HD I am not interested. And I cannot believe that there is less games and they are charging the same price. Won't "win" any fans back that way NBA

 

[therenegade23]

free preview is awesome though, 2 weeks preview, many many games to watch

 

[everysingletime]

the games should be in HD this year... at least that's what I read.

 

[eddiehouse5]

Originally Posted by MeloManFan

Thanks for explaining bruhs. The reason I wanted league pass is cause my dad switched to a cable provider that charge extra to watch sporting channels

 He didn't want to pay extra, so I thought me and my bro can just split league pass but this regional blackout is giving me second thoughts.

Exactly. Like said before, the blackout rule is stupid, it basically forces people to pirate the games.

There are so many people who would love to ditch their monthly cable or dish bills, but once you do that, you run the risk of not being able to see your favorite sports teams.

 

[thapointguy]

I don't like the black out rule as well since my subscription doesn't include the local sports channels. I'm gonna order LP and make them give me those channels for free.

 

[k town trash]

league passes are for ppl like me living in LA who are rooting for diff team. I have FSN west/KCAL9(lakers) and FSN/KTLA primeticket(clips) so if i was rooting for LA team it would be pointless to subscribe.

 

[jpzx]

I live in MN, and there are like 14 games not televised locally.

If I get league pass, would I be able to get those games?

 

[thejrob]

anyone know if League Pass is still easy to share... aka two people using the same login at the same time?

I wanna split this with a friend. I figure it might be worth it as a Laker fan in Boston, plus I can watch on my IPad right?

 

[dmbrhs]

Originally Posted by JPZx

I live in MN, and there are like 14 games not televised locally.

If I get league pass, would I be able to get those games?

I think it's all games that aren't nationally televised. There will always be a local broadcast, but I think they black it out on LP nationally.

As for the SD vs. HD thing, I know on Comcast they only have one LP channel in HD, so you're at the mercy of whatever games they show. Generally it's two per night. It's pretty ridiculous they can't get HD feeds for all games though. Also, if you look at the schedule, NBATV has a game pretty much every night, and that's in HD as well. So theoretically you could have access to up to three HD games per night, plus extended live look-ins in HD on Game Night when it comes on.