NHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable

Digital cable

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...

 subscription Out-of-Market Sports Package

Out-of-Market Sports Package

In the North America, an Out-of-Market Sports Package is a form of subscription television that broadcasts sporting events to areas who are unavailable to see them because the games are not broadcast in their local market....

. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, Bell TV, TELUS Optik TV, Telus

Telus TV

Telus TV is a product of Telus that provides IPTV and Satellite service across the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Telus launched its IPTV based service in November 2005 to Telus customers in select communities of Alberta but is now available in several communities throughout...

 Satellite TV, and Shaw Direct and many digital cable television providers such as Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco

Cogeco

Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...

 and more.

It offers NHL regular season and select playoff games that are played outside the local viewing area using American local and national television networks such as Fox Sports Net

Fox Sports Net

The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...

, other sports networks like Versus

Versus (TV channel)

Versus is a sports-oriented cable television channel in the United States. It was previously known as Outdoor Life Network and was launched on July 1, 1995, focusing on fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports...

, and NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

. It offers both standard

Standard-definition television

Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...

 and high definition

High-definition television

High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 games.

Blackout restrictions

NHL Centre Ice does not black out any game based on attendance or mileage to said arena. All home teams are blacked out in their designated TV markets. For example, customers in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 cannot see Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

 games on NHL Centre Ice; these local games are instead available on a local Toronto station.

This creates a significant problem in areas that lie within the blackout zone but are not served by the NHL team's regional sports network

Regional sports network

In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...

. Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

 is an American example of this: Erie is in the Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...

' blackout zone, but MSG Network

MSG Network

The MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...

 is not carried in that section of Pennsylvania, thus resulting in a total blackout of all Sabres games not carried on a national provider. (When Empire Sports Network

Empire Sports Network

Empire Sports Network was a regional sports network on cable television which served upstate New York from Buffalo to Albany, parts of northern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio...

 existed, that outlet did serve Erie.)

Blackouts can be lifted if one team is not televising the game and the other is, provided the non-broadcasting team grants permission.
On some systems WGN blackhawks games are not blacked out on WGN in Canada even when they are playing a canadian team even when it's the local team.

Availability

NHL Centre Ice is available with these cable and satellite providers:

• TELUS Optik TV
• TELUS Satellite TV
  Telus TV
  Telus TV is a product of Telus that provides IPTV and Satellite service across the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Telus launched its IPTV based service in November 2005 to Telus customers in select communities of Alberta but is now available in several communities throughout...
  
  
• Bell TV
• Shaw Direct
• Access Communications
  Access Communications
  Access Communications Co-operative Ltd. is a Canadian cable television provider, operating in Regina, Saskatchewan and several other communities in Saskatchewan...
  
  
• Cogeco Cable
  Cogeco
  Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...
  
  
• EastLink Cable
  EastLink (company)
  EastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
  
  
• Northwestel
  Northwestel
  Northwestel Inc. is the incumbent local exchange carrier and long distance carrier in Northern Canada. The company name is a portmanteau, sometimes spelled NorthwesTel, for Northwest Telecommunications.-Modern corporate history:...
  
  
• Rogers Cable
  Rogers Cable
  Rogers Cable Inc., a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, in Manitoba, Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.The...
  
  
• Shaw Cable
  Shaw Communications
  Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
  
  
• SaskTel Max
• Videotron
  Vidéotron
  Vidéotron GP is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Currently, the company primarily serves Quebec, as well as the francophone...
  
  
• Westman Communications
  Westman Communications Group
  Westman Communications Group is the operating name of Westman Media Co-operative. Formerly referred to as Westman Cable, it is the main cable television company for the city of Brandon, Manitoba and the surrounding towns and villages of southwestern Manitoba.WCG was established in 1977 and...
  
  

See also

• NFL Sunday Ticket
  NFL Sunday Ticket
  NFL Sunday Ticket is an Out-of-Market Sports Package that broadcasts National Football League regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS...
  
  
• MLB Extra Innings
  MLB Extra Innings
  MLB Extra Innings is an Out-of-Market Sports Package distributed in North America by satellite provider DirecTV since 1996 and by most cable providers since 2001. The package allows its subscribers to see up to 80 out-of-market Major League Baseball games a week using local over the air stations...
  
  
• NBA League Pass
  NBA League Pass
  NBA League Pass is an out-of-market sports package that allows its subscribers to watch up to 40 out-of-market National Basketball Association games a week....
  
  
• NASCAR Hot Pass
  NASCAR Hot Pass
  NASCAR Hot Pass is a complementary television package available exclusively on DirecTV in the United States and on various cable & satellite providers in Canada. It debuted at the 2007 Daytona 500, which aired on February 18 of that year. In 2007 and 2008, it was a pay-per-view subscription package...
  
  
• ESPN GamePlan
  ESPN GamePlan
  ESPN GamePlan is a Out-of-Market Sports Package offering college football games to viewers throughout the United States.GamePlan begins on Labor Day weekend and continues through the first Saturday in December. It includes all regional telecasts on ABC, as well as games from various syndicators...
  
  
• ESPN Full Court
  ESPN Full Court
  ESPN Full Court is an out-of-market sports package in the United States that carries college basketball games. It is available on most major cable and satellite television providers, and on any computer whose broadband Internet service is provided by one of ESPN.com's business partners.The package...
  
  
• MLS Direct Kick
  MLS Direct Kick
  MLS Direct Kick is an Out-of-Market Sports Package distributed by most cable and satellite providers in North America. As of the 2011 season, package subscribers will be able to watch up to 221 Major League Soccer regular season games as well as some MLS Cup playoff matches. The package costs $79...