34 Comments
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Angie's avatar

Intriguing. As an out of market fan, I wish they made it free for everyone, but I assume league contracts with ESPN make that impossible.

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Sean Shapiro's avatar

yeah, ESPN+ still controls out of market rights. That's not going to change

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Alex Kelly's avatar

Does that mean I can still watch all Stars games on ESPN+, or only the games that they broadcast themselves?

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Sean Shapiro's avatar

if you are out of market you get every game on ESPN+ with the exception of the TNT/NHL Network ones

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CScotty's avatar

This is great news! 10 years ago my kids highschool sports were streamed and it was very entertaining. Pros are just now catching up!

I now expect coverage of Traverse City, Training Camp, exhibition games, team interviews, team analysis, maybe Razor Hour/sportscaster “podcasts” too!!! What did I miss? Maybe player off-season interviews, -training/golf/families?

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Chris B's avatar

Traverse City and training camp are excellent points! I really hope that means that they will be streamed!

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Max's avatar

This is awesome. Hopefully they take advantage of the control they have. They have the opportunity to take some creative risks. Would love to see more content churned out from the team.

Will also be interesting to see how willing the stars players are to participate

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Josh M.'s avatar

Really interesting, will be curious to see how this plays out in DFW , but very intriguing! Great article!

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James R Curry's avatar

I've always thought that one of the NFL's smartest decisions has been to keep the vast majority of their games available over-the-air, for free.

The move to paid providers must surely be profitable in the short term, but in the long term I can't help but feeling it erodes the fan base as it becomes harder to make new fans.

This deal for the Stars is huge, and while there are problems to be solved, like getting games into bars and restaurants, as well as the discovery issue for potential fans, having the games available for free is a big positive.

I'm interested to see what other Stars programming is available on Victory+. More coverage of the prospects tournament and preseason would, of course, be great.

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Chris B's avatar

I am hoping that streaming would include on demand viewing of the games as well as live, since one of the main benefits of having the game available on Bally's was being able to record it and watch it later if I had a conflict. I also enjoyed going back and watching parts of home games if I had been at the arena, to hear what Josh and Razor had to say about a particular play or call or whatever.

Since the Stars will own their own content, hopefully they will be able to retain the games for longer than ESPN+ does, as well.

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Chase's avatar

Having control and ownership over their own content is a revenue stream in and of itself. On-demand games can be a premium add-on that many fans would be happy to support.

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Max Redd's avatar

Hopefully it means more Stars coverage period. I think the sky is the limit on this one. The Podman Rush podcast could add a video component, we could get a lot more content from practices and hopefully all of our preseason games. Maybe even our own crew at traverse city? So many possibilities!

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Chase's avatar

Dallas Stars Hockey Training Camp

Hell, Sean is about to expand his platform too!

The Stars are about to grow the sport of hockey in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas faster than any market. This is a remarkable move.

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Justin Williams's avatar

I know it probably won't happen, but I'd love to see a guaranteed space for independent Stars coverage in the app.

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Chase's avatar

It would be an extremely wise move. The alignment with Dude Perfect makes me think the Stars are actually gonna kick open the door for as much talent possible.

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Devin Hocamp's avatar

So do the Stars now have a TV tech crew or do they lease them out? I’m sure it poses some challenges for away games as well.

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Sean Shapiro's avatar

there will be some hires, but most of the broadcast talent on front end and backend were already Stars employees that worked Bally's broadcast

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Aaron Gunlock's avatar

Out of market are still getting fucked over. I absolutely hate needing 4-5 different services to try to watch Stars games. This is infuriating.

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Todd Ingarfield's avatar

Doesn't this make it the same of in-market and out-of-market? In market folks will use Victory+ for most games and out-of-market has ESPN+. Both groups will have have ESPN/TNT for nationally broadcast games?

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Aaron Gunlock's avatar

It's the same as last season. I'll need ESPN+ for most games, then ESPN, TNT, and NHLN for national broadcasts. So I'm going to lose several games because of the stupid fucking broadcast rights of the league.

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Todd Ingarfield's avatar

Right, but this deal still requires that myself (in Texas) will need Victory+ app, ESPN (cable/sat), ESPN+ (I think some games are espn+ exclusive but not positive), TNT (cable/sat) and NHLN to watch every Stars game. So really we are in the same boat.

TBH, I assume the ESPN+ app/interface will be a better experience than Victory+, at least at the start.

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Aaron Gunlock's avatar

But you get V+ for free. And I've not heard of any games exclusive to ESPN+.

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Todd Ingarfield's avatar

Sure. Personally,I would rather pay for ESPN+ to get Stars games like you do, since that would also get me the rest of the NHL out of market games.

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Angie's avatar

There are ESPN+/Hulu broadcasts a few times per year that aren't on ESPN.

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Bob Kargenian's avatar

Sean. I'm out of market in SoCAL, and get ESPN + along with NHL Center Ice. Will Center Ice still exist, and is that how I can continue to watch Stars games? Thanks. Bob

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Sean Shapiro's avatar

those other out of market services will still exist from my understanding

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Max's avatar

Hopefully fans will tune in and stars org doesn’t regret this decision

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Brendan Swearengin's avatar

I hope they decide to broadcast the alumni games. Living in Seattle, I would love a chance to watch those games.

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Filip Dostal's avatar

Do you know what broadcast will be relayed to NHL.tv? It wa usually Bally during the trgolar season.

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Tiffany Vilchis's avatar

As an out of market fan, I'm intrigued. I would 100% pay for additional content (mostly because I already bundle the ESPN+ subscription with Disney so it's a wash there). I love that Dallas is making a bold move here. It seems like a risky length of time if things don't work out though.

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Gerald Saul's avatar

Hopefully they've been paying attention to what the Ducks are doing!

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Adam W.'s avatar

What's this mean for Josh and Razor? Are they still broadcasting the Stars games?

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Sean Shapiro's avatar

they work for Stars not Bally, so the on-air talent doesn't change

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justin Schmidt's avatar

Yeah they work for the stars not for Balley

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