Amazon Prime's Exclusive Deal Leaving Maple Leafs Fans Outraged Over Broadcasting Rights

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Chris Gerics
October 21, 2024 (12:45)

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Amazon Prime's Monday Night Hockey hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs and fans aren't too happy about the exclusivity of the broadcast.

Amazon Prime struck a deal with Rogers to gain exclusive broadcasting rights to stream Canadian games on Monday nights for the 2024-2025 NHL Season. It was a way for Rogers/NHL to see how a streaming service platform would work for broadcasting, as well as for Amazon to gain more subscribers and paying customers who would otherwise be able to watch the games.

The deal includes some things we wouldn't typically see in a television broadcast such as locker room drama, and in the case of the Tampa Bay/Toronto game Monday; a new pre-game show called 'Home Ice Access' where viewers can see fan arrivals, warm-ups, and whatever else happens before the puck drops.

This deal has brought a bunch of new eyes to the game, however not everybody is pleased with it. Around the internet fans are outraged over the exclusivity of the deal, and how it's affected their ability to watch their favorite team.

A post on Reddit entitled 'NHL on Amazon Prime is in Canada only? W the ACTUAL F?' stated that as an American, they were trying to get access to watch the game on Prime however were upset to hear it was for Canadian viewers only, and that American viewers needed to watch on NHL Network; a premium subscription service that can range from $50-200 USD monthly. Prime is much cheaper than that, and fans are upset the normally American-centric Amazon could leave them in the dust.

Here are some comments from the Reddit thread:

"Rogers sold their Canadian National broadcast rights on Mondays to Amazon. Had they not, the game would be on Sportsnet where you would still not have access to it. Nothing has changed except the platform.

NHL broadcasting rights deals do still suck though, with you on that."

"wtf is right. nhl network only carrying this game in the states again. i've seen 2 leafs games so for this year bc of this crap"

"Exclusively. And they're the only NHL game on tn so Amazon is gonna get to see their figures from these kinda events for sure"

"Yeah im in the same boat. The NHL network always has the hockey night in Canada games and those are the ones that are easiest for me to watch. I looked it up and I would have to get a cable package that costs $105.00 per month just to watch the nhl network."

Canadian Fans Aren't The Ones Mad This Time

A lot of noise surrounds how often the U.S. gets exclusive rights to air games, and there are several blackouts or specific channels unavailable to Canadian viewers. Giving Canada exclusivity for Monday night games is a positive step towards growing the game, and fans are pretty happy about it; a reversal of fortunes after so many times being disappointed.

"This is one of the few games I won't be pirating as I want amazon to see viewership and take over the broadcast rights at the end of the current deal. SN has probably one of the worst platforms on the market and amazon is a big enough player that they could offer enough $ to get rights to all the games theoretically. Would be so nice to have a singular service for all the games."

"LMAO. Canadians have to subscribe to 3 different streamers if we want to catch all the Leafs games, and that's only if you live in the Leafs region and are not captaining a pirate ship. There are 6 Leaf games on Prime."

"It's no different than the Amazon NFL deal where the Thursday game is on Amazon in the States and TSN in Canada."

Some fans are taking drastic measures in order to watch the game tonight, as a few comments talked about 'sailing the seas'; a euphemism for illegally pirating the game online.

"Arrr matey"

"Sailing the seas in the easiest way to watch NHL games"

It's understandable to see why fans would be upset, but given the number of times Canadian fans are left out due to restrictions or exclusive broadcasting rights, it's a little breath of fresh air for viewers. There is no doubt Rogers will find success with the deal with Amazon and it will in turn lead to more and more of these deals.

With fans not necessarily too happy with the current state of Canadian hockey broadcasting (at least in terms of Rogers), you could see Prime swooping in and becoming exclusive on more than just Mondays.

Monday Night Hockey on Prime has so far been a fairly successful venture for Amazon and the NHL, and with the landscape of media moving more and more towards streaming platforms and trying to get away from television, don't be surprised if you hear more outrage from fans in the coming months and years.

POLL
Do you think Amazon Prime's deal to stream hockey on Monday is harmful or helpful for broadcasting NHL games?
Helpful, it gives new eyes to the product!	104	28.4 %
Harmful, nothing will beat the TV experience	262	71.6 %
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