DirecTV and Comcast may have shut out Minnesota Wild games for now, but another streaming platform is making its play for sports bars.
As the National Hockey League continues protracted commercial licensing negotiations with DirecTV and Comcast around broadcasting Wild games at bars and restaurants, officials say they’ve made better inroads with a different licensing partner: FuboTV.
The sports platform, a “cable replacement” option, had offered the team’s new “Wild+” streaming service to residential customers as a standard feature, but no such commercial option was previously available to sports bars, who pay higher rates based on capacity. That just changed.
The Wild announced on Wednesday evening that through a new distribution partnership with the NHL, FuboTV and Integrated Sports Media, the team’s Wild+ streaming service is now available to bars and restaurants throughout the Wild’s local broadcast territory, for a fee.
Doug Jacobs, president of Integrated Sports Media in northern New Jersey, said costs will vary based on a bar’s seating capacity, with the minimum rate for the typical 100-seat bar being $1,000 for a full season of Wild games through the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“You’ll have access to the same feed as the home viewer — all the games, pre-game, post-game and replays,” Jacobs said. “You’re really looking at less than $150 per month. They’re paying a lot more for NFL Sunday Ticket.”
“When a bar signs up, they don’t have to replace their current TV provider,” he added. “We’re giving them access to just the one channel — the Wild channel.”
When the Wild launched Wild+ this season following the closure of the FanDuel Sports Network, bar owners expressed surprise and dismay that they were unable to show their patrons Wild games, which got underway on Oct. 1. Individual subscribers can see the games via FuboTV, a $20 add-on to Amazon Prime or on the Spectrum Cable network in suburban and out-state Minnesota, but for sports bars, no such commercial licensing agreement yet exists between the NHL and DirecTV or Comcast.
That’s forced patrons of hockey bars to saddle up to the bar counter with their own smartphones, tablets or laptops and streaming subscriptions.
The NHL remains in negotiations with both DirecTV and Comcast on behalf of four franchises: the Wild, St. Louis Blues, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets. Asked about the status of those talks, the Wild released a one-sentence explanation on Wednesday night, by email: “The NHL is currently engaged in ongoing carriage discussions with additional cable and satellite providers regarding Wild+.”
In Wednesday’s announcement, the Wild indicated that to learn more about FuboTV options, bars and restaurants may contact Integrated Sports Media at 1-866-396-8283 or Info@ISMSports.com.
Dining and Cooking