If Ottawa establishments want to show all 84 Sens games this season, they'll need to fork over even more cash to third-party commercial providers.

Some local bars and restaurants are being priced out of showing a full slate of Ottawa Senators games this hockey season, as yet another streaming service is required to watch all 84 contests.

The Senators’ second game of the regular season against the Boston Bruins just happens to be the debut of Sportsnet’s Monday Night Hockey, which is only available on Sportsnet+.

The Ottawa Citizen reached out to over a dozen establishments on Sunday, and several confirmed that adding Sportsnet+ to their existing sports bundle was not financially feasible.

In 2017, Bell and Rogers removed their sports channels from broader television packages for business clients, introducing standalone sports bundles based on a bar or restaurant’s official occupancy limit on their liquor licence. The more seating, the more establishments paid. For some, it cost hundreds of dollars more per month to continue showing live sports.

Today, on top of those commercial-tier cable packages, Ottawa businesses keen on showing Sens hockey must pay for two additional services. While Sportsnet+ has exclusive rights to Monday nights, Amazon’s Prime Video has taken over national broadcasts on Wednesdays.

“It’s gouging,” one local restaurant owner told the Citizen on the condition of anonymity.

It's gouging

At the Senate Tavern, the decision to upgrade was made just last week. The sports bar chain with a trio of spots in Ottawa gets its live sports broadcasts through Premium Sports, a third-party commercial media provider.

“Costs have risen substantially since the bar opened in 2012,” said Sean MacDougall, general manager of the Senate Tavern’s Clarence St. location. “Not only cable but all the streaming options that have now been created.”

Sportsnet+ has exclusive rights to seven Senators games this season; Prime Video will stream four games. In the end, the prospect of losing 11 games simply felt wrong for the bar self-identifying as “Ottawa’s number one destination for sports.”

“Unfortunately, that’s just the model that the league and the streaming companies have decided to operate with,” MacDougall said. “We have to either choose to adapt or not show the games, which hurts our clients. So, we’ve chosen to go ahead with it.”

Multiple establishments the Citizen spoke with had never paid for Prime Video and didn’t intend on adding Sportsnet+. They’ve gotten by with standard Sportsnet and TSN, which owns the rights to 53 Senators games this season.

But don’t be shocked if TSN pulls a similar move to Sportsnet’s in the near future, exclusively streaming some Sens games on Crave.

In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, this new, fragmented sports broadcast landscape has frustrated many fans to the point of threatening to watch their beloved teams on illegal streams.

For those who typically watch from home, it’ll cost $12.99 (plus tax) per month to watch Monday Night Hockey on Sportsnet+ if you don’t already pay for Sportsnet channels through Rogers Xfinity. And if you don’t already have an Amazon Prime subscription, that’ll be $9.99 (plus tax) monthly. It all adds up.

For what it’s worth, a spokesperson told the Citizen last week, “Sportsnet is working with other Canadian distribution partners to give their TV subscribers additional options to access this Sportsnet+ content.” There is no timeline for any side deals to be announced.

When reached Sunday for comment on the situation, the Senators advised the Citizen that vice-president of communications Ian Mendes would have a full rundown in his Monday column on the team’s website, helping fans navigate the new setup with Sportsnet+.

Some fans used Mendes’ post on X linking to the explainer to express their vexation with Sportsnet.

“So another $100 for the season to watch. What else is new,” one Sens fan responded, dejected. “Where does it end? I already have the $25 extra a month package to get TSN/SN channels. I don’t want more stuff to sign into. I just wanna watch the Sens play.”

Another user chimed in, facetiously: “Hey Ian, over/under on when it’ll cost $6,000/year to watch my team? Two years? I’m assuming you or some people you work with are working to improve this situation?”