The Western Hockey League announced on February 24, 2021, that they were launching WHL Live on CHL TV. With the partnership between Endeavour / Neulion ending at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, fans everywhere were excited to see what a new partner could bring to the streaming world.
Verizon was chosen as the new partner and WHL Commissioner Ron Robison was caught up in the excitement of delivering a new product for the fans of the WHL.
“The WHL is very excited to introduce WHL Live on CHL TV – a brand new way for hockey fans to experience WHL hockey in the comfort of their own homes, “ commented WHL Commissioner Ron Robison. “We believe WHL Live on CHL TV will deliver a much improved viewing experience for fans who enjoy following the WHL.”
Unfortunately, the roll out has been less than improved.
Across Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, the response from hockey fans has ranged from mildly annoyed to downright disgusted.
There have been innumerable problems with the service, including, lack of audio, lack of video, not having the ability to get the pause button off the middle of the screen, and more.
Some of the old features that were fans expected and were used to were not available and there has not been any indication that they will be available.
Fans used to be able to watch multiple games at one time on the old streaming service. There was also an ability to pause and rewind games while they were live.
The ability to use apps associated with streaming a game on a television is nearly impossible to sort out.
Other unexpected incidents have occurred over the last number of weeks. The Kamloops Blazers did not announce to their fans that long time broadcaster Jon Keen would not be available as the play-by-play voice on the live stream. That position went to Kirk Baethke as the team decided to do its own in house production of the WHL Live stream.
Ok for those asking… Blazers doing their own webcast for the 12 home games. Production, different sponsors. It is @kirkbaethke on the call. I’m on @RadioNLNews still for all 24 games. #Kamloops
— Jon Keen (@JonKeenNLSports) March 27, 2021
All of these issues and unannounced plans amount to disorganization and poor planning. The season in some cases came quickly as the Central Division got underway shortly after announcements were made in February. But the teams, the league and the provider (Verizon) have had several weeks to get the issues sorted out. They were still prevalent last night as I watched the Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals face off in their opening game of the 24-game season.
Fans have made the investment in the product and it has been a failure from top to bottom.
It is time for the WHL and CHL to come out and speak to the fans about the ongoing problems with WHL Live and the service they purchased. A tweet or Facebook post is not enough.
The WHL would have been well served using an established service like HockeyTV.
HockeyTV may not be the flashiest, often only having a single stationary camera in some of the arenas across North America. But the WHL and its clubs had the infrastructure to partner with HockeyTV and produce a league-wide streaming service that could be viewed as a leader in the world of junior hockey streaming services.
It’s time the Western Hockey League found ways to work together, setting standards across the league for the broadcast of their games, be it online or on the radio. The league relies on media services like radio, streaming, websites, and newspapers to get their product in front of the masses and yet they squander opportunities to work together to put their best product forward.
