Rogers gives customers an exclusive NHL view

The company has rolled out a $10 million addition to its GameCentre Live digital platform that will give exclusive camera angles to Rogers customers.
By Josh Kolm
October 7, 2014

With the puck ready to be dropped tomorrow on the NHL season, Rogers has announced an addition to its GameCentre Live digital service that sees an expanded content offering available exclusively to its customers.

The new exclusive additions include GamePlus, a service within the GameCentre Live app that allows users to utilize a variety of different camera angles from which to catch the action of the game. This includes the SkyCam, a camera reminiscent of NFL broadcasts that travels on a cable around the Air Canada Centre’s 200-level seating, as well as a Ref Cam placed on top of the referee’s helmet for an on-the-ice view of the game. There are also point-of-view cameras on top of the glass at the blue line and on the team bench, an overhead goal line camera and a Star Cam that follows one player throughout the game, regardless of whether they have the puck.

GamePlus also now features MyReplay, which compiles the angles around several key moments of games. Pary Bell, VP of Rogers Media and NHL digital properties, said that depending on the game, this could result in anywhere from 20 to 40 exclusive video clips for Rogers customers. The new service is available within the GameCentre Live app, which has also been updated to include a stream of video and social content during the day before a game starts, which Bell says is in response to people using NHL apps outside of game time.

Yesterday’s launch of GamePlus is the second recent update to GameCentre Live, which was updated last month to give Canadians access to the over 1,000 NHL games Rogers has the rights to regardless of regional blackouts.

GamePlus is free for those already subscribing to GameCentre Live. Although, unlike GameCentre Live, which can be subscribed to by anyone, the new GamePlus features are exclusive to Rogers customers.

Rogers has invested $10 million into the new technology, which it has been testing over the summer and during the NHL preseason. At a press conference announcing GamePlus on Monday, Rogers showed off footage it took from a preseason game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, which Keith Pelley, president at Rogers Media, says was able to be compiled and put onto the MyReplay feature within three minutes of the play on the ice.

During his live demonstration of GamePlus at the conference, Bell said that, due to the time it took to transmit the footage, the usual seven-second delay seen on broadcast would be closer to one minute on the app. He added that he doesn’t anticipate games being out of sync to be an issue for viewers, as they will be using GameCentre Live and GamePlus in environments where a traditional broadcast is unavailable.

As of now, the SkyCam has only been installed in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, but Pelley said the company is looking into solutions to give it a presence within every Canadian NHL arena that doesn’t disrupt the viewing experience for those in the stands. He added that at least two cameras would be present at all nationally-televised games during the regular season, with plans for playoffs coming together as the post-season gets closer.