On Thursday evening, my mentions and DMs were absolutely clogged on X, highlighting an issue that has plagued our fanbase for several years.
A significant number of our fans are unable to watch our games on TSN 5, despite living in the Ottawa viewing region. We’re talking about people who live in Orleans, Centretown and even in Kanata – when they are a stone’s throw from Canadian Tire Centre.
The first time I was tagged about this problem was back on December 11, 2018, when I was working for TSN 1200. I would periodically get messages from fans when I was working at Bell Media, but the issue seemed very sporadic. Since then, I’ve switched jobs a couple of times, but this storyline has only seemed to amplify.
In the fall of 2024 – my first season in this current role – I put out this tweet to see if we could get a handle on the scope of this issue.
And as we launch another regular season, my timeline, DMs and email inbox ([email protected]) are flooded with complaints.
The crux of the problem seems to be tied to people’s internet service provider. If your IP address is incorrectly reading that you’re located in Windsor or Kitchener – even though you’re in Kanata or Orleans – it won’t allow you to watch the game. It thinks you’re trying to access the game from outside the Ottawa viewing region.
So, let’s get to some potential solutions.
Have you tried unplugging your modem and plugging it back in? It’s the universal solution for tech-related problems and according to a couple of our fans, that seems to work.
If that actually works for you, please reach out and let us know.
Bell Media’s tech support also connected with me last week and offered a solution with their customer service team. There are two potential options there:
- Send an email to [email protected]. If you use this method, they will need the email associated with your account, the IP address for the device you are using is connected to and your postal code.
- Go to this link: https://www.tsn.ca/help/contact-us/. If the initial troubleshooting steps don’t work here, they will escalate this to a technical team.
For now, the only sure-fire solution seems to be watching the game on your mobile device and using cell phone data. Your phone will correctly ping that you’re in the Ottawa region and so you won’t be geo-blocked from watching the game. And a lot of fans have unlimited data plans now and can simply cast the game to a larger screen.
But we know that’s not a viable, long-term solution. It’s a temporary fix and it beats the alternative.
We want to make sure we’re on top of this issue and we’re listening to your frustration. We know this isn’t our fault, but it’s our problem to solve.
And we’re willing to work tirelessly to find a solution.
If you’re a fan who has found a solution to this problem, please pass it along to us at [email protected]. And if you’re dealing with this issue, reach out and let us know.
Our TSN 5 broadcast is as good as any regional broadcast in the league in terms of talent and production. We just want to make sure as many fans as possible are able to tune in and watch.
Trivia time: With eight points in his first five games, Tim Stützle is off to the best start to a season of his young career.
This week’s question: Can you name the only two players in franchise history to collect 10 points in the first five games of a season for Ottawa?
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Why aren’t we posting celebration videos after the game?
Our communications email is a great place for fans to reach out and ask specific questions to our organization. We get a wide range of queries and sometimes we get multiple people asking the same question.
We received this email from Victoria last week, which was a common thread from fans on X:
Can I ask if the post-win, goodnight Sens fans videos (with the celebration and with part of coach Green’s message for the team) are returning this season? Those are some of my absolute favourite pieces of Sens content, and I really hope you’re able to bring them back at some point.
Thanks for the email Victoria and we can share that we will periodically share some of these videos this season. We did it on Thursday night after we knocked off the Flyers in our home opener.
But we have found the videos have become a bit repetitive, so we want to take a step back from just doing the same thing after every game. If there is something cool or neat to share, we’ll certainly consider sharing it instantly. We’ll sprinkle these in as the season goes along.
But we’re in the process of gathering footage and material for a fairly comprehensive behind-the-scenes series that we plan on dropping next summer. We want to drop stuff in there that you’ve never seen before and if we simply share everything in real time, it inhibits our ability to have something unique for that series.
So we’re trying to balance these two things simultaneously – knowing our fans are craving instant content, while understanding they will also appreciate something unique in the summer.
Our promise is that we’ll share cool stuff right away, like the Brad Michtell EBUG story or Thomas Chabot being unveiled as captain.
But just know that we’re keeping a lot of stuff under wraps for something fun next summer.
Why was Shane Pinto wearing Nick Cousins’ sweatshirt in his Sportsnet interview on Saturday?
