The Sabres three years ago signed a deal with Canadian provider Bell Fibe TV to provide access to games for Sabres fans in Ontario, but the team has now gone "back over the border" and let the deal expire, according to John Vogl of the BUFFALO NEWS. Pegula Sports & Entertainment Exec VP/Media & Content Mark Preisler said both sides "chose not to renew" the deal. Vogl noted the deal "wasn’t quite as 'momentous'" as former Sabres President Ted Black hoped when he signed it. Despite "thousands of Sabres fans in Southern Ontario, not many cared about watching the team on television." The Sabres had "tried for years to get back on the air in Canada, and Black broke through the international barriers" in '13. The team "worked out a three-year deal" with Bell Fibe, and the provider "gave its subscribers 50 games" in '13-14, 53 in '14-15 and 68 games last season. But the deal came with a "major drawback." Because the Sabres were on TV in Ontario, the area "became a home market." Blackout rules "came into effect," and fans, bars and restaurants that "didn’t have Bell could no longer watch Sabres games" through the NHL Center Ice package. Those blackout rules now "are gone," so as "strange as it seems, the Sabres' departure from Canada means more people there can actually watch them" (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/6).
