For many of us, pirated video streams are an unfortunate necessity of watching the Philadelphia Flyers play professional ice hockey, as the NHL simply doesn't allow us the ability to pay them for the product.
Maybe we don't get cable. Maybe we can't afford cable. Maybe we can't get it at all. Maybe CSN and TCN are unavailable in our area because we have satellite or something. Maybe illegal streams are our only choice.
There are a million different scenarios for a million different people, and the NHL needs to address these very legitimate problems. Watching illegal streams doesn't make you a hardened criminal -- it makes you a hockey fan with limited options. Do you think we want to watch illegal streams? Hell no. They suck. Bad quality, via less-than-reputable websites, etc.
The vast majority of us -- dare I say virtually all of us? -- would love to pay for an NHL GameCenter Live package that featuring just the Flyers, with no blackout restrictions or any of the other hold ups that prevent us from purchasing the GCL package or the NHL Center Ice package today. But we can't, because the league is still living in a pre-Internet era when it comes to those damned blackout rules.
Unfortunately, however, pirated video streams of games are still illegal, and in the spirit of our public opposition against SOPA yesterday, we need to stop allowing the facilitation of that illegal activity here on the site. That's not to say they're not still out there on the Internet or anything, and if you need them, you can certainly find them via any number of channels. We just can't allow BSH to be that channel any longer.
It puts us at risk, and if we don't want the government to come in with a heavy hand and blow up the Internet over this stuff, we need to do out part in policing our own little corner of the Internet. We'll be deleting any comments containing links to illegal streams or requests for said streams from here on out, and the offense will be treated like any other violation of the BSH Community Guidelines. Hope you understand.