ATV 2, new iOS 5.0, still no NHL Gamecenter in my country

Question

Level 1

55 points

ATV 2, new iOS 5.0, still no NHL Gamecenter in my country

Hi, I recently updated my ATV2 to the newest software ver. 5.0, hoping that NHL Gamecenter app will be supported in my Czech itunes store account. But, it is not, unlike MLB, NBA which Im not interested in. It's only available in US.

On whose side is the problem, Apple or NHL? I have Gamecenter complete season subscription, payed by my czech credit card- gamecenter obviously supports my country.

Is there any workaround? Who should I contact? Switching two countries, one for Gamecenter, one for iTunes match where i must repeatedly fill my pass is driving me crazy.

AppleTV 2, iOS 5

Posted on Mar 8, 2012 1:18 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Damian Smith1

Level 3

740 points

Mar 8, 2012 1:21 PM in response to Sleepless90

Probably the NHL's

Reply

Answer 2

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 10, 2012 5:19 AM in response to Damian Smith1

Still no answer from NHL GC support, Apple wants to pay for asking, this is not my fault, I didnt do anything wrong ..

Reply

Answer 3

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 15, 2012 9:39 AM in response to Damian Smith1

After a week, still no response from NHL GameCenter support. Nobody cares.

Reply

Answer 4

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 15, 2012 10:49 AM in response to Sleepless90

Winston Churchill, it looks like you have "some" experience here, please, what could I do next?

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 17, 2012 4:27 AM in response to Sleepless90

I have no experience with gamecentre. There may be a myriad of reasons why it's not supported outside of the USA, the most likely one to me being that they sell exclusive rights to someone else for non US broadcasts and thertefore aren't able to broadcast it themselves.

I wouldn't know why they have accepted your credit card if this is the case, but it seems as though they likely shouldn't have done.

I find it very unlikely that this is a problem with the Apple TV, if NHL was supposed to be broadcast outside the US on the Apple TV and it wasn't, I'd imagine the NHL would be putting great pressure on Apple to sort it out. NHL as been unavailable too long for it to be a mistake.

Reply

Answer 6

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 17, 2012 4:50 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thank you for your time. Ill try to contact GC support once again.

Reply

Answer 7

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 17, 2012 2:24 PM in response to Winston Churchill

So on second try, they answered me this:

"Access to third-party applications for GameCenter Live is subject to the terms, policies, and restrictions applicable to the respective device manufacturers and application stores.

Regarding the GameCenter application on the Apple TV, Apple was only allowing users to access that software if their apple Store accounts were registered in the US or Canada, no official announcement has been made regarding any changes to that policy.

NHL Web Support"

From that it looks like the problem is on Apple side, right? Nhl gave them app, apple is allowing the app only for americans.

It makes sense, i played with GameCenter Live app for iOS (which is available in Czech iTunes Store) and i found out that it checks my location everytime i launch it. If i set location settings to off, the app wont launch.

Is there any way how to ask Apple technical support for free?

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 17, 2012 2:21 PM in response to Sleepless90

Don't let the NHL pass the buck. They control the rights to their programming and they tell Apple who to let view it. Apple does not control the rights to NHL games.

Reply

Answer 9

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 17, 2012 2:23 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

I hope they will.

Reply

Answer 10

Mar 17, 2012 2:34 PM in response to Sleepless90

It looks to me as though NHL are trying to pass the buck too, clearly Apple are allowing other features to work outside the US, it appears to me that it is NHL that I've implemented this restriction.

Reply

Answer 11

Sleepless90 Author

Level 1

55 points

Mar 17, 2012 2:46 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

If i had cheap interstate phone and if i could speak english fluently, i would never stopped calling them.

Reply

Answer 12

JRCH

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2012 2:44 AM in response to Sleepless90

Hi sleepless90, as far as I know the iOS Gamecentre app only checks location to provide the game time matching your local timezone. About the NHL app on ATV I am with you helping to bring the Gamecenter to ATVs in Europe (switzerland in my case). It's as you wrote: You can sign up for Gamecentre pro app and have all the content on your i-device but not on ATV. Time to change that.

Reply

Answer 13

STV23

Level 1

10 points

Feb 28, 2013 4:23 PM in response to JRCH

I'm currently mirroring my iPhone to ATV to watch, but that's just draining my iPhone for no reason!

The picture quality is stunning though despite WiFi to the phone and Airplay to the ATV!

I saw in another thread that NHL replied to someone that NHL Gamecenter should be abailable worldwide on ATV!

Reply

Answer 14

STV23

Level 1

10 points

Feb 28, 2013 4:28 PM in response to STV23

Ohh ****, solution, set country to United States and it works...

Reply

Answer 15

moxpt

Level 1

0 points

Apr 30, 2013 6:15 PM in response to STV23

We knew that already STV23. It will also work with the CANADA Apple Store. But that is not the point. The point is that every time we want to listen to some music, or watch a movie from our library we have to change back to our local store, which is a nuisance. I live in Portugal and I have the same problem.
If we can pay to watch it on other Apple devices like and iPad or iPhone we should be able to see it in the Apple TV.

Reply