Rogers hiked Sportsnet+ subscription fees for the 2026-27 NHL season, pushing the annual premium package to roughly $345 — up from $329 — and triggering a wave of subscription cancellations among Canadian hockey fans who say the service costs more while delivering less.
This follows a 30 percent jump from 2025 prices, according to Yahoo Sports. The Standard tier now runs nearly $30 per month; Premium exceeds $40. The Province’s Patrick Johnston reports the premium package climbed $75 to $324.99, with the basic tier up $50. When NHL Live was shuttered in 2022 and Canadian fans were funneled onto Sportsnet’s platform, that same package cost $199.99. That’s a $125 increase in four years — and the app still glitches. Canucks fans in British Columbia have been told they’re outside their own team’s broadcast region.
A Sportsnet spokesperson told The Province the platform is “the most comprehensive live sports streaming experience in Canada” and that the new pricing “reflects that great value.” Fans are not buying it. A boycott call that surfaced in online hockey communities has spread as subscribers share screenshots of cancellation confirmations and urge others to follow.
Here’s the thing about gouging your season-ticket holders — and make no mistake, streaming subscribers are the digital equivalent of season-ticket holders. You can raise the price of admission once. Maybe twice. But when the product on the field gets worse while the ticket price climbs, you lose the room. I’ve seen it at the gate on a Friday night in West Texas. You don’t get the crowd back by telling them what a great value the empty bleachers are.
The grievances stack up like a blown blocking scheme. Regional blackouts still apply even to Premium subscribers, meaning fans paying top dollar can lose access to games carried by another broadcaster in their local market. NHL content has fragmented across Sportsnet+, Amazon Prime Video, and TSN, forcing fans to stack subscriptions the way you stack hay bales — each one heavier than the last. Johnston calculates that subscribing to all four major Canadian sports streaming services now runs nearly $1,000 per year.
Beyond pricing, Sportsnet has also disabled reader comments across its website entirely, a move noted by veteran hockey reporter Howard Berger, who wrote that the decision silences both the “basement-dwelling wackos” and the thoughtful fans who used the forums to engage with coverage. TSN has done the same. Berger separately flagged long-running criticism of perceived Toronto Maple Leafs bias from Sportsnet’s hockey writers and dissatisfaction with broadcast quality.
The backdrop makes the timing worse. On June 16, CBC and Rogers Sportsnet announced that the Hockey Night in Canada sublicensing agreement will not be renewed after the 2026 playoffs, ending NHL broadcasts on CBC after 74 years. The brand that Foster Hewitt built, that became a Saturday-night cultural institution, is being pulled from public television. CBC says it will use the Hockey Night in Canada brand “in different ways going forward,” but no details have been announced.
So Canadian hockey fans are looking at higher prices, a broken app, blackouts on games they’ve already paid for, a comment section that’s been locked, and the end of free-over-the-air NHL hockey on CBC. And the response from the broadcaster is a line about “great value.”
The film doesn’t lie. When you charge more and deliver less, the stands empty. The only question is whether enough fans actually follow through — or whether October rolls around and everybody crawls back to watch the opener.
Sources
- Yahoo Sports — Canadian hockey fans in a rage after latest Sportsnet price increase
- The Province — NHL fans keep losing out online as Sportsnet hikes its price again
- Between the Posts — Sportsnet takes a strong stance (on reader comments)
- Wikipedia — Hockey Night in Canada