DIRECTV will carry Blue Jackets Hockey Network starting tonight, when Blue Jackets Hockey Network coverage begins with the Columbus Blue Jackets game against the Vegas Golden Knights at Nationwide Arena. The 7 p.m. ET game will air with live television coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The multi-year carriage agreement between DIRECTV and the NHL puts the network on channels 660, 660-1, and 1735/735 for customers in the club’s designated home territory. It gives DIRECTV and DIRECTV Stream subscribers on Choice and higher packages access to Columbus Blue Jackets games that fit the local telecast model.
Channels 660 and 1735/735
Blue Jackets Hockey Network coverage on DIRECTV now sits alongside the club’s other distribution through Prime Video, Spectrum TV, and Fubo. Fans who want the Prime Video option can sign up for Blue Jackets games at $19.99/month or $99/year, which gives the club a direct paid streaming lane outside the traditional TV bundle.
That matters for viewers because the deal is aimed at the club’s television territory, not the entire country. It also reaches DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS venues there, extending the same games into bars and restaurants that carry the service.
ABC,, TNT
Blue Jackets Hockey Network remains the television home for regular season games in the territory only when those games are not exclusively televised by NHL national broadcast partners ABC,, +/Hulu and TNT. That carve-out leaves a split distribution model in place: the local network expands, but nationally selected games still move elsewhere.
For a viewer, the practical result is simple. If the game is local and not reserved for one of those national outlets, DIRECTV now has it; if it is exclusive to ABC,, +/Hulu, or TNT, the local network does not carry it. Tonight’s 6:30 p.m. ET pregame window is the first test of that arrangement.
