The St. Louis Blues are officially ushering in a new era for local broadcast television with the launch of Blue Note+, the Blues' new, fully owned multimedia network. With their agreements with Spectrum and Prime Video, the organization is taking direct control over its regional broadcasts to offer fans more reliable, modern access than ever before.
For fans tired of recent frustrations surrounding regional sports networks, carriage disputes, and blackouts, this move brings a much-needed stability and upgrades to the broadcast.
Local control and upgraded broadcast tech
Starting this season, Blue Note+ (pronounced "Blue Note Plus") will be the exclusive local home of 73 regular-season Blues home games, with the remaining 11 games aired nationally across ABC, ESPN, ESPN+, and TNT.
Running its own broadcasts will allow the franchise to control the visual quality from start to finish. Over the summer, the Blues built a new, cloud-connected control room inside the Enterprise Center so the production crew can produce road games with the same high quality as their home telecasts. The team also added new stationary and robotic cameras for home games, along with upgraded graphics, sharper replay tools, and studio support backed directly by the NHL's centralized production group.
"Having total ownership of our broadcast product will allow us to deliver Blues hockey with direct access to more fans in more places than ever before," said Chris Zimmerman, Blues President and CEO of Business Operations. "We appreciate the ongoing patience and support of the Blues fanbase over the last few months as we work to build a local broadcast platform that is worthy of their passion for this team."
How to watch: cable, streaming, and out-of-market
For fans who live in the team's five-state broadcast territory, there are two main ways to catch Blues games, while out-of-market fans will have their own.
For cable viewers, the Blues have an agreement with Spectrum. The team is also actively negotiating with other local cable and satellite providers as well.
For cord-cutters, Blue Note+ will stream directly through Prime Video inside the local market for $19.99 per month or $99.99 for an annual package. Fans will only need a free Amazon account to purchase the subscription. While subscriptions are not yet live, fans can use this link to sign up to receive updates when they are active.
Fans living outside of the local market, nothing will change for the viewing routine. Live games will continue to be viewed through NHL Center Ice on Spectrum or NHL Power Play on the ESPN app.
Broadcast team
Despite the behind-the-scenes overhaul, the broadcast team will not be changing.
Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale will return to the broadcast booth for their eighth straight season together, Kerber's 26th season calling Blues games. Studio host Andy Strickland will return alongside analysts Bernie Federko and Jamie Rivers, and former Blues enforcer Cam Janssen will be joining the desk as a guest analyst throughout the season.
Radio coverage will remain the same on 101 ESPN, the Blues mobile app, and the St. Louis Blues Radio Network, with Kerber and Vitale on the call and Alex Ferrario hosting pregame, intermission, and postgame coverage.
Add us as a preferred source on Google