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CTV and TSN, both owned by Bell Media, carry all prime-time NFL games, but only select games on Sunday afternoons. Canadians who want to be able to watch any NFL game live this season have had no other legal option but to buy DAZN, which offered a discounted fee of $20 per month with no minimum contract length, which includes access to a few other sports including some European pro soccer matches.

When cable and satellite providers carried the Sunday Ticket package, they mandated a four-month minimum and charged approximately $35 per month, although that included live access to all games of many major sports leagues as well.

DAZN also has five-year exclusive rights to: the popular RedZone channel, which jumps from game to game as action warrants; and the NFL’s Game Pass digital service, which ostensibly includes all games on demand, “all-22” coaches film of all games, plus other NFL Network and NFL Films programming.

After Week 1, DAZN’s managing director for rights and strategic development, Alex Rice, said in a statement:

“Our debut in Canada did not go as planned. No excuses — it is not how we wanted our journey to start in a country of such passionate fans. Our top priority has been getting to the root cause of the issues and giving fans the viewing experience they expect from us. We have reviewed the entire customer experience so far and can confirm that many of the issues subscribers faced last weekend have been resolved.”

After Week 2, DAZN apologized to subscribers and offered all a $20 (one-month) refund.

Alas, many were not resolved. After four weeks many of the above problems continued, including what for some fans was an unacceptable time lag of more than a minute, minimum. Social media comments always were one to three plays ahead.

jokryk@postmedia.com