NHL Network Should Expand

[scomvp316]

At no other time has the NHL garnered so much revenue
It has the #1 sports website which was voted on the last 4 out of 5 years
It has the #1 Specialty Retail Store in NYC
Jersey Sales or in hockey terms Sweater Sales are up as much as 35% over the last five years
Crosby's Jerseys has outsold Jordan Jerseys 2 out of the last 3 years
Some may complain about ratings but most NHL markets compared to NBA markets the NHL has a 10% advantage

NHL should create an extra 1 or 2 channels thats additional to the NHLN
At no other time has TSN and CBC hockey broadcasts have been in high demand in NHL hotbed markets
Both TSN and CBC are Canadian Government properties but if one or both were available just during hockey season as a paid channel or channels almost 80% of revenue would go to the Canadian Government
One of the new channels would be TSN & CBC broadcasts and would be free for customers that purchase NHL Center Ice
The other channel would be exclusive NHL games and hockey programming seperate from NHLN
So for instance the second channel would be free along with NHLN and off season hockey programming from TSN and other canadian networks would be aired on the new channel
Also in the off season marathon rivalry games
Imagine say around 4th of July that whole week every televised playoff game between Montreal/Boston would be aired in its original entirety

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Why would you want TSN as part of that package? They lost their rights package to Rogers SportsNet earlier this year, who the NHL just signed a monstrous 12-year, $5.2B deal with.

TSN was shut out. If anything, you'd want to try to find a means to get SportsNet broadcasting made available to the U.S.-based audience.

 

[scomvp316]

IMO TSN still has the best commentary for hockey
TSN is owned by ESPN so they have that
Plus with center Ice TSN has more broadcasts than SN
I just think TSN has the better production

 

[scomvp316]

I knew NHL strike a deal but I assumed it was with TSN I wonder if SN just outbid them or did Betteman's dislike of ESPN not covering NHL after lockout season play a keyrole

I hope most of the TSN's studio analysts go over to SN
Gord Miller must go to TSN one of the best in the biz except for Bob Cole

I just heard from a friend that TSN is trying to get the rights of Canadien games with some sort of partnership with RDS I guess TSN has offered to launch Canadien TV which is to compete with Leafs TV

Its strange all these years SN has had more channels than TSN but TSN had most of the money despite SN with the rights to the Leafs broadcasts

 

[It's Damn Real!]

IMO TSN still has the best commentary for hockey
TSN is owned by ESPN so they have that
Plus with center Ice TSN has more broadcasts than SN
I just think TSN has the better production

Right, and ESPN was shut out, like TSN, when negotiations opened again last 'round — instead, the NHL opted to stay with NBC, and signed a 10-year extension there, so why do ESPN or TSN have any reason to help out a product like this to which there is no tangible benefit on their end? You'd have to be paying them a large percentage to make it worth their while, and for what — a broadcast that has no rights to live games? Seems silly.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I knew NHL strike a deal but I assumed it was with TSN I wonder if SN just outbid them or did Betteman's dislike of ESPN not covering NHL after lockout season play a keyrole

ESPN doesn't cover hockey because it has no vested interest in it. Had it won the bid to regain a piece of broadcasting rights, you'd see a lot more of the game featured there.

I hope most of the TSN's studio analysts go over to SN
Gord Miller must go to TSN one of the best in the biz except for Bob Cole

McKenzie, Dreger and James Duthie all signed long-term extensions with TSN. Sportsnet wanted Duthie badly, but he stuck with TSN.

I just heard from a friend that TSN is trying to get the rights of Canadien games with some sort of partnership with RDS I guess TSN has offered to launch Canadien TV which is to compete with Leafs TV

Its strange all these years SN has had more channels than TSN but TSN had most of the money despite SN with the rights to the Leafs broadcasts

When you say Canadien, you mean Montréal Canadiens, or Canadian, with an 'a', as in an attempt to get into all seven Canadian markets?

 

[scomvp316]

I was never a fan of SN Just didn't like the presentation or most of the talent
I am not sure who the studio host for SN is but with a partnership with CBC they could bring over MacLean
I do think SN must make a play for Gord Miller
I am not sure about Glenn Healy if hes a TSN guy or if hes with SN

The possible deal for TSN to have the rights to Montreal's games would be huge
The one problem isn't RDS but the broadcasts CBC would be carrying and I am sure Cole would not be able to go over to TSN Plus CBC has a deal with SN under this new deal
Thats the one area that TSN might have is either purchasing or partnering up with current networks not counting SN for certain teams
Leafs and Flames I believe are out of it seeing SN has locked them up for a while
Winnipeg has a deal with TSN but not sure about Vancouver and Edmonton
so the teams in play could be Montreal and Ottawa but most of the other teams are being carried by SN but it depends on the language of this new deal if they will keep regional coverage or just be like TSN and just have two national channels
If TSN can't get most of the teams in Canada they could strike a deal with regional Fox Sports to get Minnesota & Detroit with Buffalo being a longshot with MSG Plus
If it was me I would strike a deal with Montreal to create a Canadiens TV and if they can't get live games to work out an agreement maybe with CBC or the NHL for TSN to carry Montreal's replays of games the following day
The other avenue for certain TSN talent that may want to get out of their deal is to work for NHLN

 

[scomvp316]

Its not all bad for TSN
I just learned Ottawa and Montreal starting next season will be carried by TSN
I looks like CBC lost the rights because of the large deal with SN
RDS will still carry Canadiens games in French
From my understanding TSN is looking to acquire other teams in US
To me Detroit would be first and if that doesn't work try Minnesota and Buffalo
TSN is throwing around an idea to carry OHL and QMJHL which TSN would add one more channel and may request some feed help from the NHLN

 

[scomvp316]

It would be nice if Sportsnet was available in the US
Is it because Canadian Government owns the rights much like they do with CBC and TSN

 

[braveh]

Who cares. The league pass has been a disaster for nba. While canada is a country, cali is a bigger economy and had a higher gdp.

And what kind of ****** would watch hockey on his tablet/smart phone?

 

[scomvp316]

The NBA as a whole is a disaster
Their revenue issues go deeper than when the NHL had a problem from 999-04
NHL center Ice is the second most profitable sports on-demand behind Sunday Ticket
I agree with you with watching hockey on a cell phone just doesn't make much sense
However the comment about CA having a higher GDP than Canada is laughable
Just take a look at the numbers the overall numbers its not even close
CA's GDP % going to social programs is a whopping 78% according to Forbes
They are once again approaching over 30 bill in debt
That state is so screwed most economist analysis for CA breaking even will only take 30 years of positive growth along with no natural disasters during that time and the US economy would not have another recession Good luck with that
Canada represents almost 75% of the US tourist revenue which equates to slightly over 30% of US revenue overall

 

[braveh]

I dont know what youre trying to prove but its bs. The canadian market is a footnote. Cali is 2.1 in gdp, canada is 1.7

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_and_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

Nba has abc, tnt and espn promoting the hell out of them. The miami heat are mainstream stars. Nhl cant even get nbc to promote hockey.

 

[Akhilleus]

I'm not a hockey fan in any way shape or form, so obviously I would be against having them create even more channels. I always hate how the hockey games, especially during playoffs, end up getting in the way of the games for my favorite baseball teams.

Anyway the NFL and MLB only have one network. What makes the NHL so special?

Chances are it would end up being a whole new package to get it, and the amount of people willing to buy it won't be enough to cover the actual cost of airing them. Otherwise trust me if there was a way for them to make more money off of it, they would've done it by now.

 

[scomvp316]

I know I wouldn't want to get political stats from Wiki there past history is slighted toward one side of the spectrum
The GDP # they provided is highly inaccurate for two reasons:
Over the last 100 weeks an average of 1,000 people leave CA per week
Because of high volume of citizen movement out of state along with a very high tax rate even for the average worker that is combined with inflation is near triple compared to the national average
The #'s I provided are stats released end of 2013

The last rumor was Esquire TV is still up for sale and NHL is highly interested
The reason why NHL hasn't created an extension to NHLN is for one they want to find the right suitor along with NHL is sometimes behind the times when it comes to tv production
No league in NA has gained more in revenue out of a work stoppage season than the NHL did 06-07 compared to 03-04
Every year since the lost season NHL has gained at least 2% from previous season in total revenue
I always tell fans that aren't big time fans of hockey is don't take a look at the ratings nationally but in the traditional hockey markets like MN,Western MA and NY
one thing nielsen doesn't add in are the ratings from Canada which would push most NHL Game Ratings on average by .8
One stat for NBA fans that they may not like is no star since MJ retired has come close to his jersey sales but the last 2 out of 3 years Sidney Crosby has eclipsed MJ jersey sales when MJ was playing