HNIC: The Rogers era begins to mixed reaction from viewers

[Ratboy]

I've barely watched any Rogers' games since I have Gamecentre but it seems like they are pushing Ron McLean out. Too bad the fans have to lose.

It sucks for everyone really.. Ron's such a good guy, too.

This is just another reason to hate Rogers.. they've literally murdered hockey night in Canada and tradition. Ok, maybe murder is a bit dramatic, but you get the point.

 

[skeena1]

According to Roger's schedule, the Flames games on Thursday and Saturday are available nationally. Maybe blacked out in Jets territory but not the rest of the country.

 

[Shootmaster_44]

I'm curious whether the playoffs will be only shown on CBC and Sportsnet or will City TV be carrying games?

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Well, it looks like we have an answer to my earlier question: Ron MacLean will not host ANY first round games on HNIC. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...nhl-playoffs-but-not-as-host/article23816726/

I mean, jeez. If you're not gonna let him host, at least put him on the panel or something. He'd be better than Kypreos and the lesser MacLean.

Rogers doesn't want MacLean overshadowing Strombo and showing why it was a colossal blunder to set him aside in favour of Strombo. That can be the only logical explanation.

Rogers has all this quality talent at their disposal (MacLean, Marek, Amber) and are completely underutilizing them. I didn't think they could be this stupid, but here we are.

 

[rojac]

It sucks for everyone really.. Ron's such a good guy, too.

This is just another reason to hate Rogers.. they've literally murdered hockey night in Canada and tradition. Ok, maybe murder is a bit dramatic, but you get the point.

I'll admit that Strombo is a little weak but I really don't have a lot of love for MacLean either. I often find him pretentious and one of the main proponents of the whole "hockey is something special" attitude that HNIC used to dripping with. It's just a sport like many other sports.

The real disappointment is that I'm going to have to suffer through Coach's Corner almost every night.

 

[Smokey McCanucks]

Some awesome games today, Pens-Sens, Chicago-Minny, Jets-Blues...obviously we all want to see Philly-NYI, pre-empting every other game on every single channel, solid job Rogers.

 

[rojac]

Some awesome games today, Pens-Sens, Chicago-Minny, Jets-Blues...obviously we all want to see Philly-NYI, pre-empting every other game on every single channel, solid job Rogers.

Well, of course because Tuesday is not one of the three national days, the Jets-Blues and Pens-Sens are regional games.

 

[RTN]

HNIC is stretched too thin. Strombo said it himself during an interview; there's so many games going on they (him and analysts) don't even know what's going on b/c they can't watch the games. Why would I tune in to watch analysts who don't even have time to watch the game they're analysing?

 

[Fish on The Sand]

HNIC is stretched too thin. Strombo said it himself during an interview; there's so many games going on they (him and analysts) don't even know what's going on b/c they can't watch the games. Why would I tune in to watch analysts who don't even have time to watch the game they're analysing?

When the main analysts are Maclean and Kypreos that is probably a good thing.

In the last 20 years only Rejean Houle and possibly Mike Milbury can lay claim to be being more incompetent at running an NHL team than Doug Maclean, yet here he is.

 

[Pilky01]

Thank God NBC is stepping up and broadcasting alot more playoff hockey. In the past I would watch the CBC over NBC feed if only for the familiarity and "Canadiana".... that is over now.

 

[RandR]

According to Roger's schedule, the Flames games on Thursday and Saturday are available nationally. Maybe blacked out in Jets territory but not the rest of the country.

I hope you are right, but right now Sportsnet.ca's broadcast schedule has Thursday's Flames-Kings game listed as only being on SN West, which typically implies that it will be blacked out outside of that region.

Saturday's Flames-Jets game will be on all 4 SN regional channels, so no doubt that will be available nationally.

 

[Burke the Legend]

I'll admit that Strombo is a little weak but I really don't have a lot of love for MacLean either. I often find him pretentious and one of the main proponents of the whole "hockey is something special" attitude that HNIC used to dripping with. It's just a sport like many other sports.

I agree, I don't get the love for him. He's very arrogant and pretentious beneath the folksy veneer. Never struck me as particularly bright, knowledgeable or insightful either. If it wasn't for his big national exposure in the part of straight man schtick for Don Cherry's show, MacLean would be another nobody.

 

[DyerMaker66*]

When the main analysts are Maclean and Kypreos that is probably a good thing.

In the last 20 years only Rejean Houle and possibly Mike Milbury can lay claim to be being more incompetent at running an NHL team than Doug Maclean, yet here he is.

I couldn't agree more.

I actually liked Kyproes before he was on HNiC; he seemed like the only one of the Sportsnet guys who knew what was going on. Now he just adds to the white noise. Even Ron is irritating me now with his pointless stories that go nowhere every Sunday. I find myself saying "who cares" after everything he says. I guess Bettman got his wish.

 

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Missing is the Sens/Flyers game at 12:30. Maybe they could convert it to HNIC and show it on City so the Wings/Canes game could be bumped to FX.

As for the Flames/Jets game, if it was moved to the 7:00 slot, it could be either on OLN, FXX or G4 since there's none of the Rogers' channels left . I think it should be under the HNIC label not the Flames on SN brand.

Maybe they should have all NHL games on all Rogers-owned networks: City? Omni? SN? FX? FXX? OLN? G4? Bio?

 

[donghabs98]

HNIC is stretched too thin. Strombo said it himself during an interview; there's so many games going on they (him and analysts) don't even know what's going on b/c they can't watch the games. Why would I tune in to watch analysts who don't even have time to watch the game they're analysing?

It makes sense. The responses and discussions from the analyst seem very scripted. I remember a while back the Habs and Sharks were playing and the Habs had a good 1st period but during the intermission report the panel would just talk about their struggles from the game before.

The league clearly sold out for quick money because they should have known giving the broadcasting rights to one company would lead to sub par broadcasting. It's quantity over quality with Rogers. How does cutting ties with Bell benefit the league from a business perspective doesn't make sense with me. It would have been much better to split the rights between them both so not only does it ensure competition in the quality of games but also could generate bigger long term profit.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

It makes sense. The responses and discussions from the analyst seem very scripted. I remember a while back the Habs and Sharks were playing and the Habs had a good 1st period but during the intermission report the panel would just talk about their struggles from the game before.

The league clearly sold out for quick money because they should have known giving the broadcasting rights to one company would lead to sub par broadcasting. It's quantity over quality with Rogers. How does cutting ties with Bell benefit the league from a business perspective doesn't make sense with me. It would have been much better to split the rights between them both so not only does it ensure competition in the quality of games but also could generate bigger long term profit.

I'm shocked the NHL didn't push for Rodgers on the Weekend, with TSN getting Wednesday night games.

It's a different Era with local TV.

Before when most games were not on TV, people were mad if CBC didn't cover their game at all, but now with every game broadcasted in some way, I see no reason to just throw every conceivable game on your network on Saturdays.

With what I think will happen to TV in the next 10 years, I wonder how future proofed this deal is.

 

[Mad Brills*]

Hypothetical: bell wins the rights 1 1/2 years ago. Is hnic, or their version of it on CTV, with tsn as the sportsnet?

 

[Mr. Fancy Pants]

I'll admit that Strombo is a little weak but I really don't have a lot of love for MacLean either. I often find him pretentious and one of the main proponents of the whole "hockey is something special" attitude that HNIC used to dripping with. It's just a sport like many other sports.

The real disappointment is that I'm going to have to suffer through Coach's Corner almost every night.

Well you got your wish. With Rogers HNIC is now just like every other hockey night. The real disappointment is having 2 months of Strombo. Ugh!

I've listened to Prime Time Sports the last two weeks and they've had Kypreos on a couple times. His ignorance shows on TV but really comes through on the radio where he can't yell back and forth with other people. He stumbles through answering every question and just gives basic hockey player answers "Uh, you know,
the Jets are really giving everything they have right now, you know."

Neither Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL properties at Rogers, who was away on vacation, nor Gord Cutler, Rogers’ senior vice-president of hockey production, could be reached for comment

Isn't it weird that the person responsible for the NHL is taking a vacation right at the critical time of the year?

 

[Smokey McCanucks]

They're doing it again. Three games today, Leafs-CBJ and Anaheim-Dallas are on, meaningless games except for draft position. The one big game is Washington-Boston, can't watch it though. This never would have happened if TSN was still alive.

 

[rojac]

Hypothetical: bell wins the rights 1 1/2 years ago. Is hnic, or their version of it on CTV, with tsn as the sportsnet?

Possibly. That could work for Saturdays but for the playoffs, CTV certainly does not want to preempt their prime time American shows for hockey -- so you'd lose over-the-air entirely for playoffs.

My guess is that you might have seen a similar deal with CBC as what Rogers ended up making. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the idea for the CBC part of the deal originated with the CBC.

 

[rojac]

They're doing it again. Three games today, Leafs-CBJ and Anaheim-Dallas are on, meaningless games except for draft position. The one big game is Washington-Boston, can't watch it though. This never would have happened if TSN was still alive.

You think TSN would preempt a scheduled Leafs broadcast to bring Washington-Boston? Can anyone think of a time that TSN bailed on broadcasting a Canadian team to instead broadcast a game between two American teams?

And Anaheim-Dallas is the one late game.

It's possible that they might have picked up the Washington-Boston game if they weren't also committed to airing the Raptors and Blue Jays games (on SN360 and SN1, respectively).

And besides, if they rearranged the TV schedule to broadcast every important game, doesn't that reduce the market for the GCL product?

 

[DyerMaker66*]

They're doing it again. Three games today, Leafs-CBJ and Anaheim-Dallas are on, meaningless games except for draft position. The one big game is Washington-Boston, can't watch it though. This never would have happened if TSN was still alive.

I was angry too at first, but then I realized I don't gaf anymore.

Thank god MLB season is here and the CFL season's not too far behind.

 

[Warden of the North]

They're doing it again. Three games today, Leafs-CBJ and Anaheim-Dallas are on, meaningless games except for draft position. The one big game is Washington-Boston, can't watch it though. This never would have happened if TSN was still alive.

TSN had one night of National games a week. So yes, it happened all the time. I dislike Rogers as much as the next hockey fan, but they're showing FAR more hockey games then TSN ever did.

 

[DyerMaker66*]

Possibly. That could work for Saturdays but for the playoffs, CTV certainly does not want to preempt their prime time American shows for hockey -- so you'd lose over-the-air entirely for playoffs.

My guess is that you might have seen a similar deal with CBC as what Rogers ended up making. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the idea for the CBC part of the deal originated with the CBC.

Only because the other option was not airing hockey at all. Not that this is much better, but it's something.

 

[RandR]

I hope you are right, but right now Sportsnet.ca's broadcast schedule has Thursday's Flames-Kings game listed as only being on SN West, which typically implies that it will be blacked out outside of that region.

Saturday's Flames-Jets game will be on all 4 SN regional channels, so no doubt that will be available nationally.

Pardon me for replying to my own post, but on Sportsnet last night they said that the SN West coverage of Flames-Kings will be available nationally except blacked out in Manitoba.

With the Jets playing at the same time, I guess that TSN chose to exercise their regional rights forbidding the Flames game to be seen in Manitoba.