NBC does it again

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Whiteshell Wild
Jul 11, 2006
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When Saturday's Ottawa-Buffalo game, which eventually turned out to be the Sabres' curtain call, went into OT on Saturday, NBC cut away to horse racing!! And to top it all off, Daniel Alfredsson scored before a hoof hit the track. That's right NHL, you've been bumped for horse racing pre-game chatter. Yippee.

Only those Americans who get Versus, live in Buffalo (where the NBC feed went uninterrupted) or have access to CBC were able to watch the whole game. In Maryland (where the race was being held) NBC decided to wipe out the entire game for pre-race coverage. Exhilerating.

The next time Gary Bettman gushes over the wonders of having weekend afternoon available to the entire US of A, I'll have two words for him: clip, clop.
 

Lou is God

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Nov 10, 2003
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Lovely. There's already a huge thread on this.

No reason to not have one here, this is the Business forum after all.

That being said no one stuck a gun to the NHL's head to agree to this, they should have done everything possible and move the game to 12:30pm, to blame NBC is a copout, they are in business to make money and they get that from ratings and if anyone thinks that even a OT playoff game will even come close to the ratings a Preakness pre-race would bring is nuts.
 

taunting canadian

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Jan 3, 2005
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I bet the CBC is really happy right about now. Here's how I imagine the scheduling conference call went down:

CBC: "We want the game to be on Saturday night, because that's when our audience expect it."
NBC: "No, we want the game in the afternoon, because that's when our audience expects it."
Bettman: "OK, NBC wins. We need to expose hockey to more fans in the States."
CBC: "Arghh!!"
NBC: "Oh, by the way, we're not actually going to show the whole game."
CBC: "Wha?!?"
Bettman: "Fine by me. We'll win lots of new fans in the States by showing them half a game!"
 

MAROONSRoad

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No reason to not have one here, this is the Business forum after all.

That being said no one stuck a gun to the NHL's head to agree to this, they should have done everything possible and move the game to 12:30pm, to blame NBC is a copout, they are in business to make money and they get that from ratings and if anyone thinks that even a OT playoff game will even come close to the ratings a Preakness pre-race would bring is nuts.

Not even a Stanley Cup Finals elimination game between two large American markets? If so, things are even worse than I thought. Either that or Preakness is a much bigger event in the USA than I had imagined.

GHOST
 

LadyStanley

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Sep 22, 2004
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IMHO what pissed me off most is no clear indication that the game transferred to Versus.

FWIW, the Shark fans were warned that the game would transfer to Versus if the 2.5 hours allocated were not enough to decided it before the Kentucky Derby. (Not sure if the Wings fans got the same warning.)
 

jkrdevil

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Apr 24, 2006
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Clearly you need a hearing aid. It was said once and I believe actually twice.

They put a graphic up saying it was switching to Versus.

Not even a Stanley Cup Finals elimination game between two large American markets? If so, things are even worse than I thought. Either that or Preakness is a much bigger event in the USA than I had imagined.

It is a combination of both. Hockey doesn't get good ratings period but the Preakness will probably be the highest rated sporting event this weekend.
 

MAROONSRoad

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Preakness rating for 2006

Last year's rating FWIW:

"The overnight ratings for NBC's coverage of the Preakness Stakes May 20 indicated a small drop-off in viewers from 2005's numbers. The overnights, which measure viewership in 54 major markets, gave the overall telecast a 5.7 rating and a 14 share, down 4% from last year's 5.9/14.

With one rating point equal to 770,000 viewers, the Preakness, from Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Md., was seen in approximately 4.4-million homes. The share indicates the percent of TV sets that were tuned to the race.

The pre-race portion of the one-hour, 45-minute telecast, from 5 p.m.-5:45 p.m. EDT, registered a 4.0/10, down fractionally from 2005's 4.2/10. The race portion of the show, 5:45-6:45, yielded a 7.0/16, down 3% from a 7.2/17 last year.

Nevertheless, the Preakness telecast was the highest-rated sporting event televised May 20. ABC will telecast the Belmont Stakes June 10 from New York.
"

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=33676

I think a SCFs elimination game could at least equal that.

GHOST
 

Kardi

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Jul 28, 2004
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haha well the nhl is a complete joke in the states why keep bowing down to them.. you have VERY loyal fans in canada why **** on them?
the last thing the nhl needs is to lose the canadians loyalty to another sport

and it wont be long for a new canadian sport to take over :)
 

Lou is God

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Last year's rating FWIW:

"The overnight ratings for NBC's coverage of the Preakness Stakes May 20 indicated a small drop-off in viewers from 2005's numbers. The overnights, which measure viewership in 54 major markets, gave the overall telecast a 5.7 rating and a 14 share, down 4% from last year's 5.9/14.

With one rating point equal to 770,000 viewers, the Preakness, from Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Md., was seen in approximately 4.4-million homes. The share indicates the percent of TV sets that were tuned to the race.

The pre-race portion of the one-hour, 45-minute telecast, from 5 p.m.-5:45 p.m. EDT, registered a 4.0/10, down fractionally from 2005's 4.2/10. The race portion of the show, 5:45-6:45, yielded a 7.0/16, down 3% from a 7.2/17 last year.

Nevertheless, the Preakness telecast was the highest-rated sporting event televised May 20. ABC will telecast the Belmont Stakes June 10 from New York.
"

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=33676

I think a SCFs elimination game could at least equal that.

GHOST

I remember the Devils-Stars game six in the 2000 SCF's got I think a 5.0, but that was at night.
 

Nashville108*

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you know that NBC had a contract to show the Preakness each year long before the NHL right?
 

Guest

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Feb 12, 2003
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I was so ticked off at NBC when I watched the game on my DVR today. They kill the excitement with a 1 minute synopsis of Alfredsson scoring the series clinching goal and then it's an afterthought. What can you do? It's not like I am going to boycott watching NBC because I want to see the finals, and I'm not going to stop watching other shows I like. NBC looked bush league when they did this, and I don't care what the reasoning is for the horse racing fans (and I am one of them).
 

colonel_korn

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I remember the Devils-Stars game six in the 2000 SCF's got I think a 5.0, but that was at night.

So what's the deal with afternoon games anyways? Why do American networks like NBC tend to prefer them? Is it because they think people are more likely to watch a hockey game in the afternoon, or is it because they have other programming they'd rather show in the evening that they think will draw a better audience?

I'm kind of confused because according to the quoted post above, an evening game got pretty good ratings not so long ago. If today's game had been at 7:00 pm (like the CBC would have surely preferred anyways) none of this would be an issue. It's kind of a shame that the NHL decided to make it an afternoon game, knowing full well that NBC had other commitments if the game went to OT.
 

OG6ix

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Apr 11, 2006
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haha well the nhl is a complete joke in the states why keep bowing down to them.. you have VERY loyal fans in canada why **** on them?
the last thing the nhl needs is to lose the canadians loyalty to another sport

and it wont be long for a new canadian sport to take over :)

Doubt it... other than Toronto there are no other sports teams other than hockey in Canada.
 

taunting canadian

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Jan 3, 2005
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you know that NBC had a contract to show the Preakness each year long before the NHL right?

Yes. I also know that hockey games can be played in the evening, if NBC doesn't force the NHL to schedule them in the afternoon when they might be cut off by horse racing.
 

Silver

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Pretty simple...Canadian networks need to play hardball with the NHL.

As in: You want money for tv rights? That's great, we at (TSN, CBC, CTV) get veto power over the schedule so that the 2000 people in the US who fell asleep drunk on the couch watching NBC at 10 on a Saturday morning don't have more clout than Canadian fans who actually watch the game.
 

MAROONSRoad

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Doubt it... other than Toronto there are no other sports teams other than hockey in Canada.

Wow, I take it you mean "other than Toronto there are no other American professional major league sports teams, not including minor league teams, other than hockey in Canada." :teach: And even there we're being generous calling hockey a major sport in the USA.

GHOST
 

frivolousz21

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Wow, I take it you mean "other than Toronto there are no other American professional major league sports teams, not including minor league teams, other than hockey in Canada." :teach: And even there we're being generous calling hockey a major sport in the USA.

GHOST

Do you live in the United States?

the nhl is heads above every team sport except the big 3.

youth in the usa play soccer 1000 times more than hockey...yet hockey is more popular than the mls by 100000 times.

you live and die by Nielson ratings.

no one I know that loves hockey and watches local and other NHL teams is a nielson family.

Nielson is complete crap...becuase in the united states...its much more likely that someone who doesnt give 2 ***** about a major sport will leave the sport on or watch with company...its just how it is.

a lot of "hockey fans" watch the game together....or go to bars to watch games they cant get at home with there service providor.

unlike soccer youth hockey and highschool hockey that has developed in the non traditional markets over the last 10 yrs...is tied closer to being a fan of the nhl..

the main reason for the so called death of the nhl is Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, NYR, and Boston all being crap for a long time.

imagine if those markets all made the playoffs the next 3 yrs...im sure the "national tv ratings" would get a huge huge boost..and those markets would bring in hundreds of thousands of new fans.

it is what is is.

when the Lakers are in the finals the ratings are millions of people higher than the spurs and Pistons.

the NHL's american big markets have been crap for to long
 
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Bear of Bad News

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Sep 27, 2005
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Do you live in the United States?

the nhl is heads above every team sport except the big 3.

youth in the usa play soccer 1000 times more than hockey...yet hockey is more popular than the mls by 100000 times.

you live and die by Nielson ratings.

no one I know that loves hockey and watches local and other NHL teams is a nielson family.

Nielson is complete crap...becuase in the united states...its much more likely that someone who doesnt give 2 ***** about a major sport will leave the sport on or watch with company...its just how it is.

a lot of "hockey fans" watch the game together....or go to bars to watch games they cant get at home with there service providor.

unlike soccer youth hockey and highschool hockey that has developed in the non traditional markets over the last 10 yrs...is tied closer to being a fan of the nhl..

the main reason for the so called death of the nhl is Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, NYR, and Boston all being crap for a long time.

imagine if those markets all made the playoffs the next 3 yrs...im sure the "national tv ratings" would get a huge huge boost..and those markets would bring in hundreds of thousands of new fans.

it is what is is.

when the Lakers are in the finals the ratings are millions of people higher than the spurs and Pistons.

the NHL's american big markets have been crap for to long

Wow - the number of factual inaccuracies in this one post is unbelievable. Did you bother to actually look anything up?
 
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GKJ

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Feb 27, 2002
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What people may not know about horse racing and the Preakness is that many people watch the race at a track. Figure a 4 ratings = 3.8M people, I bet at least another 3-4M people were at a track. There was a record 120,000 people at Pimlico.


Bettman's beloved southern markets, if given the choice, which do you think they'll choose?
 

BobbyClarkeFan16

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Nov 29, 2005
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The problem with yesterday's NBC debacle was that they've given their word to Bettman numerous times that they won't cut away from a game going into overtime. That was one of the "guarantees" he was supposed to get from NBC. However, they cut away to the Preakness preshow. Not the actual race, but a preshow. For surely, they could have delayed the preshow to show the overtime. Instead, the NHL gets screwed yet again by NBC and they get shut out.

What I don't get is that there has to be more than one sports channel in the States besides ESPN. I thought Fox Sports was there and if so, why doesn't the NHL try to get a national contract with them? I remember in the late 90s when Fox used to show games and I always thought Fox was great. The Saturday afternoon games was always something to watch and always something good. I think it's time the NHL revisit Fox and go from there.
 

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