Rate The NHL On VERSUS: Year 2

[joolzie]

Would it even matter if you tuned into the games if you're not a Nielsen household?

 

[X0ssbar]

I don't think ESPN's broadcast was any better when you compare it to OLN's in the playoffs. Plus, OLN had playoff hockey practically every night of the week and when they weren't showing a game they were showing hockey related programming. Now THAT was what I liked to see.

Like you said the bad mouthing won't stop until the NHL has several seasons of success, that won't change whether it's on Versus, ESPN, or Animal Planet. ESPN has the NFL on Mondays, the NBA a couple of times a week, baseball, and college football/basketball. How much hockey do you think you'll get to see on ESPN? Will they bring back NHL 2nite? Probably not, they removed that from their offer last year. If Versus can add a similar program to their lineup and have it every night, they will get much more support from the NHL fans.

Exactly. I've absolutely loved OLN/Vs's coverage of the league. The NHL stateside has never been treated as well as they are now. A new sports channel is not built over night and I think Vs. is coming along quite nicely.

The only thing the NHL is over on ESPN is a doormat and its not like the NHL's ratings over there were any good either. At least w/ Versus they are getting a fair shake in regards to programming and treatment. I hope the NHL sticks with them and I think they will.

 

[Stevedude530]

I spoke to Mr. Buccigross last night, and he claims they have the space to air the hockey in the Spring, and that it's good primetime TV.

He also said is book with (interestingly enough) VERSUS NHL analyst Keith Jones is coming out in March.

 

[Ruckus007]

Totally agree with that. When they cut off the last pick of the draft for PBR I believe it was I was pretty angry and I think it was a bush league move. I still don't think ESPN would treat hockey good look what they did to NHL2night they cancelled I believe 2 years before the lockout and I don't know too much about sportscenter so I can't comment about that. I know the other shows disliked hockey and badmouthed it regularly.

ESPN did the same thing back when they broadcast the draft. You get your 3 hrs and nobody's going to run over for the 30th pick of the NHL draft, I'm sorry.



Not surprised at all that ESPN would want the NHL's rights back. You never appreciate something until it's gone and I think ABC/ESPN just wants to continue it's attempts at world sports domination.

VS has been expanding it's hockey programming, ESPN continually shrunk its. I admit VS needs a daily highlight show (or at least 2-3x a week) but I honestly don't ESPN ever did anything better than VS in terms of broadcasting a hockey game.

I'm happy with the NHL on VS and I don't really understand why people aren't. In fact, I would suggest that I've never seen a group of fans who are as consistantly unhappy about the broadcast of their sport than hockey fans.

 

[X0ssbar]

I spoke to Mr. Buccigross last night, and he claims they have the space to air the hockey in the Spring, and that it's good primetime TV.

A little confused with this statement...Bucci said that ESPN only has the space to telecast hockey in the Spring? Is that ESPN or ESPN2?

 

[billsandsabres]

At 6:30 PM, Bill Clement (Who is absolutely solid now, if not yet on the level of an Ernie Johnson or a James Brown)

passionate post, but this is where you lost me

i don't think clement is any good

 

[crashlanding]

I spoke to Mr. Buccigross last night, and he claims they have the space to air the hockey in the Spring, and that it's good primetime TV.

He also said is book with (interestingly enough) VERSUS NHL analyst Keith Jones is coming out in March.

If there's someone who I feel bad for at ESPN it's Buccigross. With that being said, when he says there's "space" in the Spring, what does he mean? Does he mean a game every night like OLN had? Does he mean a pre/post game show that Vs. will have? What about a nightly wrapup show like OLN had when they aired On the Fly?

ESPN needs the NHL in the spring because World Series of Poker reruns don't do the trick. The only advantage I see to ESPN would be if they did that 4 channel presentation of the game on all their channels with different camera angles that they did with some NBA games.

 

[OG6ix]

ESPN did the same thing back when they broadcast the draft. You get your 3 hrs and nobody's going to run over for the 30th pick of the NHL draft, I'm sorry.



Not surprised at all that ESPN would want the NHL's rights back. You never appreciate something until it's gone and I think ABC/ESPN just wants to continue it's attempts at world sports domination.

VS has been expanding it's hockey programming, ESPN continually shrunk its. I admit VS needs a daily highlight show (or at least 2-3x a week) but I honestly don't ESPN ever did anything better than VS in terms of broadcasting a hockey game.

I'm happy with the NHL on VS and I don't really understand why people aren't. In fact, I would suggest that I've never seen a group of fans who are as consistantly unhappy about the broadcast of their sport than hockey fans.

Why don't people like versus? Because people like me Can't even get it! The NHL needs to be on ESPN, and that's the bottom line. Im sure if they came up with an incentive based contract ESPN would do a better job of promoting it, but if you are a major sports league in the US you have to have ESPN presence. They can give a handful of games to ESPN and carry some on Versus, the NBA and NFL does it, why can't the NHL?

I spoke to Mr. Buccigross last night, and he claims they have the space to air the hockey in the Spring, and that it's good primetime TV.

He also said is book with (interestingly enough) VERSUS NHL analyst Keith Jones is coming out in March.

Out of the closet? ... Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

[X0ssbar]

Why don't people like versus? Because people like me Can't even get it! The NHL needs to be on ESPN, and that's the bottom line.

..and when ESPN launched ESPN2 you couldn't get that either but over a few years they expanded -- the NHL was the anchor programming on that channel as well. Vs. added 7 million holmes last year and will continue to add more, especially once they land another major sport. I say 'once' b/c they have the deep pockets of Comcast backing them to make it happen.

The only advantage ESPN has right now is its distribution but you must understand that the ratings on ESPN stunk up the joint as much as they have on Vs. ESPN's were a little better but when you talking about .1 percentage points you aren't talking about much. Why not move to a new channel and be the big fish where you will be a priority and treated fairly when the ratings impact will be nominal anyways. You certainly won't take the constant beating that shows like PTI and ATH constantly dish out and you certainly won't be given poker highlights during NHL intermissions.

I'm just as excited about this new season on Vs. than I ever was about ESPN's coverage. Their playoff coverage last year during the playoffs was nothing short of outstanding.

If you were I would spam your cable provider to get this channel added -- you will be pleased.

 

[Sotnos]

Thanks for the heads-up on the non-game programming.

I second that! I enjoyed the stuff they showed last year, especially The Tournament, and once I taped a few of the Legends of Hockey shows for my dad he made sure to watch the rest of them and he got my older bro watching them too. ESPN rarely did non-game hockey programming like that, so we should be happy VS is treating hockey like an important sport and not the red-headed stepchild.

I do watch the games sometimes, but since I have CI, it's only when I prefer the matchup they're showing to any of the other games. As for if it makes a difference if you're not a Niesen household...I'd imagine in this day and age, if you have digital cable the cable company knows exactly what your box is tuned to at all times and can likely gather and report that information. That's just speculation on my part, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[OG6ix]

I don't know man, I have a good feeling about the NHL going back to espn. You would see more stuff on their cellphone service, their broadband stuff would do a lot of good for the league, also they would probably start putting old NHL games on ESPN Classics again.

 

[Jazz]

I keep asking this on some VS related threads, but never get a reply. I'll try again here.

Has VS done anything about most hotel chains not carrying the channel? There are many travellers every day (especially business travellers) and not being able to even see a hockey game when one is flipping through the channels is not good for the league.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

the OLN/versus coverage is actually very good. its far superior to what ESPN had to offer before. The thread starter is 100% right when he pleas for more fans to tune in. The thing holding back versus right now is household availability not quality of coverage. If versus can manage to improve their hockey ratings then that only means good things for more and more standardization of the channel.

 

[sandman441]

ESPN did the same thing back when they broadcast the draft. You get your 3 hrs and nobody's going to run over for the 30th pick of the NHL draft, I'm sorry.

Yeah but it's the last pick in the first round and if you advertise showing the first round pick 30 counts as the first round. I have a terrible memory when it comes to hockey so ESPN could have done that I'm not entirely sure.

 

[crashlanding]

I'm sick of this myth that if the NHL went back to ESPN they would change and actually give a crap. Do you think the guys on PTI or ATH would actually start caring? When did ESPN Classic ever play NHL games regularly, other than the same three that we've all seen a million times? Has Sportscenter ever given the NHL the time of day?

Why would things change? Because ESPN has a stake in the NHL's success? They HAD a stake in the NHL's success and still treated it like garbage. OLN/Vs. has done everything that can be expected of a small time network in one year. Their coverage is better than ESPN's, they have expanded rather quickly, and I've seen more non-game related material on OLN during the playoffs than I have in my entire life on ESPN. ESPN would rather show a preseason baseball game over a regular season NHL game so why should we do them a favor. If they need us so bad let THEM outbid OLN/Vs. instead of the other way around.

 

[Randall Graves*]

ESPN is waiting for the NHL to come to the table. I believe it's a bit of Bettman and company being too stubborn to admit that they need ESPN broadcast games. Like it or not, ESPN drives every sport with their coverage or lack of. But on the other side of the coin, the world wide leader in sports would like to have hockey to be just that, the world wide leader in sports. After all, ESPN started because of hockey. In 1979 it's purpose was originally to broadcast Hartford Whaler games. It was cheaper to buy 24 hour satellite time rather than primetime satellite time. Hence the 24 hour sports network.

and a key with ESPN is one of their programming execs(the brilliant mind that's given us crap such as cold pizza and espn hollywood) is gone and he did not like the NHL.

What we need is to get something similar to the NBA, they have games on almost every night because they are on two networks. ESPN can have games where live events are rather slow for them(such as tuesdays and wednesdays) OLN can do something like Mondays and Fridays and you increase the exposure of the sport. It is also critical for the NHL to branch into mainstream marketing. Get musicians to wear hockey jerseys during concerts, appearances or videos, take out commercial air time during prime time on the networks, run ads on espn. Market your stars, get them on sportscenter, get them on Jay Leno, show the world what kind of personality these guys have. Get them more interviews in Sports Illustrated and ESPN the magazine, the FHM move is a great start.

 

[OG6ix]

One thing people are forgetting as the poster above pointed out, one of the more hockey hindering executive is gone. Word around was that he hated hockey. Bottom line, NHL needs to get on to more platforms than just one. The NHL, in my opinion, always seemed the laziest out of the other leagues. They get there games on one cable channel and they are content.

 

[Hire Sather]

good news.. looks like OTT @ TOR will be on CI on Oct 4th.. which means no blackouts?

 

[Randall Graves*]

Is it just me or does it seem like they just show the same teams over and over?

 

[Randall Graves*]

Well remember the Game of the Week slot is 7 est. I doubt many western teams want to play 4 in the afternoon on a weeknight.

22 of the games involve eastern conference teams..only 6 games are west vs west, there is clearly a bias..

 

[Whalerfan11]

Who cares what a few opinion based shows have to say about the NHL anyway? I don't buy the "I don't want the NHL back on ESPN because ATH and PTI make fun of it". They are opinionated shows that are their own entities. Right before the lockout the NHL coverage was getting worse I agree with that. But I really enjoyed Gary Thorne and Bill Clement doing games 5/6 years ago. NHL 2night was a great show. The chemistry of Melrose and Bucci was great and add Darren Pang and Ray Ferraro on the show and you had gold.

 

[FLYLine27*]

As long as they got rid of that horrible "fake" goal horn they sound when the visitor team scores ill watch.

 

[OG6ix]

As long as they got rid of that horrible "fake" goal horn they sound when the visitor team scores ill watch.

Man, I hate OLN as much as the next person, but that goal horn was actually a part of their on screen animation of the red light going off. The problem is the animation was so small and in a bad position people didn't notice it so everyone was thinking "***?"

 

[Stevedude530]

VERSUS Production Enhancements bring viewers Closer to the Game

http://www.versus.tv/nw/article/view/21403/?tf=OLNPressCenter_articles.tpl&UserDef=true

VERSUS, the national cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), launches its coverage of the 2006-07 NHL season on Wednesday, October 4, with an Opening Night double-header featuring a number of enhanced production and studio elements. As the puck drops in North Carolina with the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes opening against the Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. ET), the network will make viewers at home feel like they are in the middle of the action by presenting the game in hi def and enhancing the audio with more microphones on the ice than have ever been used in an NHL telecast before. Following the first game, the Dallas Stars will take on the Colorado Avalanche at 10 p.m. ET.


More in the article including:

-Regular features during the studio segments
-Doc, Eddie O and Bob Harwood calling BUF-CAR
-Beninati, Razor and Chris Simpson calling DAL-COL

 

[Sotnos]

Yeah but it's the last pick in the first round and if you advertise showing the first round pick 30 counts as the first round. I have a terrible memory when it comes to hockey so ESPN could have done that I'm not entirely sure.

ESPN definitely did the same thing. I remember a few years back there was breaking news during the draft (a fairly young MLB player had been found dead in his room, I forget his name) and they cut in with that quite a bit and cut the broadcast off ASAP. They may have continued for the full 3 hours but not one second after.


As for ESPN Classic, in the US if you were lucky they'd show one game a week.