Rate The NHL On VERSUS: Year 2

Ruckus007

where to?
May 27, 2003
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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.

Darryl Kile was the pitcher, I think in 2002.

I remember specifically not being able to see the last pick of the 2003 draft (Shawn Belle) on ESPN.


As for PortlandRanger's point about OLN/VS coverage, that's completely valid. Not enough providers carry the network. I don't follow this closely but I believe VS is in a lot more households now than it was when the deal was signed. I think they do a pretty good job covering games. I don't understand hating VS. It's an untenable situation and I think both parties are doing the best they can to expand VS and the NHL. It does neither side any good to not do so. So I get being upset at the situation, but I don't see anything wrong with the actually broadcasts.
 

Beezy

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Oct 26, 2003
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I've only had HD for about a year. Did ESPN do HD telecasts before the lockout? Hockey needs HD.

OLN/VS....whatever they call it. I hate it mainly for lack of an HD channel on Comcast in Boston area.
 

jkrdevil

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Apr 24, 2006
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You know what closer mics means? More cursing being able to be heard followed by more of Doc or whoever the announcer is apologizing. Classic stuff.
 

crashlanding

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Nov 29, 2005
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I've only had HD for about a year. Did ESPN do HD telecasts before the lockout? Hockey needs HD.

OLN/VS....whatever they call it. I hate it mainly for lack of an HD channel on Comcast in Boston area.
They had it the year before the lockout for big games.
 

vitogor

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Oct 26, 2002
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I'm very happy with what OLN/VS has done with hockey. They have taken hockey programming to a level ESPN never wanted to. I loved their behind-the-scenes draft special last year, I loved "The Legends of Hockey" series, as well as a few other specials that I can't think of right now. Their playoff broadcasts were outstanding (minus the silly goal horn). Since hockey is the only major sport I watch, I don't even know what channel ESPN is on my TV. The only thing I miss about ESPN is NHL 2nite with Buccigross, but they would've probably canceled it anyway in favor of more cold pizza or similar garbage.

I've said this in similar threads in the past, and I'll say it again. OLN was the best thing that could've happened to the lockout-weakened NHL, and NHL was the best thing that could've happened to OLN. NHL needed a network that would care about hockey, and that would be genuinly interested in the league's success. OLN needed a major sport, as they wanted to move up from the "fishing channel" to a major sports channel. Sure, they are not there yet by any means, but these things don't happen overnight. NHL gave them credibility that they were seeking, and they gave NHL outstanding effort in promoting hockey. NHL hockey will not make or break ESPN, but it will make or break OLN's aspirations to be a major sports network, and that's why they will continue to give it their best effort.

Just my two cents.
 

ColoradoHockeyFan

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Feb 17, 2005
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One side note that seemed like it fit better in this thread than any other. I was recently traveling and had occasion to listen to a fair amount of NFL football national broadcasts on the radio while in the car. I noticed a lot of promotional spots (read by the announcer during the game) for the NHL on Versus. This even went beyond promotions for the games themselves and included other hockey programming coming up on Versus. I was struck by how many of these I heard. I don't recall this type of promotion for the NHL on NFL broadcasts in the past, but I haven't necessarily listened to that much NFL on the radio... does anyone else recall this? I thought it was excellent to hear... frankly, it kind of shocked me, because it's exactly the kind of needed promotion that we've so seldom seen/heard in the past.
 

SPORTSMANIAC

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Nov 15, 2004
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ESPN loves young and controversal superstars like Lebron James, Dwanye Wade, Barry Bonds, and TO. They are marketable so they think. You see every other weekend a high school football game on ESPN and the Duece. Since LeBron they also have covered high school basketball and this year there big guy on campus is Michael Jordon's son. Last year was an Ohio St recruit and the year before Dwight Howard. I said last year if Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby came in the NHL and dominate ESPN would crawl back and beg for the NHL back. AO has EA Sports deal and Crosby has a RBK deal so their names are getting out there and i bet u ESPN wants to cash when they still have a chance. The biggest mistake ESPN made the last few years was canceling the 2005 World Junior Championship Gold Medal game to go to Classic boxing.
 

sabrefan27

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Mar 9, 2004
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Rochester, NY
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.
This is a good question. I searched through at least 4 or 5 large hotel chains in the middle of nowhere West Virginia to find Versus to watch game 1 of the Buffalo vs Philly series. No one had it. We ended up having to watch the game in a chinese restaurant. Funny enough, we ran into a family from Buffalo doing the same thing. Unfortunately the Chinese people kicked us out after the first overtime. I don't think they had a clue what we were watching. Wasn't fun watching the ticker on ESPN at the hotel. At least they won.
 

OG6ix

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Apr 11, 2006
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ESPN loves young and controversal superstars like Lebron James, Dwanye Wade, Barry Bonds, and TO. They are marketable so they think. You see every other weekend a high school football game on ESPN and the Duece. Since LeBron they also have covered high school basketball and this year there big guy on campus is Michael Jordon's son. Last year was an Ohio St recruit and the year before Dwight Howard. I said last year if Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby came in the NHL and dominate ESPN would crawl back and beg for the NHL back. AO has EA Sports deal and Crosby has a RBK deal so their names are getting out there and i bet u ESPN wants to cash when they still have a chance. The biggest mistake ESPN made the last few years was canceling the 2005 World Junior Championship Gold Medal game to go to Classic boxing.

I don't think LBJ or Dwayne Wade are controversial, but I agree they are marketable. Ovechkin isn't marketable yet because of the language barrier, but crosby is. Staal is another guy they can market because his presence on a camera is good. There are others too.
 

Dr Quincy

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Jun 19, 2005
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good news.. looks like OTT @ TOR will be on CI on Oct 4th.. which means no blackouts?

It's not showing up as being on for me. I have Center Ice with Dish Network, and no games are showing up on channels 540+ until Thursday. I'm getting pretty pissed about it.
 

SPORTSMANIAC

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Nov 15, 2004
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I don't think LBJ or Dwayne Wade are controversial, but I agree they are marketable. Ovechkin isn't marketable yet because of the language barrier, but crosby is. Staal is another guy they can market because his presence on a camera is good. There are others too.

I know they aren't controversial but espn likes the young superstars and the controversial ones like bonds and owens wat i was trying to say
 

Stevedude530

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Dec 21, 2005
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What's everyone think, new scoreboard, graphics, Eddie O., etc.?

I missed the first 2 hours (Pre-game and game) so how has it been?
 

Motown Beatdown

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Mar 5, 2002
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Wanna know the truth? I forgot about the game on OLN or whatever it's called cause they did little to no advertising for the NHL. Then when i realized there was a game om it took me a while to remember what channel it and by that time i found the Centre Ice feed for the Leafs/Sens and have been watching that.
 

sandman441

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Jan 25, 2003
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I like it I haven't had any sound drops unlike last year. I did have to check what channel it was on again because my cable company switched around pretty much every channel again which sucks because they just did that 2 years ago.
 

Falloooooon

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Nov 11, 2004
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The graphical presentation is better than last season. Everything else feels the same, but that isn't a bad thing to me since I am not one of the people who thinks the quality of a broadcast is determined by how many people know what channel it is on.

It's big league.
 

Drake1588

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Jul 2, 2002
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Better production values, camera and picture quality, and graphics. Biggest, maybe only problem I had last year was with the picture and occasional sound dropoffs. Haven't seen any of that tonight so far.
 
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XX

Waiting for Ishbia
Dec 10, 2002
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PHX
What's everyone think, new scoreboard, graphics, Eddie O., etc.?

I missed the first 2 hours (Pre-game and game) so how has it been?

They put the camera on the Hurricanes instead of showing the actual montages that were playing on the screen. Pretty stupid.
 

X0ssbar

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Loving it...they have picked up right where they left off from the playoffs. I also enjoyed the Cup special w/ some of the Canes players before they went to their season preview special. Top notch.

The 'can't find the channel' excuse is a cop-out....if you can't find Versus then don't think of getting HD...you'll have to go all the way to the 700 channels (for Time Warner anyways)...the days of all the good programming being in the bottom half of your cable dial are long gone.

My only suggestion is that you couldn't make out the VS. logo on the actual rink boards. It just looks like a black dot -- they need to brighten up the red so it shows up better. A minor thing but should be an easy improvement.
 

jkrdevil

UnRegistered User
Apr 24, 2006
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Miami
They put the camera on the Hurricanes instead of showing the actual montages that were playing on the screen. Pretty stupid.

They probably were unable to get the video feed from the arena. Had they just zoomed into the scoreboard it would have looked awful and you wouldn't be able to make it out.

So far much better. The graphics are much better, love the VS. logo in the middle. One thing I'm not sure if it was my TV or the broadcast is that it seemed that the colors were brighter and more vibrant which is a good thing.
 

Stevedude530

Registered User
Dec 21, 2005
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So, Stars fans, when did you discover Daryl Reaugh as your Lord and savior as I have tonight?
 

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