End of an era, last broadcast of NHL on NBC

[tarheelhockey]

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i can live with pierre. he's campy and i prefer him over the others from NBC

Pierre on a regional broadcast could actually be a really good move. The nightly grind of the regular season makes oddball characters a welcome diversion, rather than a distraction at the Winter Classic or whatever.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

I liked Liam McHugh, wish he was moving to one of the 2 as well.

 

[CasusBelli]

been through it all. nhl on espn, nhl on fox, nhl on abc, nhl on nbc, nhl on outdoor life network, nhl on cnbc, nhl on nbcsn, nhl on usa.

the show always goes on.

Forgot NHL on Versus. I’m still missing NHL 2Nite on ESPN2. Wonder if they’ll bring it back …

 

[Riseonfire]

With how this last year went, good f***ing riddance. Bye NBC, hope you tank.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Man people love to bitch and complain about everything. You'd think NBC had technical difficulties regularly or somethin. Grass isn't always greener, we'll see.

Hard to believe it was 16 year run, feel old.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I liked Liam McHugh, wish he was moving to one of the 2 as well.

Yeah, he's a real pro. With all the different broadcasts he does at NBC (he anchors pretty much every significant sports broadcast) he still has a lot of good career ahead of him. Wouldn't be surprised to see him again at some point, like we're about to with Steve Levy.

 

[sawchuk1971]

lol, wasn't around for that but i did forget NHL on sports channel. Now those were the days. I remember being excited about reading the player and game summaries in the morning on the t.v. i know others on here know what i'm talking about.

you mean SportsChannel America....that channel had the worst broadcast...almost similar to what NBCSN did..

 

[sawchuk1971]

@Kane One Sadly no

The deal was so bad that Jeremy Jacobs severed ties with Dollar Bill and paved the way for Bettman.

NHL on SportsChannel America - Wikipedia

Taking over for ESPN,[6][7] SportsChannel's contract paid US$51 million[8][9][10] ($17 million per year[11]) over three years,[12] more than double[13][14] what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for the previous three years[15] SportsChannel America managed to get a fourth NHL season[16] for just $5 million.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

The SportsChannel America deal was in a sense, a power play created by Charles Dolan and Bill Wirtz. Dolan was still several years away from getting control of Madison Square Garden, and Wirtz owned 25% of SportsChannel Chicago. NHL president John Ziegler[24][25] convinced the board of governors that SportsChannel America was a better alternative than a proposed NHL Channel backed by Paramount and Viacom that had interests in the MSG Network and NESN.

when i used to see sportschannel nhl games from 1989 to 1993, the video production quality was so inferior compared to espn...

i remember that in 1988 seeing a news story back in the august of 1988 about the nhl going with sportschannel instead of espn.....

that year my mom finally got cable in the household and i was able to record gretzky's last cup win..

i think the story of gretzky getting traded to the la kings and the nhl's decision to move from espn to sportschannel happened
ironically in the same month..

it was terrible that the majority of american hockey fans missed gretzky's first game as a king.....it broadcasted by sportschannel however
i did not see it because i was in those households that did not get sportschannel...

it was around xmas of 1988, that the cable company added sportschannel as part of the channel line up...

 

[sawchuk1971]

The broadcasts could definitely be worse under ESPN, but my biggest complaint about NBC over the years is how much they squandered the NHL.

Just look at the massive amount of effort put into advertising and broadcasting Sunday Night Football, meanwhile the NHL got relegated to the rebranded Outdoor Life Network and would maybe get one SCF game on NBC.

It's beyond comprehension why a broadcasting company would acquire the rights to the NHL and not market the league, teams, and players as much as possible.

And I haven't even talked about how awful the broadcasts were. Just the fact that verifiable hockey-idiot Mike Milbury had a job as an analyst for the better part of a decade speaks volumes to how out of touch NBC was.

maybe the reason the tv execs saw that hockey does not produce a lot of eyes compared to SNF...

 

[ibleedkings]

Was a bit emotional when everyone saying their goodbyes. Weather you like them or not, NBC took a shot on the NHL when nobody else would.

Hoping for the best at ESPN/TNT but not holding my breath.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Shut up Pierre

 

[Sega Dreamcast]

maybe the reason the tv execs saw that hockey does not produce a lot of eyes compared to SNF...

Of course hockey isn't as popular as football and I'm not expecting them to put games on NBC multiple times a week, but it never felt like hockey was a priority for NBC.

When it comes down to it, it was their money, so if they wanted to sign a media deal with a sports league and not get the most out of it, they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[TD Charlie]

Not gonna lie I'm a little sad to see NBC go. It wasn't always perfect but I think they were a very good partner. I actually came to like the majority of the hosts and analysts with NBC and I hope they all find similar work elsewhere. Really the only guy/gal I didn't like was Olczyk (sp)

I'm not sure how the new TV deal will shake out in terms of how I'm going to watch the ESPN+ exclusives, or how much focus/effort the new networks will give to the NHL, but I'll give it a chance.

 

[TD Charlie]

Between Eddie Olzyck, Jeremy “hererophobia” Roenick, creepy ass Pierre, and putting Final games on a second rate cable network and playoff games on frickin CNBC, I can’t say I’ll miss them.

NHL on TNT will be such a massive upgrade.

One thing I always appreciate about the pre/post and halftime shows on TNT, they don't take it too seriously and they have so much fun on screen. I'm not sure if they have the right personnel in place to carry that over for NHL broadcasts.

 

[Fenway]

The good old days

 

[Mach2]

Watch for this young lady to rise soon in the sports broadcasting world: Taryn Hatcher. I caught her commentary a couple of times this season when watching the Philly Flyers on NHLTV. She's the best new talent I've seen and heard in a long time. ESPN would be smart to bring her onboard for the upcoming NHL season. Trust me, she knows hockey.

 

[jkrdevil]

I lot of people in here either forgot or are too young to remember what the NHL on ESPN/ABC was like. Putting the side the ancillary stuff about how Sportscenter and the talking head shows would talk about hockey the game coverage of that era was bad. You hardly got any of the atmosphere surrounding the game (something the NBC did well the last 7 years and something ESPN does poorly across sports). You also got a lot of focus on dumb off ice stuff. For instance in the deciding game of the 2000 Final they would cut to a shot of Marty Brodeur’s then wide as nauseam each time he would make a save and then cut to her immediately after they scored the winning goal. 2003 in Game 7 they kept going back to this Ducks fan couple who said they would get married if the Ducks won the cup and including going back to them while the Devils’ celebration was on-going. Who cares about them. I’m sure there are more examples of this, these two stick out because they involved my team and have rewatched those broadcast many times. NBC by and large with a few exceptions didn’t do that stuff and kept the focus on the games themselves.

I am excited for TNT, I worry about ESPN for the main fact that ESPN by and large isn’t actually good at broadcasting sports.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I’ll miss Kathryn Tappen.

I was indifferent to her, but I suppose there was a charm in her using a stoic voice to provide a brief one/two-line snippet of a team's draft history at the draft lottery before throwing it back to Bill Daly.

 

[patnyrnyg]

In 2 years, people will be complaining about espn and tnt.

 

[Fenway]

In 2 years, people will be complaining about espn and tnt.

2 years? Try 3 months from now......

The first exclusive game on ESPN+ will set off a firestorm in the home markets of the teams involved when fans realize they need to pay extra to see it.

 

[patnyrnyg]

2 years? Try 3 months from now......

The first exclusive game on ESPN+ will set off a firestorm in the home markets of the teams involved when fans realize they need to pay extra to see it.

Good point. "How do they expect to grow the game when games are on channels people do not have?" will be a popular line.

"ESPN only cares about 6-7 teams. Maybe if they show the small market teams more often, they would get better ratings and help grow the game in those markets.", will be a close 2nd.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

I'll miss the NBC hockey lead-in / out music and McHugh.

That music always makes me think of playoff hockey and would always get me whistling along going into commercials.

Here's to hoping NHL brings back their music and TNT has something good.

 

[Fenway]

Good point. "How do they expect to grow the game when games are on channels people do not have?" will be a popular line.

"ESPN only cares about 6-7 teams. Maybe if they show the small market teams more often, they would get better ratings and help grow the game in those markets.", will be a close 2nd.

Safe to assume ESPN+ will cherrypick some major rivalry games.

 

[burstnbloom]

We were fortunate to have her at NESN from the beginning with the NESN daily morning show quite a few years ago. Her giving credit to Milbury was a nice gesture. Wherever she ends up she will succeed.

I won't miss NBC at all. The last few seasons plummeted in quality. ESPN has its flaws but will only help increase ratings and revenue.

It seemed pretty clear the last couple of years taht NBC wanted out of the rights as evidenced by their non-bid. Espn has a major incentive to do much much better. So excited to be done with NBC, the production was terrible.

 

[Fenway]