ESPN signs 7 year deal with the NHL

[CHRDANHUTCH]

The only way to watch those 75 games anywhere will be on HULU/ESPN+ in or out of market.

Example. Boston at Florida So this year games not on NBCSN/NBC are on FOX SPORTS SOUTH for Panthers area and NESN for Bruins area. (local RSNs). Basically all 82 games available on local TV OR if out of market in NHLTV/NHL CENTRE ICE.

Next year, There will be 75 games only on ESPN+/HULU not on local channels for in market, not in NHLCI for out of market. Up to 8 games per team.


**FYI, In market means the markets of both teams playing, not just home market.

Fox Sports South no longer exists as of 3/31/21 it's now Bally Sports South

 

[sh724]

2 questions I'm not understanding.

What is Hulus place in this? Are they airing seperate games independent of ESPN+?

Secondly for those of us that do not have cable can we still stream those games (that are reserved for cable)?

If you have Hulu it doesnt make sense to not have ESPN+ as well. The best value by far is the bundle of Hulu, ESPN+, Disney+ even if you dont watch one of the three its still cheaper than paying for 2 of them individually.

No, games that are on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, etc are not streamable on ESPN+. If you have an ESPN subscription you can log into that on the ESPN+ app and stream the games but again you have to have an ESPN subscription to do that

So I tested Hulu espn+ tonight, the games are not on HD. So I'm assuming Hulu is just going to be something extra for Hulu users but on SD (unless they change it Next year). Espn+ better be in HD

A lot of the content on ESPN+ is just them picking up broadcast from other places. If you watch random small college vs random small college in mens synchronized swimming you probably arent going to get a high quality production. All NHL games that are currently on ESPN+ are in HD because the games are being broadcast in HD and ESPN is just rebroadcasting the feed. The exclusive games next year will all be produced by ESPN and will be in HD like all other events produced by ESPN.

 

[jkrdevil]

Here’s where I get confused. I thought teams were limited to 12 nationally televised games (not 8).

Or is 8 a new max, for the amount to times a team can be only available through streaming?

Finally, what is the total number of National exclusive games a team can have on both national carriers? Or do we not know this yet?

8 is the limit for ESPN, ABC, ESPN+. 12 is the limit for national exclusive games altogether per team as I believe most local tv contract have a minimum of 70 games for a full season.

At leaves 4 exclusive games per US team for the other package.

 

[Night Shift]

If you have Hulu it doesnt make sense to not have ESPN+ as well. The best value by far is the bundle of Hulu, ESPN+, Disney+ even if you dont watch one of the three its still cheaper than paying for 2 of them individually.

No, games that are on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, etc are not streamable on ESPN+. If you have an ESPN subscription you can log into that on the ESPN+ app and stream the games but again you have to have an ESPN subscription to do that



A lot of the content on ESPN+ is just them picking up broadcast from other places. If you watch random small college vs random small college in mens synchronized swimming you probably arent going to get a high quality production. All NHL games that are currently on ESPN+ are in HD because the games are being broadcast in HD and ESPN is just rebroadcasting the feed. The exclusive games next year will all be produced by ESPN and will be in HD like all other events produced by ESPN.

Yeah the HD is working tonight on Hulu NHL, I don't know what the issue was last night.

 

[Night Shift]

Seems like if you have Cable you just need to add ESPN +

If you don't have Cable you'll need a streaming service like Att now, youtube tv, or sling, ECT to get the rest of the National broadcast and B package.

 

[LadyStanley]

AFAIK, NBC family will air all playoff games from all rounds. (Only local RSNs have chance to do first round, after that all games are national only)

NHL Network may have 1-2 games/night as overflow from NBC.

As for the awards, expansion draft, entry draft and free agent stuff, I haven't heard.

 

[Joe from Maine]

The NHL appears to be on the ESPN.COM homepage now. That hasn't happened in many years. Especially during the regular season. You no long have to scroll down alphabetically to find it unless you customize the site.

ESPN.COM gets 80 million unique viewers a month. Another good sign. All we need is an announcement for the B package soon. It is dragging on a bit.

 

[Spydey629]

The NHL appears to be on the ESPN.COM homepage now. That hasn't happened in many years. Especially during the regular season. You no long have to scroll down alphabetically to find it unless you customize the site.

ESPN.COM gets 80 million unique viewers a month. Another good sign. All we need is an announcement for the B package soon. It is dragging on a bit.

The ESPN announcement seems to have come early, to be honest. The last time there was a switch in carrier, NBC made the announcement in May 2004, in the middle of the playoffs, and right before The Lockout.

All attention is going to be on the trade deadline right now, plus the mess in Vancouver. My uneducated opinion thinks nothing gets announced until those situations get settled.

As for any news, the quieter, the better. That usually means negotiations are in progress. I still think we’re looking at a 51/49 chance of NBC or Fox for the B Package.

 

[jkrdevil]

The ESPN announcement seems to have come early, to be honest. The last time there was a switch in carrier, NBC made the announcement in May 2004, in the middle of the playoffs, and right before The Lockout.

All attention is going to be on the trade deadline right now, plus the mess in Vancouver. My uneducated opinion thinks nothing gets announced until those situations get settled.

As for any news, the quieter, the better. That usually means negotiations are in progress. I still think we’re looking at a 51/49 chance of NBC or Fox for the B Package.

Im not sure the 2004 timeline is one you want the league want to follow. That was real late and it involved the league taking a cut in fee from ESPN and giving away rights to NBC of a revenue sharing deal. Essentially the league was in a desperate position gm and had to get any deals done.

The longer this goes the more I think we he NHL falls short in its $$ goals.

The deal with espn for 99-2004 was signed in August 1998, a full year before it took effect. Obviously the pandemic impacted the timeline (like the Comcast-nbc merger in the 2011 negotiations). A March announcement wasn’t really early though.

 

[eddygee]

Im not sure the 2004 timeline is one you want the league want to follow. That was real late and it involved the league taking a cut in fee from ESPN and giving away rights to NBC of a revenue sharing deal. Essentially the league was in a desperate position gm and had to get any deals done.

The longer this goes the more I think we he NHL falls short in its $$ goals.

The deal with espn for 99-2004 was signed in August 1998, a full year before it took effect. Obviously the pandemic impacted the timeline (like the Comcast-nbc merger in the 2011 negotiations). A March announcement wasn’t really early though.

Yeah I share this opinion. I think the issue is that NBC doesn't want to pay what NHL wants and the other interested parties seeing the other doesn't want to pay as much are also inclined to not pay as much, because negotiation tactics 101 is never bid against yourself. So NHL is in a situation of waiting it out and hoping one of the bidders offers more of what they want, be it OTA TV time etc. Then are there any other serious bids besides someone like Turner saying "they'd be interested at the right price" ? I think if a network was eager to get a deal done similar to ESPN they'd have dropped the cash by now and the deal would've been announced. It's been exactly one month since the ESPN announcement but that was already a delayed announcement that had negotiations pushed back because of the pandemic. Timing in negotiations goes to the bidder. I suspect we'll know by this time in May. It can't go unsaid that the recent 6 week down turn in viewership across NBC can't be helping NHL's cause of getting NBC to up their offer. Last update said the two sides were far apart. In the end NHL and NBC do a deal to continue their partnership, though it might be NBC coming out on the better end of the deal vs NHL.

 

[Spydey629]

Yeah I share this opinion. I think the issue is that NBC doesn't want to pay what NHL wants and the other interested parties seeing the other doesn't want to pay as much are also inclined to not pay as much, because negotiation tactics 101 is never bid against yourself. So NHL is in a situation of waiting it out and hoping one of the bidders offers more of what they want, be it OTA TV time etc. Then are there any other serious bids besides someone like Turner saying "they'd be interested at the right price" ? I think if a network was eager to get a deal done similar to ESPN they'd have dropped the cash by now and the deal would've been announced. It's been exactly one month since the ESPN announcement but that was already a delayed announcement that had negotiations pushed back because of the pandemic. Timing in negotiations goes to the bidder. I suspect we'll know by this time in May. It can't go unsaid that the recent 6 week down turn in viewership across NBC can't be helping NHL's cause of getting NBC to up their offer. Last update said the two sides were far apart. In the end NHL and NBC do a deal to continue their partnership, though it might be NBC coming out on the better end of the deal vs NHL.

I can't argue any of that, from either you. You're both right on the money with both of your arguments. My point is mainly the date on the calendar. The current 10-year deal with NBC was announced right around now. The original deal was announced in May.

 

[jkrdevil]

I can't argue any of that, from either you. You're both right on the money with both of your arguments. My point is mainly the date on the calendar. The current 10-year deal with NBC was announced right around now. The original deal was announced in May.

You do have to have take into account that Comcast-NBCU merger with wasn’t finalized until Jan. 29, 2011 so that probably held up that deal a bit. And as discussed the 2004 deal was the result no one wanting it, plus the NBC portion of it wasn’t going take effect until until the following January (had there been a season) providing more runway (though the ESPN2 deal was announced at the same time).

I will say CBS has been mentioned as a dark horse and they have had two of their biggest events this weeks with the NCAA and Masters. So if they are involve that could hold things up. Then again given that their two biggest events they air are in March and first week of April (with the PGA Championship in May) how much would they be willing to spend on the NHL as they already have programming for this time period.

 

[Spydey629]

You do have to have take into account that Comcast-NBCU merger with wasn’t finalized until Jan. 29, 2011 so that probably held up that deal a bit. And as discussed the 2004 deal was the result no one wanting it, plus the NBC portion of it wasn’t going take effect until until the following January (had there been a season) providing more runway (though the ESPN2 deal was announced at the same time).

I will say CBS has been mentioned as a dark horse and they have had two of their biggest events this weeks with the NCAA and Masters. So if they are involve that could hold things up. Then again given that their two biggest events they air are in March and first week of April (with the PGA Championship in May) how much would they be willing to spend on the NHL as they already have programming for this time period.

ABC could easily do their portion of their broadcast schedule when the NCAAs and The Masters were on CBS, too.

But, heck. It’s not like NBC doesn’t skip a weekend here or there now, any way.

CBS is weird because of losing the SEC contract. Their Saturday afternoons are about to open up. They wouldn’t dare go up against college football, would they??

 

[jkrdevil]

ABC could easily do their portion of their broadcast schedule when the NCAAs and The Masters were on CBS, too.

But, heck. It’s not like NBC doesn’t skip a weekend here or there now, any way.

CBS is weird because of losing the SEC contract. Their Saturday afternoons are about to open up. They wouldn’t dare go up against college football, would they??

I think CBS only works if they are willing to turn over Saturday primetime over to sports. You could conceivably then go playoffs Saturday night after golf in the playoffs and a few nights between NFL Playoffs and and NCAA tournament. Also don’t have to worry about the SNL issue with overtime games. Filling in the SEC slot could be an early season option, but I can’t imagine early season NHL games drawing anything.

CBS just seems like a weird fit as their schedule is jammed pack right when the NHL season heats up. Unless of course it is really a Turner bid and they are bringing in CBS just for the Final.

I do wonder if the NHL sold ESPN too much hurting the value of the second package. If you just swap the number of exclusive games (75) ESPN+ is getting with what’s left of for exclusivity for the other package (about 50 games) and give the other package better playoff selection in years they don’t have the final (I.e they get first conference final pick that year), then you probably have more an attractive package than a clear “b” partner setup. ESPN still probably would have taken 50 exclusive games for ESPN+.

 

[Spydey629]

I think CBS only works if they are willing to turn over Saturday primetime over to sports. You could conceivably then go playoffs Saturday night after golf in the playoffs and a few nights between NFL Playoffs and and NCAA tournament. Also don’t have to worry about the SNL issue with overtime games. Filling in the SEC slot could be an early season option, but I can’t imagine early season NHL games drawing anything.

CBS just seems like a weird fit as their schedule is jammed pack right when the NHL season heats up. Unless of course it is really a Turner bid and they are bringing in CBS just for the Final.

I do wonder if the NHL sold ESPN too much hurting the value of the second package. If you just swap the number of exclusive games (75) ESPN+ is getting with what’s left of for exclusivity for the other package (about 50 games) and give the other package better playoff selection in years they don’t have the final (I.e they get first conference final pick that year), then you probably have more an attractive package than a clear “b” partner setup. ESPN still probably would have taken 50 exclusive games for ESPN+.

ESPN held all the cards. Disney knew the league and players wanted the NHL back, considering they’ve been openly talking about it for two years. I’d love to know how that negotiation went - did ESPN just say “here’s what we want”, and the NHL capitulated?

I think the second package will depend on what flexibility that network gets (if any). All three networks have space on New Years Day for the Winter Classic, but Fox doesn’t have a Black Friday time slot available - NBC does, and CBS will.

I posted this on the other thread, but this all comes down to what is all entailed in the actual package.

 

[sawchuk1971]

i've noticed the nhl link on the espn menu page.....before this agreement the nhl link was bushed with the less
popular sports in the US..

 

[Night Shift]

For the upcoming NHL draft does anyone know if (or think) it will be covered under the new tv deal?

 

[gotyournose]

For the upcoming NHL draft does anyone know if (or think) it will be covered under the new tv deal?

I believe NBC since it’s part of their current contract

 

[sh724]

ESPN+ is having a trade deadline show tomorrow. I assume its just a simulcast but at least they are showing something

 

[rojac]

ESPN+ is having a trade deadline show tomorrow. I assume its just a simulcast but at least they are showing something

‘Monday not tomorrow. And given it’s labeled as Tradecentre and starts at 8:00 am, I’m certain it’s the TSN coverage.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

The fact that ESPN has been simulcasting TradeCentre coverage on deadline day for past few years was a subtle sign they wanted the NHL back as well imo. Good that they are expanding it a bit more with Wysh and Kaplan involved.

 

[patnyrnyg]

ABC could easily do their portion of their broadcast schedule when the NCAAs and The Masters were on CBS, too.

But, heck. It’s not like NBC doesn’t skip a weekend here or there now, any way.

CBS is weird because of losing the SEC contract. Their Saturday afternoons are about to open up. They wouldn’t dare go up against college football, would they??

Where is SEC going? In the fall, it would be silly for CBS to pick up the NHL to show games saturday afternoon.

 

[jkrdevil]

Where is SEC going? In the fall, it would be silly for CBS to pick up the NHL to show games saturday afternoon.

Espn gains exclusive Sec rights starting in 2023.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Where is SEC going? In the fall, it would be silly for CBS to pick up the NHL to show games saturday afternoon.

ESPN created the SEC Network... just as they did the Longhorn Network for Texas; and the ACC asked them to devise their conference to a separate network

 

[eddygee]

Where is SEC going? In the fall, it would be silly for CBS to pick up the NHL to show games saturday afternoon.

There's talk CBS will go after PAC 12 so imagine they'll likely have a later afternoon window or something of like 3pm or 33opm EST. for the West Coast start times if they get those rights. Not sure that would work for hockey at 12pm as there will surely be a 30 min to a hour College Football pregame show.