I was in a long Zoom meeting last night with the NBC hockey people.
The reality is Bettman tailored this deal to make ESPN/ABC the prime broadcaster in the US and admitted as much yesterday.
“We decided we would focus on this deal and structuring it before we focused on the [second part of the] deal, because we wanted to make sure that we were crafting a package that made sense for ESPN,” said Bettman, who said he expects the NHL will begin responding to proposals for the remaining package over the next few weeks.
Part of the deal includes an extraordinary change.
ESPN+ and Hulu — which will use the ESPN broadcasts on its streaming platform — will feature 75 exclusive-rights national games. That means that if the Bruins are slated to appear in a game streaming exclusively on ESPN+ or Hulu, the only way for fans in the Boston market to watch it will be on one of those streaming services.
Comcast/Xfinity has Hulu/ESPN+ installed as an app on their X1 boxes BUT to watch the game you will need to sign up for the service. However, IF you sign up for the bundle at $13.99 a month you will get MOST out-of-market games that are currently offered on NHL.tv which will cease to exist AND so will Center Ice in the US.
Assuming bars ever reopen this will be a nightmare for them as every single TV had a delay in processing a streaming signal meaning TVs could be out of sync. There is no way of telling how many Bruins games will be exclusive to ESPN+/Hulu but I would guess around 5 minimum.
This will be a minor headache for anyone with a Smart TV but a real pain for older fans who already were struggling with digital tickets.
This does not affect Canada right now as Rogers controls NHL streaming there and how NHL.tv will be handled in other countries
The NHL wanted nothing to do with Peacock and liked the idea of being part of the Disney+ bundle.
My gut tells me NBC is going to walk and will let FOX take the other part of the package.
For the truck vendors and freelance crew members, it is going to be an ugly transition.
On a personal note, Comcast has treated me well since I signed on with the OLN network in 2005 and never in a billion years did I think what was OLN would become NBC Sports.....but it did.
I have never been treated like a number by them but as a valued contributor. I have no issues with FOX but Disney is another mouse entirely. Have you ever seen crew credits on an ESPN show?
I fully expect Sean McDonough to be a big part of the NHL on ESPN.
Sean was the lead announcer on 1998 Olympics hockey on CBS and Doc Emrick did the ladies.
What does ESPN’s new deal to air NHL games mean for viewers? - The Boston Globe
The reality is Bettman tailored this deal to make ESPN/ABC the prime broadcaster in the US and admitted as much yesterday.
“We decided we would focus on this deal and structuring it before we focused on the [second part of the] deal, because we wanted to make sure that we were crafting a package that made sense for ESPN,” said Bettman, who said he expects the NHL will begin responding to proposals for the remaining package over the next few weeks.
Part of the deal includes an extraordinary change.
ESPN+ and Hulu — which will use the ESPN broadcasts on its streaming platform — will feature 75 exclusive-rights national games. That means that if the Bruins are slated to appear in a game streaming exclusively on ESPN+ or Hulu, the only way for fans in the Boston market to watch it will be on one of those streaming services.
Comcast/Xfinity has Hulu/ESPN+ installed as an app on their X1 boxes BUT to watch the game you will need to sign up for the service. However, IF you sign up for the bundle at $13.99 a month you will get MOST out-of-market games that are currently offered on NHL.tv which will cease to exist AND so will Center Ice in the US.
Assuming bars ever reopen this will be a nightmare for them as every single TV had a delay in processing a streaming signal meaning TVs could be out of sync. There is no way of telling how many Bruins games will be exclusive to ESPN+/Hulu but I would guess around 5 minimum.
This will be a minor headache for anyone with a Smart TV but a real pain for older fans who already were struggling with digital tickets.
This does not affect Canada right now as Rogers controls NHL streaming there and how NHL.tv will be handled in other countries
The NHL wanted nothing to do with Peacock and liked the idea of being part of the Disney+ bundle.
My gut tells me NBC is going to walk and will let FOX take the other part of the package.
For the truck vendors and freelance crew members, it is going to be an ugly transition.
On a personal note, Comcast has treated me well since I signed on with the OLN network in 2005 and never in a billion years did I think what was OLN would become NBC Sports.....but it did.
I have never been treated like a number by them but as a valued contributor. I have no issues with FOX but Disney is another mouse entirely. Have you ever seen crew credits on an ESPN show?
I fully expect Sean McDonough to be a big part of the NHL on ESPN.
Sean was the lead announcer on 1998 Olympics hockey on CBS and Doc Emrick did the ladies.
What does ESPN’s new deal to air NHL games mean for viewers? - The Boston Globe
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