N.H.L. May Be in at OLN

[rekrul]

Well, can you suggest ANY TV strategy that give the NHL any immediate credibility? If they go with ESPN, we'll get one or two games a week on ESPN2, and all the guys on PTI and ATH will take pleasure in pointing out how horrible the ratings are and how it's a 2nd tier sport. If they go with another carrier, they're bush-league because they can't get on ESPN. I think credibility will only return by growing a buzz from the core fanbase outwards, and particularly for the ESPN crowd it'll only happen if the rules changes actually stick and make the game better.



I'm not entirely sure of what the best approach is, but some thoughts:
- (for now) stop trying to court the 'New' fan, particularly in markets without local teams. Hockey is too dynamic and chaotic for newbies to pick up without assistance. Unlike football/baseball and even basketball, there is no inherent 'structure' governing possession nor are divisions between 'plays' clear, which means you can't just glance at a screen at a bar and pick up on what's happening.
- growing a fanbase *must* be done in conjunction with getting lots of 'new' fans to games in person. I can't tell you how many folks say things like "I didn't really get it until I saw it in person".
- you can't just televise the games - you have to provide additional programming to help fill in the overall scope of the game. This will not be easy - getting people to watch may be tough, and doing anything 'educational' will probably pi$$-off the elitist cognoscenti, but new fans won't stick around if they can't understand what's going on.
- mainstream broadcast ratings for all sports seem to be sliding. Heck - MNF which has been the crown jewel of sports programming for years is slipping badly. I don't think it's a good assumption that a 'good' broacast TV deal should be the aim/goal of the league. Cable-only may well be the right approach.
- HD should be central to any strategy. In addition to taking advantage of the aspect ratio and extra resolution, you have to push the limits of what's possible with HD - split screen views (particularly sync'd multi-angle replays), P-in-P isolation views, info/stat sidebars during stoppages etc. HD is still new enough that many folks will tune in for the sheer novelty, so take advantage of it by making it a spectacle.

Excelent observation, I too feel while ESPN is esential to still giving the NHL 4th major sport status, right now the personalities, along with the caustic mainstream media go at great lengths to bad mouth the sport. Casual fan hears nothing but how boring and voilent hockey is, Steven a smith now has a show( ) geeze gues somewhere inbetween shaq-kobe-T.O. whinners his show will spend about 30sec to say how much the NHL sucks. What I don't get is that they spend enormous amount of airtime in commercials promoting the freaking out door games but never seemed to premote the NHL at all. So while ESPN is the only real legit network, is it worth them to be treated less than the dogs, literialy in their marketing strategy?

On the other hand OLN or worse SPIKE, is not only in less households but are completely out of the casual sportsfan's universe. Joe Six pack, the guy most likely to get interested in hockey, is most likely not going to even know these channels exist or if so hardly check them out. Every airport bar, sports bar or chain resturaunt bar has ESPN, NOT OLN. and Tour De France coverage was fine but lets face it the only mention of that event by the media in '06 will be "lance not in it, oh yea this sport SUCKS, see the TV ratings we are right, it sucks! lets talk about T.O. some more" I can't remember when in the late 80's the NHL sold out to sportschannel, but then ESPN took off and the NHL missed a great opurtunity to grow their sport. a 'comcast sportsnet' has a very 'sportchannel' feel to me.

Here is my idea, if ESPN seems more interested in non-sports, tv shout fests and the NBA fine, but the NHL is a lot cheaper than the the NFL and the NBA. Bowling and poker are on because they are damn cheap, let get the NHL on and hope they fit it in sometime around the LPGA. BUT also get on some new network, it will give the hard core fans a place for eyeballs, and a new Comcast station. if ESPN wants to pass a lot less for the rights fine, than they can forget about them being exclusive. A lot of NBA fans say TNT does way better than ESPN does with their game, perhaps a new comcast channel can have more of a TSN feel for it. Comcast also can get thier own bandwidth secure for a HD channel. And the best part is that they are in talks with NASCAR, talk about a sport that has risen above a hatefull press and ESPN live coverage! The NHL should try two crowds for new fans NASCAR fan and X-Game fan. Both don't seem too interested in the NBA but maybe they can be sold on the fastest team sport there is. If Comcast get the thursday night NFL package then Direct TV will have to pick it up as well.

 

[Douggy]

rekrul: I like what you said on the whole, but does anyone actually know any X-Games 'fans'?

I mean, if its on and I'm bored, I'll watch it, because I'm bored and I want to see some guy bag him self on a rail.

But other than that, the only names I know are the guys with video games named after them: And thats because they have video games named after them.

We don't want the same level of exposure as the X-Games: We want fans to care about the players and the teams.

 

[rekrul]

rekrul: I like what you said on the whole, but does anyone actually know any X-Games 'fans'?

I mean, if its on and I'm bored, I'll watch it, because I'm bored and I want to see some guy bag him self on a rail.

But other than that, the only names I know are the guys with video games named after them: And thats because they have video games named after them.

We don't want the same level of exposure as the X-Games: We want fans to care about the players and the teams.

WHen you think of X-games there is not really 'fans' so to speak but it is a element of society untapped by the traditional sports. These kids generally speaking do not have any interest in teams sports, its part of the shrinking male sports fan in suburbia USA. Teenagers more interstested in playstation and x-box, and if they get outside they skatebord, than say going out and playing for an organized sport like football or baseball. But I have herd many proskaters and prosnowboard guys say that the ONLY sport they really like is hockey, it has the pace and speed that the others do not. There is enough interest in non-traditional X-games like things to provide programming for the obscure FUEL chanell ( obscure yes but its not like we can get the NHL network on #485 ). This the demographic that every marketing group is chasing, they are young and thier disposable income is quickly spent but their brand preferances are still evolving.

 

[BAdvocate]

Who will announce the games? A Duck Hunter & his dog? Beats Engblom.

 

[no13matssundin]

ESPN has always stunk when it comes to the NHL, so Im all for anyone else getting the league on cable...seriously. If OLN is about to convert itself into the ComcastSportsNetwork then Im all for this. Frankly, seeing that I live in Canada, I really couldnt care much about where the NHL goes on US Cable TV... just that it gets there and american fans get the opportunity to see it. But if Comcast is looking to make a rival sports channel, then Id say go for it, give the NHL a pretty penny to be on it, and take on ESPN for market share... if they succeed, the NHL's stock could rise a fair bit. Win-win in my opinion.

 

[Timmy]

"WHen you think of X-games there is not really 'fans' so to speak but it is a element of society untapped by the traditional sports. These kids generally speaking do not have any interest in teams sports, its part of the shrinking male sports fan in suburbia USA. Teenagers more interstested in playstation and x-box, and if they get outside they skatebord, than say going out and playing for an organized sport like football or baseball. But I have herd many proskaters and prosnowboard guys say that the ONLY sport they really like is hockey, it has the pace and speed that the others do not. There is enough interest in non-traditional X-games like things to provide programming for the obscure FUEL chanell ( obscure yes but its not like we can get the NHL network on #485 ). This the demographic that every marketing group is chasing, they are young and thier disposable income is quickly spent but their brand preferances are still evolving."


Agreed. Hockey has spent ten years trying to go Main Street in the U.S., and it has actually fallen in national ratings, TV contracts, etc...

Time to pick a niche and exploit it to the fullest, and forget about the NASCAR dads (sorry to generalize).

 

[kdb209]

The NBA was on TNN forever, how is this different?

Actually the NBA was and is on TNT (Turner), not TNN (The Nashville Network, then just TNN, now SpikeTV).

TNT was and is a much more known first tier kind of cable network than OLN. Just the Turner name alone gave it much more credibility to the casual cable viewer. And to demonstrate that it is indeed now one of the top tier cable networks - it is one of the very few basic cable stations that are already providing HD feeds.

 

[Montrealer]

I don't see why they don't make deals with everyone.

OLN
Spike
ESPN
NBC

If you have crappy coverage* on four networks, maybe together you have decent coverage.



* - i.e. pretending the season starts in February

 

[Timmy]

Maybe if they put the games on the Womens Television Network, my wife would want to watch them.

Hey, 50% of the population...

 

[ScottyBowman]

HA HA HA

OLN?

I don't even get to watch it on HD either.

This is horrible. The NHL should beg ESPN to take it back. They were the idiots that signed the NBC deal. Did they actually think ESPN would keep on paying them ridiculous amounts of money after they saw that deal go down?

Anyone that thinks this is good for the NHL or has potential to be good are the same people that think Wirtz is a good owner.

 

[ArtG]

HA HA HA

OLN?

I don't even get to watch it on HD either.

This is horrible. The NHL should beg ESPN to take it back. They were the idiots that signed the NBC deal. Did they actually think ESPN would keep on paying them ridiculous amounts of money after they saw that deal go down?

Anyone that thinks this is good for the NHL or has potential to be good are the same people that think Wirtz is a good owner.

Wasn't the NBC deal better than what ESPN/ABC was offering?

 

[ScottyBowman]

Wasn't the NBC deal better than what ESPN/ABC was offering?

From what I've read, the NBC deal is brutal. NBC only has to pay the NHL if they make a profit and it would basically be profit sharing. We are talking about peanuts.

 

[missK]

From what I've read, the NBC deal is brutal. NBC only has to pay the NHL if they make a profit and it would basically be profit sharing. We are talking about peanuts.

Yes and NBC is only broadcasting something like 12 games.

 

[i am dave]

Ok, folks, someone explain to me why they think if OLN got the NHL contract it wouldn't be almost immediately available on almost all basic cable systems.

When CSN-Philadelphia came to town - the first CSN, mind you - it was a very very quick transition from the time it was announced to the time it was available. And this was a time when Adelphia was just as large in the market as Comcast is now (Comcast bought the Adelphia market in the Phiadelphia area several years ago). In FACT, I had Adelphia at the time, and I clearly recall that it was not until the day before CSN was to launch that Adelphia agreed to pick up CSN. Amazingly, Adelphia found room in the channel line-up in just one day.

My point is, if OLN gets the NHL, Comcast will be able to immediately offer OLN to Cox and Time Warner and Cablevision, et al, at a very reasonable cost.

Furthermore, CSN already broadcasts in HD, so it's not like Comcast doesn't have HD broadcasting capabilities. OLN would rather quickly be able to produce an OLN-HD channel on digital systems.

I think the biggest hurdle would be whether or not Comcast would stall on making themselves available on satellite systems. Is OLN available on dish?

 

[i am dave]

From what I've read, the NBC deal is brutal. NBC only has to pay the NHL if they make a profit and it would basically be profit sharing. We are talking about peanuts.

It's the same structure of a deal NBC has with Arena football. I think it works out better than it would seem on paper.

 

[bcrt2000]

Isn't the NBC deal something ridiculous like 7 games? it should be 70 games!

 

[NHLFanSince2020]

Comcast SportsNet will be the new name of the channel and they will have three nights of NHL per week...

OLN will cease to exist come October...

Comcast SportsNet will be born on the same channel, so anyone who has OLN will have SportsNet....

Sounds good.
There should be a nationwide competitor to ESPN.

 

[bcrt2000]

Comcast SportsNet will be the new name of the channel and they will have three nights of NHL per week...

OLN will cease to exist come October...

Comcast SportsNet will be born on the same channel, so anyone who has OLN will have SportsNet....

sounds great .. i just hope they give the other nights to the likes of ESPN and others

 

[190Octane]

Comcast has the ability to make this huge so if you don't get the channel now, most likely you'll get it soon.

I know I'll see it on HD because Comcast is my cable provider.

 

[Sudz]

Is this the same OLN that we get in Canada?

 

[denverwingsfan]

I think the biggest hurdle would be whether or not Comcast would stall on making themselves available on satellite systems. Is OLN available on dish?[/QUOTE]


I get OLN on directv with the sports package

 

[Trizent]

Is this the same OLN that we get in Canada?

Different.

OLN Canada owned by Bell http://www.tsn.ca/oln/

OLN USA owned by Comcast http://www.olntv.com/

 

[two out of three*]

People will just rip the NHL for being on an outdoor network.. They better change the name. I like the idea though.

 

[no13matssundin]

People will just rip the NHL for being on an outdoor network.. They better change the name. I like the idea though.

Actually, that poses a very interesting and valid question: Will they change the name from OLN? I mean, if theyre attempting to rival ESPN (please oh please succeed) then wouldnt it make sense to reposition your product by changing the brand name? I should hope so. And speaking of that, has anyone mined any web domain companies to see if "comcast something.com" hasnt been booked or registered. Anyone?

 

[kdb209]

Ok, folks, someone explain to me why they think if OLN got the NHL contract it wouldn't be almost immediately available on almost all basic cable systems.

When CSN-Philadelphia came to town - the first CSN, mind you - it was a very very quick transition from the time it was announced to the time it was available. And this was a time when Adelphia was just as large in the market as Comcast is now (Comcast bought the Adelphia market in the Phiadelphia area several years ago). In FACT, I had Adelphia at the time, and I clearly recall that it was not until the day before CSN was to launch that Adelphia agreed to pick up CSN. Amazingly, Adelphia found room in the channel line-up in just one day.

My point is, if OLN gets the NHL, Comcast will be able to immediately offer OLN to Cox and Time Warner and Cablevision, et al, at a very reasonable cost.

Furthermore, CSN already broadcasts in HD, so it's not like Comcast doesn't have HD broadcasting capabilities. OLN would rather quickly be able to produce an OLN-HD channel on digital systems.

I think the biggest hurdle would be whether or not Comcast would stall on making themselves available on satellite systems. Is OLN available on dish?

Obviously, OLN, OLN-HD (if and when there is such a thing), or any new re-branded OLN or national Comcast Sports Net channel will be immediately available on all Comcast cable systems (~20% of US cable market).

OLN is currently available to all US cable and satellite providers. However many cable systems do not carry it. There are many cable providers with older (analog only) or non-upgraded digital systems which do not have the channel capacity to carry all available stations or just choose not to pay the $$$'s to Comcast. If OLN gets the NHL, it does not mean that all the cable systems which do not carry it now will suddenly carry it - unless Comcast starts paying big bribes.

It is also unlikely that non-Comcast cable systems will carry any HD OLN or Comcast feeds. There are many cable systems with very little (or no) HD capability of capacity. There are many higher profile HD channels (TNT for example) which are carried on very few cable systems (and not available yet on satellite at all). An HD channel takes 4-5x the bandwidth as a regular digital cable channel. Hell, there are many that do not even carry ESPN-HD or HBO-HD. If they ain't carrying those, there's no way that they will be carrying OLN-HD or CSN-HD.

BTW, OLN is available on DirecTV (ch 608) as part of the basic Total Choice package.

DirecTV is in the process of greatly increasing its HD capabilities, including adding HD local channels, but it will probably be late 2006 or 2007 before more national HD channels are added, so it is unlikely that you will see any HD hockey on DirecTV this season - unless any are broadcast from the local RSNs as part of the NHL Center Ice package.