NBC shutting down NBCSN

[Whalers Fan]

That was a lifetime ago, back when ESPN was watchable.

Di$ney ruined ESPN.

 

[Frenchy]

Di$ney ruined ESPN.

oh boy , not just ESPN

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Poor Pierre McGuire

 

[RetroWinnipeg]

Forget Netflix, everyone is starting to copy the Disney+ model right now.

Holy crap! A Nagatoro avatar.

This new series is gonna be awesome.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Holy crap! A Nagatoro avatar.

This new series is gonna be awesome.

Should be fun.

 

[Richard]

They cannot broadcast EVERY GAME without voiding EVERY local TV contract. Blackouts are to force people to watch the local broadcast. Without blackouts less people watch the local TV channel and the team gets less money on their regional contract. Teams make significantly more from their regional contract than they do the national contract. The additional streaming subscriptions the NHL would get would not come close to making up the lost revenue from the regional contracts.

It is highly highly unlikely 4MM people will subscribe for $400, its probably unlikely that even 1MM ppl will subscribe. Whats the stat, something like 40% of the US cannot afford a $400 unexpected expense. That was pre covid, I am sure the % is even higher now. Expecting 4MM people to spend $400 on hockey is just absurd. Especially when the vast majority of people only watch their local team and a good portion of people don't watch every game from their local team

Center Ice is $180/season you would be increasing the price by $220/year just to watch local games. How many people would pay $220 just to watch their local team? I would bet well under 1MM

So why is it hard? Its not hard at all, they simply have zero desire to do that as it hurts the league

330M people in the states what 30M in canada-plus charge a higher fee for any bar/public viewing.

Plus add in the World population (Europe/Russia).

I think 1M is a safe bet....

 

[Shockmaster]

Considering ESPN airs the NBA playoffs, if they got NHL broadcast rights would that exclude playoffs? I can't imagine ESPN airing NHL playoff games at the expense of NBA playoff games. Regardless, the NHL needs broadcast deals with multiple networks once the contract with NBC expires.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Considering ESPN airs the NBA playoffs, if they got NHL broadcast rights would that exclude playoffs? I can't imagine ESPN airing NHL playoff games at the expense of NBA playoff games. Regardless, the NHL needs broadcast deals with multiple networks once the contract with NBC expires.

Probably not, TNT has a lot more of the NBA playoff inventory than ESPN/ABC especially in Rounds 1-2. So ESPN will definitely have room for playoff games on ESPN and ESPN 2.

 

[Prettyisland]

NHL center ice user so I don’t care. Sucks for bars and casual fans

 

[mikeyfan]

Maybe Foxsports will pick up the NHL. They have foxsports and foxsports 2. They already have most of the regional N.H.L games

 

[ChompChomp]

For US rights, I'm personally hoping for a split between networks that does NOT involve NBC Universal.

In the four major sports, the NHL on NBC is the only one where how often you get on national TV is NOT a meritocracy. What I mean is, for all those decades the Warriors were terrible, they didn't sniff national television. Then during the run of five consecutive finals they got on national TV all the time. When you're good, you get on TV. The League and its broadcast partners showcase the best teams.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars suck, they don't get Sunday Night/Monday Night games. When they are really good, they max out their Sunday/Monday appearances. The league and its broadcast partners showcase the best teams.

Yes there are exceptions, e.g., the Cowboys get more national tv appearances than other teams that are similarly situated, i.e., a Cowboys team coming off a 1-15 season will get more national TV games than a Florida team coming off a 1-15 season. But for the most part, you win and you get on TV, you suck and you get the boot.

The NHL on NBC has been a different animal. They focus so much on just a handful of teams, mostly the Northeast base plus Caps, Wings and Hawks. Even in non-pandemic years, the single NBC Game of Week rarely deviates from this formula. If you're a team outside of this group, you're only hope to get a single national game of the week (note: not regional coverage days, just the single national game of the week) is if you are playing one of those teams. Doc Emrick, the long time #1 voice of the NHL on NBC, never called a Sharks game for NBC except for the playoffs, and even then that's limited to conf finals and SCF. That's like saying in 15 years of Fox on NFC, Joe Buck never called a Arizona Cardinals game in the regular season. It just doesn't happen...except in the NHL on NBC.

The Winter Classic is the league's single showcase game, and although it shouldn't be this way, it's a miracle that the last one was Dallas v Nashville. And although starting on Jan 1, 2008, the game has yet to feature a Pacific Division team (even as the road team). The LA Kings won the Cup in 2014, and the Jan 1 2015 Winter Classic was essentially promised to the Caps. The Defending Cup Champs at Caps was such an obvious matchup to book. In the NFL, NBA, etc, that's what they would have booked. Classic West coast vs. East Coast matchup, two good teams, THE DEFENDING CUP CHAMPIONS, etc. Seems obvious. Instead, it was the Hawks playing in another WC at Caps in what people said was a dud.

Now you can tell me a FOX/ESPN shared deal won't be any different. Maybe it won't, but I know for certain that if the NHL remains with NBCUniversal, it 1000% won't change. It's time to mix it up, and while you're at it, bring back two AWESOME theme songs, the NHL on FOX and ESPN National Hockey Night.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Maybe Foxsports will pick up the NHL. They have foxsports and foxsports 2. They already have most of the regional N.H.L games

no they do not.....each team negotiates their regional contracts, all NBC/NBCSN do is take those games from the RSN's...

FS1/2 have other contracts in play besides the NHL

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

In the four major sports, the NHL on NBC is the only one where how often you get on national TV is NOT a meritocracy. What I mean is, for all those decades the Warriors were terrible, they didn't sniff national television. Then during the run of five consecutive finals they got on national TV all the time. When you're good, you get on TV. The League and its broadcast partners showcase the best teams.

Eh. Depends on what team you support.

NBCSN has shown Anaheim games, but(!) I’m not a cable subscriber. I would love it if their main channel, NBC, promoted them more.

I haven’t paid much attention to it, but it’s usually eastern teams that get the love from NBC. Everyone else goes to NBCSN

 

[sh724]

Maybe Foxsports will pick up the NHL. They have foxsports and foxsports 2. They already have most of the regional N.H.L games

FS1 and 2 are owned by Newscorp and do not have a contract with the NHL or any team.

The regionsal FSNs are owned by Sinclair, and are expected to be rebranded at some point. The regional FSNs have contracts with many teams across the NHL, MLB, NBA, MLS, NCAA, etc.

 

[tucker3434]

Bummer. I kinda liked that the NHL was a big deal for NBC. If the tv contract ends up with ESPN, I wouldn’t be surprised if poker reruns got priority over the NHL.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

I think the key distinction is EVERY game.

NHL.tv and gamecenter have blackouts for the local teams, games broadcast on NBC, NBC Sports, etc.

There are ways around blackouts (and stay within the NHL.tv ecosystem) that we will not go into details of, while on this forum.

 

[PWiz30]

If I 1 million people subscribe thats 400M if 4 million subscribe its 1.2 Billion

Found Biz's HF account. #mathguy

 

[mikeyfan]

no they do not.....each team negotiates their regional contracts, all NBC/NBCSN do is take those games from the RSN's...

FS1/2 have other contracts in play besides the NHL

Sorry but I did not realize fox sports and the regional networks split b