46zone
Pass me the soft pretzels
FS1 is the second highest rated sports channel in the country with some strong properties.
NHL back on ESPN?
- Thread starter gearharb
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FS1 is the second highest rated sports channel in the country with some strong properties.
FX was the fox Cable partner in 2001, they lost all sports properties, except for overbleed programming in 2006
Actually in terms of viewership last year the #2 sports cable network was NBCSN. The network beat out both ESPN2 and FS1 for average primetime viewers and total daily viewers.
Of course their 2018 was an Olympic year which helped NBCSN. Though it will likely be close again.
Smirnov2Chistov
EEK!
Hm, how so? That's actually surprising for me. Never thought Fox has been a big player for the NHL.
In a case of NBC vs. FOX, does anyone see Fox actually promoting the game more? (Along with FS1 vs NBCSN). I typically see NBC (main channel) ramp up their NHL coverage at the turn of the new year, and it's the same teams over and over again. Only NBCSN (which I can't access through OTA) is able to show Western teams on.
I'm happy to see Bettman weighing his options and playing the field to get the best deal:
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman relishes the opportunities as next media deal approaches
FOX during the negotiations for new TV deal in 1998 offered all SCF games on main FOX with games during the week on FX. Bettman unwisely took the 600 million deal with ESPN/ABC. The value of having all the Cup Final games on broadcast TV deal should’ve been seen more important to Bettman than the Disney dollars. They are still paying for that mistake considering SCF games are still aired on NBCSN. I imagine that won’t be the case. Much like another poster said, an NBC/FOX split agreement where both sides rotate years of major events would be a great win for NHL.
doubtful a split like that works, because FS1/FS2/NBCSN or other NBC Universal properties are still players in those agreements..... remember DISNEY/ABC only now has F1 Telecasts, which aren't even their telecasts broadcast here, it's FOX's sister company in the UK (Sky) that's paying Disney for the rights for F1..... all of North American motorsports, are now on either FOX (NASCAR/NHRA), its related networks, FS1/2, NBC now has the other half of NASCAR/Indycar, or on NBCSN, then you add in the other contracts with the other sports....where does the NHL fit in that hierachy, it was ignored by ESPN, which is the genesis of this thread it seems....
now in 2020, NBC Universal throws Tokyo into the dead zone of July and that's why there's an unforced month break in NASCAR between July 4th and August 1st, when NBC/NBCSN resumes traditional contracts
not sure what this rant has to do with his point. However, I will note that Sky in the U.K. is NBCSN’s sister station, comcast bought Sky last year.
NBCSN is actually the 2nd highest rated sports network ahead of both ESPN2 and FS1. I am sure that may fluctuate some years. If FS1 and the Fox Network gets the NHL media rights split with NBC I am sure they will jump to number 2 consistently.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw3bmcqsgBBRMVjW1nP1m1cm&cshid=1576342801473
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw3bmcqsgBBRMVjW1nP1m1cm&cshid=1576342801473
Big Muddy
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- Dec 15, 2019
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One game per day seems a little weird.
I'm not sure why these new services will all of a sudden have so many more paid viewers given that major cable networks (e.g. Spectrum, the 2nd largest cable provider in the U.S.) have been only televising 2 games per week for years.
I tend to watch a couple of games a night (most nights) on NHLTV.com (a streaming service) and I live in a market where the cable provider doesn't even offer NHL Center Ice. So, I'd guess the few people like me that really like hockey are already customers of an existing service.
The only thing that would interest me is if they offered all of the games every night at a lower price than what I'm already paying. And it would have to be a big enough drop in price to get me to go through the effort of changing, not $10 a year or something like that.
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Big Muddy
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The article doesn't mention anything about how NHL hockey would drive up viewership though. It mentions college football as the big prize market.
IU Hawks fan
They call me IU
Remember that ESPN essentially owns the rights currently to NHL.TV, through Disney's acquisition of BAMTech.
So they're basically airing a game a night because they have the right to...it's enough to maybe get some subscribers but not big enough to take away people from their more expensive, all inclusive product.
Big Muddy
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I guess. But, in my experience, hockey fans that are willing to pay for Center Ice/NHLTV are fans of a specific team but don't live in the city where the team is based. I'm not sure there's many more casual fans that want to watch one game a week unless they can somehow pick which game (their team's game) to watch and saving $70 is a big issue. Doesn't seem very intuitive to me unless I'm missing something.
John Ourand of Sports Business Daily predicts NBC and ESPN will get the new TV deal:
Our own sports media prognosticator serves up his best predictions for 2020
NHL Signs With ESPN And NBC
The NHL will split its package between ESPN and NBC in deals that will pay it $600 million, a significant bump from the league’s current annual average value of $200 million. Amazon will make a play for a package of digital rights to live games, but the NHL will decide to tie its digital play to ESPN+ instead.
Our own sports media prognosticator serves up his best predictions for 2020
NHL Signs With ESPN And NBC
The NHL will split its package between ESPN and NBC in deals that will pay it $600 million, a significant bump from the league’s current annual average value of $200 million. Amazon will make a play for a package of digital rights to live games, but the NHL will decide to tie its digital play to ESPN+ instead.
You are correct. That was my view and I may not be wrong. Running some math on FS1 averaging 162k daily viewers. Last year the NHL averaged 424k viewers for the regular season for NBCSN/NBC for 109 games. More importantly the playoff averaged 1.53 million viewers per game for 86 games. A package with half of those games would most likely come close to closing the gap on the 39K they were behind NBCSN on daily viewers with the large number of games. John Ourand thoughts on next TV deal would be great. However I wouldn't rule out Fox/FS1 as they can offer many more games on network TV than ABC would do for ESPN.
I wonder with CBS bailing out of the SEC deal once it hit the $250-300m yr (current 55mil yr) if that opens up a window for NHL. CBS may look to grab a major sports right after it'll most likely lose out to Disney ABC/ESPN. Just about all the other major Conferences broadcast rights are locked up long term. Maybe something Bettman should kick the tires on.
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KevFu
Registered User
It opens up 16 time slots on CBS on Saturday's at 3:30 pm ET (and one Friday after Thanksgiving) and the first five are before the the NHL season starts.
I mean, I get what you're saying: CBS might want more sports content now. But probably not. CBS is the weakest player in college basketball regular season rights... and they don't even put CBSSN in full high def, it looks like garbage.
CBS was only in for SEC and March Madness, and that was it.
My understanding from those in the media on Twitter is Broadcast Networks like ABC/CBS/FOX are looking to boost their live sports content in order to drive retransmission fees.
That said you may be right but that's still 16 timeslots. NHL could fill a number of games similar to NBC. I'm looking at it there just isn't many tier 1 sports rights available. I have a hard time seeing CBS putting non P5 football on CBS or just putting bowling or gymastics or ice skating on to fill those timeslots.
IU Hawks fan
They call me IU
I have a tough time seeing a broadcast network using the NHL as regular counter programming. It's one thing when it's the Winter Classic one day a year, but putting early season hockey up against college football isn't worth what it costs.
So yeah, it's not the timeslots themselves but the dollars it opens up. Noon ET college basketball followed by NHL at 2:30 on Saturdays and Sundays once college football ends sounds like a decent strategy.
So yeah, it's not the timeslots themselves but the dollars it opens up. Noon ET college basketball followed by NHL at 2:30 on Saturdays and Sundays once college football ends sounds like a decent strategy.
KevFu
Registered User
The tough part of it I see is that CBS for the last two decades has been a minor player in the sports rights game....
They're like a GM who will either sign an uber superstar (SEC marquee package, NCAA Tourney), or go with waiver wire pickups (Bullriding, XFL, AAF, etc). They're very set on what is acceptable terms and won't overspend in a bidding war for middling value
(I wish my baseball team's GMs were more like this).
So the question is, do they see NHL as a bargain value they can get on the cheap, or a property that's lacks universal appeal so they're not interested? I think a lot of NHL fans would be critical of Bettman if we replaced the SEC on CBS on a very small dollar contract just to up the exposure.
Of course, as a secondary contract, that could be a good thing, but at the same time, I think (a) NBC deal has exclusivity, so the NHL couldn't do a deal like that and (b), you'd be going up against college football. The NHL historically has done a terrible job of showing football fans why hockey is just as good/better... Going head to head with college football is a bad idea.
They're like a GM who will either sign an uber superstar (SEC marquee package, NCAA Tourney), or go with waiver wire pickups (Bullriding, XFL, AAF, etc). They're very set on what is acceptable terms and won't overspend in a bidding war for middling value
(I wish my baseball team's GMs were more like this).
So the question is, do they see NHL as a bargain value they can get on the cheap, or a property that's lacks universal appeal so they're not interested? I think a lot of NHL fans would be critical of Bettman if we replaced the SEC on CBS on a very small dollar contract just to up the exposure.
Of course, as a secondary contract, that could be a good thing, but at the same time, I think (a) NBC deal has exclusivity, so the NHL couldn't do a deal like that and (b), you'd be going up against college football. The NHL historically has done a terrible job of showing football fans why hockey is just as good/better... Going head to head with college football is a bad idea.
For the NHL, probably not. The windows that open up with this are September, October and November. The NHL isn’t even in season for a big portion of this time, and early season NHL games are worth little. Late in the season CBS has the March Madness, Masters and PGA golf. Don’t see them as a major player for NHL rights.
This was a move to free up money to retain the NFL Sunday rights. Also, their deal with the SEC doesn’t expire until 2023, so there may be other opportunities for other college rights as well (believe the B10 is up before then again).
Hockeyholic
Registered User
Thoughts?
Personally, I think staying with NBC is the best thing to do. Boucher, JR, Carter, and Sharpe are top notch analysts. Doc is a legend.
Personally, I think staying with NBC is the best thing to do. Boucher, JR, Carter, and Sharpe are top notch analysts. Doc is a legend.
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Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Because there’s nothing better than listening to people who don’t know anything about hockey call it.
I’d rather put a NHL team in New Orleans, Halifax, and whatever insane place you bring up out of left field next than listen to Tony Romo call a hockey game.
WingsMJN2965
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Imagine thinking that moving from NBCSN to CBS Sports is a good idea...
I didn't even read the actual post until after replying... What in the actual f***.
I didn't even read the actual post until after replying... What in the actual f***.
