Well I'm late to the party on this - only found out this morning after some guy picked up on my complete naivity about it all on Twitter.
I'll say this for the UK - ESPNAmerica (and before it, NASN) has been the single best thing for hockey in the UK bar none and if the replacement isn't equally as positive (or better? Ha!) I'm going to be livid and will be sending a hate-fueled email to Gary Bettman.
This is juvenile - the NHL and ESPN have 'history' and while I buy the official line that this will probably be a way to maximise the NHL's potential, ... blah blah blah, any rational individual can see it's a two finger salute at ESPN being able to call the shots in Europe. Juvenile behaviour which affects my love for the game. Are we back in school?
On ESPNA, Hockey has been unrivalled and anyone who thinks differently has never subscribed. With baseball season not clashing too severely time-wise with the NHL coverage and no rights to show NBA or NFL, hockey fans have flocked to subscribe as the coverage was outstanding. A dream and well worth the subscription I'd paid for quite some time.
Previously, as has been mentioned, Five used to show a game a week with terrible colour commentary, amateur UK-led production. It didn't work. If we're heading back to those dark days, it turns my stomach.
Nothing else in the UK is viable to match the scale it's been on. SkySports won't do it justice (although I could see them scooping it up and burying it where the sun don't shine, just to destroy a competitor...) and a new network won't get off the ground - people won't subscribe in big numbers to make worthwhile, what you would presume, would be a decent size £££ to acquire the rights and channel set up costs in the first instance. ESPNA is the only viable option and if they deny them because of politics, I'll hold the NHL fully accountable. Heck, even though I love my Gators and college football, I'd dump my subscription in an INSTANT if hockey is gone (and get a college game day pass for the Gator football). ESPNA must know this but they also know they're the only viable option - talk about standoff.
Those talking about internet coverage - I think is a daaaangerous path to explore. While we're all here on the web and proficient, broadband speeds are an issue still, IMO, for steady streaming. I used to have a great connection but moved a little out of town and now I'm crawling to a level which makes streaming tricky.
Likewise, I can think of many family members that wouldn't know where to start to sort streaming the web, say, to their TV etc. I'm not even sure if my Granddad has the internet but he never misses an NHL game in his retirement and I know that's the only reason he subscribes to ESPNA. Nothing beats the simplicity of beer in hand and sofa to watch a game and this new distributor needs to remember that.
Overall, this is a potentially disastrous time for UK Fans of the NHL because I fear that this is going to be a 'split the pie more ways' resolution. If ESPN's coverage goes down, which I expect it to, I'm going to fume. I hope these people in suits (who don't care about sport, just money) don't lose sight of the reason they even HAVE a business in the first place - us.
EDIT: I can't wait for the day I can subscribe to a Sharks 24/7 Network anyway. Make it happen Boyler!
