NHL, Turner Sports reach 7 year TV deal for games on TNT, TBS

[GKJ]

The Tuesday NBA game is only post-Jan. 1 for the latter half of the NBA season.

If you're going to establish a night of the week, you're probably not going to change it mid-season. I mean, you could, but doesn't seem that smart. It would make more sense if AEW moved in October instead of January

 

[jkrdevil]

If you're going to establish a night of the week, you're probably not going to change it mid-season. I mean, you could, but doesn't seem that smart. It would make more sense if AEW moved in October instead of January

It would, but as you mentioned they had to cut a deal with AEW to make the move. My guess is they were uncomfortable making the switch on the shorter notice (and have to go through the disruption early in the switch because of the MLB playoffs) so it got pushed to beginning of 2022. Gives them more time to promote the move to TBS.

It isn’t ideal, but it is 3 months in a 7 year deal. It won’t be an annual thing.

 

[Spydey629]

Just jotting out some notes, the only confirmed names we have for Turner (so far) are Kenny Albert and Edzo, correct?

ESPN’s presumed roster is looking a little deeper already.

 

[GKJ]

As part of the deal with AEW, there will still be quarterly special on TNT, and the Friday night show starting in August on TNT will move to TBS anyways which begs the question why they don’t start there but it’s not my money.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

I think TNT should consider hiring Harnarayan Singh. I think his bombastic and colorful announcing style would play very well as he could the NHL’s version of Kevin Harlan

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

We don't get tbs in Canada. I think it's called Peachtree.

 

[Joe from Maine]

So 3 of the 7 seven years, the entire SCF will be only on TNT/TBS, no OTA. How do people feel about that? I guess it doesn't matter, but at the same time, it's always nice being on OTA to crown the Champion.

I am not a big fan of the Stanley Cup Finals not being on OTA 3 of 7 years. TNT will have better ratings then NBCSN but will not come close to the ratings on ABC will have and what NBC OTA achieved.

Turner Sports may do a great job so there are things to look forward too but the league may have chosen money over access to more fans. I know it is anti business to except a lower offer so I can't blame the NHL for it. However if FOX was only 10 million less at around 215 million a year I would say that was a miscue by the league to go all cable versus network TV for the finals. It would be reminiscent of the SportsChannel America deal where money left out many fans. If Fox's offer was around 195 million a year then the league had no choice but to take the Turner Sports offer for an extra million per year per team.

 

[46zone]

I am not a big fan of the Stanley Cup Finals not being on OTA 3 of 7 years. TNT will have better ratings then NBCSN but will not come close to the ratings on ABC will have and what NBC OTA achieved.

Turner Sports may do a great job so there are things to look forward too but the league may have chosen money over access to more fans. I know it is anti business to except a lower offer so I can't blame the NHL for it. However if FOX was only 10 million less at around 215 million a year I would say that was a miscue by the league to go all cable versus network TV for the finals. It would be reminiscent of the SportsChannel America deal where money left out many fans. If Fox's offer was around 195 million a year then the league had no choice but to take the Turner Sports offer for an extra million per year per team.

We don't have any insight into what FOX was offering, only that they were briefly the frontrunner before Turner swooped in. The College Football Playoffs are exclusively on cable and draw large audiences. I think a potential drawback is a hypothetical year where the SCF matchup is NYR vs Chicago or Boston vs LA and it's a "TNT year", thus limiting the potential audience.

 

[dortt]

We don't have any insight into what FOX was offering, only that they were briefly the frontrunner before Turner swooped in. The College Football Playoffs are exclusively on cable and draw large audiences. I think a potential drawback is a hypothetical year where the SCF matchup is NYR vs Chicago or Boston vs LA and it's a "TNT year", thus limiting the potential audience.

Even worse case would be if Buffalo or Detroit were in the SCF and those markets were largely watching the game OTA on the CBC

 

[DaBadGuy7]

I am not a big fan of the Stanley Cup Finals not being on OTA 3 of 7 years. TNT will have better ratings then NBCSN but will not come close to the ratings on ABC will have and what NBC OTA achieved.

Turner Sports may do a great job so there are things to look forward too but the league may have chosen money over access to more fans. I know it is anti business to except a lower offer so I can't blame the NHL for it. However if FOX was only 10 million less at around 215 million a year I would say that was a miscue by the league to go all cable versus network TV for the finals. It would be reminiscent of the SportsChannel America deal where money left out many fans. If Fox's offer was around 195 million a year then the league had no choice but to take the Turner Sports offer for an extra million per year per team.

It is what it is, FOX wasn’t going to overpay for B package and that gave Turner perfect opportunity to swoop in. NHL probably hoped that CBS would be involved in a small portion of the Turner bid with a small OTA package that included SCF and small amount of games in RS and playoffs. But CBS probably didn’t see the financial gain as well as they are already full with PGA, NFL, CFB, and CBB.


But, I would watch how this Discovery-WarnerMedia merger plays out. A lot of people believe it’s a precursor to a big media company like Comcast buying in the future, so who knows the future of media in 7 years.

 

[youthoftoday]

Granted, I know I'm a novice at some of this stuff, but is OTA that important at this point? I know there is still a percentage of the population who doesn't have a cable/sat/streaming service that carries TNT, but of that group, how many of those are actually following hockey? Outside of the handful of Sunday NBC games that are OTA, what else are they watching during the season? Are there any markets where the local team's games are carried OTA? Basically I am getting at, will these people who aren't watching hockey all season tune in just for the finals?

 

[Joe from Maine]

Granted, I know I'm a novice at some of this stuff, but is OTA that important at this point? I know there is still a percentage of the population who doesn't have a cable/sat/streaming service that carries TNT, but of that group, how many of those are actually following hockey? Outside of the handful of Sunday NBC games that are OTA, what else are they watching during the season? Are there any markets where the local team's games are carried OTA? Basically I am getting at, will these people who aren't watching hockey all season tune in just for the finals?

You make some good points. For the Stanley Cup Finals NBC typically may get 5.5 million viewers. (A guestimate on the average). When it moves to NBCSN for two games it will be a couple of million viewers less at around 3.5 viewers. There is a significant difference.

What will be interesting is TNT is a much easier channel to find. They also have about 10 million more households compared to NBCSN. Maybe TNT comes in at 4.5 million viewers and splits the difference? It will be tough to keep up with an OTA though for viewership. Some people have rightly pointed out on here that the college football championship gets good numbers on ESPN. It seems the NHL does better on OTA though. I hope I am wrong and TNT brings in similar numbers that ABC will have or NBC. Just can't find any evidence yet for hockey.

 

[jkrdevil]

A good comparison may be the NCAA Final Four and championship game which alternates between CBS and Turner (TBS, TNT and Trutv megacast). Obviously more game dependent as there are fewer telecast, but you see it fluctuate as it moves back and forth.

NCAA Men’s Final Four Ratings Hub

I wouldn’t be surprised if Turner the years they had the Final went with the megacast approach and out it on all their channels as a way to signal it as a big event and boost ratings

 

[Joe from Maine]

A good comparison may be the NCAA Final Four and championship game which alternates between CBS and Turner (TBS, TNT and Trutv megacast). Obviously more game dependent as there are fewer telecast, but you see it fluctuate as it moves back and forth.

NCAA Men’s Final Four Ratings Hub

I wouldn’t be surprised if Turner the years they had the Final went with the megacast approach and out it on all their channels as a way to signal it as a big event and boost ratings

That is a very good comparison. Thank you for getting that. Very quick math CBS there last five years averaged 22 million viewers compared to 17 million for the two Turner megacasts. That is about 3/4th the viewership which is better than the difference between NBCSN and NBC for the finals.

 

[jkrdevil]

 

[jkrdevil]

 

[John Price]

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of TNT's team shapes up

 

[royals119]

You make some good points. For the Stanley Cup Finals NBC typically may get 5.5 million viewers. (A guestimate on the average). When it moves to NBCSN for two games it will be a couple of million viewers less at around 3.5 viewers. There is a significant difference.

What will be interesting is TNT is a much easier channel to find. They also have about 10 million more households compared to NBCSN. Maybe TNT comes in at 4.5 million viewers and splits the difference? It will be tough to keep up with an OTA though for viewership. Some people have rightly pointed out on here that the college football championship gets good numbers on ESPN. It seems the NHL does better on OTA though. I hope I am wrong and TNT brings in similar numbers that ABC will have or NBC. Just can't find any evidence yet for hockey.

I was looking online to see what options there are for TNT because I had the same questions. Aside from the usual outlets, there is also a TNT app. I didn't download it to check, but the website schedule listed the upcoming NBA games, so I assume you can watch sports on TNT that way. Will less tech savvy people who usually watch OTA TV do that? Maybe not, but they can - presumably without paying for a streaming service or cable.

 

[jkrdevil]

I was looking online to see what options there are for TNT because I had the same questions. Aside from the usual outlets, there is also a TNT app. I didn't download it to check, but the website schedule listed the upcoming NBA games, so I assume you can watch sports on TNT that way. Will less tech savvy people who usually watch OTA TV do that? Maybe not, but they can - presumably without paying for a streaming service or cable.

You have to authenticate your cable tv subscription in order to watch live on the TNT or TBS app. Same as watching on the NBC app currently.

 

[Marshmallow Man]

I am not a big fan of the Stanley Cup Finals not being on OTA 3 of 7 years. TNT will have better ratings then NBCSN but will not come close to the ratings on ABC will have and what NBC OTA achieved.

Turner Sports may do a great job so there are things to look forward too but the league may have chosen money over access to more fans. I know it is anti business to except a lower offer so I can't blame the NHL for it. However if FOX was only 10 million less at around 215 million a year I would say that was a miscue by the league to go all cable versus network TV for the finals. It would be reminiscent of the SportsChannel America deal where money left out many fans. If Fox's offer was around 195 million a year then the league had no choice but to take the Turner Sports offer for an extra million per year per team.

They aren’t going to attract new fans until they address the lack of offence in the game. This season was back down to under 6 goals per game.

Doesn’t matter what channel you’re on. The games are mostly boring and all the goals are incredibly fluky. Goalies have been too dominant for decades.

Watching a few playoff games and it seems all goals are random deflections where the puck bounces off 4 players before going into the net. That’s not entertaining.

 

[Spydey629]

They aren’t going to attract new fans until they address the lack of offence in the game. This season was back down to under 6 goals per game.

Doesn’t matter what channel you’re on. The games are mostly boring and all the goals are incredibly fluky. Goalies have been too dominant for decades.

Watching a few playoff games and it seems all goals are random deflections where the puck bounces off 4 players before going into the net. That’s not entertaining.

That’s most playoff goals, since teams tend to pack it in more.

Deflected goals aren’t the problem. It’s the officiating. Nothing is more infuriating than seeing something called all season, to there needing to be blood for it to be called in the postseason.

Until the dinosaurs that run this league realize that people pay money to watch the top line players and not the fourth line pluggers, nothing will ever change.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Official:

 

[DaBadGuy7]

 

[OG6ix]

Ugh... outside Gretzky there is no new blood.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

I don’t mind Jones if he and Pang are the B analysts or if Pang is in studio. I think Jones is boring and bland in studio. I hope Anson Carter or Kevin Weekes get a role, both a good, engaging personalities that would fit if Turner wants to do a Inside the NBA type of show for their NHL coverage