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

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KevFu

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Also, Damien Woody could be very helpful in getting more NHL viewers out of the ESPN non-hockey fans.

Woody, a former NFL player, posted a tweet a few years ago about how every team in New York was doing terrible and got some replies about "The Islanders are doing pretty well" and the Islanders invited him out. And he's all in on hockey now and has been talking with ESPN about what role he can play with the NHL back on ESPN.


I think the NHL has historically done a really terrible job at showing non-hockey fans what hockey has to offer them that they'd enjoy based on what they like about other sports.

And having representation on ESPN of someone who's exactly that demo who is now rocking hockey jerseys on air occasionally is huge for the NHL.
 

jkrdevil

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Also, Damien Woody could be very helpful in getting more NHL viewers out of the ESPN non-hockey fans.

Woody, a former NFL player, posted a tweet a few years ago about how every team in New York was doing terrible and got some replies about "The Islanders are doing pretty well" and the Islanders invited him out. And he's all in on hockey now and has been talking with ESPN about what role he can play with the NHL back on ESPN.


I think the NHL has historically done a really terrible job at showing non-hockey fans what hockey has to offer them that they'd enjoy based on what they like about other sports.

And having representation on ESPN of someone who's exactly that demo who is now rocking hockey jerseys on air occasionally is huge for the NHL.

I think you over estimate the power individual influencers have. People like their local teams and when they are out they will drift to the national conversation for sports…which will be the NBA and will still be the NBA given both of the NHL’s tv partners have a ton more invested in the NBA. Ratings may go marginally up being on a more channel casuals land on, but it will be a marginal increase.
 

KevFu

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I think you over estimate the power individual influencers have. People like their local teams and when they are out they will drift to the national conversation for sports…which will be the NBA and will still be the NBA given both of the NHL’s tv partners have a ton more invested in the NBA. Ratings may go marginally up being on a more channel casuals land on, but it will be a marginal increase.

Oh sure, but the possibility of having one fan created via that situation is far greater on ESPN than it is on NBCSN.

Who's watching IndyCar or Atlantic 10 basketball and thinking "hmm, let me give hockey a try." ? No one.

That's the reason we're all excited about being back on ESPN. ESPN cross-promotes immensely and their other properties will provide far more viewers being exposed to those promos than NBC's other properties
 

GKJ

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I've never been a huge basher of NBC coverage, and I get Canadians having their standard for their coverage, but whenever I watch a TSN or Sportsnet game, those are lightyears ahead of what NBC produces, which I feel oftentimes are geared toward cliches and platitudes, but most of all it doesn't look like a big deal and doesn't feel like one either when I watch NBC. I don't know if it's because Doc is gone, and I don't have any problem with any of their PXP or color guys (except Pierre), but there's still that something's missing feel, and I cant help but feel that's production and/or personality. The game is only ever on, and the intermissions are only ever on and generally are skippable.

You see on the NBA's coverage, they've got the legends - Shaq and Barkley (Kenny is less of that), but they also have personality. That allows Ernie to be the straight man. The people they've hired for hockey seem to be the opposite right now, where the legends are still gonna be the straight guys. They need one of those guys to be a personality, and the host can be engaging, but shouldn't take their thunder. Katie Nolan - I think she's still at ESPN but I'd look for someone like that, especially since TNT like has all dudes so far. Maybe Kay Adams personality wise, I don't know where she is at on hockey. If Kathryn Tappen stays at NBC, I'm not sure where she stands, she came to NBC to do hockey but she's doing football there now too.

First few weeks or so, I'd have Barkley on the set just for the hell of it. Let him be the guy is going to show a natural comfort in not taking everything so seriously and force everyone to be themselves. Especially since TNT is a different animal than ESPN, where they're going to be counting on their pre- and post- a lot more. ESPN doesn't do that.
 

Spydey629

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I've never been a huge basher of NBC coverage, and I get Canadians having their standard for their coverage, but whenever I watch a TSN or Sportsnet game, those are lightyears ahead of what NBC produces, which I feel oftentimes are geared toward cliches and platitudes, but most of all it doesn't look like a big deal and doesn't feel like one either when I watch NBC. I don't know if it's because Doc is gone, and I don't have any problem with any of their PXP or color guys (except Pierre), but there's still that something's missing feel, and I cant help but feel that's production and/or personality. The game is only ever on, and the intermissions are only ever on and generally are skippable.

You see on the NBA's coverage, they've got the legends - Shaq and Barkley (Kenny is less of that), but they also have personality. That allows Ernie to be the straight man. The people they've hired for hockey seem to be the opposite right now, where the legends are still gonna be the straight guys. They need one of those guys to be a personality, and the host can be engaging, but shouldn't take their thunder. Katie Nolan - I think she's still at ESPN but I'd look for someone like that, especially since TNT like has all dudes so far. Maybe Kay Adams personality wise, I don't know where she is at on hockey. If Kathryn Tappen stays at NBC, I'm not sure where she stands, she came to NBC to do hockey but she's doing football there now too.

First few weeks or so, I'd have Barkley on the set just for the hell of it. Let him be the guy is going to show a natural comfort in not taking everything so seriously and force everyone to be themselves. Especially since TNT is a different animal than ESPN, where they're going to be counting on their pre- and post- a lot more. ESPN doesn't do that.

I keep thinking Adnan Virk would be perfect for TNT’s anchor chair. And he’s available.
 
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GKJ

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I keep thinking Adnan Virk would be perfect for TNT’s anchor chair. And he’s available.
I can't comment on that because he's got WWE-stench for me. Not that he was bad there, in my opinion, more like not given a chance to succeed.
 

jkrdevil

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I can't comment on that because he's got WWE-stench for me. Not that he was bad there, in my opinion, more like not given a chance to succeed.

I would judge him more on his MLB Network (and his few appearances on NHL Network) work along with his MLB work on ESPN prior. He would be solid.
 
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GKJ

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I would judge him more on his MLB Network (and his few appearances on NHL Network) work along with his MLB work on ESPN prior. He would be solid.
I think you need a woman on that unit. I know ESPN has Linda Cohn, but she's doing the In the Crease show, so I don't think that's part their broadcasts, and they have other women too, but TNT has zero right now I believe, and I just think it will look and sound better. Got nothing against Virk though, I wouldn't mind him being part of it.
 

jkrdevil

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I think he will be there to break down the game but they need someone edgy with him.

They don’t need someone edgy. They need someone who is a professional broadcast and can guide him into saying what they need. They need a host who is an excellent interviewer, is innately familiar with the league and it’s history (including Wayne’s career) to be able to tease out statements and anecdotes. You can’t ask him a broad based question there is going to need to be specificity.

Hot takery is not necessarily good television. Milbury and Roenick were brought in to be hot take guys by NBC and look how that worked. A hot take guy next to Gretzky isn’t going to be a good look or broadcast. You need a group that can tease out quality insight from each other. It begins with a host.
 
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Spydey629

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I think he will be there to break down the game but they need someone edgy with him.

Agreed. He can play the straight man to Biz Nasty and Whitney being the joking, critical yucksters on the panel. (Which would be awesome if it were to happen...).

They need someone more lively than Wayne and Anson Carter at the desk, that's for sure.
 

Spydey629

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They don’t need someone edgy. They need someone who is a professional broadcast and can guide him into saying what they need. They need a host who is an excellent interviewer, is innately familiar with the league and it’s history (including Wayne’s career) to be able to tease out statements and anecdotes. You can’t ask him a broad based question there is going to need to be specificity.

Hot takery is not necessarily good television. Milbury and Roenick were brought in to be hot take guys by NBC and look how that worked. A hot take guy next to Gretzky isn’t going to be a good look or broadcast. You need a group that can tease out quality insight from each other. It begins with a host.

Who ya got JKR? Anybody particular in mind...? Your post makes me think you want Olbermann, who has been rumored/speculated.
 

OG6ix

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They don’t need someone edgy. They need someone who is a professional broadcast and can guide him into saying what they need. They need a host who is an excellent interviewer, is innately familiar with the league and it’s history (including Wayne’s career) to be able to tease out statements and anecdotes. You can’t ask him a broad based question there is going to need to be specificity.

Hot takery is not necessarily good television. Milbury and Roenick were brought in to be hot take guys by NBC and look how that worked. A hot take guy next to Gretzky isn’t going to be a good look or broadcast. You need a group that can tease out quality insight from each other. It begins with a host.
That could work too but hot takery is the sports trend right now.
 

Voight

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I think he will be there to break down the game but they need someone edgy with him.

The thing is when Gretzky breaks down the game, us regular folk may not really understand. I say that because he obviously saw the game a whole lot different than any other person before or since. Like hes going to know the exact play that should have happened and well be like "how the....."

That is of course unless he explains in layman's terms and doesn't make it complicated.
 

jkrdevil

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Who ya got JKR? Anybody particular in mind...? Your post makes me think you want Olbermann, who has been rumored/speculated.

I think Silverman could do the job, but he comes with a lot of internal politics wherever he is at (he never lasts long). I think Adnan Virk could do the job as well. Honestly the right answer is probably throw money at Duthie to bring him south.

You need someone with the personality and strong knowledge and background. I think the biggest problem with NBC (but I get the sense I don’t hate it as much as others), is that why someone like McHugh has a good personality as a host (he’s better than the stiff Bill Patrick VS. had before him) that he (and Tappen) are too deferential to the analyst and don’t do enough to tease good insight out of them. They ask very broad questions that lead to broad, cliche answers.

McHugh admittedly has said he didn’t know much about the league before he came in as a fill-in host on VS. He has a strong knowledge of the past 11 years he has covered the league, but not probably not prior than that to tease anecdotes out of his analyst (particular guys like Jones and Carter that played pre-lockout).

Also too often there currently isn’t good or any follow up questions For instance when the Ducks fired Boudreau, Jones said on either the pre-game that he would have fire him after the playoff failure the year before. The Ducks lost in Game 7 of the conference final. The follow-up question should have been “You would have fired the coach one game short of the Final?” That could have led to a interesting conversation. I know there are heavy time constraints that impact these programs, so an overall looser format than what NBC has done (which is a very rigid format) would be beneficial.

The more a host can prob an analyst and get them to expand their thoughts the better. That is the key in my mind to what would make a good show for a viewer. Not some hot takes, one liners and fake laughs. Personally, I want smarts. You can have that with personality.
 

Spydey629

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I think Silverman could do the job, but he comes with a lot of internal politics wherever he is at (he never lasts long). I think Adnan Virk could do the job as well. Honestly the right answer is probably throw money at Duthie to bring him south.

You need someone with the personality and strong knowledge and background. I think the biggest problem with NBC (but I get the sense I don’t hate it as much as others), is that why someone like McHugh has a good personality as a host (he’s better than the stiff Bill Patrick VS. had before him) that he (and Tappen) are too deferential to the analyst and don’t do enough to tease good insight out of them. They ask very broad questions that lead to broad, cliche answers.

McHugh admittedly has said he didn’t know much about the league before he came in as a fill-in host on VS. He has a strong knowledge of the past 11 years he has covered the league, but not probably not prior than that to tease anecdotes out of his analyst (particular guys like Jones and Carter that played pre-lockout).

Also too often there currently isn’t good or any follow up questions For instance when the Ducks fired Boudreau, Jones said on either the pre-game that he would have fire him after the playoff failure the year before. The Ducks lost in Game 7 of the conference final. The follow-up question should have been “You would have fired the coach one game short of the Final?” That could have led to a interesting conversation. I know there are heavy time constraints that impact these programs, so an overall looser format than what NBC has done (which is a very rigid format) would be beneficial.

The more a host can prob an analyst and get them to expand their thoughts the better. That is the key in my mind to what would make a good show for a viewer. Not some hot takes, one liners and fake laughs. Personally, I want smarts. You can have that with personality.

I forgot about Bill Patrick on Versus. I am old enough to remember him on ESPN.

Virk is the name I keep thinking. He’s run the three ring circus of ESPN’s college football halftime shows, and he knows the sport.
 

OG6ix

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I forgot about Bill Patrick on Versus. I am old enough to remember him on ESPN.

Virk is the name I keep thinking. He’s run the three ring circus of ESPN’s college football halftime shows, and he knows the sport.

I remember seeing him on the score in Canada in the early 2000s and was not super impressed. He is also on WWE I think? He's all over the place - I think I'd like to see someone like Keith Olbermann on the panel.
 

Big Z Man 1990

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There was a time when I thought the relocation of the Thrashers killed any chance of Turner wanting to air NHL games.

Many of Time Warner's employees from the time when they owned the Thrashers were probably still with the company in 2011, including some executives. At least some of these employees were probably bitter over Atlanta's loss of the Thrashers.

So, I'm surprised Turner wanted NHL rights given how the NHL was actively trying to get the Thrashers out of Atlanta a decade ago in violation of league bylaws. I supposed they let bygones be bygones.

Many in Atlanta not connected with what is now WarnerMedia are still bitter over the Thrashers leaving though. So if TNT and TBS know what is good for them, they will probably decline to air any Jets games, regular season or postseason.
 

jkrdevil

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There was a time when I thought the relocation of the Thrashers killed any chance of Turner wanting to air NHL games.

Many of Time Warner's employees from the time when they owned the Thrashers were probably still with the company in 2011, including some executives. At least some of these employees were probably bitter over Atlanta's loss of the Thrashers.

So, I'm surprised Turner wanted NHL rights given how the NHL was actively trying to get the Thrashers out of Atlanta a decade ago in violation of league bylaws. I supposed they let bygones be bygones.

Many in Atlanta not connected with what is now WarnerMedia are still bitter over the Thrashers leaving though. So if TNT and TBS know what is good for them, they will probably decline to air any Jets games, regular season or postseason.

I don’t know where to begin with this. First off at this point, Turner’s leadership is based in New York not Atlanta. The person who oversees Turner Sports along with CNN is Jeff Zucker who is the former CEO of NBC. Turner still has some production in Atlanta to take advantage of the Georgia tax credits it provides, but it really isn’t an Atlanta company anymore. Turner is pretty much just a division name. The broader WarnerMedia is also headquartered in New York.

As for the Thrashers move, I’m pretty sure most people with knowledge know that the NHL’s hands were forced by the previous owners. They were unwilling to sell what would have been the Thrashers portion of the arena’s ownership making any sale to keep the team in Atlanta. If you think the league wanted to abandon a top-10 market in the US, I don’t know what to tell you.
 

KBobs

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Dec 26, 2013
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Doesn't seem like this has been discussed (please correct me if I'm wrong!). Pure speculation, of course, but interesting nonetheless. For those unaware, this guy is the Bob McKenzie of breaking sports media news in Canada.

 
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