*Disclosure* I have been a freelancer with NHL on NBC since their first week of coverage back in January 2006.
It was not the call of NBC Sports executives in Stamford, CT - It was made by Comcast executives in Philadelphia.
Comcast will continue to make money on the NHL in the 4 local markets that they own the local rights - Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, and San Jose. More importantly in markets that Comcast is the major cable provider they still control local ad insertions on cable channels via their Effectv division.
Effectv
In my home market of Boston, they have divided the market into 40 zones and you be watching ANY major cable network and see ads tailored to your neighborhood.
Boston
For games that were on NBC, Comcast owns the OTA channel in NY, Chi, LA, Philadelphia, San Jose, Boston, Dallas, and Miami.
I was told by the top hockey boss at NBC that they ran projections for the next 7 years and decided based on the markets they controlled it wasn't worth the risk.
The most bizarre part of this is the decision to close down NBCSN. They are not going to rebrand the channel - it will simply go away on January 1, 2022.
NBC/Comcast flat out refused to offer NHL games in 4K even though the games have been shot in that format since 2019. When crew members asked - we heard crickets but NBC/Comcast went all-in with the White Sox home games in 4K this year.
It was not the call of NBC Sports executives in Stamford, CT - It was made by Comcast executives in Philadelphia.
Comcast will continue to make money on the NHL in the 4 local markets that they own the local rights - Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, and San Jose. More importantly in markets that Comcast is the major cable provider they still control local ad insertions on cable channels via their Effectv division.
Effectv
In my home market of Boston, they have divided the market into 40 zones and you be watching ANY major cable network and see ads tailored to your neighborhood.
Boston
For games that were on NBC, Comcast owns the OTA channel in NY, Chi, LA, Philadelphia, San Jose, Boston, Dallas, and Miami.
I was told by the top hockey boss at NBC that they ran projections for the next 7 years and decided based on the markets they controlled it wasn't worth the risk.
The most bizarre part of this is the decision to close down NBCSN. They are not going to rebrand the channel - it will simply go away on January 1, 2022.
NBC/Comcast flat out refused to offer NHL games in 4K even though the games have been shot in that format since 2019. When crew members asked - we heard crickets but NBC/Comcast went all-in with the White Sox home games in 4K this year.