National Hockey League, Disney Strike 7-Year Pact
Hockey will return in a big way to Walt Disney's ESPN in a new seven-year deal that breaks NBCUniversal's dominance of the sport's TV rights
Hockey will return in a big way to Walt Disney’s ESPN in a new seven-year deal that breaks NBCUniversal’s dominance of the sport’s TV rights and makes some National Hockey League games available for streaming in broader fashion.
ESPN’s new deal with the NHL will last from the 2021-2022 season through the 2027-2028 season, the network announced Wednesday. Under terms of the pact, Disney’s ABC broadcast network will get to present exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final n four of the seven years of the agreement, with the ability to simulcast it on streaming-video outlet ESPN+ and additional ESPN networks. ABC or ESPN will also present 25 national regular-season games exclusively.
ESPN will get to stream 75 national regular-season games on ESPN+ and Hulu .Additionally, more than 1,000 games previously streamed by the NHL on its own outlet will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription. The pact also includes rights to broadcast several special league events, and Disney said international media rights in Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Europe were also part of the agreement.
ESPN and Hulu to get broadcast rights to the NHL.