• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

TNT to join ESPN in airing NHL games

C

CurtisNEPA

www.yahoo.com

Reports: TNT to buy what's left of NHL's national broadcasting rights

The NHL has reportedly signed its second massive U.S. TV deal after joining forces with ESPN last month.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

In addition, the Winter Classic will be exclusive only to TNT beginning next season. This means no more watching New Year's Day outdoor hockey on free tv. :-(

Unless some of the biggest matchups are on ABC(as part of the ESPN package), the days of watching hockey using an antenna will be no more...

With that said, how long until TNT will rebrand their NBA package to Lakers Night since they show so many national Lakers games than ESPN/ABC.
 
For what I've read, it looks like the Stanley Cup Finals could be cable-only since the majority of the series will be on TNT/ESPN. If that's the case, then NHL would be the first major sport to not air any championship games over-the-air(free TV). This could become a trend down the road, and it's certainly bad timing especially when people are "cutting the cord".
 
CurtisNEPA said:
This could become a trend down the road, and it's certainly bad timing especially when people are "cutting the cord".
Click to expand...

The other side is that it coincides with a huge drop in ratings for big TV sports events, regardless of platform. So they recognize that the audience for these things is narrowing. That more narrow audience is more likely to pay than expect it to be included in a cable package. So the next step is a TNT streaming app, that will allow cord cutters to view via OTT for a monthly fee.
 
Yeah, just look at the U.S. Open and the NCAA Final Four . They used to be on free over-the-air TV, nowadays, they are cable-only exclusives, except for the former where the Final Four championship game airs on CBS on odd-numbered years and TBS on even-numbered years. This also applies to Wimbledon, where it has been on ESPN for couple years.

So, getting back to hockey on TV, I think that there will be very few matchups over on ABC and the majority of the playoffs will be on TNT/ESPN.
 
I hope the NHL realizes that they're actually decreasing viewership and platforms to reach viewers if the TNT/ESPN deal goes through since "cord-cutting" is a thing.
 
itsTheRolyPoly said:
I hope the NHL realizes that they're actually decreasing viewership and platforms to reach viewers if the TNT/ESPN deal goes through since "cord-cutting" is a thing.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe. If they're on broadcast nets, the potential audience may be higher. But in practice, the audience for hockey on NBC hasn't been much better than what they got on NBC/SN. However, in doing this deal, it's very obvious that the main goal for the NHL was in increase REVENUE, not viewers. This new deal gets the NHL more money. They do so by making their content less accessible. But that's the tradeoff.

Here's how the article accesses how the NHL will reach new audiences:

But just as important, the NHL has the opportunity to reach new audiences, here. And by diversifying the broadcast structure with two major networks, ESPN and TNT will have to compete to put on the superior product, just as they do now with the NBA.
Click to expand...

So they believe competition will help them reach new audiences. But it's competition with two networks which are hell bent on charging viewers a direct monthly charge beyond the cable fee. So once again, it's all about more money.
 
CurtisNEPA said:
For what I've read, it looks like the Stanley Cup Finals could be cable-only since the majority of the series will be on TNT/ESPN. If that's the case, then NHL would be the first major sport to not air any championship games over-the-air(free TV). This could become a trend down the road, and it's certainly bad timing especially when people are "cutting the cord".
Click to expand...
I am not absolutely certain but I believe that the Stanley Cup Finals have been aired over the air only on weekends for the past few years. All other games are cable only.
 
For all you hockey fans, although all NHL teams are not represented on over the air TV these days you can usually find an HD stream by "going overseas". Get a VPN, set your location to Canada (or Great Britain or Germany etc.) and search away. It's a lot like DXing.
 
itsTheRolyPoly said:
I hope the NHL realizes that they're actually decreasing viewership and platforms to reach viewers if the TNT/ESPN deal goes through since "cord-cutting" is a thing.
Click to expand...
Discussion of this new deal has blown up on hockey discussion boards--one well known site I read has had around 1,300 posts on the subject in the past 24 hours. Much talk about the NHL disappearing from OTA TV. I suspect many fans remember the mid 70's to the early 90's when the sport was relegated to relatively obscure sports outlets (SportsChannel America, anyone?)

Will be interesting to see the personalities and production values TNT (and possibly its sister networks) bring to the NHL. Many comparisons to existing NBA coverage.
 
landtuna said:
I am not absolutely certain but I believe that the Stanley Cup Finals have been aired over the air only on weekends for the past few years. All other games are cable only.
Click to expand...
For the SCF NBC has usually aired game one OTA, games two, three, and four on NBCSN, with the remaining games back on NBC. The past few years game four has also been on NBC.

Earlier rounds of the playoffs only had NBC games on weekends. Weekday games (and the balance of weekend games) were on NBCSN, with overflow on USA and CNBC.
 
CBS/CBSSN should have also been part of deal.

Turner Media should have bought CNNSI and can do Inside Sports to go up against Sportscenter. They can hirer Al Morganti and so on.
 
So what does NBC have now? Just one NFL game per week. In terms of the major sports leagues, that's it because the rest is Golf with ESPN now having all four.

As a matter of fact, this makes me want to subscribe to ESPN+ now if it means getting more hockey.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom