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105.9 The X To Give Penguins Their Own HD2 Channel!

I'm not sure it will sell radios, but it is some interesting thinking in terms of doing something on HD2 that:
a) might get listeners and
2) might make money.
 
I think I might have waited another day or two until the current series vs the Caps is finished. Although the Pens will remain popular it would be another level if they were to reach the finals or win the cup.

But really, aren't there already a ton of ways to watch/listen to the NHL? I sure wouldn't rush out and buy yet another electronic device with a seriously delusional future just to listen to hockey.
 
Parttimer said:
I'm not sure it will sell radios, but it is some interesting thinking in terms of doing something on HD2 that:
a) might get listeners and
2) might make money.
Click to expand...

The chances would increase greatly if it were a Steelers channel.
 
A total of six pro teams are getting their own HD channels before the end of the year. The Pens have become very proactive in new technologies whereas the Steelers and the Pirates have done little if anything. The Steelers in fact, don't even have an advertising budget.

The Pens will provide the content and make final judgements on programming while CC will provide the facilities and the frequency. There will be revenue sharing involved past certain thresholds, but the Pens won't have anything in this past a salary or two to begin with. They may also stream some of the content on their website.

CC's money handlers are realizing that they are losing $$ on every single HD signal they own and have decided to see if anyone out there was interested in being creative with them. Sports teams were first to step up.

And yes, they will buy HD radios just to listen to this. Ask someone walking into the Igloo before a game how much they paid for that authentic Sidney Crosby jersey and add that to the cost of their ticket for the evening.
 
that's actually one of the most creative uses for an HD2 channel that has ever come along (although it still won't make me go out and buy one)
 
Snafu said:
A total of six pro teams are getting their own HD channels before the end of the year. The Pens have become very proactive in new technologies whereas the Steelers and the Pirates have done little if anything. The Steelers in fact, don't even have an advertising budget.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the Steelers don't need one. Why pay to advertise when all the seats are already sold? The Pens might be in that same category.

Snafu said:
And yes, they will buy HD radios just to listen to this. Ask someone walking into the Igloo before a game how much they paid for that authentic Sidney Crosby jersey and add that to the cost of their ticket for the evening.
Click to expand...

My point was, of course, there are already so many ways not only to listen but to watch - most of them free and without the need of new equipment.
 
Staggy also mentioned during one of the telecasts this week that the Pens were listed by Forbes magazine as one of the fastest growing sports "brands" in the US. And the Saturday night game had a 21 rating on FSN... that's an absurdly high, record-setting number for a local market hockey telecast.

Stuff like that is starting to get ESPN's attention.... they are talking a lot of hockey on their various radio shows (save the contrarian Cowherd) amd Mike & Mike did a poll this morning on how many of their viewers were going to watch the gamr 7 tonight (69% of the respondents said they would...).
 
Parttimer said:
Staggy also mentioned during one of the telecasts this week that the Pens were listed by Forbes magazine as one of the fastest growing sports "brands" in the US. And the Saturday night game had a 21 rating on FSN... that's an absurdly high, record-setting number for a local market hockey telecast.

Stuff like that is starting to get ESPN's attention.... they are talking a lot of hockey on their various radio shows (save the contrarian Cowherd) amd Mike & Mike did a poll this morning on how many of their viewers were going to watch the gamr 7 tonight (69% of the respondents said they would...).
Click to expand...

Biggest reason for the Forbes rating is the new arena they're being given. It will be a cash cow for them because they'll make money from every event, which they don't do now.

Hockey booms in hockey hotbeds, and Pittsburgh certainly qualifies. Nationally? Not so much.
 
Boss- I'm not saying the new arena isn't a factor, but the reason the Pens "brand" is rising is because the team is winning and they have marketable stars, as well as a decent fan base already and enough history with Mario Lemieux that a sports fan doesn't necessarily think their success will be fly by night.

The Pirates "brand" didn't rise that much with PNC Park. The Cincinnati Reds "brand" didn't rise with the Great American Ballpark.

While the increased revenues from a new arena can't be ignored, it's the success a team derives from it that is the key to making it nationally popular.

Just as Dallas Cowboys fans in Connecticut probably will never go to a home game, out-of-town Penguins fans (and the radio network has had affiliates in Denver and Canada in the past) don't care what side of Centre Avenue the team plays on as long as it wins.
 
If the criteria in the article is projected revenue streams then yes, the building would be big difference. But I'd have to think that jersey sales and other incomes of that sort also factor in to some extent.

I get the feeling that the NHL is on a bit of an upswing right now, we'll see if it lasts.
 
The building had zero to do with the Forbes rating. No potential revenue was factored into equations used in the article. In fact the new building has been a drag on team revenues this season due to the cost overruns associated with the delays in construction (in the original time frame laid out in the Isle of Capri bid, the Pens would already be in the new rink).

The Pens have been nothing short of brilliant in their marketing plans and the manner in which they have grown the fan base over the last four seasons. Little things like the Student Rush Program and the expansion of their broadcast footprint are just two examples of how they couldn't have timed this better. Winning helps, having the most visible hockey player on the planet helps, but being ready when all of that happened is no accident.

The NHL is finally starting to live up to its potential.
 
My mistake. I read the thing quickly and thought Forbes was talking about the franchise value, as they do often.

The "brand value" is kind of a non-starter. If you have a successful team and star players after having a bad team filled with players who were mostly no-names, it stands to reason that you're going to do a lot more business.

Student rush has actually become a burden and been scaled back this year. They can sell those seats at full price now, so there's no real need to discount them.

As much as they're booming here, the NHL as a whole is struggling, despite a hard salary cap and an unprecendented rollback in existing contracts following the labor stoppage that wiped out an entire season.
 
After watching the Pens in the playoffs it occurred to me - what value having a radio stream dedicated to this team when about half are Russian (or thereabouts)? ;D ;D ;D
 
The HD and streaming will cover more than just a handful of players and if done right will also include the farm teams in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling. Malkin is about the only guy on the club right now who has any issues with English and he's improving by leaps and bounds. Gonchar speaks better English than most Pittsburghers.

As for the NHL struggling, no. In fact league revenues are up over last year and TV ratings are actually greatly increased over last season. Even non hockey markets are starting to get in on the act.

You're reading too much into the Phoenix situation which has too much to do with a bad lease on a bad building in a bad location (imagine the Pens moving to Greensburg into a building where their cut of the money was to come from the development of land adjecent to the arena and the development went bankrupt). The NBA has 15 teams on life support right now and the Cleveland Cavaliers were just sold to a Chinese group to prevent going bankrupt in the middle of the playoffs!!!
 
Snafu said:
As for the NHL struggling, no. In fact league revenues are up over last year and TV ratings are actually greatly increased over last season. Even non hockey markets are starting to get in on the act.

You're reading too much into the Phoenix situation which has too much to do with a bad lease on a bad building in a bad location (imagine the Pens moving to Greensburg into a building where their cut of the money was to come from the development of land adjecent to the arena and the development went bankrupt). The NBA has 15 teams on life support right now and the Cleveland Cavaliers were just sold to a Chinese group to prevent going bankrupt in the middle of the playoffs!!!
Click to expand...

That's like saying KQV's ratings are up 12 percent and WDVE's numbers are flat. OK....but whose number do you want? The NHL should be showing improvement because they're starting from virtually nothing. NBC made the NHL change the Finals schedule because they didn't want to risk an overtime game that might affect Conan O'Brien's debut week.

The NHL's best on Versus so far is 3.45 million viewers and their best on NBC is 4.28 million. The first game of the NBA Finals on ABC drew 13 million. I'd rather have the NBA's problems.
 
I know Game 7 of the Stanley Cup got 8 million viewers while Game 5 of the NBA Finals two days later- their clincher with the glamourous, big market Lakers on viewer friendly Sunday night- got 9.6 million.

Yes, the NBA did beat the NHL. And yes, I am comparing Game 7 to Game 5. And yes, basketball hoops in the driveway are more common than rinks in the suburbs wherever you go.

But even so, is this ratings advantage of 1.6 million, boosted by the Lakers and Sunday night (with the NHL audience theoretically dragged down a bit by being on a Friday night), so great that the NHL must be put down as it so often is as irrelevant- especially by NBA types?

People who live in glass houses, after all . . . .
 
Parttimer said:
If you factor the LA market out of the NBA rating the NHL might have beaten them everywhere else....
Click to expand...

And if the Lakers had wound up with a more compelling opponent (Cleveland? Boston?) the NBA might have blown the NHL away. It's the old 'what if' game.

There's a big difference between a game that will defintely decide the championship and one that might.

Shaquille O'Neal does more national commercials that all the NHL players combined. LeBron James was profiled on "60 Minutes." Hockey registers well with hockey fans, but it has a lot of work to do to cross over.
 
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