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Chicago Sports.com: Simulcast Of Hawks Games To End??

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
For quite a few years, radio and local television broadcasts of the Chicago Blackhawks had been simulcasts. Most recently, Pat Foley and Troy Murray have called Hawk games on both TV and radio.

But Chicago Sports.com is reporting that after the upcoming 2005/2006 season (during which, Foley and Murray will again simulcast those Hawks games also on TV), there may be separate TV and radio announcers for the Blackhawks.

At present, only away games are televised (by Comcast Sportsnet-Chicago). If this policy were to continue, the future TV announcers would do only about half the games, while the radio announcers would do every game, home and away.

Could this also be a signal that there could be more Blackhawk games, including home games from United Center, on local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or another over-the-air TV stration) get 15-20 away games with Comcast Sportsnet-Chicago getting the rest of the away games as well as the home games, given that with it's other committments, CSN might not be able to broadcast more than 65 Hawk games a year??
 
> For quite a few years, radio and local television broadcasts
> of the Chicago Blackhawks had been simulcasts. Most
> recently, Pat Foley and Troy Murray have called Hawk games
> on both TV and radio.
>
> But Chicago Sports.com is reporting that after the upcoming
> 2005/2006 season (during which, Foley and Murray will again
> simulcast those Hawks games also on TV), there may be
> separate TV and radio announcers for the Blackhawks.
>
> At present, only away games are televised (by Comcast
> Sportsnet-Chicago). If this policy were to continue, the
> future TV announcers would do only about half the games,
> while the radio announcers would do every game, home and
> away.
>
> Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> Blackhawk games, including home games from United Center, on
> local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or another
> over-the-air TV stration) get 15-20 away games with Comcast
> Sportsnet-Chicago getting the rest of the away games as well
> as the home games, given that with it's other committments,
> CSN might not be able to broadcast more than 65 Hawk games a
> year??
>


I am not from Chicago, but from what I have read and heard about Bill Wirtz over the years, he would NEVER put Blackhawk Home games on TV..It would be a surprise to me if he ever did..
 
> > For quite a few years, radio and local television
> broadcasts
> > of the Chicago Blackhawks had been simulcasts. Most
> > recently, Pat Foley and Troy Murray have called Hawk games
>
> > on both TV and radio.
> >
> > But Chicago Sports.com is reporting that after the
> upcoming
> > 2005/2006 season (during which, Foley and Murray will
> again
> > simulcast those Hawks games also on TV), there may be
> > separate TV and radio announcers for the Blackhawks.
> >
> > At present, only away games are televised (by Comcast
> > Sportsnet-Chicago). If this policy were to continue, the
> > future TV announcers would do only about half the games,
> > while the radio announcers would do every game, home and
> > away.
> >
> > Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> > Blackhawk games, including home games from United Center,
> on
> > local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or another
> > over-the-air TV stration) get 15-20 away games with
> Comcast
> > Sportsnet-Chicago getting the rest of the away games as
> well
> > as the home games, given that with it's other
> committments,
> > CSN might not be able to broadcast more than 65 Hawk games
> a
> > year??
> >
>
>
> I am not from Chicago, but from what I have read and heard
> about Bill Wirtz over the years, he would NEVER put
> Blackhawk Home games on TV..It would be a surprise to me if
> he ever did..
>

During the first press conference after the end of the NHL lockout, a reporter brought up this very question and the response of Bill Wirtz, who apparently is unaware of the existence of the Internet, was something like "Newspapers don't give away their product for free, why should we?".

But they will broadcast home playoff games on regular cable now, which they did not do until 2002. So you never know.

I'd be kind of surprised if they ended the simulcasts......they had seperate announcers for TV and radio at one time, in the early 80's Pat Foley did radio and Ken Wilson did TV. When Wilson left to do work for ESPN (and later to become the longtime voice of the St. Louis Blues before being fired a couple of years ago) the Hawks began carrying Foley's broadcasts on TV as well.

I love Foley as an announcer and grew up listening to him, but I'd hope that if he stuck to one media it would be TV....sometimes, particularly when the game is uninteresting, he gets caught up storytelling while the puck is in play, and this can be quite annoying when trying to follow on the radio. Even if the game is a blowout, I'd prefer hearing what's happening on the ice.
 
> > > For quite a few years, radio and local television
> > broadcasts
> > > of the Chicago Blackhawks had been simulcasts. Most
> > > recently, Pat Foley and Troy Murray have called Hawk
> games
> >
> > > on both TV and radio.
> > >
> > > But Chicago Sports.com is reporting that after the
> > upcoming
> > > 2005/2006 season (during which, Foley and Murray will
> > again
> > > simulcast those Hawks games also on TV), there may be
> > > separate TV and radio announcers for the Blackhawks.
> > >
> > > At present, only away games are televised (by Comcast
> > > Sportsnet-Chicago). If this policy were to continue, the
>
> > > future TV announcers would do only about half the games,
>
> > > while the radio announcers would do every game, home and
>
> > > away.
> > >
> > > Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> > > Blackhawk games, including home games from United
> Center,
> > on
> > > local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or
> another
> > > over-the-
 
> Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> Blackhawk games, including home games from United Center, on
> local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or another
> over-the-air TV stration) get 15-20 away games with Comcast
> Sportsnet-Chicago getting the rest of the away games as well
> as the home games, given that with it's other committments,
> CSN might not be able to broadcast more than 65 Hawk games a
> year??
>

It won't be WGN. The NHL no longer allows "superstations" to broadcast games (that's why the Bruins are no longer on WSBK).
 
> > Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> > Blackhawk games, including home games from United Center,
> on
> > local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or another
> > over-the-air TV stration) get 15-20 away games with
> Comcast
> > Sportsnet-Chicago getting the rest of the away games as
> well
> > as the home games, given that with it's other
> committments,
> > CSN might not be able to broadcast more than 65 Hawk games
> a
> > year??
> >
>
> It won't be WGN. The NHL no longer allows "superstations" to
> broadcast games (that's why the Bruins are no longer on
> WSBK).
>
Could still be on WGN, they could show it local only & not on the superstation as they do with some Bulls games.
 
> > > > For quite a few years, radio and local television
> > > broadcasts
> > > > of the Chicago Blackhawks had been simulcasts. Most
> > > > recently, Pat Foley and Troy Murray have called Hawk
> > games
> > >
> > > > on both TV and radio.
> > > >
> > > > But Chicago Sports.com is reporting that after the
> > > upcoming
> > > > 2005/2006 season (during which, Foley and Murray will
> > > again
> > > > simulcast those Hawks games also on TV), there may be
> > > > separate TV and radio announcers for the Blackhawks.
> > > >
> > > > At present, only away games are televised (by Comcast
> > > > Sportsnet-Chicago). If this policy were to continue,
> the
> >
> > > > future TV announcers would do only about half the
> games,
> >
> > > > while the radio announcers would do every game, home
> and
> >
> > > > away.
> > > >
> > > > Could this also be a signal that there could be more
> > > > Blackhawk games, including home games from United
> > Center,
> > > on
> > > > local TV beginning in 2006/2007?? Might WGN-9 (or
> > another
> > > > over-the-
>

There is only one thing that can force the owner of the Blackhawks to air the games on TV. THE NHL! I could understand him if the games don't sell a certain amount of tickets (which can allow him to use the Blackout rule), but doing this for every home game it's ridiculous.

I think it's time for the NHL to resolve this eternal problem. I wonder if he would do this if the Blackhawks get to the playoffs and the Stanley Cup.
 
here's a few nuggets of info:

Playoff and Stanley Cup games will NEVER be blacked out. That is per NHL Rightsholder aggreement.

With the current system of away games only on TV, Blackhawks will likely never air anywhere besides Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. This is a direct result of Bill Wirtz being a partner in that network (along with Jerry Reinsdorf (2nd network they partnered in), Tribune, and Comcast Cable (who manages the day-to-day operations).

Blackhawks simulcast signal routing comes through from the TV production truck from the distant stadium over the TV transmission lines to the Comcast Sportsnet Chicago NOC, and 'mixed for radio' audio gets routed from Comcast Sportsnet to the current radio rightsholder's master control (I believe it is now 670) via local broadcast loop.

As long as there are empty seats at the United Center, that means no one paid the silly high ticket price, the $20 parking, the $10 beer and the $7 hot dog. Wirtz needs your money to stay rich and getting his lion's share of the tv revenues isn't cutting it. he wants fans to come to the stadiun and 'give him their money'.

Meanwhile the Wolves put EVERY GAME on TV. and they have much better attendance than the Blackhawks.
 
Z. Jonez commented:

> Playoff and Stanley Cup games will NEVER be blacked out.
> That is per NHL Rightsholder aggreement.

Under the NHL's new TV deals with NBC (broadcast-TV) and OLN (cable), any Hawks' weekend matinee games on NBC would be seen (even if at home) on WMAQ-5, and any Hawks' games on OLN (again, even if at home) would not be blacked-out.

Were the Hawks to make a big turnaround and go to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, all of the games the Hawks play in the last two rounds (Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals) would be televsied in Chicago, even at home: OLN for midweek games of the Conference Finals and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday-afternoon games of the Conference Finals and Game 3-onward of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC/WMAQ.

I once recall reading that back in 1971, when the Hawks hosted Montreal in Game 7 of the Finals (which they lost) at the old Chicago Stadium), the Hawks suposedely got the CBS telecast blacked-out not only in Chicago, but in northern and central Illinois, as well as all of Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. This would have created a blackout radius of several hundred miles (except to the southwest) of Chicago.
 
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