Sabres' TV Schedule Announced

[Joseph_Gallant]

As you know, the MSG Network has replaced Empire Sports as the cable TV home of Buffalo Sabres' games. Empire was a victim of the NHL lockout; with no Sabres games to televise (the only "major" pro sports team in the city available for Empire to televise), the network bellied-up.

The Sabres have announced their 2005/2006 television schedule (Note: this is a PDF document), and I was surprised that MSG would be covering as many regular-season games as they are (74 of the Sabres' 82 regular-season games). I thought the number was going to be fewer.

Two other games (October 10th vs. Pittsburgh; the first visit to Buffalo of Penguins' rookie phenom Sidney Crosby, and March 14th at Washington) are on OLN as part of the NHL's new national cable-TV deal with that network.

Interestingly enough, six Sabres' home games (November 9th vs. Carolina, November 17th vs. Washington, December 14th vs. Dallas, January 12th vs. Phoenix, March 1st vs. Atlanta and March 22nd vs. Carolina) are not listed at this time for TV coverage. Could the Sabres have decided to hold back these games from the MSG package and try to sell them to a local over-the-air TV station?? I recall that during the 2003/2004 season, WGRZ-2 did a handful of Sabres' games.

Buffalo-area residents without cable (and who have outdoor TV antennas if living in or just south of Buffalo; I suspect north of Buffalo, you get the Toronto VHF's with rabbit ears) will be able to watch two Sabres' away games at Toronto on Thursday, January 26th and Saturday, April 1st via Toronto's CBLT-5 and CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada".

Sabres' games on MSG will only be seen in upstate New York; I suspect that will be the Buffalo and Rochester areas. I suspect that in Syracuse (as well as Utica, Albany, the upper Hudson Valley and northern New York State up towards Plattsburg and Watertown), the New York Rangers will be on MSG instead of the Sabres.

 

[ericNY]

Checking the 6 games that won't be televised, All 6 are on weeknights (4 wed and 2 Thurs) and all against non-divisonal teams (4 against the Southeast and 2 against the western conference). The Sabres probably kept these games off of tv to hopefully increase attendence at HSBC since a weeknight non-divisional game would be a tough sell.

I remember Empire being available in Syracuse a couple years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sabres game reach Syracuse as well and they were a victim of frequent Isles/Devils/Rangers Blackouts as well.

> As you know, the MSG Network has replaced Empire Sports as
> the cable TV home of Buffalo Sabres' games. Empire was a
> victim of the NHL lockout; with no Sabres games to televise
> (the only "major" pro sports team in the city available for
> Empire to televise), the network bellied-up.
>
> The Sabres have announced their 2005/2006 television
> schedule (Note: this is a PDF document), and I was surprised
> that MSG would be covering as many regular-season games as
> they are (74 of the Sabres' 82 regular-season games). I
> thought the number was going to be fewer.
>
> Two other games (October 10th vs. Pittsburgh; the first
> visit to Buffalo of Penguins' rookie phenom Sidney Crosby,
> and March 14th at Washington) are on OLN as part of the
> NHL's new national cable-TV deal with that network.
>
> Interestingly enough, six Sabres' home games (November 9th
> vs. Carolina, November 17th vs. Washington, December 14th
> vs. Dallas, January 12th vs. Phoenix, March 1st vs. Atlanta
> and March 22nd vs. Carolina) are not listed at this time for
> TV coverage. Could the Sabres have decided to hold back
> these games from the MSG package and try to sell them to a
> local over-the-air TV station?? I recall that during the
> 2003/2004 season, WGRZ-2 did a handful of Sabres' games.
>
> Buffalo-area residents without cable (and who have outdoor
> TV antennas if living in or just south of Buffalo; I suspect
> north of Buffalo, you get the Toronto VHF's with rabbit
> ears) will be able to watch two Sabres' away games at
> Toronto on Thursday, January 26th and Saturday, April 1st
> via Toronto's CBLT-5 and CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada".
>
> Sabres' games on MSG will only be seen in upstate New York;
> I suspect that will be the Buffalo and Rochester areas. I
> suspect that in Syracuse (as well as Utica, Albany, the
> upper Hudson Valley and northern New York State up towards
> Plattsburg and Watertown), the New York Rangers will be on
> MSG instead of the Sabres.
>

 

[KML0224]

Are any of the games going to be on NBC?

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

KML0224 asked:

> Are any of the games going to be on NBC?

No.

The Buffalo Sabres will not have any regular-season games on NBC as things stand now.

I suspect the reason why is that Buffalo is a "small" market. I think the only way the Sabres would have gotten any regional telecasts on NBC this year would have been either: (a) if the Sabres were a good team and a championship contendor, or, (b) if the Sabres had won the number-one pick in this past July's NHL draft, which would have given them highly-touted prospect Sidney Crosby. The top pick (and the right to draft Crosby) went to Pittsburgh; I suspect that NBC would only have had one Pittsburgh game among their schedule of NHL regular telecasts (January 21st against cross-state rival Philadelphia) had the Penguins not won the first pick.

However, if the Sabres suddenly become a "hot" team and start contending for the Northeast Division title, then it's possible that one or two late-season Sabres' games on Saturdays could be moved to the afternoon for NBC regional coverage. And if the Sabres do make the playoffs, it's possible one or two early-round games may be regionally televised on NBC, especially if their series opponent is a "large-market" club (i.e. Philadelphia, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Boston).

 

[Dave4120]

> As you know, the MSG Network has replaced Empire Sports as
> the cable TV home of Buffalo Sabres' games. Empire was a
> victim of the NHL lockout; with no Sabres games to televise
> (the only "major" pro sports team in the city available for
> Empire to televise), the network bellied-up.
>
> The Sabres have announced their 2005/2006 television
> schedule (Note: this is a PDF document), and I was surprised
> that MSG would be covering as many regular-season games as
> they are (74 of the Sabres' 82 regular-season games). I
> thought the number was going to be fewer.
>
> Two other games (October 10th vs. Pittsburgh; the first
> visit to Buffalo of Penguins' rookie phenom Sidney Crosby,
> and March 14th at Washington) are on OLN as part of the
> NHL's new national cable-TV deal with that network.
>
> Interestingly enough, six Sabres' home games (November 9th
> vs. Carolina, November 17th vs. Washington, December 14th
> vs. Dallas, January 12th vs. Phoenix, March 1st vs. Atlanta
> and March 22nd vs. Carolina) are not listed at this time for
> TV coverage. Could the Sabres have decided to hold back
> these games from the MSG package and try to sell them to a
> local over-the-air TV station?? I recall that during the
> 2003/2004 season, WGRZ-2 did a handful of Sabres' games.
>
> Buffalo-area residents without cable (and who have outdoor
> TV antennas if living in or just south of Buffalo; I suspect
> north of Buffalo, you get the Toronto VHF's with rabbit
> ears) will be able to watch two Sabres' away games at
> Toronto on Thursday, January 26th and Saturday, April 1st
> via Toronto's CBLT-5 and CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada".
>
> Sabres' games on MSG will only be seen in upstate New York;
> I suspect that will be the Buffalo and Rochester areas. I
> suspect that in Syracuse (as well as Utica, Albany, the
> upper Hudson Valley and northern New York State up towards
> Plattsburg and Watertown), the New York Rangers will be on
> MSG instead of the Sabres.

We have the Rome area Time Warner system, so I hope we get the Rangers and not the Sabres. More Ranger fans in this area.
>