CBC and NBC Extend NHL Deals

The NHL announced extensions with their national television broadcast networks in both Canada and the United States. The CBC deal is believed to be worth $85 million USD meaning each team will receive roughly an extra million dollars in shared revenue more than under the old deal. Financial details of the NBC package were not available. Some highlights:

Despite paying more, the CBC is getting slightly less. It will air fewer Maple Leafs games in the regular season, 23 compared with the current 28. In the playoffs, the CBC will own the rights to the first two series involving Canadian teams. But if there's a third, it will go to TSN. In the current deal, the CBC owns all Canadian series rights. Although TSN's new cable deal with the NHL is not completed, it appears to have achieved its two main goals: more regular-season Leafs games nationally and additional Canadian content in the postseason.

NBC will be able to select from a minimum of three games scheduled on Sunday afternoons. Thirteen days prior to the scheduled games, NBC, in conjunction with the NHL, will select one of those games as the "Game of the Week" to be broadcast during the NBC window. The other two games will revert back to the team's regional carrier (not to be televised during NBC's broadcast window).

Four Sabres/Leafs tilts were featured nationally on Hockey Night in Canada this year and the season finale against the Flyers will be covered by NBC.