ESPN To Carry The NHL Again?

Andy Strickland reports a rumor that ESPN will resume coverage of the NHL, including the playoffs, next year taking over for NBC:

Expect the NHL to announce that Versus will remain the cable carrier for NHL games heading into next season. A mutual option must be agreed upon by the January 1st 2008 deadline. No official agreement has been made but sources tell me not to expect the NHL and Comcast to part ways.

You can also expect to hear an announcement from the NHL that either ESPN or ESPN 2 will replace NBC and begin televising games next season. Sources tell me that the news is looking very positive for ESPN.

The biggest thing for ESPN is that they once again are televising the Stanley Cup playoffs and more importantly the finals.

An announcement will likely come sometime during this season’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

Potentially good news.

New Time Warner Channels

In addition to the NHL Network, Time Warner is adding Versus HD.

On October 31st, customers will be able to watch the NHL Network on Channel 171 and Versus HD on Channel 771.

The NHL Network launched in the U.S. on October 1st. Fans can watch live NHL games, (subject to local blackout restrictions) highights and other league programming on the network. They'll also be able to enjoy sporting events, including NHL Hockey, in high definition on Versus HD.

Time Warner To Add NHL Network in Buffalo

After purchasing the rights to carry NHL Network nationally, Time Warner's Buffalo division has announced they will be adding the channel in the near future despite speculation that they would not.

Stay tuned for The NHL Network on Time Warner. Robin Wolfgang, the spokesperson for the cable company, said today the channel will be added to the system shortly.

"We know our customers like hockey and it seemed like a good option," said Wolfgang.

The NHL Network is carrying 40 games this season, including three involving the Buffalo Sabres. Two of the three games are also on Versus and the third is on local rights-holder MSG. The NHL Network feed will be blacked out here for those games.

It may cost subscribers more money to get the channel here. If subscribers already get T-W's sports and movie package for $5 monthly, they will continue to pay that rate, Wolfgang said.

However, T-W is creating separate sports and movie tiers, with each costing $4 monthly, Wolfgang said. New subscribers to each tier can choose to pay $4 for one tier or $8 for both, Wolfgang said.

It only made sense to add the channel in the NHL's most successful American TV market.

Time Warner to Carry NHL Network

Time Warner Cable has purchased the rights to broadcast the NHL Network, which includes 50 NHL games carried in HD. The TW employee I spoke to said it would be added to the digital sports tier within the next week. It's uncertain whether the HD games will be picked up in Buffalo, so contacting Buffalo Time Warner can only help. A TW spokesman on the issue:

Mark Harrad, a Time Warner Cable spokesman, told TVPredictions.com last night that it's up to each local Time Warner operator to determine whether to air the NHL Network's high-def broadcasts.

"We have the rights to offer their HD content. It will depend on the individual divisions, if they want to devote the bandwidth to carry these games," Harrad said.

Additionally, MSG will be showing Sabres home games in HD on channel 700 in the Buffalo area.

It's almost as if Time Warner is pretending they care...

MSNBC On Sabres TV Revenue

There's been a lot of speculation about exactly how much money the Sabres deal with MSG brings in the team. MSNBC, in an article about the franchise's turnaround off the ice, provided a bit of insight, but along the lines of what we already knew:

Golisano & Co. have signed a local TV deal with MSG Network through the 2016-2017 season believed to be in the high seven figures annually, in which the Sabres bring in money by selling advertising and where they control production (whose costs they bear). Under previous owner John Rigas, founder of cable firm Adelphia Communications, the team’s broadcast territory through Empire Sports Network barely made a dent in the Empire State. Today, their games can be seen as far away as Albany, helping to mint new fans.

Obviously, with the Sabres generating income by selling advertising, the exact figure won't come out barring a major leak from someone in the know. That said, Larry Quinn admitted that the blunder causing MSG's ratings numbers to be underreported cost the team a significant amount of advertising revenue last year. It's unknown exactly how widespread the underreporting was, but it's safe to say the ratings were artificially low by 30-50%. This season will be the first time advertisers are paying for the full rating prowess that the Sabres bring. They're the top rated cable show in Buffalo reaching prime demographics.

Since we know that Empire's rights fee was $9.5 million annually, I'd be surprised if the Sabres don't pull in well over $10 million from their local TV contract alone for the 2007-2008 season.

The Winter Classic - 42,000 Tickets Sold in 25 Minutes

Everyone seems to be outraged about the ticket situation for the New Year's Day AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, which we now know will be the highest attended game in NHL history. The "average Joe" segment is outraged that so few tickets were available to die hard fans, Bills season ticket holders are outraged that they had no priority rights to purchase ducats, Pittsburgh fans are outraged that Buffalo fans hacked their highly encrypted password 'Crosby' and bought up their block, Sabres season ticket holders are outraged that there's only 1 ticket on average set aside for them as "extras", and outrage has been set aside for mass confusion from everyone in regards to the bizarre decision to give Toronto Blue Jays season ticket holders preference.

The bottom line, which seems to be being missed by nearly everyone, is that Buffalo sold all 42,000 available tickets in 25 minutes. That figure doesn't even include the 30,000 tickets reserved for Sabres season ticket holders. This is incredible display by the most rabid NHL fan base in the United States. For a league that takes more than it's fair share of flak, this is a fantastic way to show the NHL is not nearly as dead as advertised. Given the right market, the right amount of exposure, and competent marketing, the NHL is capable of hosting a successful event on a very busy sports day (traditionally dominated by college football) because they have the most passionate group of fans in professional sports.

The national ratings will be poor. I'd be highly surprised if it even cracks a 2.0. Don't be fooled by the ratings though, this level of interest is a great sign for hockey.

The NHL released the following statement:

Demonstrating once again that our fans are the most passionate in sports, more than 42,000 tickets to the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic were sold in the first 30 minutes of availability this morning. Due to the overwhelming demand, plus our commitment to Sabres and Penguins season ticket holders, the Buffalo Bills and sponsors of the event, we are currently sold out. If additional tickets become available, we'll release the information at a later date.

Sabres Home Games To Be in HD

Tim Graham reports that Sabres home games on MSG will be broadcast in high definition.

So I had the chance to ask around at the arena today, and learned the Sabres will televise their home games only in HD. Although road games will remain in standard definition for now, more and more away dates will be upgraded in future seasons.

Now we wait on Time Warner.

Sabres Appear Seven Times on Versus

Versus released its schedule for the upcoming NHL season and there is a noticeable Buffalo presence. Here are the games:

Oct. 15 – 7:00 Toronto vs. Buffalo

Nov. 26 – 7:00 Buffalo vs. Washington

Dec. 10 – 7:00 Boston vs. Buffalo

Jan. 29 – 7:30 Buffalo vs. Tampa Bay

Feb. 25 – 7:00 Philadelphia vs. Buffalo

Mar. 4 – 7:00 Buffalo vs. Philadelphia

Mar. 10 – 7:00 NY Rangers vs. Buffalo

Toronto is an interesting choice and should garner a huge rating locally. Fairly surprising that a Penguins/Sabres tilt isn't on tap.

Sabres To Host Outdoor Game

It has been widely speculated that the Sabres will host the "Ice Bowl" on New Year's Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium which will be televised on NBC. Multiple sources including the local NBC affiliate, WGR550, and the Buffalo News have indicated that the game will be a go so long as a few logistical issues get worked out in the near future. NBC released its "flex schedule" for the upcoming season this afternoon which allows it to choose between different games depending on how the particular match up looks at the time. The choices on January 1st? Pittsburgh @ Buffalo or the Penguins visiting the Sabres. It's the only day on the schedule without another option, so it's looking like the outdoor game is a done deal.

It will be interesting to see the rating as half the city will be in attendance. That said, it will be a major event for Buffalo and will likely still pull a big number.

Cup Clincher Pulls Big Rating

The Ducks Stanley Cup clinching victory over the Ottawa Senators drew a big rating in Buffalo. From Alan Pergament:

Buffalo might be the only market in America that gets higher ratings for the Stanley Cup finals than the NBA Finals on ABC despite the hype brought about by James’ legendary performance. The ratings in Buffalo for the Stanley Cup finals were five to 10 times the national ratings. Anaheim’s seriesclinching victory had an 11.7 rating here, about five times the national overnight rating.

The game drew a 2.5 rating nationally. The LA market peaked at an impressive (relatively) 10.4 figure. The overall average was a 6.0 (12 share) which, after taking the West Coast time zone issues into account, isn't that bad. Buffalo was in all likelihood the highest rated American market for all 5 games.

Lowest Rated Show Ever

Bettman probably won't be pleased with this. Game 3 managed to tie a West Wing rerun for the worst rating for a prime-time show ever on NBC.

Of course, that ignores the fact that Canada has a vested interest in the series and the NHL does get the shaft in terms of having 20% of its markets ignored. Cities with teams are almost always more interested in league games. (See: the NBA's popularity in Buffalo) The game drew 2,553,000 viewers on CBC and an additional 646,000 viewers on RDS (Quebec). Canada likes to do things differently (zed, centre, favourite, metric system, twooneys) and puts their figures in terms of total viewers and not households. Some quick math tells me that if Canadians counted towards American ratings Game 3 would have garnered a 3.31 rating, which is still pretty pathetic.

As bad as it sounds, NBC is still making money on the contract. Then again the contract states NBC doesn't pay anything unless they make money. The bottom line is the NHL will never draw a huge rights fee that buoys the other major pro sports leagues unless something drastically changes.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 1

One would think that the LA area, it's low level of NHL interest notwithstanding, would have the highest ratings for the Stanley Cup Finals considering Anaheim is the lone American market remaining. One would be wrong. Buffalo was the top rated US market by a fairly large margin. Selected cities from the .72 national figure:

Buffalo: 3.9
Denver: 2.2
Pittsburgh: 2.0
Los Angeles: 1.7
Chicago: 0.7
Boston: 0.6
New York: 0.3

Yeah, that's pretty bad all around. Let's hope the NBC games crack a 2.0. Ok, a 1.0.

Ottawa Series: Games 3-5

A disappointing series on the ice was also disappointing in the ratings and the two are obviously related. Alan Pergament reports on the final three games of the Sabres season:

The Versus coverage is dominating CBC’s coverage in the ratings even though Amherst resident Harry Neale is a CBC analyst and Versus carries the game on a three- to five-second delay. The Sabres’ victory Wednesday had a 20.8 rating on Versus and a 4.5 on CBC for a combined 25.3. The Sabres’ loss Monday had a 17.4 rating on Versus and a 4.5 on CBC for a combined 21.9.

The Sabres final playoff game had a combined rating of 28.4 on NBC (26.8) and CBC (1.8). One Sabres game on NBC had a 30 rating, but generally, the national playoff games averaged in the low to mid-20s here.

Combined final totals for the ECF (US National broadcast in parentheses, all games on CBC additionally):

Game 1 (VS): 23.8
Game 2 (VS): 27.6
Game 3 (VS): 21.9
Game 4 (VS): 25.3
Game 5 (NBC): 28.4

Obviously, those are great numbers relatively speaking, but there wasn't an increase from the round 2 figures. In fact, the two highest rated Sabres games this season were Games 3 and 6 of the NY Ranger series.

Ottawa/Buffalo: Games 1 and 2

All of the games in the 3rd round are nationally televised and Versus had Games 1 and 2. Both games garnered respectable figures, but the strong Thursday night network lineup hurt the game 1 number:

Ottawa’s 5-2 victory in the first game of the series Thursday sure put a dent into the Thursday night ratings for local prime time favorites, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI.” “CSI” scored a 14.8, and “Grey’s” had a 13.2 rating. They both typically get ratings in the 18-20 range. Of course, ABC repeats “Grey’s” on Fridays, and both shows are heavily DVRed. The Sabre game had a combined 23.8 rating on Versus and CBC.

That broke down to a 19.9 for Versus and a 3.9 for CBC. Game 2 was slightly higher:

After all, the game had a combined 27.6 rating on Versus (21.3) and CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” (6.3), so there were a lot of potential viewers available for extensive postgame coverage.

Good numbers, but not as high as the Rangers series.

Sabres Close Out Round 2 With a Bang

Alan Pergament reports on the rating for the series clincher against the Rangers on NBC:

The Sabres’ clinching victory on Sunday afternoon scored a 32.6 rating and 60 share on WGRZ-TV, which was 2.6 points higher than the Sabres overtime loss in Game Three of the series from Madison Square Garden.

The 60 share is eye-opening. Al Trautwig, the Rangers postgame host on MSG, told Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier Sunday afternoon that the Sabres get a 40 share for TV games, which he called incredible for hockey. A 60 share is beyond incredible for hockey. The first NBC game in the series got shares in the 50s and 60s in Buffalo. The 60 share means that 60 percent of the sets in use in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon were watching the game.

Speaking of incredible, the Sabres’ miracle finish Friday only averaged a 9.5 rating on MSG. That’s about 30 percent of what Channel 2 had for Game Six, which gives MSG further ammunition for the theory that its ratings are severely underreported.

The final ratings for round two are as follows:

Game 1 (VS): 25.3
Game 2 (MSG): 11.0
Game 3 (NBC): 29.8
Game 4 (VS): 24.8
Game 5 (MSG): 9.5
Game 6 (NBC): 32.6

Luckily (at least from a ratings standpoint), MSG is done for the year so there won't be any more underreporting issues.