Let's give Versus a little love here

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Al righty, this thread might quickly ride off into the sunset, but I thought I'd give it a shot..

I really get a kick out of so much energy is spent on here by people getting so angry at VS and ESPN when it realtes to hockey.

I know a lot of locals would probably prefer to watch the games on the local Fox Sports affiliate. I would too as well probably, if I lived in Michigan.

But you got to admit somewhat at least that Versus has been extremely busy with the hockey coverage in the playoffs so far. Action every night, and multiple games pretty much every night as well. Sure, I'd like to see games back on ESPN where it's more easily accessible on regular cable for all across the country, but hockey was almost always playing second/third fiddle to baseball and basketball during this time of the year. ESPN wasn't going to give the NHL such dedication.

I know Versus broadcasts other sports, fishing, UFC and the like, but I think it's safe to assume that hockey, for now on their network at least, is top dog or close to it.

If you are just looking at broadcasts on this station in a 1-3 year window, it's easily to be critical of the decision by Bettman to do this to a station that not many people have heard of. Hell, I haven't heard of VS (Outdoor Life Network at the time) before I heard the NHL will be broadcasting games. But I think they are doing a solid job now. It's a long term decision.

Hopefully over the next few 3-5 years, that network can do a good job of promoting itself and it can become more popular and more accessible to homes higher up in the channel lineup.

Here's to Versus and their dedicaated coverage of the sport so far. :beerbuddy:

[BobRouse03 31]

My gripes with Versus have nothing to do with them covering the sport. It seems like their feed skips every two mintues and the HD channel is rarely in HD. My biggest problem with them is that there is no alternative if a game runs late. For example, the other night they spent time doing Sens/Pens game 5 post game. The Wings were on next and when they fnally went to the game several minutes had past.

This is a copy of an email I sent them last year during the playoffs, to which I never received a reply.

To Whom It May Concern:

I do not typically send emails to complain about the television schedule or lineup. I understand that OLN is new at broadcasting the NHL, which is why I have not complained about the substandard coverage this year. However, I have a major complaint when it comes to the playoffs. Losing the feed for periods of time (as in the last two minutes of the third period between Detroit and Edmonton last night) is unacceptable and inexcusable when it comes to the playoffs. In addition, I am a Detroit Red Wings fan that lives in New Jersey. I purchased NHL Center Ice to watch their games, and have had this service for a number of years so that I do not miss any of their playoff games. I understand that they are not permitted to broadcast games that OLN is carrying and so on and so forth on the Center Ice package (this happened with ESPN as well, but not ESPN2 games), but I am concerned when it comes to playoff games that start at 9:30 or 10:00. On your upcoming schedule you have a double header with Ottawa playing Tampa Bay at 7:00 and Detroit and Edmonton at 9:30 (April 27th). There is no chance that the Ottawa/Lightning game will be completed by 9:30. So what does that mean??? You guessed it, joining the game in progress. That is a sure fire way to bring support to your network by having fans not be able to watch their teams because of the way the lineup is scheduled. I know you want to show many games, and I for one commend your network for acquiring the rights to broadcast games, but you are going to alienate many fans from your network. I am pretty sure you are receiving several emails from Calgary/Anaheim fans that missed an entire first period because your double header ran over. I do not want you to get me wrong, because as a hockey fan I would be furious if you cut out of an overtime game to show the start of another game, but there has to be a way to make this work. What happens if a game that started at 7:30 goes into 4 overtimes and fans of the Western teams have no other way to watch those games. I hope that something can be arranged or a deal can be made with Center Ice in the future to avoid these problems. Thank you for listening to my concerns and your work at addressing these issues.

[w00p33 2]

First the up points.

Given they came out of a lockout without much prep time even to know certainly we would have a season when they got the contract, congrats to them for getting any product at all last season whether good or bad. Good on them for getting enough people together to be able to have competent booth guys (note : I said competent, not good; there is a difference... heh...). Props to the network giving them few restrictions for the playoffs, they improved this year over last year. My biggest Kudos goes to the network for getting an agreement to carry CBC feeds. (Jim Hughson is my favorite play-by-play guy and I look forward to CBC feeds of any and all Vancouver games where he's in the booth.)

Downers.

The, eastern-time-zone heavy Monday and Tuesday coverage in the regular season. Thursday and Saturday are the most game-heavy days in the league. Once a month or so I'd like to see both nights covered on different weeks, preferrably a later (western) game so they can do more with their intermission and post-game highlights than just the game we had been watching. My other big complaint, for as important as NHL is, they really ought to get a daily or near daily (like 5 days a week) half hour recap show on the day's activities (a la nhl 2night). Also, in the coverage off cbc I would love if they didn't cut away so quick to commercial or the studio as I'm interested in what the CBC guys are saying right before break (that's when a ton of Hughson's best lines come). Their studio work is mediocre. They need a little more variety in teams especially more late (west) games. And take a cue from NFL. Have the capability to switch to important games per the playoff races.

Not so much complaints as "I wish."

Pregame show, especially in post-season or in later games when there's other games already partly through. Billy Clemente, get back in the booth. He's getting better as presenter but still was a better color guy.

All in all, it cancels out IMO and the product makes up for the presentational shortcomings most of the time. They need more coverage either in more games or a separate show or both, and more variety in teams covered. But for a young network who deals with prerecorded shows most of the time they are doing alright though there is room for improvement.

[BlueMonk 102]

I have no gripes with the VS coverage. They were pretty bush league last year, but the improvements have been huge. I've really gained a new respect for Bill Clement. He's clearly the face of VS hockey coverage, and he's been all over the radio talking on XM and even the local stations discussing the NHL. He's a very good ambassador for them.

The complaints about VS have more to do with the coverage the NHL isn't getting on ESPN, but the way they've handled the NHL this season has been pretty good.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Also an interesting tidbit I forgot to mention in my original post...

Versus also broadcasts college football games from the Mountain West Conference. Just another example of how they are trying to become a bit more competitive and "mainstream". I don't recall them broadcasting much, if any, college basketball games from the MWC.

My alma mater is in the MWC, so it's double-goodie on VS for me.

They'll never trump ESPN, but hopefully the NHL and some college broadcasts can increase it's popularity to more casual sport watchers.

[auxlepli 17]

People just need to be more optimistic with the NHL on Versus.

A classic example is many said Fox would never be a major network. Now look.

Another example, CNN now has major competition from Fox News, MSNBC and others.

[johnnyoski 0]

Totally agree that a 30 minute postgame show would be a great idea.

The Hi-Def coverage and CBC feeds are good signs that the network is building a bridge to help promote the sport.

[Vladinator 0]

I might not mind VS covering the hockey playoffs if Wide Open West would put VS into their basic cable package...

If the games aren't on CBC, I can't watch them...

[hawkupaloogie 0]

i love versus (yeah, that's right, i said it). this is in part that i'm also a HUGE bullriding fan, and recently they have had lacrosse and showing jumping on (also sports i enjoy). i realize the quality of broadcasts aren't great, the commentators and play by play guys are better elsewhere, and that games on center ice get blacked out when they're also shown on versus (at least, i think so, i can't afford center ice, so i don't know first hand). however, aside from all of that, they're still showing much, much more hockey than any other network ever would. even cbc's broadcast stopped last night after the devils/lightning game, while vs. picked up the tsn feed for the remainder of the predators/sharks game. personally, i'd rather have crappily broadcasted hockey on tv than none at all.

as far as a half hour wrap up show goes, it's not very good, but it's called "hockey central". they briefly review all the games that night. it's usually on after the last game, which, obviously can be pretty late. it's on tonight at 10:30, if you want to watch. also, i know they've been showing "nhl on the fly final," which, i think comes from tsn. this is on even later, scheduled for 1am (right after some bullriding, woohoo!).

i think over the next few years, it's only going to get better. like auxlepli said, people just need to give versus a chance. some of the complaints are ridiculous, anyway. the set sucks?? go watch "***** eye for the straight guy" if that bugs you that much.

[The_Cub 0]

This is the first season I've had VS and other than showing the pathetic Flyers too often the station is very good for hockey. Glad I've got them now.

[EastLansingNative 1]

I think they're definitely headed in the right direction.

I'm becoming a fan of "NHL: On The Fly" lately. Cool replay segments with game audio only.

Does anybody else think the NBC "Shift timer" is a little redundant for those of us paying attention to the game?