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erok

NHL Network 'very close' to launching in America.

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Well, I've got some bad news, I went on the Comcast website and went to their Live support thing and after about an hour of waiting in queue, they told me this:

Angela.21460(Mon Oct 1 13:05:58 EDT 2007)>The launch of the NHL Network has been postponed. There is no information at this time as to when it will be available. However it will be added to the channel line up in the Sports and Entertainment packages.

<_< So, it will probably never happen, but if it did, it would have been in a separate sports package.

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I hope my cable company will end up carrying it. I don't really need it but would be nice to have. I am very happy I was able to add a sports package recently to get VS. which I didn't have until recently. Whenever it lauches for real I will put a call into my cable company. I won't be calling them up and get someone who has no information about a channel that really doesn't exhist yet.

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I have never heard of Brighthouse but they just added it!

Bright House Networks has announced it is introducing four new high definition television channels Oct. 2 and will add the NHL Network to its Digital Sports Pack product in November.

The company is adding TBS HD, HGTV HD, The History Channel HD and the Food Network HD, bringing the total number of high definition channels it offers to 24. More channels are expected to be introduced to Central Florida customers in March.

The high definition channels are offered at no additional charge. Customers will also incur no extra charge for the Digital Sports Pack with the addition of NHL Network. The price will remain at $1.99 per month.

Bright House serves more than 850,000 customers in Central Florida.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories...24/daily34.html

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I have never heard of Brighthouse but they just added it!

Bright House Networks has announced it is introducing four new high definition television channels Oct. 2 and will add the NHL Network to its Digital Sports Pack product in November.

The company is adding TBS HD, HGTV HD, The History Channel HD and the Food Network HD, bringing the total number of high definition channels it offers to 24. More channels are expected to be introduced to Central Florida customers in March.

The high definition channels are offered at no additional charge. Customers will also incur no extra charge for the Digital Sports Pack with the addition of NHL Network. The price will remain at $1.99 per month.

Bright House serves more than 850,000 customers in Central Florida.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories...24/daily34.html

I have never heard of Brighthouse but they just added it!

Bright House Networks has announced it is introducing four new high definition television channels Oct. 2 and will add the NHL Network to its Digital Sports Pack product in November.

The company is adding TBS HD, HGTV HD, The History Channel HD and the Food Network HD, bringing the total number of high definition channels it offers to 24. More channels are expected to be introduced to Central Florida customers in March.

The high definition channels are offered at no additional charge. Customers will also incur no extra charge for the Digital Sports Pack with the addition of NHL Network. The price will remain at $1.99 per month.

Bright House serves more than 850,000 customers in Central Florida.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories...24/daily34.html

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I called WOW again today about Centre Ice and was told that it would be available on October 13th. Not sure why the delay and not sure if we will get the free preview starting tomorrow. Also nervous because I asked to sign up and was told to call back. I am not getting a warm, fuzzy feeling here.

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Well, I've got some bad news, I went on the Comcast website and went to their Live support thing and after about an hour of waiting in queue, they told me this:

<_< So, it will probably never happen, but if it did, it would have been in a separate sports package.

Channel 276 from comcast - garden state :) here's to hoping tonight

Edit: well it's on the channel lineup, just not the tv. boo

Edited by vangvace

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I called WOW again today about Centre Ice and was told that it would be available on October 13th. Not sure why the delay and not sure if we will get the free preview starting tomorrow. Also nervous because I asked to sign up and was told to call back. I am not getting a warm, fuzzy feeling here.

The guy I talked to tonight said they wouldn't be carrying it this season.

Seriously, why the hell can't I get a straight answer about this? I don't really trust the customer service folks at these places to know the real deal. If I can't get it, I'm going to switch providers. It's just ridiculous.

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BlueMonk, you are right. I just spent 20 minutes on hold and at first was told you could start ordering this Saturday for the early bird price. I asked about the free preview and the operator said he would check. He then came back on and said that WOW made the decision today not to carry Centre Ice.

Like you, I am switcing cable providers.

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BlueMonk, you are right. I just spent 20 minutes on hold and at first was told you could start ordering this Saturday for the early bird price. I asked about the free preview and the operator said he would check. He then came back on and said that WOW made the decision today not to carry Centre Ice.

Like you, I am switcing cable providers.

well finally time warner got it yesterday and i ordered it today still for the early bird price. as for the nhl network on time warner. not sure when but i was told that they were getting it and that it would be added to the sports pack which i already have so i will keep everyone informed. so it looks like the nhl network unlike the NFL network is letting time warner charge extra for their channel. oh well

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I guess what pisses me off the most is the NHL again trying to play hardball when it's in no position to do so. There will be viewers who stay with WOW who simply now won't order Center Ice even if they had any inclination to because switching to a new provider isn't worth the trouble to them. This is a garage league, it's really true.

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NHL set to roll out U.S. network

The launch of the NHL’s long-planned U.S. network is imminent, as carriage deals with the largest cable and satellite operators are virtually complete.

A deal with cable operators would place the NHL Network on sports tiers, according to cable executives close to the negotiations. That means the network would be available to an undetermined number of subscribers as soon as this week for the start of the hockey season.

The biggest cable and satellite providers already started offering the current season of the NHL’s out-of-market package, NHL Center Ice, last week, with an early bird price of $149 through Oct. 9 for a full season. Afterward, it will be available for $169.

Center Ice has been available to both cable and satellite operators for the past several years, and this year’s deal is good news for the NHL Network, since the NHL has been looking to follow Major League Baseball’s model by tying carriage of its channel to carriage of its out-of-market package.

Sources with the three biggest cable operators, Comcast, Time Warner and Cox, as well as satellite operator DirecTV say they are still negotiating to carry the network, and expect to complete a deal soon. EchoStar wasn’t available for comment, though it appears likely that Dish Network is close to a deal, as well, since its customer service representatives were selling the NHL Center Ice package last week.

Putting the NHL Network on a sports tier would follow a similar strategy to NBA TV, which accepted digital sports tier carriage several years ago. The NBA recently has been expressing disappointment about the lack of cable subscribers that get sports tiers. NBA TV is in less than 10 million homes.

To combat these poor penetration rates, NHL Network plans to make much of its programming available on demand, including some live programming and archived content. That would give all digital cable subscribers access to NHL Network content.

In some markets where hockey is less popular, the NHL is considering forgoing a linear channel in favor of a straight video-on-demand feed, cable sources said.

It’s not known how many subscribers the network will have initially. The network is charging cable and satellite operators 21 cents per subscriber, though that price fluctuates given the different markets and carriage commitments.

The network will be virtually identical to the already-established NHL Network in Canada, which has been operating for the past six years out of Toronto and is seen in 900,000 Canadian pay TV homes. The U.S. version of the NHL Network will feature 50 live games this season, many of which will be different from its Canadian counterpart. It also will show the Canadian network’s signature program, “On the Fly,†which offers news, commentary and live look-ins to NHL games.

Eventually it will morph into more of a U.S. channel, with an undetermined amount of programming being produced in the U.S. out of the league’s New York office. Jody Shapiro, group vice president of Center Ice and the NHL Network, will head up the network. Shapiro is the one handling carriage negotiations for the channel.

“We can launch quickly because of how developed the network is in Canada,†said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. “We can light it up in a matter of days, if needed.â€Â

As for the NHL’s other TV issue, sources say the league has not spoken with ESPN about a media deal with the Disney company since mid-July (SBJ, July 30). Both the NHL and ESPN say the lack of talks does not mean that interest has cooled, as both sides say they expect talks to resume in the coming weeks, though neither party feels a sense of urgency about these talks.

ESPN executives believe that packages could be available for the 2008-09 season. One is NBC’s nine-game regular-season schedule plus the playoffs. NBC, however, holds an option on that, and hockey officials are saying they would like to keep their games on the network.

ESPN does not plan to offer time on its ABC broadcast network in any negotiations, network sources said.

The other package involves games that are not currently televised that the league would carve out for ESPN. The problem with this idea, however, is that Versus holds cable exclusivity to all of the league’s games through 2011, thanks to the $70 million deal it signed last year.

Versus would be willing to waive exclusivity for the NBC package, but not for a new package of games.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index...uestTimeout=900

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Because of my Centre Ice issues with WOW, I switched to Comcast this morning. I asked about the NHL channel. As of this morning, the NHL channel is not available on Comcast (as least not in the Detroit area). The operator said to check back in about 10 days.

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Cool! Someone has it, so its REAL. :lol:

Please let us know when Dish or DirectTV get it, I'm trying to decide which of those to get and what package. I guess they'll throw it in the Sports packs with the FSN channels?

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Guest jaytan

Any news on Dish Network? I'd like to get this channel, but I'm not shelling out extra cash for it.

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Please keep us updated on this. If Concast adds the NHL Channel I might have to leave WOW too.

Because of my Centre Ice issues with WOW, I switched to Comcast this morning. I asked about the NHL channel. As of this morning, the NHL channel is not available on Comcast (as least not in the Detroit area). The operator said to check back in about 10 days.

Edited by The_Cub

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Source: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/g...amp;newsLang=en

National Hockey League and HDNet Join Forces to Take Fans 'INSIDE THE NHL'

NEW YORK & DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Hockey League (NHL) and HDNet have teamed up to present INSIDE THE NHL, a new weekly show airing on HDNet. Utilizing NHL Productions’ unprecedented access to NHL clubs and players, INSIDE THE NHL will feature programming regarding the upcoming game airing on HDNet, in-depth interviews with the biggest stars in the game -- both on and off the ice -- as well as the latest news from around the League.

The premiere episode of INSIDE THE NHL debuts on HDNet at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 4 as the pre-game show to HDNet’s feature game of the Florida Panthers taking on the New York Rangers at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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NHL Scores First Carriage Deal

Time Warner Cable to Launches Network on Sports Tier

The National Hockey League has finally joined the three other major pro sports leagues in distributing its own 24-hour sports network.

Time Warner Cable announced Thursday that is offering the NHL Network on its sport tier. The deal marks the first time the network, which launched in Canada in 2001, will be offered to U.S. cable subscribers.

The network will offer 50 live regular-season games, in addition to classic games, documentaries, instructional shows, highlights and more.

NHL executives could not be reached for comment to determine if any other MSOs are expected to launch the service, which officially launched in the U.S. Oct. 1.

The NHL joins the National Football League’s NFL Network, the National Basketball Association’s NBA TV and Major League Baseball’s soon-to-be launched MLB Channel as leagues with 24-hour sports services.

Source: http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6487...l?desc=topstory

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