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Jersey Wing

NBC taking cue from NCAA hoops tourney

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From yesterday's NY Times...

Luring Stanley Cup Viewers With a Torrent of Games

By TANZINA VEGA

Published: March 14, 2012

TURNING the Stanley Cup playoffs into a must-watch television event lasting for weeks in the spring is no easy feat. Many Americans did not grow up with the game, few know who the players are and watching 10 weeks of playoffs is a big time commitment.

But the National Hockey League’s plan to get more viewers is, in fact, to show more games. This year, for the first time, the league will televise every game of the playoffs, which begin April 11 and could last up to 10 weeks, with the last possible day for the final game on June 15. The N.H.L. renewed its media partnership with NBC last year after the company was bought by Comcast, and can now offer programming across multiple platforms including NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and the NHL Network.

“We’ve spent the last five years talking about building national scale,” said John Collins, the chief operating officer of the N.H.L. “If you can’t get the games on national television, you’re not going to be able to relate to it.”

The league seems to be learning from the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s basketball strategy. In 2010, the N.C.A.A. reached a 14-year deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting to show the games across multiple networks including CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV — effectively allowing first- and second-round games to be shown nationwide. Before the pact, early-round games were shown only in certain regions — Michigan State fans could watch their team on television but might not have been able to watch, say, Gonzaga or Georgetown.

Rest of the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/business/media/luring-stanley-cup-viewers-with-a-torrent-of-games.html

Edited by Jersey Wing

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I see this as nothing but a good thing for the NHL and NBC. Outside of Thursday does anybody watch NBC anyways? So it's not like they're alienating their show's fans, but just adding hockey fans.

If the NHL has the same marketing team as the past few years then they could probably hook a lot more viewers. The cup raise, and "what if..." commercials should pique the interest of many casual viewers.

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I seriously doubt that a quarterfinal playoff game will be shown on the national NBC network on a week night.

I concur, the NHL Network part to me is bulls***, NBC owns around 20 tv channels and almost every TV provider has those in HD, most however do not carry NHL Network in HD. In a ideal situation (getting the most TV viewers possible) the overflow games would be aired on USA Network and either Bravo or E....

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Best news ever. ABOUT TIME!

I concur, the NHL Network part to me is bulls***, NBC owns around 20 tv channels and almost every TV provider has those in HD, most however do not carry NHL Network in HD. In a ideal situation (getting the most TV viewers possible) the overflow games would be aired on USA Network and either Bravo or E....

I hope this gets enough people bitching so they put the NHL network on more carriers. I don't have NHL network and it makes me sad.

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This is bad news for me...

I go to college out-of-state so I've been subscribing to NHL gamecenter to get the FSD games. The games nationally televised on Versus NBC Sports or NBC are blacked out though. In the regular season, I just find a stream online...but that's too risky/unreliable for the playoffs. I make sure I find a TV in my dorm somewhere.

Now, I'm assuming all the games will be blacked out on NHL gamecenter. So I won't be able to watch with Ken and Mick. :crybaby:

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It's still Versus for those of us who don't get it (or the NHL network). I'll have to check into the other one. If I'm not mistaken, that might be the one that carried the curling matches during the last Olympics. That was insane. I got no sleep.

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Of the four options (NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and the NHL Network) I am able to access two - NBC and NBCSN/Versus. Some can't even get that. My cable company refuses to add NHL Network. As long as I can find a stream, I can at least know what's going on. Fingers crossed we reach the finals so I can actually see the games!

Jollymania is right, too. Even when they're showing games, if Pittsburgh, or pretty much any other team is on against the Wings, they're going to show the other game, if history is a teacher.

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For the League / NBC et al. to make this work, they had better look up the definition of "diversity" and see how it applies to their plan.

No kidding. This decision doesn't change anything for me unless they play them on the national NBC network. It doesn't really make it more widely viewable. Not to a significant degree. They need to designate a weeknight and the weekends as hockey nights on NBC so they can get a national audience and introduce the game. They wouldn't get any worse ratings than what NBC is getting now.

Edited by VM1138

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THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND

8:00PM

Community

CONTEMPORARY IMPRESSIONISTS All New

8:30PM

30 Rock 30 Rock

All New

9:00PM

The Office The Office

WELCOME PARTY All New

9:30PM

Up All Night Up All Night

DADDY DAUGHTER TIME All New

10:00PM

Awake Awake

KATE IS ENOUGH All New

Yeah, Thursday night is awesome.! And, "All New" means boffo ratings!

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I love Thursday nights on NBC. You could put hockey on every night of the week but thursdays.

Anyhoo... Please anyone with WOW, go request NHL Network.

I refuse to get Comcast because I hate their company and have had major issues with them in the past. NHL Network is great... and now it is a must have. So if you have it, do me a favor and just get on them about adding NHL Network.

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