Post by Jazz on May 19, 2004 18:54:45 GMT -5
I wonder if they will bring "Peter Puck" back... 
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NHL agrees to two-year deal with NBC
NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC is back on ice after 29 years.
The network will broadcast NHL games the next two seasons under a revenue-sharing deal, replacing ABC as the league's broadcast partner.
The deal, announced Wednesday, will call for NBC to broadcast seven regular-season games beginning in January and six playoff games in regular Saturday afternoon time slots. The network also will televise Games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup finals in prime time. NBC last regularly broadcast NHL games 29 years ago. The network televised the league's All-Star game from 1991-94.
"This is the right deal at the right time with the right parties," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The two-year agreement, in which the league and the network share advertising revenue and NBC pays no rights fee, may be renewed for an additional two years at NBC's option. The deal is subject to approval by the league's board.
"We think that this structure makes enormous sense for both sides of the deal," said Ken Schanzer, president of NBC Sports.
The NHL is bracing for an offseason that will feature labor talks to head off a potential lockout that could disrupt next season after the collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15.
Bettman hopes that NBC's strong prime-time lineup Thursday and Friday and its presence with viewers in the 18-49 demographic will draw a larger audience to the Saturday afternoon games. The network plans to do most of the advertising for the games during prime-time shows Thursday and Friday.
"It was very important to us, obviously, that we had good, important stable relationships going forward on television," Bettman said.
For NBC, the deal represents a move back into televising major professional team sports. In recent years, the network has focused on events like the Olympics, NASCAR, Triple Crown horse racing and Notre Dame football while competitors had the NFL, NHL, NBA and major league baseball.
The network has long said that it would not pay expensive rights fees for the cachet of carrying major sports that could eventually lose money.
"It's just good sound business to be going down the course of business we're going down," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.
Still, the network is not a neophyte when it comes to hockey. The NHL's first broadcast deal, to air Stanley Cup playoff games, was with NBC in 1966.
The NHL also has a cable broadcast deal with ESPN, which the league is trying to renew. Bettman expects an announcement about the renewal in the "very, very near future."
The current deal with ESPN, which includes ABC, is in the fifth year of a $600 million TV rights package. The cable network is expected to only pay about half that for a new deal, following several seasons of declining ratings for the league.
NBC also has a revenue-sharing deal with the Arena Football League, renewed Tuesday for two more years, in which the network paid no rights fee.
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NHL agrees to two-year deal with NBC
NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC is back on ice after 29 years.
The network will broadcast NHL games the next two seasons under a revenue-sharing deal, replacing ABC as the league's broadcast partner.
The deal, announced Wednesday, will call for NBC to broadcast seven regular-season games beginning in January and six playoff games in regular Saturday afternoon time slots. The network also will televise Games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup finals in prime time. NBC last regularly broadcast NHL games 29 years ago. The network televised the league's All-Star game from 1991-94.
"This is the right deal at the right time with the right parties," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The two-year agreement, in which the league and the network share advertising revenue and NBC pays no rights fee, may be renewed for an additional two years at NBC's option. The deal is subject to approval by the league's board.
"We think that this structure makes enormous sense for both sides of the deal," said Ken Schanzer, president of NBC Sports.
The NHL is bracing for an offseason that will feature labor talks to head off a potential lockout that could disrupt next season after the collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15.
Bettman hopes that NBC's strong prime-time lineup Thursday and Friday and its presence with viewers in the 18-49 demographic will draw a larger audience to the Saturday afternoon games. The network plans to do most of the advertising for the games during prime-time shows Thursday and Friday.
"It was very important to us, obviously, that we had good, important stable relationships going forward on television," Bettman said.
For NBC, the deal represents a move back into televising major professional team sports. In recent years, the network has focused on events like the Olympics, NASCAR, Triple Crown horse racing and Notre Dame football while competitors had the NFL, NHL, NBA and major league baseball.
The network has long said that it would not pay expensive rights fees for the cachet of carrying major sports that could eventually lose money.
"It's just good sound business to be going down the course of business we're going down," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.
Still, the network is not a neophyte when it comes to hockey. The NHL's first broadcast deal, to air Stanley Cup playoff games, was with NBC in 1966.
The NHL also has a cable broadcast deal with ESPN, which the league is trying to renew. Bettman expects an announcement about the renewal in the "very, very near future."
The current deal with ESPN, which includes ABC, is in the fifth year of a $600 million TV rights package. The cable network is expected to only pay about half that for a new deal, following several seasons of declining ratings for the league.
NBC also has a revenue-sharing deal with the Arena Football League, renewed Tuesday for two more years, in which the network paid no rights fee.
games 1&2, it's only the Stanley Cup finals, nobody really cares, and those games don't matter, right? 