Memo to NBC: Please relinquish the rights to the NHL----or at least plan ahead.
Pulling away from today's overtime in Game 5 of the EC Finals for 90 minutes of Preakness previews wasn't exactly "Heidi" redux, but it was painful. And unnecessary.
We know NBC doesn't get ratings from Canada; still, how about starting the game earlier than 2 p.m. in case it went to OT?
Shifting to Versus and local coverage in Buffalo at the end of regulation tells you how much the NHL is worth to the Peacocks.
Very bleepin' little.
Next time the network shills tell you how much they love the game, point out the afternoon of Game 5 to them.
Also, tell the Commish where to go when he lauds the TV deal. It's really working out well, isn't it?
Imagine if the Rangers or Islanders were in the game? People would be stoning NBC headquarters in Manhattan. And the NHL offices too....
Comments (20)
Steve,you know i thought i got screwed out of the overtime because i live in Kentucky and of course they would go to the horse racing BS.I stepped away for a few minutes and didn't hear them say it would be on Versus. I do get Versus though. The whole TV deal is a joke and nothing Bettman says will make me feel any different about that.
Thank you Steve, for posting your thoughts on this afternoon's NBC debacle. It shows I was NOT the only person in the tri-state area interested in watching the Stanley Cup PLAYOFFs on network television, which is what too many people seem to think. I'm FURIOUS to miss an overtime in an elimination game. HELLO? Does anyone at NBC know the RULES about playoff hockey? They're NOT going to a shootout after a tie. We need more than five minutes built in. Honestly, they could've started the game at NOON. Sure, switch it over to a channel NO ONE GETS. Fan-freakin-tastic, Bettman. It was SO much clearer for me to read the wire reports online than to see the outcome LIVE. And I'll guess that they wouldn't have shown the handshakes ANYway, so I won't bother to mourn that.
Steve, you will publish your thoughts in the Sunday column, right? PLEASE?
Of course, it's my fault loving a game that refuses to reciprocate that love. Ah well, back to my dog-earred copy of Fever Pitch. At least Nick Hornby understands the torment of the obsessive fan.
The worse thing is that it wasn't even the horse race itself that they were showing ... they could've stuck with the game and still shown the freaking race ... it's horrible! why put live sporting events back to back when one can go into OT?
Why start coverage of an event at 5PM when the actual event didn't take place until around 6:20PM? Long after game 5 had ended.
To add on to my previous comment and to answer your final question Steve, If the Rangers and Islanders were in it, they probably would have stuck with the game like they did for the Buffalo area.
LMAO, you are really a moron. The Islander ratings are even worse than the Rangers. Yeah, hockey ratings in general suck, but the Islanders and Devils put up some of the most pathetic numbers from a so called "hockey town."
I can't believe NBC skipped overtime of the Buffalo Ottawa game to go to horse racing, rofl! If that was the Rangers, I would have gone nuts!
And as for Islander fans seriously get a life and post in your section, it's beyond sad now.
Well, can you imagine the RIOT that would've happened in the parking lot of HSBC Arena if NBC pulled THAT audience away? It was still AWFUL planning by the league and NBC, is all I'm saying....
Leave it to an Islander imbecile to post something senseless. This from a dope whose team can't draw more than 10,000 people a game, unless they're playing the Rangers. Celebrate the fact that Yashin might be back!
NBC absolutely horrible. There isn't any sugar coating it.
If Versus is going to continue to be the home of the NHL, they should just keep all the games on Versus. Even though we all make fun of Versus, the coverage is actually good, and they at least talk about the games for awhile after they are over.
That being said, even though all playoff games should be on versus, I still think local teams in the playoffs should also be able to have their own TV coverage of the playoffs if their team is in it.
Every Rangers playoff games should be on MSG just like it was in 1994.
I think the same is true for Islanders and Devils games.
Islanders fans should get to listen to Howie and Devils fans should get to listen to Emrick if they are in the playoffs.
The exclusive rights stuff is just utter nonsense.
Islander country??? LOL!!!
Islander country ends at the fence around the parking lot of the Nassau Coliseum, and the 852 homes in Nassau County where the season subscribers live... don't make me laugh.
... and when the Rangers are playing at the Coliseum, it's Ranger Country.
Deal with it, you've got a bush league operation beginning with Wang.
Hey, let's make a washed-up goalie with no experience our GM, and give our current mediocre goalie a 50 year contract! Smart hockey guy, this Wang...
Its alright let all the Islander fans moan and complain about them actually having fans. yashin is coming back Dipietro is there till he dies and they arent signing smyth or blake. But im not even going to adress that the islanders have a better or even bigger fan base because even hellen keller can see that they dont.
"do you ever have a real sellout at Msg unless (not those Dolan announced sellouts)"
The answer is yes.
Do the Isles have 6 thousand fans show up to games in December?
the answer is also yes
Will no big time UFA's want to sign with the Isles because it is considered a lousy place to play and the fans don't care?
the answer, again, is yes!
What NBC did was like a slap in the face to hockey and hockey fans. Its pathetic and sad, and unfortunately, you wont hear anything about this from the NHL higher ups. They need NBC, more than NBC needs the NHL.
Is that Islander fan above dead yet or what ???
I hope there are some serious changes in NBC's mentality over the summer regarding hockey. I did enjoy their regular season coverage this year, but I knew there was going to be a problem as soon as the game went into OT. They have to make provisions for it. They HAVE to. Also... is there any possible way that every blog doesn't have to turn into a pointless fued between NY rivals? Any way to just STICK to the subject at hand and not turn it into a name calling fest? Just an observatoin.
It was sticking to the subject at hand, until Rag Contraction came in with his crap.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that 99% of the time when a blog turns into a feud fest it's because of an Isles fan.
Alexei Yashin epitomizes the entire Islander franchise....mediocre at best!
I'm lucky enough to have Versus because I dropped cable 3 yrs ago. My dad was not a happy camper. Neither were lots of fans I know at work. NBC you ****. Hockey has very passionate fans. Bad enough when we're at games the insane music and noise between plays is hard to deal with. Try explaining offside, or icing to your kid over that racket.
Welcome to Heidi:The Next Generation...
It's amazing how 37 years after the single dumbest program vs. sports gaffe in the history of TV, NBC trips over itself by practically SCHEDULING the disaster.
Overtime in Post-season play is a pretty good statistical probability. If you have a 5:30 race to show, either put on a night game or ignore the game that day altogether. Split-screening will give both sides short shrift, so that's out. The only way the people who work to put those blessedly moronic pre-race shows four times a year will get the uninterrupted air time they worked for is if you set it aside and don't run anything right into it which has more than a snowball's chance in hell of going over.
Is that too complicated? Network programming incompetence jokes are something that even pre-date SCTV. You'd think by now someone would get the hang of this.