Here is my big story about NBC and the NHL staying together through next season.
It's under the part about the Flyers winning in OT.
This is a good thing for the NHL. There are plenty of puckheads at NBC who genuinely want what is best for the league. And of course promoting NHL stars in advance of the 2010 Olympics doesn't hurt.
You can fairly assume that the people at NBC are very pleased to have the Avs facing the Red Wings and the Rangers taking on the Pens in the second round.
Comments (4)
Ok, here's a question:
WGN will broadcast some Chicago Blackhawks games next season for the first time in years. Yet, the superstation version of the station won't show them, even tho' they show Cubs, Sox and Bulls games. Don't you think it would be a good idea for the NHL, who desperately want more games on basic cable TV, to allow WGN to show these games??? The Blackhawks are actually starting to get good.
Wouldn't be bad for the league at-large, but I can imagine where both Versus and the opposing team's rightsholders wouldn't like it.
And the Blackhawks local RSN is owned by Comcast, as is Versus.
Also, the same prohibition was made clear to Atlanta back when Turner controlled them. No way could games air on TNT or TBS, and the NBA forced them to drop the Hawks to get the package they've had for the past 20 years or so.
I guess baseball did that to TBS also this year because I believe the Braves are on WTBS locally often, and instead the rest of us get that awful Sunday game that I can watch on the MLB package regardless.
TBS dropped the Braves because they wanted a national package to go along with the playoffs. It was not an MLB decision.