Cont'd - NHL makes 12-year/$5.2 billion Canadian TV deal w/ Sportsnet, CBC, TSN out

[FuriousSenator]

Can someone please explain to me what's stopping Rogers from putting all these NHL games it acquired onto separate channels and then charging extra for the channels? (I.e. Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360 etc...)

Personally I am horrified by the possible impacts this kind of monopoly will have on the consumer.


Not to mention Rogers is in general one of the worst telecommunications companies on planet Earth.

 

[Kimota]

This deserves a

Are they gonna show english Habs games on Sportsnet?

 

[IU Hawks fan]

I don't dispute that... as they'll have to. I'm just saying that if the two companies were close in numbers (which was alluded to a few posts above), it's shocking to give this deal to RSN vs TSN for a whole host of reasons... one of which is the quality of the content.

Well yeah, doesn't sound like they were. At least not likely.

 

[MarkGio]

So much for saving money with the new A La Carte pricing options.


I now get to choose between SN, SN-West, SN-One, and... more Sportsnet.

 

[New User Name]

I guess this deal saves me money. Right now I pay an extra ten or 15 dollars a month for a TV package just so I can get TSN/TSN2 on it. Guess I'll be cancelling that now and watching just basic cable broadcasts with sportsnet and cbc plus my center ice package. The more I hear of this deal the more I love it.

Sportsnet360 is not on the basic or level 1 package from Rogers.

so tone down the love

 

[Brandel*]

So was the CFL now it draws a fair number of fans.

They were just saying on hockey central that each team should be making ~7M more than they were previously. Not sure where they got that number from, just what they said. Take it for what it's worth, since that was from sportsnet.

If that's true, it's huge for small market US teams.

 

[BraveCanadian]

CBC has no expense in this deal, which is the point.

The CBC pulls in about $100M/year in ad revenue from HNIC (Google search). The rumours yesterday were in the $175M to $200M per year area for CBC to have a new deal with the NHL for HNIC. That also doesn't cover the salaries or operating costs of HNIC, either.

Taxpayers would've been in the hole a lot of money assuming those rumours had proven true.

In this deal, Rogers is paying the operating costs of HNIC and taking the ad revenue, while controlling the HNIC programming. CBC gets to advertise their original content on HNIC at no charge.

I agree there was no way that CBC could afford to out bid the big guys but this deal makes no sense for them.

As far as I know the revenue from HNIC subsidized a lot of their other programming so getting no revenue from it at all means they are giving up a ton of money and airtime to advertise programs that don't do that well to start with because much of their programming is niche even for Canadian content.

 

[Brandel*]

Every city in Canada with less than 250 thousand people Junior hockey is huge.In Kamloops for example 18 and 19 yrs old men are known all over the town.The Memorial Cup is as important as Rose Bowl.Go to every town in Canada and Junior hockey rules.Thats the difference between rural and urban canada.The Kamloops team is owned By galardi the same guys who own dallas Stars.Junior hockey is big in canada and always was

are you intentionally excluding one of the biggest junior markets in canada???

 

[Stats01]

Can someone please explain to me what's stopping Rogers from putting all these NHL games it acquired onto separate channels and then charging extra for the channels? (I.e. Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360 etc...)

Personally I am horrified by the possible impacts this kind of monopoly will have on the consumer.


Not to mention Rogers is in general one of the worst telecommunications companies on planet Earth.

It will come eventually, they talked about something like that in the press conference. Nadir Mohamed referred to it as "Pay for Play" My idea of it is this:

As part of your sports package from Rogers you pay a price for 5 options of specific sports or teams you want to watch. But you also have the option of buying more options at an extra cost ( i.e each extra option costs an additional 10 dollars a month). You get to choose NHL-Bruins, or NHL-Leafs, those channels are all Bruins coverage, games, content, interviews, same thing with the Leafs or any other team you pick. It's the future of television. It's the pure definition of consumer choice.

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

I know you're not making a comparison between the two but the interest in US college sports is massive. The interest in junior hockey in Canada pales in comparison. Not sure it would draw anything more than insignificant numbers. Would it really be worth the time and effort for such little pay-off?

The reason the CFL is so strong now is because of the how much TSN pushed it. The CFL was struggling big time at one time.

It won't get to the level that NCAA is at in the US but if TSN gives the CHL the same treatment they gave the CFL, it will grow.

 

[saintflannel]

So are there still regional blackouts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday?

 

[Wats]

I know you're not making a comparison between the two but the interest in US college sports is massive. The interest in junior hockey in Canada pales in comparison. Not sure it would draw anything more than insignificant numbers. Would it really be worth the time and effort for such little pay-off?

Well they made the WJCs a big thing. Who knows...

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

Not really happy from the change from last night with CBC getting knocked out... but at least HNIC lives on.

TSN losing out on hockey is great for Canada.

 

[Tacos]

So much for saving money with the new A La Carte pricing options.


I now get to choose between SN, SN-West, SN-One, and... more Sportsnet.

No, you have to pick all of them since they won't dedicate a channel to a team

"Featured this Wednesday, Canucks on SN-Pacific than on SN-West next week and SN-One this weekend

Wanna watch your team? Get all the channels at a higher rate, try and stop us now, CRTC"

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

So are there still regional blackouts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday?

Yes I believe so.

 

[New User Name]

If anyone thinks Rogers prices are going to remain the same; I have a bridge to sell you.

Rogers didn't do this massive deal to be patriotic Canadians. They did it to increase their own profits through a number of ways, including raising rates one way or another for hockey.

 

[Bengui]

NHL GCL becomes pretty obsolete now, doesn't it?

That's what I hate most about this whole thing. I watch hockey on my computer, I don't own a tv. Now I'm gonna have to use crappy streams twice as much...

 

[cheswick]

So are there still regional blackouts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday?

Yes. On those days there will be a reional broadcast (ie TSN Jets or Sportsnet west etc) and outside fo those regions you'll need Centre Ice to watch teh game.

 

[Burke the Legend]

Other than continuing the tradition of HNIC.. I'll say I honestly don't understand why CBC entered into this deal.

If they don't get the revenue from their air time, what is the point?

They are basically acting as an extension of Rogers any time they are broadcasting an NHL game but at their own expense..

Ontop of being able to promote their other programming as others mentioned, if CBC lost HNIC they would have to to produce 7 hours per week of new canadian programming to fill the void, assuming cost of about 1-3 million per week.

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

You never know what will happen in four years.. but I don't see most of the doom and gloom.

Even if Sportsnet doesn't reup with CBC can easily see most of the CBC crew just make the switch.. hell Marek and Shannon are already on Rogers.

Mclean will get a job whereever he wants he is Canada's top TV Man no question.

Hughson is also the best play by play man in business.

As for all the talk about Cherry.. lets be honest he has been on a year by year basis for awhile now... I doubt this will be a concern 4 years from now sad to say...

 

[Wats]

No, you have to pick all of them since they won't dedicate a channel to a team

"Featured this Wednesday, Canucks on SN-Pacific than on SN-West next week and SN-One this weekend

Wanna watch your team? Get all the channels at a higher rate, try and stop us now, CRTC"

Hooray for monopolies.

 

[Hymanbrah]

Not really happy from the change from last night with CBC getting knocked out... but at least HNIC lives on.

TSN losing out on hockey is great for Canada.

TSN is far better than the garbage you get from Sportsnet and CBC. So no.

 

[Seedling]

Maybe it's too early to know, but will they be airing any games on the regular CTV channel outside of Sportsnet? It also sounds like CBC is still doing Saturday games. How exactly will that work?

 

[S E P H]

Couple of quick questions

1) Will TSN still broadcast the draft, trade deadline, and free agency?

2) What is the NFL's TV deal compared to this new NHL deal?

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Seph, no on the draft. That will be a Sportsnet show. No one knows about the other FA or the TD show on TSN.

L.A. Lariviere ‏@L_A_theRiver 59s
TVA president Pierre Dion confirms group will launch TVA Sports 2.

Hilarious.