NHL, NBC/Versus to Announce 10-Year, $2B TV Deal

[RGM81]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1991065/

The NHL is betting that the new NBC/ Comcast partnership is set to take on cable sports giant ESPN in the U.S. With news Tuesday that the league and its current U.S. network/ cable partners have reached agreement on a new 10-year deal, the NHL is bidding sayonara to ESPN, the highly influential sports force in the U.S., and casting its lot in America with an upstart 24-hour sports property being formed between NBC and Comcast, the huge U.S. cable company.
Estimates are that the league will make $2-billion over the course of the decade-long deal. The previous agreement saw NBC and the NHL splitting profits on their network package with no rights fee to the league. The deal also represents the first time the NHL has renewed its U.S. network TV contract with the same network since the 1960s. It marks a triumph for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who spurned ESPN after the 2004-'05 lockout and has stuck with NBC and Comcast (whose chairman Ed Snider owns the Philadelphia Flyers) despite criticism of the household reach of Versus, their hockey channel.
In turn, NBC/ Comcast is promising to make over hockey as its prime sports tenant on Versus (soon to be NBC Sports Channel) and a significant force on the main network. Sources tell the Globe & Mail that the broadcaster and the league are looking to create a “March Madness” style promotion of the playoffs on both NBC and its news sports cable channel. The anticipated loss of one or two U.S. franchises to Canada does not appear to have been an impediment to the contract.
The deal will also extend into digital rights - a lucrative growth area for networks struggling to cope with new PVR technology. There will also be integration of rights' deals permitting more access to highlights and games across platforms. Sources say NBC/Comcast will have full “portability” for the games that they have rights to, but the league is able to continue to leverage and grow its digital businesses as well.

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Article goes on to mention that the Canadian TV rights deal is in place until 2014-15, but I think the HNIC package is up before that. Confirm/deny?

Obviously this is a pretty big deal for the NHL - they made NOTHING up-front with the NBC deal so to lock them in for $200M per year is a vast improvement. It will be interesting to see how much they'll advance the League over the coming years.

[brandonhagen]

I think that overall this is a good deal for the NHL. 10 years is a little long imho, but at least they are committing to the NHL foe the long term and to putting hockey front and center in their sports offering. I really like the idea of rebranding Versus as NBC sports channel and for the record in the great amount of time I have spent in the US over the years I never had any difficulty finding Versus to watch hockey, maybe I was just just in more fortunate markets lol