CBC Playoff Press Release; Will NOT Use HockeyBuzz As Content Partner

The tradition continues! Beginning Wednesday, April 15, CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA – the country’s only home to the Stanley Cup for 56 years – brings Canadians the best match-ups, the biggest names and brightest stars of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including exclusive Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Final. CBC’s Round One coverage includes Montreal against Boston in the highly anticipated 32nd playoff re-match between the Original Six rivals; the Northwest Division Champion Vancouver Canucks facing St. Louis; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the battle of Pennsylvania; and a high-flying western showdown between San Jose and Anaheim.
 
The first puck drops on the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Wednesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. ET with Philadelphia at Pittsburgh followed by St. Louis at Vancouver at 10 p.m. ET. On Thursday, April 16, the Boston /Montreal series kicks off in Beantown at 7 p.m. ET followed by Anaheim at San Jose at 10:30 p.m. ET. (Please see below for complete first round broadcast schedule and distribution).

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VERSUS Playoff Press Release; Network Will Use HockeyBuzz as Content Partner

NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 13, 2009)- VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the exclusive cable television home of the National Hockey League (NHL), will kick-off its wall-to-wall coverage of the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Conference Quarterfinal round beginning Wednesday, April 15.  The network will start the night with a special playoffs preview Hockey Central show at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by game one of the series between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET.  At 10 p.m. ET VERSUS will televise the first game in the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks series.  VERSUS will air coverage of all rounds of the playoffs, including games three and four of the Stanley Cup Final.  All games in each round will be produced and presented in HD where available.

 

Now in its fourth season as the exclusive cable television home of the NHL, VERSUS enters the 2009 postseason with double-digit viewership growth for the 2008/09 regular season as compared to the 2007/08 campaign.  Total viewership showed an increase of 21 percent and household impressions were up 23 percent, while viewership for all key male demos also showed substantial increases: Men 18-34 (up 51%), Men 18-49 (up 43%) and Men 25-54 (up 41%).  The network’s coverage of the 2008/09 NHL regular season reached 32.9 million total viewers, the most ever for an NHL on VERSUS regular season (up 13% from last season).

Not The NHL/NBC Story We Wanted to Give You

From Tripp Mickle and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal:

Though the NHL and NBC are expected to step up negotiations on a new TV deal over the next few weeks as the NHL playoffs get under way, nobody is suggesting that an agreement is close.

The two sides have to work through several advertising and scheduling issues, sources said, which includes picking the site for the next Winter Classic. The top two markets under consideration for the annual outdoor game are Boston and New York.

NBC and the NHL also want to wait and see what final advertising sales results are for the 2008-09 season and analyze prospects for advertising sales in 2009-10.

Under the current agreement, NBC pays for
production costs of NHL games and both
parties sell broadcast advertising.

The league is looking for a one-year extension of its revenue-sharing partnership, which started in 2005. Sources said that the NHL would not seek a rights fee from NBC for the 2009-10 season.

Eep, with a deal being waited on for this long, it certainly doesn’t sound good for the NHL and NBC.  But, remember that a network airing hockey would have until January to prepare for airing hockey games.

When I think 90s rap, I think the Habs.

Programming note; I am bumped to Mondays and Tuesdays for now. Isn’t that exciting? You can enjoy my drivel at the beginning of the week! Twice! On Wednesday, I will be posting my bracket which will be horribad and you can laugh at my picks. Though I have to say, last year I declared “Wings and Pens final, because god hates me.” I should have placed money on that match up, sheesh. Please continue to enjoy my manic and chaotic nature.

xoxoxo,
WAC

Once again, I need to someone to explain this to me. Y’all were clutch outlining Snoop Dogg in a Pens jersey for me. So here it is, the 69 Boyz rocking bleu blanc et rouge. I don’t get it.

man, I remember this being the jam when I went to Pattison's rink to rollerblade...

Your Stanley Cup Playoffs TV Mega-Schedule

 

 

 

 

First, we’ll go network by network, for the English language networks.  Then we’ll compile them all together.  Enjoy.

We’ll start with the US networks, and the easiest to do, NBC: