Stanley Cup Playoffs to Air on CNBC, NHL Network?

It’s the question I (and possibly many of you readers) have been wondering out loud the answer for since the policy was announced: Who will air the overflow of Stanley Cup Playoff games now that NBCSN has promised they will air every single one of them?

The answer appears to have come during the endless Super Bowl pre-game show, which featured a commercial for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, according to readers of sports TV website The 506. Multiple readers claim to have seen the commercial, which showed the logos of NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and NHL Network, intimating that the two networks would be overflow homes for first and second round playoff games.

The news makes a lot of sense. CNBC ends it’s broadcast day at 7 p.m. ET, the time when a lot of the overflow playoff games would be starting. NHL Network also makes sense, being… well, the NHL Network. Working on getting confirmation of this from NBC, but for now, looks as if this will be the case.

An interesting note about all of this is that CNBC is 100 million homes across America, around 25 million more than NBC Sports Network. Good news for those who still do not get the channel, as they won’t be shut out of a good 90% of playoff action again.

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MSG To Air February Sabres Game on NBC Affiliates to Get Around Time Warner Dispute

From Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News:

In the latest shot in its license fee battle with Time Warner Cable, MSG Networks and the Buffalo Sabres will make the National Hockey League team’s Feb. 11 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning available on local stations in the club’s home market and Rochester, N.Y.

MSG’s coverage of the Feb. 11 Sabres-Lightning game will be simulcast on NBC affiliates WRGZ-TV, channel 2 in Buffalo and WHEC-TV, channel 10 in Rochester. The RSN and the stations are airing the games through an ad-sharing arrangement, according to an official at MSG. The stations are owned by Gannett Co. and Hubbard Broadcasting, respectively.

The move comes as MSG and sister service MSG + Plus remain dark on Time Warner Cable systems in New York state, where the nation’s No. 2 cable operator counts some 2.3 million subscribers. The RSNs pulled their signals on Jan. 1, when the parties’ contract expired and they could not reach a license-fee renewal.

 

NBC Adds Wednesday’s Sharks/Flames Game, First Doubleheader Since Opening Night (UPDATE)

Two of the NHL’s Western Conference teams jockeying for a playoff position will get some bonus love from the NBC Sports Network.

The network will add Wednesday night’s Calgary Flames/San Jose Sharks game to their schedule, airing at 10 p.m. ET, following the completion of the network’s broadcast of Bruins/Sabres at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The game will be a simulcast of corporate sibling CSN California’s regional coverage of the game.

Tomorrow night’s game will mark the first time the Flames have been on American television this season, and first since last February’s Heritage Classic.