Where the Heck Is HD Hockey?

[Gator5000e]

Why can't D* show some of the OLN HD broadcasts? Is there some kind of contractual limitation or is there another reason?

 

[charper1]

I thought I read that it is in some partnership with InHD, I might be wrong, but if that is the case then DirecTV won't have it. I don't keep up with the NHL so maybe one of those guy will have real facts. They are owned by COMCAST CABLE, and I would bet good money it is a contract issue, it almost always is. Starting in September 2006, OLN will change its name to Versus.

 

[austen0316]

yea it sucks gator again, d is not showing hd hockey and instead baseball. do they even know its playoff time. Espn2 is showing nothing but garbage, I wish the nhl was on espn then we could get all the games in hd. oln sucks.

 

[atp1313]

If the players hadn't walked out last year (or the owners had not locked them out), then ESPN would be covering hockey. But they made the wise decision not to re-up their contract with the NHL when there was no clear sign that the 2005-2006 was even going to happen. The NHL lost a lot of money last year with all the pissing battles going on, and that carried over to this year with very little national TV coverage. I wish that ESPN had picked up the season, but at least I am getting 1 game each weekend on NBC. Next year there will likely be plenty of national coverage to go around.

 

[charper1]

yea it sucks gator again, d is not showing hd hockey and instead baseball. do they even know its playoff time. Espn2 is showing nothing but garbage, I wish the nhl was on espn then we could get all the games in hd. oln sucks.

and its not DirecTV thats not showing it per se, they do have not the HD programming. Contracts!

 

[Brewer4]

I was a hockey fan when we had the Hartford Whalers but I have to tell you, I dont miss it at all. The limited national coverage and no HD on D* has helped me to not care one bit. In fact I am glad that NHL is not here. I prefer going to an AHL game every now and then when tickets are only around 10-18 bucks. Its not better hockey, but it certainly is a better entertainment value.

I really think hockey could greatly benefit from HD and more national coverage. I just dont think they are going to get back on track and actually gain that non-core audience again. There are too many entertainment choices, hockey is still a somewhat niche sport and its too expensive for some families.

 

[mechman]

If the players hadn't walked out last year (or the owners had not locked them out), then ESPN would be covering hockey. But they made the wise decision not to re-up their contract with the NHL when there was no clear sign that the 2005-2006 was even going to happen.

Believe what you want, but I recall college basketball ratings were much higher on ESPN than hockey. Plus they have the NBA and baseball... that's why they invoked the escape clause in their contract. Their loss...

The NHL lost a lot of money last year with all the pissing battles going on, and that carried over to this year with very little national TV coverage. I wish that ESPN had picked up the season, but at least I am getting 1 game each weekend on NBC. Next year there will likely be plenty of national coverage to go around.

I don't think the NHL lost too much money during the lockout. You can't lose what's not yours. They just didn't make as much money as they would have liked. ESPN made a bid for this season and I for one am happy they didn't get it. They'd have to put the games on the classic channel! OLN, for all it's faults, is giving the NHL loads of air time. And that's what the league needs to recover and expand TV ratings. Haven't seen any of the playoff ratings for NBC but I'd bet they're up! Let's face it, the ratings couldn't go anywhere but up! :up

As for the games not being in HD, I started off complaining to DirecTV, then OLN, and then the NHL. I will continue doing this until something is done. I'd advise all to do the same.

mechman

 

[mechman]

Found the ratings for the last weekend in April,

NBA - Golf - NASCAR - WWE Smackdown - Poker

all rated higher than hockey. The LPGA was only .2 behind on Sunday.

Saturday's game was a 1.0, Sunday's a 1.2.



mechman

 

[charper1]

I don't think the NHL lost too much money during the lockout. You can't lose what's not yours. They just didn't make as much money as they would have liked. ESPN made a bid for this season and I for one am happy they didn't get it. They'd have to put the games on the classic channel! OLN, for all it's faults, is giving the NHL loads of air time. And that's what the league needs to recover and expand TV ratings. Haven't seen any of the playoff ratings for NBC but I'd bet they're up! Let's face it, the ratings couldn't go anywhere but up! :up

Correct the NHL ratings are in the toilet; I had read they have diped to under a 1 share which is real bad.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_4422.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2006-05-02-tv-ratings_x.htm

 

[NEOSG]

Why can't D* show some of the OLN HD broadcasts? Is there some kind of contractual limitation or is there another reason?

Your welcome to come visit up north by us

Were getting CBC HD broadcast of many of the games OTA. Just combine it with your teams audio, sync them upo every so often when timeshifting, and your good to go.

 

[mechman]

Correct the NHL ratings are in the toilet; I had read they have diped to under a 1 share which is real bad.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_4422.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2006-05-02-tv-ratings_x.htm

Haven't seen anything under a 1 yet. Looking at the number shows a fluctuation between 1 and 1.6. That's not all that bad. This is for the playoffs of course.

As for the regular season broadcasts, to make assumptions about them, or even to analyze them as blindly as they did so at the medialife link is pure conjecture. To start up with a relatively unknown (to most) channel, and analyze it after one season is ridiculous. Dish didn't even pick it up till a couple weeks ago... What do they think ESPN's ratings were the first couple years?

Let's face it, a 1.3 is excellent in the US. This isn't a sport that folks want to stay inside and watch at this time of year if their team's not playing.

mechman

 

[Proc]

Last weekend's Anaheim-Colorado game drew a .9 share which tied it with the Arena Football League's Colorodo vs. somebody game.

How sad.

I love hockey, but it has a long way to go to get into the consciousness of the American public.

 

[charper1]

Let's face it, a 1.3 is excellent in the US. This isn't a sport that folks want to stay inside and watch at this time of year if their team's not playing. mechman

Their own NHL PR people said they had some under a 1 share and a 1 share is NOT good in the US market at all. It may be more than hockey should expect, but as a comparative number, it STINKS OUT LOUD! A single point represents 1,102,000 households for the 2005-06 season.

SHOW---------------SHARE
American Inventor - 12.0
Deal or No Deal - 14.4
UNAN1MOUS - 13.9
Old Christine - 14.0
Two and a Half Men - 14.3
NBA Playoffs: Bulls vs. Heat - 3.1
SpongeBob - 4.0
NBA Playoffs: Cavaliers vs. Wizards - 3.5
Auto Racing: Nextel Cup - 5.6
Wheel of Fortune - 8.0
Judge Judy - 4.6
CSI - 16.2

 

[atp1313]

Believe what you want, but I recall college basketball ratings were much higher on ESPN than hockey. Plus they have the NBA and baseball... that's why they invoked the escape clause in their contract. Their loss...

mechman

I was not stating my opinion so much as passing along the info I had read/heard. One of the things I most looked forward to watching on my new HDTV was Hockey and Golf. I am disappointed by the lack of HD golf (aside from majors) and essentially no hockey this year on tv other than SD.

I am what would be called a casual observer. I know maybe 10 players' names and might be able to tell you the teams that 3 of them play for. So I am not the target demo for this sport. I was surprised to see that Carolina was in the playoffs...

I am however a HUGE college basketball (Duke) fan and was very happy with ESPN's coverage this year. Of 36 games that Duke played, 29 were broadcast, and more than half were in HD. Should be even better next year.

 

[mechman]

Their own NHL PR people said they had some under a 1 share and a 1 share is NOT good in the US market at all. It may be more than hockey should expect, but as a comparative number, it STINKS OUT LOUD! A single point represents 1,102,000 households for the 2005-06 season.

SHOW---------------SHARE
American Inventor - 12.0
Deal or No Deal - 14.4
UNAN1MOUS - 13.9
Old Christine - 14.0
Two and a Half Men - 14.3
NBA Playoffs: Bulls vs. Heat - 3.1
SpongeBob - 4.0
NBA Playoffs: Cavaliers vs. Wizards - 3.5
Auto Racing: Nextel Cup - 5.6
Wheel of Fortune - 8.0
Judge Judy - 4.6
CSI - 16.2

I should clarify, I'm only categorizing NBC and the playoffs. And I realized all that you've stated, but we're talking about Saturday and Sunday afternoons here. Watching an ice sport when it's sunny and 70 degrres just isn't appealing to most folks. A 1 should be about par for the course. That's like 1 out of every 250 people. I don't think that's too bad for hockey.

I believe they have fallen below 1 on OLN - both regular and playoffs. But I haven't seen one for NBC playoffs under 1 yet (knock on wood). 99% of the garbage on TV these days falls under a 1.

It'd really be interesting if NBC would broadcast a game in HD on a Saturday or Sunday night. Color me an optomist but I bet it would draw upper 2s to almost 3. I truly believe that. Especially because it's phenomenal to watch in HD. Anyone remember what Peter Puck used to draw?

mechman

 

[mechman]

I was not stating my opinion so much as passing along the info I had read/heard. One of the things I most looked forward to watching on my new HDTV was Hockey and Golf. I am disappointed by the lack of HD golf (aside from majors) and essentially no hockey this year on tv other than SD.

I am what would be called a casual observer. I know maybe 10 players' names and might be able to tell you the teams that 3 of them play for. So I am not the target demo for this sport. I was surprised to see that Carolina was in the playoffs...

I am however a HUGE college basketball (Duke) fan and was very happy with ESPN's coverage this year. Of 36 games that Duke played, 29 were broadcast, and more than half were in HD. Should be even better next year.

I hear ya.

A couple weeks ago I was on a long drive and Gary Bettman was on Sirius. He stated that even if ESPN offered them more money for the rights, they wouldn't have taken it. They were looking for exclusive coverage and I think they got it. As for OLN, it needs alot of polish and buffing. Get rid of some of the color guys - they're terrible. AND force D* and E* to broadcast in HD!! :

Carolina is a heckuva hockey team. Same with Buffalo. One of those two is going to win Lord Stanley's Cup!!

mechman

 

[charper1]

NBC is just as bad: week of 04/24/06-04/30/06

NBC NHL PLAYOFFS-SAT 3:00 PM - 1.03 share or 1,303,000 audience (CLOSE)

NBC NHL PLAYOFFS-SUN 2:00 PM - 1.23 share or 1,756,000 audience

Its not DirecTV or Dish Network that needs to be forced; CBC, OLN and Comcast are sure to have some agreement in place.

Funny, Bettman would have taken more more for ESPN! PERIOD! With them being on both NBC and OLN now, they still are not exclusive to anyone. So he is clearly talking out of his 2nd face.

 

[mechman]

Its not DirecTV or Dish Network that needs to be forced; CBC, OLN and Comcast are sure to have some agreement in place.

Comcast and OLN (Versus - is that dumb or what?) are the same. OLN probably has an agreement with CBC to show games that they cannot.

Funny, Bettman would have taken more more for ESPN! PERIOD! With them being on both NBC and OLN now, they still are not exclusive to anyone. So he is clearly talking out of his 2nd face.

Just 'quoting him'. And agreeing with him. They needed a network that wouldn't bump them for little league world series. He kept saying they needed a network to be exclusive to hockey and not have alot of other obligations to fulfill. He felt, as do I, that they found a good one. Tred Barta's not gonna bump a playoff game - as much as I love his show.

As soon as ESPN cancelled their contract, I knew they wouldn't be back. It'll be interesting to see how much OLN improves next season. And to see if they add the HD to satellite.

mechman

 

[Brewer4]

I like Hockey but lets face it. Hockey was in a tailspin before the strike. The strike just nailed the coffin. I think 1 share is about all hockey will get. It shows the dedicated fans (which there are millions). As for building on that I dont see it getting any better. OLN is not going to propell hockey. NBC on the weekend is interesting but not going to do it either. I think unless something major changes, it is what it is. A 1 share sport. Sorry Bettman and the players union, you are going to have to sleep with that fact.

 

[nhlfan79]

This thread is meaningless without a comparison of the ratings of the shows going head to head with NBC hockey on a weekend afternoon.