Canucks Re-Up With Team 1040, HE Extends Deal With NESN

A couple quick media notes. Bell Media’s Team 1040 has signed an extension with the Vancouver Canucks. The extension lasts until 2016-17 and helps solidify Bell’s strength of covering the NHL on the radio in Canada. Bell also holds rights in Ottawa, Montreal and Winnipeg. While 1040 hasn’t been re-branded as TSN Radio yet, there’s a good bet that this will happen down the road, especially with this renewal in place.

Over in college hockey, one of the longest broadcasting partnerships will continue for four more seasons. Hockey East and NESN have come to an agreement which will see the net air at least 16 games per year. The deal also adds “flex” scheduling, giving NESN the right to pick the most attractive games during the last few weeks of the season. Additionally, the women’s hockey championship will get TV time. All ten HE teams will have at least one game aired on NESN.

 

Some Rookie Camps On TV & Streaming

With everything that’s gone on today in the hockey world, it seems trivial to even post this but I started working on it last night. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends and fans of all the players in Lokomotiv plane crash. It’s been an emotional couple of months to be a hockey fan.

As we get closer to the start of the season, rookie camps are getting underway. As I mentioned before, MSG will be airing New York Rangers games at the Traverse City Prospects tournament . Those games have now been picked up by NHL Network in both the United States and Canada.

Here is the NHLN schedule: ALL TIMES EASTERN

• Sat. Sept. 10: NYR vs. St. Louis Blues 7:00 PM
• Sun. Sept. 11: NYR vs. Dallas Stars 6:00 PM
• Tues. Sept. 13: NYR vs. Carolina Hurricanes 3:30 PM

The MSG schedule includes a game on Sept. 14 but that is not currently on NHLN’s schedule. It’s possible that it will be added later.  The games will also be repeated multiple times on NHLN so there will be plenty of times to catch them.

The Penticton Young Stars tournament gets underway on September 11.This year’s tourney features the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks. Traditionally, the games are streamed online and the Oilers website is showing that at least their first game will be streamed. Rogers Sportsnet West and Pacific are currently scheduled to air a couple of games from the tournament.

Here is the RSN schedule: ALL TIMES PACIFIC

• Sun. Sept. 11 EDM VS. VAN 7:30 PM
• Mon. Sept. 12 VAN VS. CGY 4:00 PM

 

Notes on NHL Territories and Sponsorships

It’s a holiday weekend here in the States but there’s some interesting news from the past week that should be noted. First up, let’s get to some news on NHL territories

ATLANTA TO GET CANES & PREDS ON TV

Since the Atlanta Thrashers are no more, that television market was up for grabs. Atlanta always struggled to gain viewership but it’s a large market and it shouldn’t be ignored. Nashville is the most obvious team to get the territory and they will get 40 games on the air there through Fox Sports South and SportSouth. But the Preds won’t have the territory to themselves, as the Hurricanes will also get to air 40 games in the market according to Canes beat writer Luke Decock. Decock also says that the Canes are looking into holding a preseason game in Atlanta next year. The Predators have also reached out to former Thrashers season ticket holders, trying to lure them to town.

WINNIPEG’S BROADCAST TERRITORY

There’s been lots of talk about the Jets and their broadcast territory and how it overlaps with Calgary and Edmonton. The three teams will share Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Jets games will be blacked out in Alberta while Flames and Oilers games will be blacked out in Manitoba outside of national broadcasts and Centre Ice. As for Northwestern Ontario, it appears that Winnipeg will share that with Ottawa and Toronto as both Ontario teams claim it as part of their broadcast territories.

SPONSOR NEWS IN COLUMBUS, VANCOUVER AND NEW YORK & THE BEER WAR

While this blog mainly focuses on hockey media, I try to include some business stuff as well, especially sponsor deals. Everyone knows that the Columbus Blue Jackets are having some financial issues but there’s a new buzz in the air with their new players. This has helped translate to a boost in ticket sales and renewals with several large sponsors. Columbus Business First reports that the Jackets have renewed deals with Coldwell Banker King Thompson, Columbia Gas of Ohio and Medical Mutual of Ohio. The article mentions that several more deals are on the way and that the team will meet its target for sponsorships for the upcoming season.

Over in Vancouver, the Canucks are losing a large sponsor. The Vancouver Sun is reporting that BC Ferries is dropping their Canucks sponsorship. BC Ferries has sponsored the team for years but not without controversy as the company is publicly owned and they have refused to reveal how much they have spent on the sponsorship and on seats for Canuck games.

Meanwhile, the New York Islanders might have just signed the oddest sponsorship deal in the league. CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports that the Isles have inked a deal with Tattoo Lou’s to be the official tattoo shop of the team. The deal will put two tattoo artists and one piercer inside the Nassau Coliseum during 10 games. It’s the second odd deal for the Isles as the Isles had an official cupcake shop last season. The tattoo deal ranks up there with the San Jose Sharks and Bad Boys Bail Bonds as perhaps the oddest partnership in the league. Bad Boys has had dasher ads in San Jose and has sponsored some giveaways.

And finally, I’ve brought up the NHL official beer sponsor litigation several times and yes, it’s still going on. Last week, the parties were back in court and even NHL executive Bill Daly was on hand for the proceedings. The Toronto Star has a story on the latest court hearing and says Molson Coors is moving ahead with their plans to be the sponsor for the new season. It’s amazing that this case is dragging on so close to the start of the season and you have to wonder how much it will affect the league and it’s partners when it comes to advertising and marketing.

 

NBC Airing NHL Game on Wild Card Saturday?

Tomorrow is the big day when we finally find out the NHL TV schedules and we can see how right we are when it comes to our guesses.

Over at Puck The Media, Steve Lepore has found something very interesting when it comes to the NHL schedule. The Bruins and Canucks are currently scheduled to face off in a matinee on January 7. Indeed, that is odd timing. Steve thinks that NBC may show the game and it’s a great idea on his part. There’s only one problem, NBC Sports is planning to show the U.S. Army All-American Bowl that afternoon. According to the US Army All-American Bowl website, the game will air at 1PM EST which is its usual timeslot. Obviously, the football game could change slots but it doesn’t seem likely as the game has always aired live on NBC that Saturday.

My guess is CBC wants an early time slot for the game as they have some marquee match ups on the air at night in Detroit/Toronto and Tampa Bay/Montreal. Those are strong games and the way the schedule worked out, I don’t think CBC wanted to waste them by splitting it too much with regional coverage. I think CBC will show the game, and perhaps NBC Sports Network or NHL Network will pick it up in the US.  We shall find out soon!

 

Northwest Division TV Season in Review

The Northwest Division is next in our reviews of each NHL television team.  This wide swath has a little bit of everything when it comes to broadcasting.  Our review after the jump.

 

Canada Day

While July 1 is Free Agent Frenzy Day, more importantly, it is also Canada Day. I’d like to wish all of our readers a Happy Canada Day. On that note, here’s a great version of O Canada by the Vancouver Canucks’ own Mark Donnelly.