Ice time.

The beleaguered National Hockey League completed a pair of deals that will keep games on network television in both the United States and Canada.

Yesterday, the NHL signed a six-year deal with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), that keeps the venerable Hockey Night in Canada franchise on the network.

“The deal includes live and on-demand video streaming of all CBC NHL broadcasts online at CBC.ca and the ability to make game coverage and exclusive content available on mobile phones and via VOD. CBC retains its exclusive Canadian coverage on Saturday night games, including traditional double-headers and more regional telecasts, as well as exclusive Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Final. CBC will also serve as the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the NHL All-Star Game and NHL Awards.“

The only loser in this deal might be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will have a reduced number of appearances on HNiC. As for monetary value:

“Neither Stursberg nor NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would discuss how much the deal is worth. However, it’s thought the extension could bring the NHL up to $100 million a season, a figure that one industry insider called ‘believable.’ That would be up from the approximately $65 million the CBC pays for NHL rights on its existing contract.“

While the CBC will pay the NHL a respectable price for games, the same can’t be said for NBC. The NHL’s U.S. broadcast arm has signed on to an extension of the current revenue-sharing deal through the 2007-8 season, with an option for the 2008-9 season.

The contract certainly does not give the league stability, considering that NBC could choose to dump NHL telecasts following next season (especially interesting, considering that 2008-9 is the first year of the next NBA television deal). However, the deal does give the NHL short-term exposure. Next season, NBC will air nine weekends of NHL coverage. The network will utilize a flexible schedule, selecting a ‘Game of the Week’ from a “minimum of three games scheduled on Sunday afternoons“. Playoff coverage will likely remain the same, with games on “select” Saturdays and Sundays throughout the postseason.

NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol on NHL flex scheduling:

“Flexible scheduling will always allow us to have the best possible games . . . Nothing could be better for hockey fans, who now will be able to see the best teams and marquee players on national broadcast television each week.“

The flex scheduling policy is somewhat confusing. While published reports say that NBC will choose from a minimum of three games on Sundays, NHL.com reports that the “NHL and NBC will pick from three slotted games each week and one will be the featured ‘Game of the Week,’ while the other two will air on their local carrier.” This seems to indicate that three games will be set aside for NBC, and the network will get to choose the best one to put on national television. If that is the case, then the ‘flex schedule’ the league and NBC are touting is nothing more than putting a name on what they are already doing. This season, as many as three games have been set aside for NBC, and the network has chosen one of those three as its “Game of the Week”. The only difference next season is that the two games not chosen will be returned to their local affiliates.

Overall, the television deals are an obvious success. The completed deals mean that the NHL is cemented on U.S. television through at least next season (and on Versus through 2011, in a deal completed earlier this year). Considering how bad the television ratings are (though those in the league office should be pleased that last Sunday’s 1.1 overnight for NBC regional coverage was only .1 ratings points behind the NBA game on ABC that day), and considering how low the league is on the American sports landscape, any stability — even for the short term — is a good thing.