Reaction to the NHL’s decision to air Penguins/Senators Game 2 at 3:00 PM Saturday, catering to U.S. television network NBC:
“Politicians irked over NBC playoff hockey broadcast“, Brian Flinn, Halifax Daily News.
The House of Assembly unanimously passed a resolution protesting the National Hockey League’s decision to schedule the opening-round playoff game at 1 p.m. Atlantic time Saturday, instead of Saturday evening.
The change came at the request of NBC Sports and is expected to reduce viewers in Canada, where Saturday-evening games get the highest ratings.
“Nova Scotians, and all Canadians, want to see Sidney Crosby and the Penguins Saturday night on national television,” said the resolution read by Tory MLA Pat Dunn.“
Covers.com: “What were you doing when you were 19?“
The ink is barely dry on the CBC?s (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) new TV contract to broadcast the NHL and its playoffs for five years, yet they won?t get the opportunity to broadcast Sid the Kid in their traditional Saturday night slot as he and his Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Ottawa Senators, the only Canadian team from the east left in the playoffs. Instead that game goes to NBC, who are paying precisely zero dollars for the rights. The head of CBC sports is right pissed off with the NHL right now, thought he would never say so publicly as he is, well, Canadian.“
“Canadian fans forgotten“, The Barrie Examiner
NBC only bothers televising National Hockey League games in the afternoon, and it wants this game because Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby is the game’s marquee attraction. He’s young (just 19), successful (the NHL regular-season scoring champion) and plays hockey with a reckless abandon that endears him to fans everywhere.
But don’t get the idea this was all NBC’s idea. It only asked to show the Senators-Penguins game on Saturday afternoon. The league itself made the decision, and it shows a contempt for Canadian hockey fans – along with an ignorance of the game’s history and tradition.
It also shows the owners’ never-ending greed for more revenues, at the expense of what makes hockey so important north of the border.“
“CBC livid as NHL bows to Americans“, William Houston, Toronto Globe and Mail
“Generally, the network that writes the biggest cheque gets to make the call,” a source said. “When ABC was paying the league $100-million [U.S.] a year, and CBC was paying $60-million, ABC got priority.”
“If I’m the CBC, I’m saying, ‘My God, I just agreed to cut you a cheque for more than half a billion dollars and I still don’t get priority over somebody who isn’t paying five cents? It’s not right.’ ” …
The league should pay more attention to the needs of hockey viewers in Canada, says Nick Kypreos, who works for Rogers Sportsnet. “The more you tamper with the tradition of watching Canadian hockey on Saturday nights, the more you’re going to turn audiences away,” he said.“
