MONTREAL – The free lunch for NBC is over. That’s the message the NHL will give to the network when it begins negotiating a new national television contract to replace the one that expires after this season.
Since the lockout, the league has had a deal with NBC that essentially gave the network its NHL property for free. In a deal similar to the one that the Arena Football League had, NBC doesn’t pay the NHL any money, but guarantees that it will cover production costs. Any money made by the broadcasts first goes to covering those costs and if any profits are left over after that, 80 percent go to the league and 20 percent go to NBC.
But that arrangement for NBC is about to end, according to those who are familiar with the league’s television contract. With paying customers in the form of TSN and CBC in Canada and Versus in the United States, the league feels it has the leverage to begin charging a national broadcaster for its product.
That's good news. The bad news is the economy.
A new deal likely wouldn’t be a financial bonanza for the league, but it would provide some revenues and, more importantly, place some tangible value on the television product. Even though all facets of the business are bound to be hurt by the economic downturn, the NHL sees its television presence as an area of potential growth, particularly with the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
It’s doubtful that CBS or NBC would be interested in the product, but there are indications that Fox might want the NHL back. Obviously the league would need more than one network bidding for its product in order to have any leverage and as long as Fox doesn’t want to reintroduce its glowing puck, the league would welcome its interest in the game.
The leverage might come from the recent ratings increase as reported by the Sports Business Journal.
National and local TV ratings also improved compared with the midway mark in 2007-08. U.S. broadcaster Versus saw total viewers increase to an average of 310,732 through 31 games, compared to 265,314 over the same period in 2007-08. NBC benefited from the tune-in of more than 4.4 million for the 2009 Winter Classic, making it the most-viewed NHL regular-season game in 34 years and drawing a 2.5 rating and 5 share.
Ratings also increased in Canada where the CBC averaged 868,000 viewers a game through 34 telecasts. That number is up from 850,000 viewers a game in 2007-08 but down from 1 million viewers in 2006-07.TSN averaged 483,000 viewers, a 7.2 percent increase, and RDS averaged 648,000 viewers, a 31 percent increase.
If Fox gets the new contract, no glowing puck please. That was annoying.
I also hope the League stays away from the Disney-owned networks. They still haven't shown me, not that I watch them much, that they would treat the NHL with respect and dignity. More importantly, I seriously doubt they would give the League the coverage it needs.
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