Good up the good work….

The NHL Network became part of Center Ice best it could this season. That was what the NHL used to get cable systems to carry it. It was risky, and why you couldn’t order Center Ice on most systems until very late in the game. They have the network on the sports tier, like all other leagues, because they figure the reach will be higher there than the CI subscriptions (which it is).

Center Ice online should be free or extremely cheap with the TV subscription. I’m far from the only one suggesting it, but the fact that the NBA offers online for free if you buy the tv package only makes it harder to swallow that the NHL doesn’t throw it in as well.

MLB is starting a channel. If any sport should have it, it’s baseball. Recap shows and vintage games could fill a day easily.

The NHL Network showing live games is harder than you’d think. However, they should attempt to show more replays, like you’d see if you get the regionals on systems like DirecTV (since you can’t see the games live without CI). It’s something, and some different daytime programming.

All league networks ignore minors/int’l games too much. It’s costly to broadcast it on their own, but they could definitely buy some rights to games already being broadcast cheaply. Those leagues all want more exposure.

A podcast recap is a must. MLB lets you make your own in a way. The NHL is already making highlight clips for sites like Youtube and such. You could easily tag those things up and let people have customized podcast highlights, if nothing else.

A podcast of the entire On the Fly show isn’t even a bad idea. It’d be good for branding purposes at a relatively low cost and the tradeoff between viewers and downloaders is probably nothing.

Simulcasting the entire channel online would be costly. It’d be a great thing to do, but there’s a reason no one is doing it yet. It costs money to do it right and even at a higher margin than 2-3 bucks, it’d be rough for them to offer.

I have the network, like what I’m seeing so far, but I’m also looking at it as young, despite it being available in Canada for a while. It’s got potential.

That’s because it doesn’t exist. At least not in a top-notch offering. And if it’s not viable…why bring online? Why NHL.tv. Because the NHL knows darn well they should be doing more work with their online offerings.

People don’t ride unicorns. Not because they don’t want to but because they don’t exist.

Now that we have that out of the way, I think the best point you make is the last one. It wouldn’t cost anything to produce what they are already putting on the Canadian version. But I believe that if this is all they are going to have on the channel, there isn’t going to be much of an audience. No audience, no ratings, no ad sales. You know how it works.

The NFL has a (short) 16 game season, a marketing machine that works, games on multiple cable and broadcast station, and TV agreements that make them serious money. They have recap shows on major cable channels (NFL Live, for instance), and have few other places it could expand. It’s own network is the only place left. It has very little resemblance to the NHL. On top of that, the NFL has been running NFL Films for years. They seem to have a better overall grip on how the sports on television thing works lately. How many games do they have on the NFL Network? I don’t know, I don’t track them. But 40 NHL games does little to want me make upgrade a cable package.

I understand the NHL doesn’t own Versus, but they are in a good position to get favorable terms on a twice a day recap show. The NHL put Versus on the map, and now have grown to the point that they are showing College football. No small feat for a network that nobody knew about before hockey came along.

Now, on to your first bit of trolling. I don’t care what you think of my “defensive” behavior. I don’t agree with you, and it’s that simple. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to come back. You are frankly acting rudely, and while I’m sure there are blogs and forums and the like that would welcome that sort of thing, I do not. You came in to the conversation by telling me you were an insider, then don’t back it up. That tells me what kind of value I can assign your comments. And after your latest comment, your behavior tells me I should assign even less. You are welcome to disagree with me on anything I say, but when you act poorly, you are going to get called on it, or just plain ignored.

As for how successful a business the NHL is…don’t be fooled by the sight of owners walking around with their pockets turned inside out. The NHL is a huge money maker, obviously not in the realm of MLB or NFL, but trust me there is enough money flowing through the owners pockets to make the vast majority of them happy. The few cases where this is not true are failures of hockey in the market, and not the financial structure of the business. As for the impact of the strike…the owners and the top 50% of players are laughing all the way to the bank since the owners have a guaranteed profit if they are smart, and the players who are worth it are making more than they were prior to the strike. The fools….are the fans who didn’t skip a beat and came back with cash in hand. Attendance is up, merchandising is up, and TV viewing is Canada is up and pretty well flat in the US. What impact??

Tapeleg – I figured you’d be defensive, but that is usually expected when someone is challenged and they don;t have the opportunity to shake their fist or raise their voice in opposition. I don;t need to leave a resume to prove anything…you can take what I say at whatever value you assign to it. That’s your prerogative.

Last I checked, the NHL did own Versus. So they can’t place anything on the network. If it was financially a good idea, Versus or any other network wouldn’t need the league to tell them it is a good idea. That’s why you create your own network…ask the NFL and MLB if they disagree.

As for the viability of the network, they don;t need everyone to subscribe, just enough to break even. After that if it makes money, all the better. But at least they already have a back-up if they ever get into a case where they cannot get the TV deals they want. It’s simply a case of covering your ass. The NHL Network will be a niche sports network, and nothing more.

As for the cost pf producing stuff for the network…it’s costing them nothing because the network is already up and running in Canada. So…it’s costing them nothing to just feed the programming to the US. Even if they collect 10-cents per subscriber…10 million subscribers is $1 million profit for little to no increase in costs. Now I’m sure it isn;t that clear cut, but not far off. The NHL I’m sure didn’t even consider taking a more aggressive stance with the cable companies considering the NFL is fighting a losing battle with them regarding their net. On that point…how many NFL games are on their network?

Programming is driven by money? Really?

The NHL Network is a business, yes, but it is part of the NHL. Creating a network that is boring as hell, has only one reasonably decent program worth watching, and that no one is going to see is not a viable business plan. Sure, exposure is good for the league, but a lower tier network is going to get them less exposure and renewed interest in the sport and the league than putting a highlight show on their current national TV carrier.

No, they are not going to air 900 games, but 40? Who is going to upgrade their cable package for that? They might as well get Center Ice, and have enough games to fill their needs, and a little choice to go along with it.

I understand how regional television deals work, but I also know that blackouts work in those instances where the two broadcasts would collide.

And if no one is going to pay to produce better programming, then why bother having the channel? Sure, it isn’t like Comedy Central is putting out tons of great stuff every hour. But if the programming is just going to be nine hours of the same show repeated over and over, then who’s going to pay to see it? And if no one is watching, you can watch your cable and satellite deals dry up any money put into the production of the network. At this point, I doubt the NHL has any idea what would be profitable and what wouldn’t.

As far as bandwidth and costs, funny how Yahoo can put streaming games online, and not charge me a cent for the privilege. How much bandwidth does Center Ice online take up? Or NHL.com and it’s video portal? Going online is certainly viable.