Late last night, this was tweeted:
TSN's national rights package for NHL games expires at end of this season and isn't being renewed. NHL to announce new CBC-Rogers deal Tues.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) November 26, 2013
There had been rumors swirling around, but it appeared the rumors were true, there was a new broadcasting deal between the NHL and Rogers Communications. The official announcement came today, including a full press conference attended by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, as well as executives from Rogers, TVA (who get the Montréal Canadiens regional rights from RDS, which is TSN’s french sports channel) and Sportsnet host Daren Millard.
The pertinent details are as follows:
- The new TV deal gives full broadcasting rights (including internet streams) in Canada to Rogers for the next 12 years, totalling $5.2 billion.
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is the home of the long-running “Hockey Night in Canada” program, maintains broadcasting rights for another four years, and will also be the host of the Stanley Cup Finals. They have no guaranteed TV deal beyond the 2017-2018 season.
- The revenues will be distributed equally among the 30 NHL teams.
- The idea is to present hockey across as many platforms, and on as many channels, as possible. In Canada, Rogers’ sports channel (Sportsnet) has seven incarnations on television alone: East, Ontario, West, Pacific, One, 360 and World. If there are three games on at once, people would be able to watch the other games on the other channels.
- There would be no further regional blackouts.
In short, Rogers has everything.
Of course, the question is … why?
The financial incentives are obvious: Rogers is one of Canada’s major cable suppliers and sports are a big reason why many people still have cable television. How do you get a bigger market share of a diminishing market? You offer something that no one else in the market can offer: the national game.
For nearly a year now, the Government of Canada has displayed a public vendetta against Big Media. This is pretty clearly Rogers’ way of saying “you want to bring competitors into our market? Then we’re going to corner the market on what Canadians care about (the Toronto Blue Jays, whom they own, and the NHL) and kill those competitors.” I can tell you that there is a 0.0-percent chance I would buy a cable package that did not include NHL hockey or the Toronto Blue Jays on it. That sentiment is shared by a lot of Canadians like me. You got us, Rogers.
There are so many layers to this onion though, that it’s going to take a long time to peel back and analyze each one. Here’s the first:
Mohamed said Rogers pay-per-view hockey will evolve over time.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) November 26, 2013
Ding ding ding. The Mohamed that Mr. Cotsonika alludes to Rogers’ CEO Adir Mohamed.
I’ll refer you to my bullet list, and note that it says “no further blackouts” rather than “blackouts are lifted.” From a writer for the Pension Plan Puppets (SBNation’s Maple Leafs Blog):
@draglikepull that article says "no further regionalization of games or local blackouts". That's not "no local blackouts".,
— Chemmy (@felixpotvin) November 26, 2013
There’s a fine line in how things are said, and “no further” blackouts does not mean “no” blackouts. Now why would this be? Oh, I don’t know, to make people in major markets pay to watch their own teams on Pay-Per-View from the only broadcaster that has the broadcasting rights, maybe? The CEO for Rogers said as much in the press conference. Pay for each game, or buy the NHL package. No more free lunches, Canada.
