NHL Games Skate to OLN
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Even back when the National Hockey League was still playing games, its TV ratings weren’t exactly stratospheric. But telecasts on ESPN and ESPN2 could at least draw a million viewers, maybe 2 million on a good night during the playoffs.
If an NHL game pulls in 2 million people on OLN, the league’s new cable home, it will be a record for the channel.
The network previously best known for its Tour de France coverage, outdoor sports and “Survivor” reruns has ponied up a reported $200 million to become hockey’s cable home for the next three seasons. It’s the first foray into professional team sports by the network, which is owned by cable giant Comcast (which also owns the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and several regional sports networks).
“We are proud to be the new national television home of the NHL when the puck drops on Oct. 5,” OLN President Gavin Harvey says. “Adding hockey to our lineup when the NHL returns to the ice with a fresh season, new energy, new players and a new attitude adds tremendous value to OLN.”
If you don’t remember the last time you saw an NHL game on TV, that may be because there haven’t been any since June 2004. The league lost its entire 2004-05 season to a labor dispute after the owners locked out players.
OLN will televise at least 58 regular-season games on Monday and Tuesday nights, along with the NHL All-Star Game and most of the Stanley Cup playoffs, including the first two games of the Finals. NBC has the rights to a handful of weekend regular-season games and games three through seven of the Finals, in a deal for which it paid no rights fees.
OLN grabbed its biggest audience ever — 1.7 million viewers — last month for the final stage of Lance Armstrong’s record seventh Tour de France victory. The network, which is available in about 64 million homes, averages fewer than a half-million viewers in primetime.
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