Country | Canada |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
Programming | |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
Ownership | |
Owner | NHL Network Inc. (National Hockey League consortium (58%) Edmonton Oilers – 23.2% Calgary Flames – 23.2% National Hockey League – 11.6% CTV Specialty Television (21.42%) Insight Sports (20.58%) [1] |
Sister channels | NHL Network (United States) |
History | |
Launched | October 4, 2001 |
Closed | September 1, 2015 |
NHL Network was a Canadian English language Category B specialty television channel broadcasting ice hockey programming. The channel's primary focus was on the National Hockey League (NHL), although it occasionally aired games from other leagues, such as minor league and international circuits, to fill its schedule.
The channel went on the air on October 4, 2001 and was owned by the NHL Network Inc., a venture consisting of the National Hockey League and two of its Canadian member franchises, CTV Specialty Television Inc. (a division of Bell Media and ESPN Inc.), and Insight Sports Ltd. [1] The network's ownership structure, which gave the league only an 11.6% interest, was due in part to foreign ownership restrictions for Canadian broadcasters, which prevented the NHL (which, during the channel's existence, was owned by 30 member franchises, of which at least 23 were based in the United States) from exercising majority ownership directly.
The network's Canadian operations were managed by Bell-owned TSN, the now-former cable rightsholder of the NHL in Canada. Following Rogers Communications' acquisition of sole national media rights to the NHL in Canada, the Bell Media staff members who operated the network were laid off in July 2015, and NHL Network was shut down entirely on September 1, 2015.
The network's U.S. version was not affected by the shutdown; its operations were migrated to the Secaucus, New Jersey facilities of MLB Network as part of a wider partnership between the league and MLB Advanced Media.
In November 2000, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted approval to former NHL executive Jim Gregory on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated (formed later as The NHL Network Inc.) to launch The Hockey Channel, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television dedicated exclusively to all aspects of the game of hockey". [2] The channel was launched on October 4, 2001 as NHL Network. [3] Its success led the league to create a sister network in the United States in 2007 with many of the same programs.
Even as Rogers Media took over as national television rightsholder of the NHL in Canada beginning in the 2014–15 season, NHL Network remained operated from the facilities of TSN and featured some of its talent. League sources reported that due to the preparations needed for its first season as rightsholder, Rogers was unable to immediately take over the channel, but that Rogers would reconsider its role in NHL Network the following season. TSN could have, alternatively, remained the operating partner of NHL Network beyond the 2014–15 season. [4]
On June 1, 2015, The Globe and Mail columnist David Shoalts reported that NHL Network in Canada would cease operations on September 1, 2015. Bell Media staff members who operated NHL Network on behalf of the partnership were laid off on July 1, 2015. In August 2015, the NHL announced that MLB Advanced Media would take over the U.S. NHL Network and operate it from the broadcast facilities of MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey, as well as the league's websites, and digital properties such as GameCenter Live (due to Rogers' rights deal, it will not handle distribution of the service in Canada). [5] [6] [7] [8] The CRTC formally revoked the NHL Network's license at its request on September 17, 2015. [9]
In 2021, ESPN, the part owner of TSN, regained the rights to the NHL programming along with Turner Sports in the United States.
NHL Network featured a variety of programming related to ice hockey, primarily from the NHL, including live and tape-delayed games from present and past seasons, documentaries, news and analysis series.
Unlike its sister network in the United States, there are currently no live games on the NHL Network in Canada per the conditions of the NHL/Sportsnet deal.
The following programs aired when the network was broadcasting a live game in the United States, but unable to do so in Canada.
The next edition of the Heritage Classic was to take place in 2016 at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, however, the Winnipeg Jets and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers couldn't reach an agreement on which date the game should be held, so it has been put on hold until the 2016-17 season. [10]
The 2015 NHL Entry Draft will be held on June 26 and 27 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consists of six owned-and-operated (O&O) television stations located in the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, a cable-only service that serves the province of Saskatchewan, and three independently owned affiliates serving smaller cities in Alberta and British Columbia. There is also one station using the brand name serving Bogotá, Colombia.
The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by The Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE Inc. and ESPN Inc. (30%), itself a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. TSN was established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. In 2013, TSN was the largest specialty channel in Canada in terms of gross revenue, with a total of CA$400.4 million in revenue.
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was required to divest its stake in the network following its 2001 acquisition of competing network TSN. Rogers then became the sole owner of Sportsnet in 2004 after it bought the remaining minority stake that was held by Fox.
Réseau des sports (RDS) is a Canadian French language discretionary specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc.. Its full name translates as "The Sports Network", the name of its Anglophone counterpart, TSN.
Sportsnet 360 (SN360) is a Canadian discretionary specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. The channel primarily broadcasts automated blocks of sports news and highlights, along with live sports coverage as an overflow channel for Sportsnet's national programming.
TSN Hockey is the blanket title used by TSN's broadcasts of the National Hockey League.
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One.
NHL Network is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that is a joint venture between the National Hockey League (NHL), which owns a controlling 84.4% interest, and NBCUniversal, which owns the remaining 15.6%. Dedicated to providing broadcast coverage of ice hockey, the network features live game telecasts from the NHL and other professional and collegiate hockey leagues, as well as NHL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries.
TSN2 is a Canadian English-language discretionary sports specialty channel that acts as the secondary feed of sports-centred channel The Sports Network (TSN) and owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. It was launched in its current form on August 29, 2008.
MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications having minority ownership.
Dave Randorf is a Canadian sportscaster who serves as the play-by-play announcer for the television broadcasts of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning. He is best known for his work at TSN hosting the network's Canadian Football League studio show as well as TSN's and CTV's coverage of figure skating. He also did play-by-play for the NHL on TSN, World Hockey Championship, and the National Lacrosse League on TSN.
Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada include:
As of the 2022 NFL season, CTV and TSN broadcast Sunday games. Monday Night Football airs exclusively on TSN. TSN and CTV 2 own rights to Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football. RDS carries games in the French language from all timeslots. U.S. network television feeds may also be available, often from multiple markets, on cable and satellite ; all games are subject to simultaneous substitution. Monday Night Football also airs in simultaneous substitution with the ABC feed on CTV2 beginning with the 2023 season.
TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other French-language sports channel in the country.
Andria "Andi" Petrillo is a Canadian sports broadcaster. She became the first-ever female member to serve on a full-time basis with the Hockey Night in Canada studio team.
National Hockey League broadcasts are held by Canadian media corporation Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Sports & Media division, as well as the Sportsnet Radio chain under the NHL on Sportsnet brand which serves as a blanket title. Sportsnet previously held the national cable rights for NHL regular season and playoff games from 1998 to 2002.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is shown on national television in the United States and Canada. With 25 teams in the U.S. and 7 in Canada, the NHL is the only one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada that maintains separate national broadcasters in each country, each producing separate telecasts of a slate of regular season games, playoff games, and the Stanley Cup Finals.
On April 19, 2011, after ESPN, Turner Sports, and Fox Sports placed bids, NBC Sports announced it had reached a ten-year extension to its U.S. television contract with the NHL worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract. The contract would cover games on both NBC and sister cable channel Versus, which became part of the NBC Sports family as the result of Versus parent Comcast's controlling purchase of NBC Universal earlier in 2011.
Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey is the branding used for Sportsnet’s flagship broadcasts of National Hockey League games on Wednesday nights. In November 2013, Rogers reached a 12-year deal to become the exclusive national television and digital rightsholder for the NHL in Canada, beating out broadcasters CBC Sports and TSN for the rights.