![Alexander Ovechkin Sergei Fedorov (3485559648)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Alexander_Ovechkin_Sergei_Fedorov_%283485559648%29.jpg)
The
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(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
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
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...
.
National broadcasting rights in Canada have included ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'' (''HNIC''), a long-standing Canadian tradition that debuted on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
in 1952. Since the
2014–15 season,
Rogers Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language 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 r ...
has held the Canadian national contract, sub-licensing a slate of games to the CBC, and sub-licensing the national
French-language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
rights to
TVA Sports
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 Fre ...
.
Historically, the NHL never held a long-term exclusive deal with a U.S. national broadcast network prior to the
1994–95 NHL season
The 1994–95 NHL season was the 78th regular season of the National Hockey League. The teams played a shortened season, due to a lockout of the players by the owners. In addition, the NHL All-Star Game, which had been scheduled to take place Ja ...
.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
held rights at various times from 1956 to 1981, but neither broadcast network carried anything close to a full schedule. The NHL on a national scale primarily was only available on
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
throughout most of the 1980s and early 1990s until
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
began televising a regular slate of games in 1995. Since then, exclusive U.S. national coverage has been split between broadcast and cable. Since the
2021–22 season, the NHL has been shown on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
network; cable networks
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
,
TBS, and TNT; and internet streaming services
ESPN+ and Hulu.
Individual teams in both countries have contracted to air their games on local channels, primarily on
regional sports network
In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region.
...
s.
Canada
![CBC Live at Sherway Ron Mclean](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/CBC_Live_at_Sherway_Ron_Mclean.jpg)
Broadcasting rights in Canada have historically included the
CBC's ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'' (''HNIC''), a long-standing Canadian tradition dating to 1952,
and even prior to that on radio since the 1920s. The first NHL game to be broadcast on television occurred on October 11, 1952, a French-language CBC broadcast between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. CBC proceeded with its first English-language broadcast a month later on November 1, 1952, televising a game featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. Other previous Canadian broadcasters have included
CTV,
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
,
TSN,
Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language 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 ...
; and French-language broadcasts on
SRC, and
RDS.
The current national television and digital rightsholder is
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
, under a 12-year deal valued at
C$5.2 billion which began in the
2014–15 season. National
English-language coverage of the NHL is carried primarily by Rogers'
Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language 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 ...
group of specialty channels. Sportsnet holds national windows on Monday and Wednesday nights (the former featuring ''Rogers Hometown Hockey'', which features a pre-game show originating from various Canadian communities). ''Hockey Night in Canada'' was maintained and expanded under the deal, airing games nationally on Saturday nights throughout the regular season across CBC, the Sportsnet networks, Rogers-owned television network
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
, and
FX Canada
FX is a Canadian English-language discretionary service channel owned as a partnership between Rogers Sports & Media, a division of Rogers Communications (which owns a controlling 66.64% interest and serves as managing partner), and the FX Netwo ...
. While CBC maintains Rogers-produced NHL coverage during the regular season and playoffs through a
time-brokerage agreement with the company, Rogers assumes editorial control and the ownership of any advertising revenue from the telecasts.
Sportsnet's networks also air occasional games involving all-U.S. matchups.
![Renaud Lavoie interviewing Kris Letang 2016-04-28](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Renaud_Lavoie_interviewing_Kris_Letang_2016-04-28.JPG)
Under a sub-licensing agreement with Rogers,
Quebecor Media
Quebecor Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that owns a wide array of media outlets, as well as an internet service provider.
History
In 1983 Quebecor purchased the Winnipeg Sun newspaper, which had been independently run. The newspap ...
holds national
French-language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
television rights for the NHL, with all coverage airing on its specialty channel
TVA Sports
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 Fre ...
. TVA Sports' flagship broadcasts on Saturday nights focus primarily on the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
.
Games that are not broadcast as part of the national rights deal are broadcast by Sportsnet's regional feeds (though some regional broadcasts may air nationally due to Sportsnet's current status as the NHL's Canadian national TV partner),
TSN's regional feeds, and
RDS. Sportsnet and TSN split holds regional rights to the
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
; Sportsnet holds regional rights to the
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...
,
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
, and
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...
, while TSN holds rights to the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
(English only),
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
and
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
. RDS holds regional French-language rights to the Canadiens and Senators.
United States
From the 1950s to the early 1990s, the league's American broadcast partners remained in flux, airing on various broadcast and cable networks such as
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
,
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, the
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
,
SportsChannel America
SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.
Operating from March 1, ...
, and
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. Hockey broadcasting on a national scale was particularly spotty prior to 1981; NBC and CBS held rights at various times during that period, with each network carrying weekend-afternoon games during the second half of the regular season and the playoffs, along with some (but not all) of the
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...
. The NHL primarily was then only available on
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
, with no exclusive coverage of games, until
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
began televising the NHL during the
1994–95 season. Since then, exclusive U.S. national coverage has been split between broadcast and cable networks, first with Fox and ESPN from 1995 to 1999, then followed by ABC and ESPN from 1999 to 2004. After the
2004–05 NHL lockout
The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play.
The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...
, NBC and
OLN
OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel. OLN primarily broadcasts factual-based and adventure-related reality programming aimed at male audiences. OLN is wholly owned by Rogers Sports & ...
(later renamed
Versus, then
NBCSN
NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...
) televised the NHL until 2021.
The
2021–22 season marks the first year of seven-year agreements with ESPN and
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
.
ESPN's deal includes 25 regular season games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 exclusive games streamed on
ESPN+
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
(as such, games streamed exclusively on ESPN+ are not available to co-exist on American
regional sports network
In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region.
...
s).
Turner Sports' coverage includes up to 72 regular season games on TNT or TBS (For the 2021-22 season, TNT will air 50 regular season games).
The playoffs will be split between ESPN and Turner, with ABC televising the Stanley Cup Finals during even years and TNT televising the championship series during odd years.
As in Canada, games not broadcast nationally are aired regionally within a team's home market and are subject to
blackout outside of them. These broadcasters include regional sports network chains such as
AT&T SportsNet,
Bally Sports
The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network we ...
,
MSG Network
The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...
, and
NBC Sports Regional Networks
NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...
. Certain national telecasts, such as selected regular season games and first round playoff games, are non-exclusive, and may also air in tandem with telecasts of the game by local broadcasters. However, national telecasts of these games are blacked out in the participating teams' markets to protect the local broadcaster.
Only a handful of regular season games, including the
outdoor games
Outdoor(s) may refer to:
* Wilderness
*Natural environment
* Outdoor cooking
* Outdoor education
*Outdoor equipment
*Outdoor fitness
*Outdoor literature
*Outdoor recreation
*Outdoor Channel, an American pay television channel focused on the outdoo ...
, may be broadcast nationally in both countries. A Saturday night
Bruins–Canadiens game, for example, would typically air on ''Hockey Night in Canada'' across that country but only regionally south of the border in the Boston area. Likewise, a Tuesday night Bruins–Canadiens game may air across the U.S. on ESPN or TNT but only regionally north of the border in the Montreal area.
NHL Network
![NHL Network at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/NHL_Network_at_the_2019_NHL_Entry_Draft.jpg)
The league co-owns the NHL Network, a television specialty channel devoted to the NHL. Its signature show is ''
NHL Tonight
''NHL Tonight'' (formerly ''NHL on the Fly: Final'') is the flagship show on the NHL Network in Canada and the United States. The show made its debut under its current title in December 2011. It airs nightly at 10:00 pm throughout the NHL seaso ...
'' (formerly ''NHL on the Fly''), which covers NHL news, highlights, interviews, and analysis. The NHL Network also airs live games, but primarily simulcasts of one of the team's regional broadcasters.
There were originally two versions:
one for Canadian viewers and a separate one for
those in the United States. The Canadian version shut down on September 1, 2015, due to Rogers Communications' acquisition of sole national media rights to the NHL in Canada.
The American version of NHL Network was used as an overflow channel for select first round playoff games when
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
held the U.S. national TV contract from 2012 to 2021. In 2021, the network introduced its first original broadcasts, the ''
NHL Network Showcase
The ''NHL Network Showcase'' is a presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games televised on NHL Network. It premiered on February 6, 2021 during the 2020–21 NHL season. The games primarily air on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, and were th ...
'', airing on weekend afternoons and called by
Stephen Nelson and
Mike Rupp
Michael Ryan Rupp (born January 13, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, ...
.
Out-of-market sports packages
NHL Centre Ice
NHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable subscription out-of-market sports package controlled and distributed by Rogers Communications through Rogers Cable as of 2014. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, ...
in Canada and
NHL Center Ice
NHL Center Ice is an out-of-market sports package distributed by most cable and satellite providers in the United States and Canada. The package allows its subscribers to see up to forty out-of-market National Hockey League games a week using ...
in the United States are the league's subscription-based,
out-of-market sports package
In North America, an out-of-market sports package is a form of subscription television that broadcasts sporting events to areas where the events were unable to be seen by viewers on other broadcast and cable television networks due to the games no ...
s that offer access to out-of-market feeds of games through a cable or satellite television provider
The league initially launched NHL GameCenter Live in 2008 (later renamed ''NHL.tv'' in 2016), allowing the
video streaming
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
of out-of-market games over the internet, either through the NHL website,
smartphones and tablets,
digital media player
A digital media player (also sometimes known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integra ...
s,
smart TV
A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techno ...
s, and
video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...
s.
Per its exclusive national television and digital rights contract,
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
took over Canadian distribution and marketing of both the out-of-market TV and the internet services in Canada as of the 2014–15 season. A number of changes were made to the internet service, which was initially re-branded as ''Rogers NHL GameCentre Live''. Canadian users access the service using a "MyRogers" login account instead of one directly on NHL.com. As part of the transition, Rogers also issued a free trial of the service, lasting through the start of 2015, to all Rogers cable and mobile internet subscribers.
The services offers access to national games, along with in-market streaming of regional games. For the first season, it only offered in-market streaming for teams that
Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language 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 ...
held broadcast rights to (excluding the
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
,
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
, and portions of the
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
' season, whose broadcast rights are held by TSN) For the 2015–16 season, a
TV authentication system was used to allow in-market streaming for TSN-produced regional games as well. Rogers GameCentre Live also offers "GamePlus", a component featuring alternate camera angles, such as net cams, point-of-view cams, and sky cams. The sky cam are currently only available for
Air Canada Centre
Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...
games, but the remaining Canadian arenas will be equipped for it in the future. GamePlus features were only available to GameCentre Live subscribers who are subscribed to Rogers' cable, internet, or wireless services.
For the 2018–19 season, Rogers discontinued the free trials, subscriptions, and additional GamePlus features to Rogers' cable, internet, and wireless service users, and required all users to pay the regular fees. For the 2019–20 season, the brand name for the service was shortened to ''NHL Live''.
On August 4, 2015, the NHL announced a six-year deal with
MLB Advanced Media
MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) is a limited partnership of the club owners of Major League Baseball (MLB) based in New York City and is the Internet and interactive branch of the league.
Robert Bowman, former president and CEO of MLBAM, indicated ...
(MLBAM), in which the company took over the operations of the NHL's digital properties, including websites, apps, and ''GameCenter Live'', beginning in January 2016. MLBAM then distributed ''GameCenter Live'' under the new name ''NHL.tv'' in the U.S. and other international markets, except in Scandinavia (due to
Viasat
Viasat may refer to:
*Viasat (American company) (founded 1986)
* Viasat (Nordic television service) (founded 1991)
* Danish 1st Division, officially Viasat Divisionen, second-highest football league in Denmark
* Viasat Cup, 2006 Danish football to ...
's right deal mentioned below), nor Canada (due to Rogers' rights deal mentioned above). The NHL also gained an equity stake of up to 10% in a spin-off of MLBAM's streaming media business, whose clients include
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
,
WatchESPN
WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst C ...
, and
HBO Now
HBO Now (formally named HBO from July 2020) was an American subscription video on demand streaming service for premium television network HBO owned by WarnerMedia subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. Officially unveiled on March 9 and launched on ...
among others.
As part of ESPN's media deal that began in the 2021–22 season, the NHL's out-of-market internet services in the United States was incorporated into the
ESPN+
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
streaming service.
That same year, ''NHL Live'' in Canada became available at no extra cost to subscribers of
Sportsnet Now
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language 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 ...
Premium. Starting in the 2022–23 season, the separate ''NHL Live'' service was discontinued and all games were incorporated into Sportsnet Now Premium. Also starting in the 2022–23 season, out-of-market games on ESPN+, which did not carry any specific branding in the inaugural season, were branded as "NHL Power Play on ESPN+".>
International
Outside of Canada and the United States, NHL games are broadcast across Europe (excluding the UK and Scandinavia) and the Middle East and North Africa on
beIN Sports
beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...
, which takes feeds from ESPN/ABC, TNT, Rogers, and teams' regional broadcasts. In the UK
Premier Sports
Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group.
Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL an ...
has the rights to the NHL and show 15 games per week.
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
in Australia, on
Viasat Hockey
V Sport Hockey is a sports channel that is broadcasting from the United Kingdom, primarily targeting Sweden but also available in Finland and Norway. Broadcasting was commenced on 1 September 2009, at the start of the 2009 ice hockey season. Th ...
in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on
NovaSport or
FandaTV and in Portugal on
SportTV. In the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, NHL games are broadcast across Mexico, Central America and
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
on
SKY México
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy ...
, South America and the Caribbean on
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
. Stanley Cup games can also be viewed in New Zealand on
Sky Sport. In Brazil, the games are broadcast on
ESPN International
ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Operating regions
Latin America
Spanish-speaking countries
* ES ...
.
The aforementioned ''NHL.tv'' is also available for people in most countries to watch games online, but blackout restrictions may still apply if a game is being televised in the user's country; for example, in the United Kingdom, NHL.tv is not allowed to show live games broadcast on Premier Sports. Viewers in selected international markets where ESPN also holds the streaming rights must instead access games on the ESPN platform used in that particular country: ESPNPlayer, ESPN Play, the ESPN App, or
Star+
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
; those in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, and Sweden must use
Viaplay
Viaplay is a streaming service owned by Viaplay Group which is based in Stockholm.
History
Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its fir ...
.
Comparisons with TV coverage of the other major leagues in the U.S.
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 that has a national Canadian broadcaster regularly produce separate telecasts of a slate of regular season and playoff games. If a game is televised nationally in both countries, then the separate Canadian and U.S. feeds of the same game may be broadcast on two networks simultaneously in those
areas in Canada that can receive U.S. stations and those
regions in the U.S. that can receive Canadian stations.
This is most prominent during each league's respective championship series or game, where the U.S. broadcaster's feed of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
's
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
,
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
's
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
and the
National Basketball Association Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is a ...
is usually simulcast by a Canadian broadcaster (with
simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Canada to dist ...
of the commercials). With the prominence of ''Hockey Night in Canada'' since the 1950s, and with Canadian teams like the
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
and the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
making multiple championship runs during the 1970s and 1980s, the
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...
has regularly been produced and aired on
broadcast television
Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals.
Analog television systems were standardized b ...
in Canada for decades. Meanwhile, U.S. national coverage of the NHL evolved much slower than those of the other three leagues, and long-term coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals remains on U.S. cable television in some form with Turner Sports agreeing to air the series on TNT in 2023, 2025, and 2027.
Primary regional broadcasters
See also
*
Major League Baseball on television
Major League Baseball (MLB) has been broadcast on American television since the 1950s, with initial broadcasts on the experimental station W2XBS, the predecessor of the modern WNBC in New York. The World Series was televised on a networked basi ...
*
Major League Soccer on television
Major League Soccer has been broadcast live in the United States nationally since the league's inception in 1996 and in Canada since 2007. As of the 2023 season, Apple Inc. is the primary global rights holder and will stream every regular seas ...
*
National Basketball Association on television
National Basketball Association (NBA) games are televised nationally in the United States, as well as on multiple local channels and regional sports networks. Since the 2002–03 season, broadcast channel ABC, and cable networks ESPN and TNT ha ...
*
National Football League on television
The television rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any American sport. Television brought professional football into prominence in the modern era after World War II. Since then ...
References
External links
*
{{National Hockey League on national television
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
Sports television in Canada
Sports television in the United States