text:
Narrative Clip: the always-on clip-on camera
-I'm Scott Stein and I'm wearing a camera. Can you see it? Yeah, it's right here. It's the Narrative Clip. It's not that hard to spot, but it's one of a growing wave of wearable cameras that are appearing now that wearable tech seems to be evolving for every part of your body. Narrative clip is not alone. There are other products like the autographer and Sony's life-logging camera concept that are all attempting to kinda do the same thing. A lot of what Google Glass is also trying to do, which is to capture the moments in your life and remember them for you all throughout the day. It could be creepy. It could be inspirational depending on who you are. The idea is based on life-logging and this goes all the way back to Gordon Bell and MyLifeBits and projects that attempted to take all of your memories out of all the distilled bits of data in your life and collect them and allow yu to browse through them. And what that means basically is that this is taking a picture twice every minute. That simple. And it's an automatic process. There's a 5-megapixel camera in here. It's got an accelerometer, magnetometer, and GPS. And it keeps track of the position of the camera. It keeps everything upright. And it collects all of those photos. In a photo quality, it's kind of like an iPhone 4. Nothing high end or fancy. And if you wanna take a manual photo, all you do is you double tap. Now, if you thought Google Glass was potentially invasive, well, it's harder to see this coming. You could wear it on your hat. You could wear it on your sweater. You can wear it on your jacket. I wore it all around town and a lot of times people didn't really even know what it was. But the question was, could I actually capture a picture that would look like anything? Unlike Google Glass where you can aim with a viewfinder, you're kind of on your own here. A little tilt up and down could be all the difference between looking at someone's face or shooting a picture of the clouds or your jacket. And it's pretty hit or miss, but that's kind of the idea because, first of all, you cannot pair the Narrative Clip with your phone. No. Weirdly. Surprisingly. It actually plugs into your computer with micro-USB. You upload the photos to the cloud service the Narrative Clip offers or locally to your hard drive and then there is an app that your phone accesses that if you're connected with that cloud service, pulls all the photos back down for you to browse. Kind of old fashion. Also creates a bit of like a box of chocolates effect because you don't know what you're gonna get any day that you walk around outside. So, if you're looking for something that's really on the go camera kind of like what Luxi and others provide, you're not gonna get that here. It's not gonna be like a Go Pro where you're gonna be able to shoot photos on vacation and know what you're looking at, and that is the idea behind this kick starter-led project because a Swedish company formerly known as MaMOTO that created this to really be low keyed, to not be something you're paying attention to, and not have to micromanage all the time. To its credit, I kept forgetting that I was wearing it. I'd walk around and people would say, what is that on you? And I go, oh yeah, I'm still wearing the camera. And that's the idea to blend in and be invisible, but this is 279 for the privilege of being involved on the Narrative Clip's early days, which is a lot of money for a camera that doesn't really do anything that a lot of point and shoots at the same price would do or fancier smartphone cameras. So, that's also including a year of narrative clip cloud service, but once that runs out, it will cost $9 a month to use that service. That's over $100 a year to keep using the service that makes Narrative Clip potentially interesting. You could just download those photos directly to your hard drive and upload them afterwards to Instagram or Flickr or wherever else you wanna go, Facebook, but what's the point? Because the Narrative Clip service attempts to de-still photos down to moments and it claims that it does it by looking at lighting conditions, image sharpness, even facial recognition, and pulling out moments, but the moments are pretty random. Sometimes it could be a picture of a street. Sometimes it could be your friend eating a donut or it could just be a picture of the ceiling. And you have to wear this all the time and keep recording everything. No. In fact, in the Narrative reviewer's guide and on their website, they recommend that you stop taking photographs at times when it doesn't seem appropriate. All you have to do to do that is put a face down where it automatically turns off or you stick it in your pocket and it won't take pictures anymore. But I kept forgetting to take it off, so odds are you might end up wearing this anyhow wherever you might go. And maybe that's the idea of wearable tech that we've gotta have cameras on us all the time watching everything we do, a panopticon, hopefully not, but Narrative Clip is not gonna be the last of its type out there in the wearable camera space. I'm Scott Stein and that's a look at the Narrative Clip. Available now.
Top Smartwatches and Wearables of the Year
How to Choose Between the Apple Watch 8 and SE
Scuba Diving With the Apple Watch Ultra
Apple Watch Series 8: What the New Temperature Sensor Can and Can't Do
Comparing Apple Watch Ultra to the Series 8
Comparing the Pixel Watch to Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
Pixel Watch Review: Google's Answer to the Apple Watch
Pixel Watch Is Just the Start for Fitbit on Wear OS, Says Google's Wearables Chief
Hands-On With the New Google Pixel Watch


Our technicians combine years of troubleshooting, calibration and repair experience, providing our customers with the after sales support required to maintain their assets. We are here to assist you.
Our technicians work with our sales department to help find the right instrument for your applications, guide you through setups, and help resolve your engineering issues.
Our national sales team is dedicated to providing our customers exactly what they need from parts, accessories and instrument manuals to multi-channel wireless communication systems.
Need a Cost Effective Payment Option? We are happy to work with your budget by offering flexible payment options, recommending cost effective equipment substitutions, as well as buy-back, trade-in and consignment options.
Our lease and rental department is comprised of technicians intimately knowledgeable about the equipment. Our technicians are our best resource to ensure that our customers receive the right equipment for their application. Their passion for the professionalism translates into a lease / rental and sales inventory that is both meticulously maintained and cutting edge.
Liquidation: Eliminate the high cost of storing used equipment. Whether your test equipment hardware is new, used or refurbished Top Dog Test is your friend to liquidate surplus business assets. E-mail us your list of surplus equipment and find out how much your idle or decommissioned equipment is worth.
Our website is designed to bring the Top Dog Test experience, professionalism and customer service to an even broader audience. Whether you are browsing our equipment area for availability and pricing, checking out the specials or looking for an equipment manual, your on-line experience is backed by an established company with years of experience committed to providing outstanding customer service.
When a project is critical, choose the team that goes the extra mile to get the job done – Top Dog Test.


text:
in: All articles with unsourced statements, Articles with unsourced statements since August 2012, NHL on NBC
NHL on NBC
NHL on NBC is a presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC in the United States. While NBC has covered the league at various points in its history, the network's current relationship with the NHL is the result of NBC Sports acquiring the league's broadcast television rights from ABC in 2005. Its current contract with the league runs until 2021.
Since 2008, NBC's regular season coverage includes the annual NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game usually played on New Year's Day; one national weekly regular season game each Sunday afternoon after New Year's Day, titled NHL Game of the Week; one week of nationally televised contests in February for Hockey Day in America; and one nationally televised game one day after Thanksgiving. NBCSN's coverage includes 90 regular season games that are mostly aired on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, the latter being titled Wednesday Night Hockey, and later in the season on Sunday nights, titled Sunday Night Hockey. Coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is split between NBC and NBCSN, with CNBC and the USA Network[1][2][3] (beginning in 2015) airing selected playoff games during the first two rounds.
1.1 February 25, 1940 and 1966
1.2.1 Stanley Cup playoffs commentating crews
1.2.2 Stanley Cup Finals commentating crews
1.3 The dark years (1976–1989)
1.5.1 Terms of the deal
1.5.1.1 2004–05 NHL lockout
1.5.1.1.1 2004–05 schedule (all would have been regional games)
1.5.2 2005–06 season
1.5.2.1 2005–06 schedule (all regional games)
1.5.3.2 2007 playoffs controversy
1.5.3.3 NHL on NBC Faceoff
1.5.3.3.1 2008–09 season
1.5.4 Teams featured
1.5.5 Innovations
1.6.1 2011–21 contract
1.6.1.1 Stanley Cup Finals coverage
1.6.1.2 NBC Sports Radio
1.6.1.3 2018 Winter Olympics
1.6.2 The end of The NHL on NBC
2 On-air staff
2.1 Commentators
4 NHL coverage on NBC owned-and-operated television stations
4.1 NBC Sports Regional Networks
February 25, 1940 and 1966[]
As part of a series of experimental broadcasts that W2XBS (now NBC's flagship station, WNBC) produced between 1939 and 1940, the station broadcast a game between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens from Madison Square Garden on February 25, 1940. Bill Allen[4][5] provided the commentary. About 300 people in the New York City area saw the Rangers win, 6-2. Over the next few years, W2XBS (later WNBT) carried some New York Rangers home games on a local basis. A few New York Americans and Rangers games were on experimental TV stations in 1940-41 and 1941-42; then TV closed down until 1945-46.
Regularly scheduled American network broadcasts of NHL games would not begin until the late 1950s, when CBS began carrying regular season games, but no playoff games. The deal was terminated in 1960, due to a combination of a dispute over the players receiving a share of the rights fee and the then-regional nature of the sport.
Nationally-televised NHL games in the United States resumed for the 1965–66 NHL season, but this time on NBC; the regional issues were settled by the league's pending addition of six new teams, which expanded the league's reach nationwide and into lucrative markets in Pennsylvania and California (in addition to two other midwestern markets; NBC, however, would lose the broadcast rights before the six new teams would make it to play). In 1966, NBC became the first[6] television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games[7][8] during the 1965–66 postseason.[9] On April 10[10] and April 17,[11] NBC aired semifinal games between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. On April 24[12] and May 1,[13] NBC aired Games 1 and 4[14] of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.[15]
NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color.[16] The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.
NHL broadcast rights returned to CBS the next season, however due to other programming commitments, regular season games were handed off to RKO General.
Color commentary
1966 Semifinals Detroit-Chicago Games 2, 5 Win Elliot Bill Mazer
Finals Detroit-Montreal Games 1, 4 Win Elliot Bill Mazer
1970s[]
From 1972–73[17]–1974–75,[18] NBC not only televised the Stanley Cup Finals[19] (including a couple of games in prime time[20]), but also weekly regular season games on Sunday afternoons. The previous contract with CBS was paying the NHL less than $2 million a year and NBC jumped in with an offer of $5.3 million.[21] NBC also aired one regular season and a couple of playoff games in prime time during the first couple of seasons. Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay (with Brian McFarlane as the intermission host) served as the commentators for NBC's NHL coverage during this period.[22][23][24] Since most NHL teams still did not have players' names displayed on the backs of jerseys, NBC persuaded NHL commissioner Clarence Campbell to make teams put on players' names on NBC telecasts beginning with the 1973–74 season to help viewers identify them.
Peter Puck was introduced during NBC's NHL coverage in the 1970s.[25][26] The animated character, whose cartoon adventures (produced by Hanna-Barbera) appeared on both NBC's Hockey Game of the Week and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, explained hockey rules to the home viewing audience.
Besides Peter Puck, the 1970s version of The NHL on NBC had a between-periods feature titled Showdown. The concept of Showdown involved 20 of the NHL's greatest players (16 shooters and four goaltenders) going head-to-head in a taped penalty shot competition. After the NHL left NBC in 1975,[27][28][29] Showdown continued to be seen on Hockey Night in Canada and local television broadcasts of U.S.-based NHL teams.
NBC did not broadcast the sixth game of the 1975 Finals, in which the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres to clinch their second consecutive championship, played in prime time on a Tuesday night. Had the Finals gone to a seventh game, NBC would have pre-empted its prime time lineup on a Thursday night to carry that deciding contest. But by that time, the network had informed the NHL that unless ratings for the Finals spiked, it would drop the sport, which it did at the end of the season. In 1976, the NHL put together a syndication package that was carried in Chicago on WFLD.
Speaking of Chicago, WTTW carried the games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Finals that weren't on NBC. The feed was syndicated by Hughes. WGN had picked it up in 1970 and 1972 (and originated Hawks road games in 1971 and 1973 unless CBS, then NBC, carried them), but passed in 1974 and 1975. In New York, the PBS station carried Game 5 of 1974 Finals at Boston and several of the games in 1975 that NBC did not have. While, Hughes provided the hookup, it took the visiting team announcers like Gene Hart and Don Earle from Boston for the Bruins-Flyers series, for instance.
Stanley Cup playoffs commentating crews[]
1973 Quarterfinals Montréal-Buffalo Game 4 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Semifinals Chicago-New York Rangers Game 2 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Montréal-Philadelphia Game 4 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
1974 Quarterfinals Atlanta-Philadelphia Game 1 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Montréal-New York Rangers Game 4 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Semifinals Boston-Chicago Game 2 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Philadelphia-New York Rangers Games 4, 7 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
1975 Quarterfinals Philadelphia-Toronto Game 1 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Pittsburgh-New York Islanders Game 4 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Semifinals Buffalo-Montréal Game 1 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Philadelphia-New York Islanders Games 3, 6 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
Stanley Cup Finals commentating crews[]
1973 Chicago-Montreal Games 1, 4-6 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
1974 Boston-Philadelphia Games 3, 6 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
1975 Buffalo-Philadelphia Games 2, 5 Tim Ryan Ted Lindsay
The dark years (1976–1989)[]
For 17 years after the 1975 Finals, there would be no national over-the-air network coverage of the NHL in the United States (with the exception of CBS' coverage of Game 2 of the 1979 Challenge Cup and Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals[30][31] and NBC's coverage of the NHL All-Star Game beginning in 1990) and only spotty coverage on local TV stations and regional sports networks in markets that had NHL clubs. This was due to the fact that no network was willing to commit to a large number of games, in turn, providing low ratings for NHL games. ABC would eventually resume broadcasting regular NHL games (on a time-buy basis through ESPN) for the 1992–93 season (and continuing through the 1993–94 season before Fox took over the broadcast television league rights for the next five seasons).
From 1990 through 1994,[32] NBC only televised the All Star Game.[33][34] NBC reportedly wanted to test the appeal of hockey,[35] having recently lost the Major League Baseball package to CBS. Shortly thereafter however, NBC would gain the broadcast television rights to the National Basketball Association (NBA) from CBS, thus there was a bit of a notion that NBC no longer really needed hockey.
Marv Albert,[36] and John Davidson called the action, while Mike Emrick[37] served as an ice-level reporter in 1990.[38] Meanwhile, Bill Clement served as an ice-level reporter in 1991,[39] 1992[40] and 1994.[41] Also, Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean[42] helped out with NBC's coverage of the 1993 All-Star Game, as would Brenda Brenon for the 1994 All-Star Game.
The Montreal Canadiens were slated to host the 1990 All-Star Game, but the team withdrew their bid to considerations due to the superb hosting by Quebec City of Rendez-vous '87. This had allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins, which wanted to host an All-Star Game in 1993,[43] to move up three years early. For its part, Pittsburgh's organizers added much more to previous games, creating the first "true" All-Star weekend.[44] Firstly was the addition of the Heroes of Hockey[45][46] game, a two-period oldtimers' game between past NHL greats. The second was the addition of the National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, a competition between the players invited to the All-Star Game. The Skills competition was created by Paul Palmer, who adapted the Showdown feature seen on Hockey Night in Canada from 1972–73 to 1979–80. All-Star players would be rewarded with US$2,500 for any win in the skills competition.
As previously mentioned, when NBC broadcast the 1990 NHL All-Star Game, it marked the first time that a National Hockey League game of any kind was aired on American network television, since CBS aired Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals.[47][48][31] To accommodate the altered activities, the game itself was played on a Sunday afternoon[49] instead of a Tuesday night,[50] as was the case in previous years. This allowed NBC to air the game live across the United States – marking (surprisingly) the first time that a national audience would see Wayne Gretzky[51][52] and Mario Lemieux[53][54] play. Referees and other officials were also wired with microphones in this game, as were the two head coaches. Finally, NBC was also allowed to conduct interviews with players during stoppages in play, to the chagrin of the Hockey Night in Canada crew, whose attempts to do likewise were repeatedly denied by the league in previous years.
In 1991,[55] NBC broke away[56][57] from the telecast in the third period[58] to televise a briefing from The Pentagon involving the Gulf War. SportsChannel America[59][60] included the missing coverage in a replay of NBC's telecast (NBC owned 50%[61][62][63][64] of Rainbow Enterprises, the parent of SportsChannel America).[65]
There were reports[66] about NBC making an arrangement to air four to eight[67] regular season games for the 1992–93 season[68] but nothing materialized. More specifically, NHL officials had arranged a four-to eight-game, time-buy package on NBC, but that fell through when the NHL wanted assurance that all NBC affiliates would carry the games (since 2006, NBC has generally gotten all but a couple of affiliates in the Top-50 markets to carry the games). For instance, in 1990, NBC's affiliates in Atlanta (NBC's coverage of the 1992 All-Star Game aired on the independent station WTLK in that market), Charlotte, Memphis, New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Phoenix did not clear the game (Atlanta and Phoenix would eventually receive NHL teams, however the Atlanta franchise relocated to Winnipeg in 2011). Ultimately, roughly 15% of the nation did not have access to the game. As previously mentioned, ABC was the league's network broadcaster instead, and then Fox won a bidding war with CBS for television rights lasting from the 1994–95 through 1998–99 seasons.
Color commentator(s)
Ice level reporter(s)
Studio host
1994[69][70] Marv Albert John Davidson Bill Clement and Brenda Brenon[71]
1993[72][73][74] Marv Albert John Davidson Ron MacLean Gayle Gardner
1992[75] Marv Albert John Davidson Bill Clement Gayle Gardner
1991[76][77][78][79][80] Marv Albert[81] John Davidson[81] Bill Clement Gayle Gardner
1990[82] Marv Albert John Davidson Mike Emrick
NBC's coverage of the 1993 All-Star Game drew a .450 rating[83] in the males 18-34 bracket, the highest among sports shows this year and well above the NBA's .350 average.
Terms of the deal[]
NHL on NBC logo used from 2005 to 2011.
In May 2004, NBC reached an agreement with the NHL to broadcast a slate of regular season games and the Stanley Cup Finals. The plan called for NBC to air at least six weeks of regular season games (three regional games each week) on Saturday afternoons. In addition, NBC was to show one or two playoff games per weekend during the playoffs. Between two and five games from the Stanley Cup Finals would air in prime time (OLN/Versus received the other two as part of its package). NBC's primary game each week, as well as the Stanley Cup Finals, would air in high definition.
Unlike previous network television deals with the NHL (like Fox, which had the rights from 1994 to 1999 and ABC, which had the rights from 1999 to 2004), NBC paid no upfront rights fee, instead splitting advertising revenue with the league after meeting its own production and distribution costs. On the other hand, the league avoided the arrangement some minor sports leagues have, in which they pay networks for broadcast time and produce their own telecasts, but keep any advertising revenue.
The last time NBC Sports entered a television deal which did not require it to pay any rights fees was in 1994–1995, when the division was involved in the Major League Baseball joint venture called "The Baseball Network." To a lesser extent, NBC also had a similar sort of revenue-sharing agreement with the Arena Football League and, because of their ownership in the XFL, also paid no rights fees for airing that league.
NBC's out-of-market games were available on NHL Center Ice through the 2006–07 season; NBC switched to stand-alone games for the 2007–08 season.
2004–05 NHL lockout[]
NBC's initial contract with the NHL ran for two years, with an option given to the network to renew for two additional years. NBC's NHL coverage was delayed a year because of the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which wound up cancelling the entire regular season and playoffs.[84] NBC instead, decided to replace five of its scheduled NHL broadcasts with alternate sports programming (such as reruns of NASCAR Year in Review and The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge). NBC also decided to give one of the slots back to local affiliates, some of which filled the time given back to them with infomercials.
2004–05 schedule (all would have been regional games)[]
Date Teams Start times (All times Eastern)
1/22/05 Philadelphia vs. New York Rangers
Chicago vs. St. Louis
San Jose vs. Colorado 2 p.m.
1/29/05 Tampa Bay vs. Boston
Colorado vs. Detroit
Anaheim vs. Minnesota 1:30 p.m.
2/5/05 Chicago vs. Boston
New Jersey at Philadelphia
Dallas vs. St. Louis 2 p.m.
Detroit vs. Tampa Bay
2/26/05 New York Islanders vs. New Jersey
Colorado vs. Philadelphia
San Jose vs. Detroit 1:30 p.m.
4/9/05 New York Rangers vs. Boston
Anaheim vs. San Jose 2 p.m.
5 p.m. (would have been seen only in the Pacific Time Zone, Alaska and Hawaii)
2005–06 season[]
NHL games officially returned to NBC under the new agreement on January 14, 2006, debuting with three regional games (New York Rangers at Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche at Philadelphia Flyers, which is aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia also followed by the Dallas Stars at Boston Bruins) to substantial praise among hockey fans and writers, who often compare the television network's presentation to Hockey Night in Canada, which is broadcast in full on the NHL Center Ice package (although some writers even speculated that NBC's playoff broadcasts were superior to CBC's, largely because of their choice of announcers and the fact that NBC provided HD coverage of games prior to the Finals).
Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals were on OLN, while the remainder of the series was on NBC. NBC's broadcast of Game 7 drew a 3.3 rating, a 21% drop from ABC's 4.2 for Game 7 in 2004.[85] However, some NBC affiliates didn't air Game 7 live.[85] Overall, NBC had an average rating of 2.3 for its five telecasts of the final, down 12% from ABC's 2004 average.[85][85]
2005–06 schedule (all regional games)[]
Date Teams Start times (All times Eastern) Commentator crews
1/14/06 New York Rangers vs. Detroit
Dallas vs. Boston 2 p.m.
2 p.m. Mike Emrick, John Davidson, and Pierre McGuire
Dave Strader, Brian Hayward, and Joe Micheletti
Chris Cuthbert, Peter McNab, and Cammi Granato
1/21/06 Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh
Detroit vs. Colorado
San Jose vs. Los Angeles 2 p.m.
6 p.m. (West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii only) Mike Emrick, John Davidson, and Pierre McGuire
1/28/06 Pittsburgh vs. New York Rangers
Detroit vs. Dallas
Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia 2 p.m.
2/4/06 Detroit vs. Colorado
Dallas vs. St. Louis
New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh 2 p.m.
Colorado vs. St. Louis
Anaheim vs. Los Angeles 2 p.m.
4/15/06 New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia
Minnesota vs. Dallas
Boston vs. Atlanta 2 p.m.
For the 2006–07 season, NBC broadcast three regional NHL games per weekend of coverage during the regular season. The network also scheduled ten coverage windows during the playoffs (not including the Stanley Cup Finals). The additional broadcasts were expected to replace the Arena Football League, which NBC dropped after the 2006 season. NBC also produced two games per week in high definition, up from one in 2005–06.
The newly titled NHL on NBC Game of the Week returned on January 13, 2007, with three regional games (between the Los Angeles and St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers) at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Games started at various times, ranging from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. during the season (this variation primarily resulted from NBC's commitments to the PGA Tour and other programming).
1/13/07 Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Boston vs. New York Rangers
Los Angeles vs. St. Louis 2 p.m.
2 p.m. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire
Chris Cuthbert, Peter McNab, and Darren Pang
1/28/07 Colorado vs. Detroit
Dallas vs. Anaheim
Philadelphia vs. Atlanta 3:30 p.m.
3:30 p.m. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire
2/11/07 Colorado vs. Dallas
Tampa Bay vs. New Jersey
Chicago vs. Columbus 3:30 p.m
Chris Cuthbert and Peter McNab
2/18/07 Washington vs. Pittsburgh
Chicago vs. New York Rangers
San Jose vs. Dallas 3:30 p.m.
Dave Strader, Peter McNab, and Joe Micheletti
Chris Cuthbert, Brian Hayward, and Darren Pang
3/4/07 Colorado vs. Detroit
Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh 12:30 p.m.
12:30 p.m. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire
3/11/07 Boston vs. Detroit
Carolina vs. New York Rangers 12:30 p.m.
3/25/07 Boston vs. Pittsburgh
New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders 12:30 p.m.
4/1/07 Detroit vs. Columbus
Los Angeles vs. San Jose 12:30 p.m. (seen on all NBC stations in the Eastern, Central, and Mountain Time Zones)
6 p.m. (West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Brett Hull, and Pierre McGuire
Chris Cuthbert, Brian Hayward, and Peter McNab
4/8/07 Buffalo vs. Philadelphia
Chicago vs. Dallas 1 p.m.
Chris Cuthbert, Joe Micheletti, and Peter McNab
NBC moved its NHL telecasts to Sundays after its season premiere (which occurred on a Saturday) for the final eight dates of the season. The nine weeks of games (totaling 22 regional games) scheduled by the network amounted to the league's most extensive U.S. broadcast television coverage since 1998, during FOX's tenure. A new Sunday Night Football-esque horizontal score banner, designed by Troika Design Group, also debuted during the season.
The 2007 Stanley Cup Final was also notable for its exceptionally poor television ratings in the United States. Games 1 and 2 were carried by cable channel Versus, then a new and little known player on the sports television scene. Game 1 produced a 0.5 national rating or 523,000 households. It was the 58th best rated program of that day. Game 2 produced a 0.4 national rating or 446,000 households, lower than the 2006 WNBA All-Star Game on ESPN which drew 447,000 households. It was the 74th best rated program of that day.
The move to NBC did little to compensate for the series' limited drawing power. A perennial last among the Big Four American television networks, NBC was at the time going through an intense period of ratings turmoil, setting lowest rated week records in several viewing categories over the course of Spring 2007.
Game 3's coverage on NBC garnered a mere 1.1 rating (approximately 1,205,600 households), making it the lowest rated prime-time broadcast in the network's history. For comparison, Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, broadcast opposite Game 3 on cable channel TNT, achieved a 5.3 rating, approximately 5,808,800 households. Game 4 achieved a 1.9 rating (approximately 2,082,400 households), down 5% from Game 4 the previous year.[86] Game 5 received slightly less, 1.8 (approximately 1,972,800 households).[87] As a whole, NBC's ratings for the championship series were down 20 percent from the previous season, making it the least watched final in the United States.
At the time, Versus was only available to 50% of cable-equipped homes in the Los Angeles area, which hurt the buzz around the Ducks' playoff run in a traditionally crowded sports and entertainment market.[88] Versus was the fifth-most watched cable network in the Los Angeles market for Game 1, good only for a 1.7 local rating.
Local numbers did improve as the series moved to NBC. The Cup-clinching Game 5 drew a 6.0 and a 12 share for an average audience of 496,000 viewers in the Los Angeles market, twice larger than a high-profile regular season game between baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres on KCAL 9 (3.0/5, 218,000 viewers). This symbolic, if short-lived, victory against one of the region's flagship teams allowed the Ducks to close the series on a relatively high note, with the Los Angeles Times-}} Larry Stewart calling their final ratings performance "pretty good".[89]
2007 playoffs controversy[]
On May 19, 2007, during the Stanley Cup playoffs, NBC angered many fans and journalists when it pre-empted coverage of the overtime period of the tied Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres, instead going directly to pre-race coverage of the Preakness Stakes horse race. A typical "Triple Crown" horse racing broadcast generally contains about two hours of pre-race coverage, with the actual races lasting two or three minutes. Coverage of the overtime period was shifted to Versus,[90] the league's cable partner, although viewers in Buffalo and Rochester were able to continue watching the game on local NBC affiliates in the respective markets, WGRZ and WHEC-TV.
The move was originally seen not only as a snub of small-market teams (such as the Sabres), but of hockey in general. However, NBC and the NHL later revealed that the Preakness deal had been made several years before and contained mandatory advertising commitments during the pre-race build-up. Both sides could have agreed that the entire game would air only on Versus or begin earlier in the day, but the NHL wanted at least one Eastern Conference Finals game to air on NBC, and said that it does not schedule with the assumption that games will go into overtime. Moreover, an earlier start time could not be arranged because the broadcast window was fixed in advance, and both the NHL and NBC needed the flexibility to pick the Western Conference Finals for that window if they so desired.
In 2006, NBC televised Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes on the same day as the Preakness. Before the game, Bill Clement advised the audience that in the event that the game went into overtime, it would be televised on Versus, or OLN as it was known at the time. The Sabres won the game in regulation.
NHL on NBC Faceoff[]
For the 2006–07 season, NBC added an online, broadband-only pregame show to its NHL coverage (similar to what it does with its Notre Dame football coverage). Titled NHL on NBC Countdown to Faceoff, the show airs for a half-hour before every NHL on NBC telecast on NBCSports.com and features a breakdown of upcoming action, as well as reports from the game sites and a feature on an NHL player.
On March 27, 2007, NBC Sports and the NHL agreed to a one-year contract extension with a network option for a second year.
Beginning in 2007–08, NBC incorporated "flex scheduling" for its NHL coverage, similar to NFL broadcasts. Through this method, the league selects at least three potential games at the start of the season for most of NBC's regular-season coverage dates. Thirteen days prior to the game, NBC then selects one to air as its Game of the Week, then the other two games move outside of NBC's broadcast window and return to teams' regional carriers. Since the league made network coverage a priority in the 1990s, regionalized coverage had been the norm; NBC is the first network to attempt to regularly present one game to the entire country. Additionally, studio segments began to originate from the game site instead of 30 Rockefeller Center. All game telecasts also began to be produced in 1080i high definition.
NBC began its 2007–08 schedule on January 1, 2008, with the NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The game went head-to-head with some of the New Year's Day college football bowl games, but none of the feature Bowl Championship Series games. While never expected to beat or directly compete with football ratings, the timing was designed to take advantage of the large audience flipping between channels to watch the different bowl games. It was the first such game to be televised live by an American network and the NHL's first outdoor regular season game since the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens played the Heritage Classic, which aired on CBC, which served as the Canadian broadcaster of the 2008 Classic. Although originally maligned as a mere publicity stunt by some in the media, the 2008 Winter Classic drew a 2.6 rating in the U.S. (or about 2.9 million viewers) according to Nielsen, the highest rating for a regular-season contest since February 1996, when Fox was the league's network partner.[91] By comparison, CBS received a 2.7 rating for the Gator Bowl, which also had a 1:00 p.m. start.[92]
Beginning that season, all regular season telecasts air mainly on Sunday afternoons, except for those occurring the day after Thanksgiving and on New Year's Day.
In April 2008, NBC announced the activation of its option to retain broadcasting rights for the 2008–09 season. NBC's scheduling for that year was similar to that which it had during the 2007–08 season (flex scheduling for regular-season games, up to five games of the Stanley Cup Finals – changing in 2009 to include the first two and last three games, among others) except that all (or nearly all) of the Sunday-afternoon games now began at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Coverage again included the Winter Classic outdoor game on January 1, 2009, between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field.
NBC broadcast the first two and final three games of the Stanley Cup Final, while Versus broadcast Games 3 and 4.[93] The first two games of the series were played on consecutive nights due to NBC's scheduling.[94]
Game 7 was the final major sporting event on analog television in the United States, with the DTV transition finishing less than an hour-and-a-half after the game ended and just one hour after NBC coverage ended. NBC affiliates WDIV-TV in Detroit and WPXI in Pittsburgh – who months before the Stanley Cup playoffs began electing to keep their own respective analog signals on until June 12, well past the original February 17 deadline – both remained on the air for Game 7 before cutting their analog signals at 11:59 EDT.
Teams featured[]
Regular-season NHL telecasts on NBC itself usually only feature U.S.-based teams. During the Stanley Cup playoffs, broadcasting a game involving a Canadian team might be unavoidable. NBC has the first choice of games and times on its scheduled broadcast dates. The Canadian broadcasters (currently CBC and Sportsnet) are required to adjust accordingly during the playoffs, even though their rights fee is three times as high as NBC's.
There have been a few exceptions to this policy since 2006; in 2008, the Montreal Canadiens became the first Canadian team featured on the NHL on NBC during the regular season (NBC Sports' Dick Ebersol was rumored to have specifically wanted to do a game from Montreal at some point). The Canadiens played the New York Rangers on February 3. The 2014 NHL Winter Classic also featured a Canadian team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, up against the Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium. Due to the revamp of the league's conferences and divisions that season, the cross-border rivalry had become an interdivisional one with the Wings' move to the Eastern Conference. The 2016 NHL Winter Classic had the Montreal Canadiens facing the Boston Bruins in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Boston/Montreal rivalry is generally considered the fiercest in the NHL; in fact, there were rumblings that if Montreal were not Boston's opponent in the 2016 Classic that Boston would relinquish the game. NBCSN will occasionally feature Canadian teams during the regular season, but primarily only the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, and only if they are playing a U.S.-based team.
Like its predecessors, NBC frequently chooses games with a focus on about six to eight teams: the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins, and the Chicago Blackhawks; and most recently the Los Angeles Kings, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Washington Capitals. The relation has very little correlation with team success; for instance, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007, and the Buffalo Sabres made it to the conference finals in both 2006 and 2007. Those teams received one and two potential games respectively in the 2008 season, compared to the seven potential games given to the Rangers and the four games which could include the Flyers.[95] (Buffalo has fared better in its number of NBCSN appearances, due in part to the channel's relatively high viewership in the Buffalo market;[96] it was noted in 2018 that their appearances on that network were in decline.)[97]
The most frequently cited reasons for this relative lack of diversity are low ratings in a market (such as for the Anaheim Ducks, the New York Islanders, and the New Jersey Devils, which share markets with an Original Six team or a 1967 expansion team), market size (such as for Buffalo, where hockey ratings are the highest of any U.S. team, but the market itself is the smallest of any American NHL team), and Comcast's common ownership of both the Flyers and NBC, allowing the network to self-deal and cross-promote the Flyers on national television.
Examples of the above trends could be found in NBC Sports' national schedule for the 2015-16 regular season. In a press release announcing this schedule, NBC stated all U.S. teams would make at least one appearance on NBC or NBCSN during the regular season,[98] but hockey writer Greg Wyshynski noted that:[99]
The Chicago Blackhawks (21), Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers (tied at 18), Detroit Red Wings (16), and New York Rangers (13) made the most appearances on the schedule. The Flyers were tied for second despite missing the playoffs during the previous season.
Five U.S. teams (the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, and New Jersey Devils) only made 1 appearance each, while the Montreal Canadiens made 6 total appearances.
The Anaheim Ducks, who advanced to the conference finals during the previous season, only made 4 appearances, while the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks, who both missed the playoffs, appeared 10 and 11 times, respectively.
The only Canadian teams to be scheduled were the Edmonton Oilers (despite drafting top prospect Connor McDavid with the first pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft) and Toronto Maple Leafs (despite having hired long-time Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock), both with one appearance each. The four remaining teams, who did each advance to the playoffs during the previous season, did not appear.
For the 2018-19 season, NBCSN announced that it would re-brand its Wednesday Night Rivalry broadcasts as Wednesday Night Hockey, with a larger focus on showcasing star players rather than league rivalries. With these changes, the network promoted that its schedule would feature a wider variety of teams, including games between Canadian teams.[100] The October 24, 2018 game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets marked the first time that NBC had ever originated its own telecast of a regular season game between Canadian opponents.[101]
Innovations[]
Some of the innovations that NBC has brought for its NHL telecasts include putting a star clock underneath the scoreboard at the top of the screen. During each game, NBC takes one player from each team and clocks how long that player is out on the ice each time he comes out for a shift. In addition, goalies like Vegas' Marc-André Fleury may wear cameras inside their masks, much like Fox asks catchers to do for its Major League Baseball game broadcasts. NBC also puts Pierre McGuire or Brian Boucher in-between the two teams' benches, for what it calls "Inside the Glass" reporting, which was later emulated by sister network NBC Sports Regional Networks, and TSN. This is contrary to traditional broadcasts, such as Hockey Night in Canada, which continues to have the play-by-play and color commentator in the broadcast booth, with the rinkside reporter that provides no analysis during the game. In addition to providing color commentary, this allows the "Inside the Glass" reporter to observe and report on the benches, interviewing the coaches periodically, and providing the HONDA Starting Goalies before the game begins.
NBC renewed its rights to the NHL for the 2010-11 season. The network broadcast schedule continued to include the Winter Classic, Sunday-afternoon games at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time, six weekends of playoff action, and broadcasts of all but two games of the Stanley Cup Finals (which would be aired on NBCSN, NBC cable sports channel).
On February 20, 2011, NBC introduced Hockey Day in America[102] – patterned after the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada, it featured eight of the most popular American teams in regional games: the Washington Capitals at the Buffalo Sabres, the Philadelphia Flyers at the New York Rangers, and the Detroit Red Wings at the Minnesota Wild, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Chicago Blackhawks for the national nightcap. The Flyers-Rangers game was aired in the majority of the country, while the Sabres-Capitals game was only seen in the Buffalo and Washington, D.C. markets; as was the Red Wings-Wild game in their respective markets. The tripleheader would be completed with the 2011 Heritage Classic, for which viewers were redirected to Versus.
2011–21 contract[]
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 television contract with the NHL (through the 2020–21 season) worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract. The contract would cover games on both NBC and sister cable channel Versus,[103] which became part of the NBC Sports family as the result of Versus parent Comcast's controlling purchase of NBC Universal earlier in 2011. In relation to the contract's announcement, Versus would receive a new name to reflect its synergy with NBC Sports; the channel rebranded as NBC Sports Network[104] on January 2, 2012[105] (it would later be abbreviated on-air and then officially shortened to NBCSN); NHL coverage on Versus would begin to be produced identically to NBC's NHL coverage beginning in the 2011–12 season, leading up to the brand change.
The terms of the deal included:[106]
A rights fee of roughly US$200 million per year for the combined cable and broadcast rights, nearly triple that of the previous contract;[107]
Increased weekly regular season coverage on NBCSN (as many as 90 games per season on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights), with Sunday night games also being added by the channel later in the season.
Rights to an annual "Thanksgiving Showdown" game airing on NBC the day after Thanksgiving ("Black Friday" afternoon) (the 2012 edition was cancelled due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout). The November broadcast is the earliest an NHL regular season game has aired on a broadcast television network in the U.S. since the 1950s, when the league still only had six teams. The 2013 "Thanksgiving Showdown" game featured the Boston Bruins hosting the New York Rangers; it was widely expected that Boston will remain the home team in future years and launch a holiday tradition for the league and network (Boston has hosted matinee games the day after Thanksgiving since the 1980s), much like Detroit and Dallas traditionally host National Football League games on Thanksgiving Day; however, NBC decided to end this tradition for the 2014–15 season, with a Black Friday matinee between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers being aired instead, while Boston held a locally televised game on the evening of Black Friday in 2014.[108] Boston resumed hosting the game in 2015, with a second Black Friday game (Chicago at Anaheim) airing later in the afternoon on NBCSN.
Continued coverage on NBC of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic to be played on New Year's Day unless that day lands on a Sunday, in which case the game is moved to January 2 (despite the open time slot on Sunday afternoons, NBC is effectively forbidden via a gentleman's agreement with the NFL which prevents any form of strong counterprogramming against NFL games televised on CBS and Fox). Initially the Classic was expected to be played in primetime, however to date every game has been scheduled for a 1 PM ET start, and due to new competition from the College Football Playoff the game is now expected to remain a daytime game for the foreseeable future. NBC has instead opted to air one prime time game each year, later in the season, since 2014.
A national "Game of the Week" continuing on NBC as in previous years, beginning each January (January is the start month due to NBC's contract with the NFL).
Hockey Day in America becoming a permanent annual part of the NBC schedule.
Rights to any future Heritage Classics, which would be aired on NBCSN.
Digital rights across all platforms for any games broadcast by NBC or NBCSN.
Increased coverage of Stanley Cup Playoff games,[109] with all playoff games airing nationally on NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA, and NHL Network. (MSNBC and even Golf Channel were once previously used for Stanley Cup playoff games.)[110] Local sports networks can carry their teams' first-round games, but any games on NBC in the first round, and any games from the second round onward, will be exclusive to NBC.
Continued sharing of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBCSN, which will Air Games 2 & 3; and NBC for everything else, plus the if-needed games.
Currently, NHL regular season games on NBC are exclusive to the network. While some NHL games on NBCSN are exclusive (such as Wednesday Night Hockey), other games carried by the network may be blacked out regionally in favor of television stations or regional sports networks which hold the local broadcast rights to an NHL franchise. Among the games normally blacked out from NBCSN include teams that are carried by their respective NBC Sports Regional Networks, as well as the Boston Bruins (NESN), Detroit Red Wings (Fox Sports Detroit), New York Rangers (MSG), Pittsburgh Penguins (AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh) and St. Louis Blues (Fox Sports Midwest).
As mentioned earlier, NBC Sports Regional broadcasts are occasionally simulcast on the NBC networks. This also applies during the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Games featuring Canadian teams sometimes use a simulcast of either CBC or Sportsnet (and previously TSN).
In the 2012–13 season, Wednesday night games on NBCSN were rebranded as Wednesday Night Rivalry, primarily featuring rivalry games. For the 2013–14 season, NBC Sports introduced the series NHL Rivals, which looks back at the participating teams' historic rivalry leading up to the featured Wednesday Night Rivalry game.
Beginning in the 2014–15 season, TSN Hockey personalities Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger and Chris Cuthbert joined the NHL on NBC team. This was the result of Rogers Media's – the owners of Sportsnet – exclusive 12-year deal with the NHL in Canada replacing both TSN and CBC Sports as the rightsholders to the NHL.
In 2014, NBC Sports partnered with Electronic Arts to integrate NHL on NBC presentation into its NHL video game series, beginning with NHL 15. Complementing the change, Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk also voiced commentary and other appearances in the game.[111]
In 2015, NBC Sports partnered with the league to expand Kraft Hockeyville into the United States. The annual contest, in which communities compete to demonstrate their commitment to ice hockey, with the winning community being awarded the opportunity to host a nationally televised NHL preseason game, was first held across Canada in 2006. Similar to what CBC Sports had done in covering Kraft Hockeyville in Canada, NBC Sports began airing regular segments on the separate Hockeyville USA competition for communities in the U.S. On September 29, 2015, NBCSN aired the inaugural Kraft Hockeyville USA game at Cambria County War Memorial Arena, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, marking the first time that the NHL on NBC televised a preseason game since it acquired the American rights in 2005.
During the 2015–16 season, exclusive Sunday night games on NBCSN were rebranded as Sunday Night Hockey, with the first game under the new brand taking place on January 10, 2016 between the New Jersey Devils and the Minnesota Wild. A weekly recap show, NHL Sunday Shootout, premiered on the same day. NBC also began to air select Game of the Week and Sunday Night Hockey broadcasts under the Star Sunday banner starting with the 2016–17 season, devoting special coverage to the game's featured players of the week.
./Special:FilePath/Mike_"Doc"_Emrick_&_Ed_Olczyk.jpg
During the 2016–17 season, NBC began to use its regional networks (then primarily-branded as Comcast SportsNet) to originate coverage of games involving teams whose regional rights are owned by an NBC (in this case, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, and Washington Capitals). These broadcasts used the video footage from the regional broadcaster, overlaid with national commentators. In the 2017 playoffs, NBC used its regional networks for games involving Chicago, San Jose, and Washington.[112]
At the start of the 2018–19 season, NBC gradually phased Pierre McGuire out of the lead broadcast team in favor of Brian Boucher. McGuire, however, was still assigned to work with the lead team of Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk on select Wednesday Night Hockey, Game of the Week broadcasts, and the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals. However, as of the start of the 2019–20 season, Boucher now works with the lead team while McGuire continues to appear on other broadcasts.[113] In addition, NBC began using U.S. women's ice hockey stars A. J. Mleczko and Kendall Coyne Schofield as game analysts on select broadcasts, and NBC even assigned Mike Tirico to call play-by-play on a few broadcasts.
During the 2019–20 season, NBCSN flexed in several Washington Capitals games in February in anticipation of Alexander Ovechkin's 700th NHL goal. Those games used the NBC Sports Washington feed and announcers. In one instance, the February 10 broadcast involving the Capitals and New York Islanders aired nationally on NBCSN (blacked out in the team's local markets) at the expense of its originally-scheduled game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets, which only aired on the team's local markets.[114] In the end, however, NBCSN missed out on covering Ovechkin's 700th goal (which took place on Saturday afternoon, February 22, against the New Jersey Devils), due to a prior commitment with the 2020 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship. NHL Network aired the game instead.[115]
On February 16, 2020, NBC announced that it had assigned an all-female crew to call the Blues–Blackhawks game on March 8 in Chicago in honor of International Women's Day. The game will feature Kate Scott on play-by-play, AJ Mleczko as booth analyst and Kendall Coyne Schofield as "Inside the Glass" analyst. Kathryn Tappen and Jennifer Botterill were tapped to work the game in the studio.[116]
Stanley Cup Finals coverage[]
In 2014, NBCSN broadcast Games 3 and 4, while NBC televised the remaining games. NBC Sports originally planned to repeat its coverage pattern from the last few seasons: NBCSN would televise Game 2 and 3, while NBC would broadcast Game 1, and then Games 4 and 5.[117] After the League scheduled Game 2 on the day of the Belmont Stakes, coverage of Games 2 and 4 were switched so NBC's telecast of the horse race would serve as lead-in programming to game two. Due to the death of a family member, NBC's lead play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick missed Game 1. Kenny Albert, who was also the New York Rangers radio announcer for WEPN and announced several national games (including the Western Conference Finals) for NBC/NBCSN, filled in for Emrick in the first game.[118]
It was originally announced that Games 2 and 3 of the 2015 Finals were to be broadcast by NBCSN, with the remainder on NBC. Game 2 was moved to NBC to serve as a lead-out for its coverage of the 2015 Belmont Stakes in favor of Game 4 on NBCSN. As Eddie Olczyk was also a contributor to NBC's Belmont coverage, he was absent during Game 2.[119][120][121]
On May 27, 2016, NBC Sports announced that if the Finals was tied at 1-1 entering Game 3, then it would have aired on NBC and Game 4 televised on NBCSN. However, if one team led 2-0 (as this eventually happened), Game 3 moved to NBCSN and then Game 4 on NBC.[122]
Today, no matter the circumstance of the series, while NBCSN airs Games 2 and 3, NBC airs everything else, which includes all the if-needed ones.
NBC Sports Radio[]
On Tuesday, May 3, 2016, NBC Sports Radio was granted rights[123] to broadcast and syndicate the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. Kenny Albert would provide the play-by-play while Joe Micheletti would serve as analyst.[124] This was the first neutral national broadcast since the 2008 NHL Radio broadcast.
2018 Winter Olympics[]
The NHL refused to allow players to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament. Initially, in response to the NHL's decision, NBC elected not to air any NHL games during the three-week period on either the NBC broadcast network or NBCSN.[125] However, NBC later relented and added three Sunday afternoon games in February as a lead-in to the Winter Olympics.[126]
The end of The NHL on NBC[]
With the NBC Sports contract expiring at the end of the 2020–21 season, the league has explored the possibility of splitting its U.S. national media rights between multiple broadcasters, and over-the-top services (such as DAZN, ESPN+, or NBC's Peacock).[127] In any case, the league aimed to surpass the US$2 billion total that NBC paid over the life of their 2011–12 to 2020–21 contract.[128] On March 10, 2021, the NHL announced that ESPN[129] would serve as one of the new rightsholders under a seven-year contract, which will include packages of regular season games for ESPN and ABC (including opening night, the All-Star Game, and other special events), 75 original telecasts and all out-of-market games on ESPN+, rights to half of the Stanley Cup playoffs (including one conference final per-season), and four Stanley Cup Finals over the length of the contract.[130][131]
On April 26, 2021, Sports Business Journal reported[132] that NBC had officially pulled out[133] of bidding for future NHL rights,[134] meaning that NBC will not televise NHL games for the first time since the 2004–05 NHL lockout.[135] The next day, Turner Sports announced that they had agreed to a seven-year deal with the NHL to broadcast at least 72 games nationally on TNT and TBS[136] (while also giving HBO Max the live streaming and simulcast rights to these games) beginning with the 2021–22 season, which will include three Stanley Cup Finals, the other half of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Winter Classic.[137]
Ultimately, NBC's final NHL[138] broadcast[139] was Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals[140] on July 7. There, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 1–0 to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Following the end of the subsequent postgame coverage on NBCSN, the network aired a 13-minute video montage, narrated by long-time lead play-by-play voice Mike Emrick (who had taken the role as a contributor in the final NHL on NBC season), discussing various innovations that NBC had brought to their NHL coverage over the past 15 seasons as well as highlights and human interest stories that had occurred along the way as well. At the end of the video, Emrick signed off for NBC's coverage with the following:
Eddie Olczyk missed Game 2 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals due to a personal matter, so "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Brian Boucher moved to the booth with Albert, and Pierre McGuire took over for Boucher between the benches.[141] Albert and Olczyk moved on to become TBS/TNT's lead broadcast team,[142][143] while Boucher would join ESPN/ABC.[144] McGuire meanwhile, was hired by the Ottawa Senators as the team's senior vice-president of player development on July 12[145], having gone nearly three full decades without a managerial job in the NHL.[146]
On-air staff[]
Commentators[]
Main article: NHL on NBC commentators
Ratings[]
Main article: Ratings for The NHL on NBC
NHL coverage on NBC owned-and-operated television stations[]
Team Stations Years
New York Rangers W2XBS (later WNBC)
WNBT 4 (later WNBC) 1940–1941
1941–1942; 1945–1946
NBC Sports Regional Networks[]
Region served
NHL team rights
NBC Sports California[n1 1]
Northern and central California San Jose Sharks Created in 2008, in conjunction with Maloof Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Kings and Monarchs), after the company did not renew their television contract with FSN Bay Area.
NBC Sports Chicago[n1 2]
Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, non-Milwaukee market areas of southern Wisconsin Chicago Blackhawks NBC owns 20% of this joint venture with the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs (who own 20% each themselves).
NBC Sports Northwest[n1 3]
Oregon and Washington Vancouver Canucks
NBC Sports Philadelphia[n1 4]
Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, southern and central New Jersey Philadelphia Flyers Channel serves as flagship of the Comcast SportsNet. Replaced PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia as the local broadcaster of the Flyers in 1997.
NBC Sports Washington[n1 5]
Delaware, Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia Washington Capitals
↑ NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games to air on USA Network (17 March 2015).
↑ USA Network to Air NHL Playoff Games (1 April 2015).
↑ The 7 things you need to know about NBC's Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage (14 April 2015).
↑ Herbert, Stephen. A History of Early Television, Volume 3. Taylor & Francis, 301.
↑ Kreiser, Friedman, John, Lou. The New York Rangers: Broadway's Longest Running Hit. Sports Publishing LLC, 61.
↑ "Stanley Cup Hockey Playoffs on Today", Times Mirror Company, April 10, 1966, p. 3G.
↑ "NBC May Televise Stanley Cup Play", Times Mirror Company, February 27, 1966, p. 6C.
↑ "NHL Near Deal for TV of Cup Games", Tribune Publishing, February 27, 1966, p. C1.
↑ "NBC Makes Plans to TV Stanley Cup Playoffs", Times Mirror Company, February 28, 1966, p. B6.
↑ Don Page. "Let's Ear It for Transistor Man", Times Mirror Company, April 9, 1966, p. D2.
↑ Associated Press. "More Than Feelings Hurting—As Black Hawks Limp Back Home", Times Mirror Company, April 16, 1966, p. 20.
↑ "TV News Notes", Tribune Publishing, April 24, 1966, p. IND_A17.
↑ "NBC to Carry Stanley Cup Games on TV", Tribune Publishing, March 29, 1966, p. C1.
↑ Bob Gates. "Abel's 'switcheroo' works", April 29, 1966, p. 7.
↑ Stan Issacs. "TV SPORTS Hockey Gets Network – for a Day", Cablevision Systems Corporation, January 19, 1990, p. 137.
↑ Ted Damata. "Black Hawks in Colorful Color", Tribune Publishing, April 10, 1966, p. C1.
↑ Gerald Eskenazi. "NHL and NBC Sign $7-Million Pact", The New York Times Company, July 7, 1972, p. 25.
↑ William Leggett (May 20, 1974). "Nbc Considers Icing The Puck". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc..
↑ Bob Verdi. "All Chicagoans can say is, 'It's possible'", Tribune Publishing, May 8, 1973, p. C1.
↑ Paul Henninger. "VIEWING SPORTS", Times Mirror Company, May 24, 1975, p. A2.
↑ Craig, Jack. "NHL find NBC coverage more to its liking".
↑ NHL Semi-Finals Close NBC 1974 at YouTube
↑ Robin Herman. "Ranger Ice Puts Club on the Rocks", The New York Times Company, March 4, 1975, p. 24.
↑ "NBC Names New Commentator for NHL Broadcasts", Times Mirror Company, December 14, 1972, p. OC_B12.
↑ Paul Henninger. "VIEWING SPORTS", Times Mirror Company, January 25, 1975, p. B2.
↑ "Peter Puck belongs in sin bin", Tribune Publishing, February 25, 1975, p. C3.
↑ Paul Henninger. "VIEWING SPORTS", Times Mirror Company, May 31, 1975, p. B2.
↑ Gary Deeb. "NBC wants to get out after messing up NHL telecasts", Tribune Publishing, June 3, 1975, p. C3.
↑ Ross Atkin. "Sports check on what's new", June 9, 1975, p. 19.
↑ Staudohar, Paul D.. Playing for Dollars: Labor Relations and the Sports Business. Cornell University Press, 138.
↑ 31.0 31.1 Barry, Sal (October 29, 2018). John Ziegler Did More Harm Than Good for Hockey.
↑ Lapointe, Joe. "HOCKEY; 17 Goals? It Must Be The N.H.L. All-Stars", New York Times, January 23, 1994.
↑ "NBC Will Retain NHL All-Stars", The New York Times Company, October 16, 1991.
↑ Dave Sell. "NHL and ESPN Seen on Verge Of 5-Year Deal; $80 Million Pact Reported", The Washington Post Company, August 27, 1992, p. D02.
↑ Jim Sarni. "Nhl All-star Game Gets A Network Shot", Tribune Publishing, January 19, 1990.
↑ NBC presents NHL All-Star Game coverage.
↑ Nidetz, Steve. "NHL ALL-STARS GIVE NBC CHANCE TO TEST THE ICE", Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1990.
↑ 1990 Allstar Game Mario Scored 4 at His Home at YouTube
↑ 1991 NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium (intros, anthems) at YouTube
↑ NHL All-Star Game Open 1992 at YouTube
↑ 1994 NHL All Star Game Wayne Gretzky interview at YouTube
↑ 1993 All Star Game at Montreal 1st Intermission at YouTube
↑ Pavel Bure 2 Goals 1993 NHL Allstar Game (Feb. 6, 1993) (NBC) at YouTube
↑ "AROUND THE NHL", The Washington Post Company, October 13, 1989.
↑ "Linseman injures left knee; he'll be out for eight weeks", Torstar Corporation, March 29, 1989, p. F5.
↑ 1990 All Star Game at Pittsburgh Heroes of Hockey Highlights at YouTube
↑ "Around the NHL", The Washington Post Company, March 29, 1989.
↑ Rachel Shuster. "'American Sportsman' makes strong comeback", Gannett Company, March 29, 1989, p. 3C.
↑ "Gallant gets 5 games for butchering Garth", Torstar Corporation, October 13, 1989, p. B2.
↑ Joncas, Ron (January 28, 2018). Super Mario Stole the Show: 1990 NHL All-Star Game.
↑ Gentille, Sean. "Mario Lemieux vs. Wayne Gretzky: An NHL All-Star Game tradition", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 27, 2017.
↑ "NBC" Commercials (January 20th, 1990) at YouTube
↑ Sell, Dave. "LEMIEUX SETS TONE FOR NHL ALL-STARS", The Washington Post, January 22, 1990.
↑ Ray Sons. "NHL stars a hit without hitting", Sun-Times Media Group, January 20, 1991, p. 3.
↑ Steve Berkowitz. "Bush Endorses Playing of NFL Championship Games", The Washington Post Company, January 20, 1991.
↑ Herb Gould. "Hawks'all-stars all stars Roenick, Larmer, Chelios on target", Sun-Times Media Group, January 20, 1991, p. 1.
↑ 1991 NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium (second intermission, third period) at YouTube
↑ Helene Elliot. "INSIDE THE NHL U.S. Coach Has Mellowed", Cablevision Systems Corporation, February 17, 1989, p. 163.
↑ Rudy Martzke. "NBC to replace baseball with a few NHL games", Gannett Company, March 16, 1989, p. 3C.
↑ Rudy Martzke. "NBC plans innovative ways to fill baseball void", Gannett Company, January 31, 1989, p. 3C.
↑ Robert Fachet. "NOTEBOOK; Best of the West Enter Media Twilight Zone", The Washington Post Company, March 14, 1989, p. C08.
↑ Larry Jackson. "IS RISING SON SET FOR A TV FALL?", April 7, 1989, p. 2C.
↑ Steve Nidetz. "NHL providing SportsChannel with a Cupful of riches", Tribune Publishing, April 18, 1989, p. 3.
↑ Jack Craig. "WILL THE NHL PINCH HIT? WITH SHIFT OF BASEBALL TO CBS, NBC NEEDS TO FILL HOLE IN ITS LINEUP", February 12, 1989, p. 58.
↑ Ralph Routon. "NHL's finish leaves SportsChannel America in the dark", June 7, 1991, p. C2.
↑ Wilbon, Michael. "FOR NHL TO GROW, ZIEGLER'S GOT TO GO", Washington Post, June 1, 1992.
↑ Steve Woodward. "TV menu satisfies only dedicated couch potatoes", Gannett Company, June 1, 1992, p. 3C.
↑ Матч Всех Звёзд НХЛ 1994 / NHL All Star Game 1994 at YouTube
↑ 1994 NHL All-Star Game, Pavel Bure 2 Assists (Jan. 22, 1994) (NBC) at YouTube
↑ Alan Pergament (April 2, 1994). CH. 7'S BRENON ON THE MARK AS RINK-SIDE REPORTER. Buffalo News.
↑ 1993 NHL All-Star Game, Pavel Bure 2 Goals (Feb. 6, 1993) (NBC) at YouTube
↑ 1991 NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium (first period) at YouTube
↑ 1991 NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium (first intermission, second period) at YouTube
↑ Richard Sandomir (May 14, 1991). TV SPORTS; Stars and Penguins: Cable Compatible. New York Times.
↑ 81.0 81.1 Craig, Jack. "All-Star Game pinpoints NHL's limited exposure", January 18, 1991.
↑ DiGiovanna, Mike. "MIGHTY DUCKS '93-94: PREMIERE SEASON : A Brave new NHL : As It Welcomes Two New Members, the National Hockey League Ponders What It Needs to Do to Become the Sport of the '90s", Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1993.
↑ Steve Lepore (August 4, 2010). The Suitor Tutor, Part 1: On VERSUS and NBC, How Have They Done, and Where the Merger Will Take Them. Puck The Media. WordPress.com. Retrieved on May 10, 2011.
↑ 85.0 85.1 85.2 85.3 Houston, William. "CBC's crew disgraceful in Game 7", June 21, 2006, p. S4.
↑ "Game three equals NBC's lowest rating ever for prime-time program – NHL", ESPN.com, June 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2009-07-23.
↑ "Ratings for Stanley Cup Final down 20 percent", ESPN.com, June 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2009-07-23.
↑ Wharton, David. "Ducks Aren't Hot Topic in Town", Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2007.
↑ Stewart, Larry. "Ducks Up, Ratings Down", Los Angeles Times, June 8, 2007.
↑ Sean Leahy (May 2, 2011). The Kentucky Derby contingency plan for NHL on NBC. Puck Daddy. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved on May 10, 2011.
↑ Larry DiTore (January 2, 2008). NHL's Outdoor Game in Buffalo Gets Best TV Ratings Since 1996. Bloomberg.
↑ Chris Zelkovich. "'Ice Bowl' proves to be hot ticket for league, NBC", Torstar Corporation, January 3, 2008.
↑ "NBC to air Stanley Cup finals games", ESPN, March 7, 2009. Retrieved on March 7, 2009. Archived from the original on March 11, 2009.
↑ Puko, Tim. "Hockey schedule a bow to NBC", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 30, 2009. Retrieved on May 30, 2009. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009.
↑ Steve Lepore (March 18, 2011). A Long-Winded Rant About Rangers/Flyers and the State of the NHL On NBC's Scheduling Decisions. Puck The Media. Retrieved on March 19, 2011.
↑ "NBC to show 15 Sabres games". Retrieved on August 31, 2012.
↑ https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/13/despite-buzz-sabres-scheduled-to-get-only-five-national-broadcasts-this-season/
↑ NBC SPORTS GROUP TO AIR 105 NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAMES IN 2015-16. NBC Sports Group (July 27, 2015). Retrieved on August 10, 2015.
↑ Winners, losers in NBC Sports' 2015-16 NHL TV schedule. Puck Daddy. Yahoo! Sports (July 27, 2015). Retrieved on August 10, 2015.
↑ "NBC's NHL move away from "Wednesday Night Rivalry" differs significantly from other leagues", Awful Announcing, 2018-08-14. (en-US)
↑ October 24. Maple Leafs-Jets Game Marks First All-Canadian Broadcast On NBCSN (en).
↑ R. Thomas. "Comcast SportsNet Talent Supplements 'Hockey Day In America' Coverage Umsetead", February 19, 2011. Retrieved on February 21, 2011.
↑ NHL reaches new television deal to remain on NBC, Versus. Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. (April 19, 2011). Retrieved on April 19, 2011.
↑ Ben Koo (February 27, 2013). Looking Back at NBC Sports Network's Lack of Growth. AwfulAnnouncing.com. Retrieved on February 28, 2013.
↑ Bob Fernadez. Goodbye Versus, hello NBC Sports Network. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved on August 1, 2011.
↑ Ken Fang (April 19, 2011). NBC/Versus To Air NHL Games For The Next Ten Years. Fangsbites.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2011. Retrieved on April 19, 2011.
↑ Andy Roth. "NBC/Versus to pay billion for NHL rights", WGR, April 20, 2011. Retrieved on April 21, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016.
↑ NHL Hockey Schedule for November 28, 2014. National Hockey League. Retrieved on October 18, 2014.
↑ Ken Fang (April 5, 2012). All NHL Playoff Games To Air on NBC/NBCSN/CNBC/NHL Network. Fang's Bites. Retrieved on April 6, 2012.
↑ Ken Fang. CNBC – Fang's Bites. Fang's Bites. Wordpress. Retrieved on April 13, 2012.
↑ EA Sports' "NHL 15" Makes Most Of NBC Partnership To Create TV Feel For Videogame. Retrieved on 2 August 2016.
↑ NBC Sports, RSNs Unlock New Stanley Cup Production Synergies With Side-by-Side Telecasts. Retrieved on April 13, 2017.
↑ Report: Pierre McGuire removed from NBC's No. 1 NHL team in favor of Brian Boucher. Retrieved on September 4, 2019.
↑ NBC Sports (February 9, 2020). *PROGRAMMING ALERT* – "GR8NESS: OVI'S CHASE FOR 700" – NBC SPORTS ADDS CAPITALS GAME TOMORROW AT 7 P.M. ET ON NBCSN. Press release. Retrieved on February 20, 2020.
↑ NBC Sports (February 20, 2020). NBC SPORTS PRESENTS ROUND THREE OF 2020 GUINNESS SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP RUGBY THIS WEEKEND. Press release. Retrieved on February 23, 2020.
↑ NBC Sports (February 16, 2020). ALL-FEMALE CREW TO BROADCAST AND PRODUCE NBC SPORTS' COVERAGE OF BLUES-BLACKHAWKS IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY ON MARCH 8 ON NBCSN. Press release. Retrieved on February 20, 2020.
↑ (April 2, 2014). 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage. Press release. Retrieved on June 7, 2014. "NBC will broadcast Game 1, Game 4, and Games 5–7 (if necessary), with NBCSN televising Games 2–3"
↑ "Doc Emrick To Miss Game 1 Of Stanley Cup", NESN, June 4, 2014. Retrieved on February 19, 2017.
↑ NBC Sports (April 1, 2015). NBC Sports Group Fills Out 2015 Stanley Cup Playoff Bracket With Complete Coverage Beginning April 15. Press release. Retrieved on April 1, 2015.
↑ Strangis: Olczyk brings horse sense to Cup Final. Retrieved on 20 June 2015.
↑ Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final Moves to NBC With Belmont Lead-In. Retrieved on 20 June 2015.
↑ NBC Sports switches TV schedule for Stanley Cup Final. Time Inc. (May 27, 2016). Retrieved on May 28, 2016.
↑ STANLEY CUP FINAL WILL HAVE FIRST NATIONAL RADIO BROADCAST IN EIGHT YEARS (May 5, 2016).
↑ NBC press release at http://www.nbcumv.com/news/nbc-sports-radio-named-exclusive-terretrial-radio-partner-2016-stanley-cup-final?network=33131 . NBC press release, May 3, 2016
↑ NBC gives symbolic middle finger to NHL after Olympic call - Larry Brooks, New York Post, 23 September 2017
↑ NBC Sports Adds Three Games To Its 2017-18 NHL Schedule. NBC Sports Group (January 1, 2018). Retrieved on January 11, 2018.
↑ Media Mailbag: The latest on the NHL's TV contract talks, Thursday Night Football's future, on CBS landing the Champions League (November 14, 2019).
↑ Hockey's Big Pay Day Is Coming (January 15, 2019).
↑ Lucia, Joe. "Winners and losers of the NHL's TV deal with ESPN", Awful Announcing, March 11, 2021.
↑ "NHL back on ESPN with 7-year multiplatform deal", ESPN, March 10, 2021.
↑ ESPN officially announces new TV deal with NHL, featuring 25 games on ABC or ESPN, 75 exclusive games on ESPN+ and Hulu, new studio show (en-US) (2021-03-10).
↑ Ourand, Burns, John, Mark J.. "NBC pulls out of bidding for remaining NHL rights package", Sports Business Journal, April 26, 2021.
↑ Rigdon, Jay. "Turner reportedly "likely" to land remaining NHL rights as NBC withdraws from the bidding", Awful Announcing, April 26, 2021.
↑ Steinberg, Brian. "WarnerMedia Poised to Pick Up NHL Package as NBC Exits Hockey Rights", Variety, April 26, 2021.
↑ Reedy, Joe. "AP sources: Turner Sports gets rights to second NHL package", AP News, April 26, 2021.
↑ Daniels, Tim. "NHL, Turner Sports Reveal 7-Year Contract Featuring Stanley Cup, Winter Classic", Bleacher Report, April 27, 2021.
↑ https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us/media-release/nhl-comes-turner
↑ Reedy, Joe. "Inside the glass reporter to continue as NBC exits NHL", The Seattle Times, July 4, 2021.
↑ Oland, Ian. "Doc Emrick narrates powerful tribute to NHL as NBC's agreement with league nears end", Russian Machine Never Breaks, July 7, 2021.
↑ Dachman, Jason. "In Its Last NHL Stanley Cup Final, NBC Sports Aims To Produce 'First-Class Product Through the Final Shift of the Game'", Sports Video Group, June 30, 2021.
↑ NBC Universal (June 30, 2021). 2021 Stanley Cup Final Game 2: Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN and Peacock. Press release. Retrieved on June 30, 2021.
↑ Reedy, Joe (2021-05-26). The Great Move: Gretzky will be part of Turner's NHL studio (en). The Associated Press.
↑ "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky, Kenny Albert & Eddie Olczyk Join the Turner Sports NHL Team (en). Warner Media, LLC (May 26, 2021).
↑ Coryell, Grace (2021-06-29). Dynamic, Diverse and Accomplished Team to Present ESPN's NHL Coverage to Fans (en-US). ESPN Interactive.
↑ GARRIOCH: Melnyk calls McGuire a key piece of Sens' Stanley Cup drive. Ottawa Sun.
↑ Senators appoint Pierre McGuire as senior VP of player development (en-US).
↑ Originally launching as Comcast SportsNet West, the channel was renamed Comcast SportsNet California on September 4, 2008. It was then renamed NBC Sports California on April 2, 2017.[citation needed]
↑ Formerly known as Comcast SportsNet Chicago from 2004 to 2017.
↑ NBC Sports Northwest is currently available mainly on Comcast systems in the Pacific Northwest, and is not available on Dish Network and DirecTV. Formerly known as Comcast SportsNet Northwest from 2007 to 2017.
↑ Originally a joint venture between Comcast, the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball franchise and Spectacor (owner of the Flyers and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers), controlling interest in Spectacor was acquired by Comcast in 1996. Due to its use of the microwave and fiber optic relay infrastructure previously used by PRISM, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia was legally exempt from requirements to offer its programming to satellite providers until the Federal Communications Commission closed the terrestrial loophole in 2010. Despite this and FCC directives included in the approval for the NBC purchase, Comcast continues to refuse to distribute the channel to satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. Formerly known as Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia from 1996 to 2017.
↑ Formerly known as Home Team Sports from 1981 to 2001, and later Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic from 2001 to 2017.
Hey, Here's Five Unsolicited Suggestions For NBC's Hockey Coverage
Luring Stanley Cup Viewers With a Torrent of Games
National Hockey League on national television
* Sports television broadcast contracts (Canada) - Sports television broadcast contracts - United States
American network broadcasters
* ABC - CBS - Fox - NBC - commentators
Defunct networks
* Hughes - RKO
Canadian network broadcasters
* CBC - City - CTV - Global - Radio-Canada
American pay TV carriers
* ESPN - NBCSN - USA
Defunct channels
* HDNet - SportsChannel America - Versus
Canadian pay TV carriers
* Sportsnet - commentators - TSN
French language channels
* RDS - RDS Info - TVA Sports
NHL owned and operated
* NHL Center Ice - NHL Network (1975–79) - NHL Network (2007–present)
* NHL Centre Ice - NHL Network
News television series
* NHL 2Night - NHL Live - NHL Tonight
* Hockey Central - NHL Tonight
That's Hockey -
* Hockey Weekend Across America - NHL Game of the Week - Wednesday Night Hockey - Sunday Night Hockey
* Making the Cut: Last Man Standing - Oil Change - Top 10
Broadcasters by event
* All-Star Game - Entry Draft - Stadium Series, Winter and Heritage Classic
* Stanley Cup playoffs (Original Six era) - Stanley Cup Finals (American television) - Stanley Cup Finals (Canadian television)
Local broadcasters
* Current broadcasters
Over-the-air broadcasters
Individual networks
* Breakaway PPV - Hawkvision - Leafs Nation Network - MSG Western New York (Sabres Hockey Network)
* Flyers Post Game Live - Hockey Night Live! - Pittsburgh Penguins Confidential
* Stanley Cup Finals - ABC
NHL Awards Show - NHL Live - NHL on NBC Radio - Olympics on NBC
NHL Game of the Week - Wednesday Night Hockey - Sunday Night Hockey
Non-NBC outlets
NHL on USA - NHL on Versus
Ratings - History of the NHL on United States television - Stanley Cup Finals television ratings
NBC Sports Regional Networks
California - Chicago - Northwest - Philadelphia - Washington
All-Star Game - NHL Entry Draft - Outdoor games - Stanley Cup playoffs (Original Six era) - Stanley Cup Finals (American television)
Kenny Albert - Marv Albert - Brendan Burke - Chris Cuthbert - Ken Daniels - Win Elliot - Mike Emrick - Pat Foley - John Forslund - Randy Hahn - Jim Jackson - Gord Miller - Rick Peckham - Tim Ryan - Dave Strader
Color commentators
Jamie Baker - John Davidson - Darren Eliot - Brian Engblom - Brian Hayward - Billy Jaffe - Mike Johnson - Ted Lindsay - Peter McNab - A. J. Mleczko - Eddie Olczyk - Daryl Reaugh
Studio hosts
Dave Briggs - Bill Clement - Bob Costas - Bill Cullen - Gayle Gardner- Bill Mazer - Brian McFarlane - Liam McHugh - Bob Neumeier - Bill Patrick - Dan Patrick - Jim Simpson - Kathryn Tappen - Mike Tirico
Studio analysts
Anson Carter - Ray Ferraro - Bret Hedican - Brett Hull - Mike Keenan - Keith Jones - Mike Milbury - Jeremy Roenick - Chris Therien
Ice-level reporters
Brian Boucher - Brenda Brenon - Cammi Granato - Jim Gray - Ron MacLean - Pierre McGuire - Joe Micheletti - Darren Pang
NHL insiders
Darren Dreger - Bob McKenzie
1966 (Games 1, 4) - 1973 (Games 1, 4–6) - 1974 (Games 3, 6) - 1975 (Games 2, 5) - 2006 (Games 3–7) - 2007 (Games 3–5) - 2008 (Games 3–6) - 2009 (Games 1–2, 5–7) - 2010 (Games 1–2, 5–6) - 2011 (Games 1–2, 5–7) - 2012 (Games 1–2, 5–6) - 2013 (Games 1, 4–6) - 2014 (Games 1–2, 5) - 2015 (Games 1–2, 5–6) - 2016 (Games 1, 4–6) - 2017 (Games 1, 4-6) - 2018 (Games 1, 4-5) - 2019 (Games 1, 4-7)
2012 (Games 3–4) - 2013 (Games 2–3) - 2014 (Games 3–4) - 2015 (Games 3–4) - 2016 (Games 2–3) - 2017 (Games 2–3) - 2018 (Games 2-3) - 2019 (Games 2-3)
1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019
* NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition
* 2017 Centennial Classic
Heritage Classic
2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020
Culture/Lore
Hockey Weekend Across America - Peter Puck - Kraft Hockeyville
Rivalries
Flyers–Rangers - Flyers–Penguins - Blackhawks–Red Wings
Website: NBC Sports - NHL News
NHL on USA
NHL on NBC - NHL on Versus
MSG Network - History of the NHL on United States television - Stanley Cup Finals television ratings
All-Star Game - Stanley Cup Finals (American television)
Al Albert - Dan Kelly - Jiggs McDonald
Don Cherry - Mike Eruzione - Phil Esposito - Rod Gilbert - Gary Green - Brian McFarlane - Lou Nanne - Pete Stemkowski
Studio hosts & analysts
Mike Liut - Al Trautwig - Jim Van Horne
1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985
Good Friday Massacre
NHL on SportsChannel America
NHL on NBC - Hockey Night in Canada
Hawkvision - History of the NHL on United States television - Stanley Cup Finals television ratings
Affiliated networks
Midwest Sports Channel - Prime Network - PRISM - SportsChannel Chicago - SportsChannel New England - SportsChannel New York - SportsChannel Pacific - SportsChannel Philadelphia
Entry Draft - All-Star Game - Stanley Cup Finals (American television)
Commentators by team
Chicago Blackhawks - Hartford Whalers - New York Islanders - Philadelphia Flyers
Mike Emrick - Stan Fischler - Pat Foley - Dave Hodge - Jiggs McDonald - Bob Papa - Rick Peckham - Joe Starkey - Gary Thorne - Ken Wilson
Herb Brooks - Gerry Cheevers - Bill Clement - John Davidson - Don Edwards - John Kelly - Craig Laughlin - Dave Maloney - Peter McNab - Joe Micheletti - Denis Potvin - Jeff Rimer - Pete Stemkowski - Dale Tallon - Ed Westfall
CBC playoff feeds
Steve Armitage - Bob Cole - Chris Cuthbert - John Garrett - Dick Irvin, Jr. - Ron MacLean - Harry Neale - Jim Peplinski - Scott Russell - Don Wittman
1989 - 1991 (rebroadcast third period from NBC's coverage)
National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition
Seasons by team
1988–89 - 1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92
1989–90 - 1990–91 - 1991–92
NHL on Versus (2006–11)
Hockey Central - NHL on NBC - NHL on USA - NHL Awards Show
Doubleheader - History of the NHL on United States television - Stanley Cup Finals television ratings
Entry Draft - Heritage Classic - All-Star Game - Stanley Cup Finals (American television)
John Ahlers - Kenny Albert - Joe Beninati - Ken Daniels - Jack Edwards - Darren Eliot - Mike Emrick - John Forslund - Gord Miller - Rick Peckham - Sam Rosen - Dave Strader
Andy Brickley - John Davidson - Brian Engblom - Billy Jaffe- Pierre McGuire - Joe Micheletti - Eddie Olczyk - Daryl Reaugh- Neil Smith - P. J. Stock - John Vanbiesbrouck - Kevin Weekes - Ron Wilson
Steve Coates - Bob Harwood - Sarah Kustok - Darren Pang - Chris Simpson - Charissa Thompson - Todd Walsh
Bill Clement - Liam McHugh - Bill Patrick - Bill Pidto - Deb Placey - Al Trautwig
John Boruk - Kelly Chase - Ken Daneyko - Keith Jones - Peter Laviolette - Mike Keenan - Dave Maloney - Darren McCarty - Mark Messier - Mike Milbury - Jeremy Roenick - John Stevens - Aaron Ward
2006 (Games 1–2) - 2007 (Games 1–2) - 2008 (Games 1–2) - 2009 (Games 3–4) - 2010 (Games 3–4) - 2011 (Games 3–4)
NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition
NHL Radio
NHL on the radio - NBC Sports Radio - Westwood One
All-Star Game - Stanley Cup Finals - Winter Classic
Kenny Albert - Roxy Bernstein - Dave Goucher - Randy Hahn - Howie Rose - Sam Rosen - Dan Rusanowsky - Dave Strader - Ralph Strangis
Bob Beers - Bill Clement - Jim Fox - Brian Hayward - Gary Green - Billy Jaffe - Joe Micheletti - Eddie Olczyk - Darren Pang - Sherry Ross - John Vanbiesbrouck
Ice level reporters
Darren Eliot - Ray Ferraro
Doug Brown - Greg Dickerson - Sean Grande
1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018
1993 - 1994 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2007 - 2008
Articles with unsourced statements since August 2012

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Packaging group Macfarlane today reported a 52 per cent surge in first-half profits and said it was eyeing more acquisitions to help deliver further growth.
The Glasgow-based firm, which earlier this month bought East Midlands rival One Packaging in a deal worth up to £2.75 million, posted a pre-tax profit of £1.9m for the six months to the end of June, up from £1.2m a year earlier.
Turnover rose 12 per cent to £78.6m and shareholders will receive a 6 per cent increase in their interim dividend to 0.53p a share, to be paid on 15 October.
Atkinson said sales to internet retailers accounted for 19 per cent of Macfarlane's business in the first half, up from 16 per cent a year ago.
Clients include Home Retail Group, owner of the Argos, Habitat and Homebase brands, as well as The Hut and Selfridges.
The acquisition of One followed the takeover last year of Lane Packaging and Network Packaging, and finance director John Love said the group continued to look for "value-enhancing opportunities".
Macfarlane employs about 750 people, including about 110 north of the Border, where it also has a labels business in Kilmarnock and distribution operation in Glasgow.


Flash Cartoons & Flash Animations Video Clips, Youtube Channel: "7 Viridis", Flash Animation!
Description : Here, witness the battle between Seven and L'Ham'zaal, the penultimate dragon reincarnation symbolizing the four horsemen of death. Shouldn't be a problem for this fine lady, should it? Making only one more of these. It should be out soon. Thanks to Pancakeeater for making the introductory sequence, and also to On-yX for producing the music. Couldn't have done it without you. Thanks to you, as well, for watching. Enjoy.


text:
_(TODO)_

### base
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### copy
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### cwd
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### exclusions
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### log
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### process
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### read
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

### template
Type: `undefined`

Default: `undefined`

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Warm Bodies Review – Hungry Heart
April 21, 2013 October 2, 2014 / Reshoot&Rewind
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Jonathan Levine (screenplay), Isaac Marion (novel)
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Dave Franco, John Malkovich
Release date: February 1st, 2013
Distributors: Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate
Best part: The chemistry between Hoult and Palmer.
Worst part: The dodgy CGI.
For the past few years, we have been inundated with the works of author and stay-at-home Mormon Stephanie Meyer. The Twilight franchise and The Host have now made the big bucks, but that doesn't mean they are good. Imagine if a romantic-horror movie for teenagers was actually well written, directed, and acted. I know it seems impossible, but Warm Bodies fits this premise. It's a fun, witty and heartening examination of life and love.
Nicholas Hoult.
The film starts out with narration from a teenage zombie who calls himself R (Nicholas Hoult). He's stuck in an existential crisis whilst shuffling around a decayed airport. He lives in an abandoned plane and hangs out with fellow zombie M (Rob Corddry). His dull existence is livened up by the introduction of resistance fighter Julie (Teresa Palmer). It's love at first sight. After R eats her boyfriend(Dave Franco)'s brain during an attack, he saves Julie by escorting her to his hideout. Their relationship slowly begins to blossom, as Julie learns that there is more to the zombified inhabitants of Earth than meets the eye. Many directors have experimented with zombies, romance, and Shakespeare. These topics are popular for many reasons. Despite their vast differences, their elements can easily be woven together. Warm Bodies certainly owes a debt of gratitude to zom-coms such as Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland.
Hoult & Teresa Palmer.
The movie inventively takes on the zombie point of view. Many people have described Warm Bodies as a 'zom-rom-com'. It may be a cheesy description, but it fits this movie like a glove. Its story can be summed up with a quote from esteemed poet Maya Angelou. She said that "love is like a virus, it can happen to anybody at any time". These zombies are murderous yet still have some life left in them. Their dreams and memories are trapped by the infection stewing in their veins. R sees the funny side of his existence whist wishing he had his old life back. He charmingly grunts every word whilst we hear his intelligible narration. His 'almost conversations' with M are some of the film's best moments. The film's sense of style is subtle yet efficient. The 80s soundtrack, featuring songs by Bruce Springsteen, The Scorpions, and Guns N' Roses, lends the film a comforting sense of nostalgia. The writing and direction are responsible for the film's quality. Jonathan Levine is clearly a fan of both zombie lore and romantic-comedies. With this and 50/50 to his credit, he could be seen as the next John Landis or Ivan Reitman. Both are black comedies that deal with the ugly side of the human condition. Warm Bodies is clearly inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's touching story is brought to life in a film dealing with the worst situation imaginable. The film forms its own identity whilst imitating the classic tale. The film subverts zombie clichés whilst conforming to romantic-comedy clichés. It's a classic 'Hollywood' story of two people from different sides of the tracks.
"I don't wanna be this way. I'm lonely. I'm totally lost. I mean, I'm literally lost. I've never been in this part of the airport before." (R (Nicholas Hoult), Warm Bodies).
John Malkovich.
This movie has similar elements to Let the Right One In. However, whereas that film was violent and dark, this is witty and quirky. The relationship between Julie and R is palpable despite their unusual situation. The airport becomes the setting for multiple 'dates'. They listen to rock music, drive sports cars, and enjoy the spoils of R's collections. The zombie makeover scene, with the song Pretty Woman blaring in the background, is a stand-out comedic moment. They soon begin to act like a cute couple. This is both a fun comedy and a perfect date movie. The romance is, at points, heavy-handed. Metaphors and cheesy moments are awkwardly thrust into this otherwise tender romantic-comedy. The love-story also leaves many questions without answers. It's difficult to decipher how and why their relationship can cure the zombies around them. The ultra-dead zombies, known as 'Bonies', are also unconvincing. Calling back to the Ray Harryhausen era of CGI, they are uninteresting and prove to be only a minor threat. The film is brought to life by its stellar performances. Hoult overcomes his character's obvious restrictions to deliver a fun performance. He is a charming and sensitive performer who convinces us to care about his character's remarkable transformation. Corddry brings wit to his otherwise generic role. Palmer changes from tough chick to soulful love interest with ease. John Malkovich, despite his underwritten role, is charismatic as the cynical resistance leader and Julie's dad. Franco and Analeigh Tipton are charming in small roles.
With a zany sense of humour and catchy retro soundtrack, Warm Bodies is a surprise hit. Combining so many genre elements and influences, it's a charming and intelligent interpretation of zombie lore and romantic-comedy mechanics. Levine and Hoult lend their remarkable talents to an otherwise conventional pseudo-Shakespearean tale.
Verdict: A witty and charming zom-rom-com.
Apocalypse, Comedy, Dave Franco, John Malkovich, Jonathan Levine, Nicholas Hoult, Romance, Teresa Palmer, Warm Bodies, Zombie
← Oblivion Review – Cruise Control
Olympus Has Fallen Review – USA/North Korea Smackdown! →


My first year of teaching in the UAE has almost come to a close.
It's hard to imagine that it is over, just a few weeks ago I was counting down 10 weeks and now in the blink of an eye those weeks have simply vanished.
I am not complaining though. It's good to get a break, the kids were done mentally and it was becoming harder to keep them engaged.
Last Thursady we had our class parties for KG1 which meant that the kids wouldn't show up today or for the rest of the week.
Strangely enough I had one kid show up. Don't know what that was about. Luckily he entertained himself on starfall.com. One of the Arabic teacher told him not to come back, school is done.
The kids typically start falling off and the numbers begin to dwindle the closer it gets to end of the year. My school isn't so bad in numbers because we are on an airforce base and the kids live on base so they usually come almost till the end. This is much better than some schools.
The party was to signify that we had completed the year and it was time to shut those books and let our hair down, as much as you can with 4-5 year olds.
The end was a little anti-climatic to tell the truth. The kids didn't understand that they would be leaving for a whole 2 months so after the party they ran to the bus as per usual.
I suppose I am a bit sentimental but I expected the parting to be a little more emotional. Not crying or anything but really a proper good-bye with big hugs. Hahah, they're four years old. They don't understand.
I have to say that I really enjoyed my first year. There were challenges along the way but it was definitely better than my first year teaching in the US. Like a million times better.
I loved my kids and I know they loved me back which made my job that much easier.
The parents also were pleased, some have even requested that I move up to KG2 with the kids.
Inshallah. I really want to and so does my co-teacher. We put a lot of work into training those kids and it would make for a smooth sail next year. Fingers crossed.
So there it is. The end.
Well sort of. I still have to go in to work which will involve a lot of sitting about and some PD. not really looking forward to that but at least I won't have to plan lessons and have kids.
Super excited to go home. Six more weeks and then I will be NY bound.


Christians frequently talk about "stewardship," but what do we mean when we use that term? And more importantly, what should we mean by it?
Although Christians across denominational lines often use stewardship language to describe our calling to live out God's mission in the world, what we mean theologically by "stewardship" varies greatly across religious traditions. Some think stewardship is tithing; others think it means volunteering or living a simple lifestyle. Still others identify stewardship with environmental conservation, social action of some kind or another, charitable giving, or making disciples through evangelism.
Each of these good and necessary activities points to an essential facet of stewardship, but each—on its own—falls shy of capturing the inspiring vision of biblical stewardship as a form of whole-life discipleship that embraces every legitimate vocation and calling to fulfill God's mission in the world. In this sense, holistic stewardship, transformational generosity, workplace ministry, business as mission, and the theology of work movement all share a common point of origin in the biblical view of mission as whole-life discipleship. In other words, the essence of stewardship is about finding your place—that is, all the dimensions of your many callings—in God's economy of all things (oikonomia).