Last night hockey insider from TSN Bob McKenzie broke the news on Twitter his network (owned by Bell) had lost its national NHL broadcasting rights to Rogers and the CBC:
Pains me to report this, but NHL closing in on landmark CDN TV deal with two CDN networks. Many years (10+), many billions. #overandout
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) November 26, 2013
Official announcement expected Tuesday by NHL: CBC and Rogers have exclusive English-language NHL rights deal. Believed to be 12 year deal.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) November 26, 2013
As expected, this morning Rogers officially announced a blockbuster $5.2 billion deal with the NHL over 12 years for broadcast and multimedia coverage on all platforms in all languages. Rogers chose the CBC for licensing deals of English broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada and national French media rights, respectively.
Nadir Mohamed, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Communications said in a statement: “Canadians are passionate about hockey, and through this landmark partnership with the NHL we’ll be able to bring hockey fans more games and more content on their platform of choice.”
The deal is the largest media rights deal in League history and starts in the 2014-15 season and continues through the 2025-26 season. It’s the first time a premium North American-wide sports league has granted all of its national (Canadian) rights to one company over a long term deal.
The deal will cement Rogers’ ability to stream the NHL to TV, smartphones, tablets, internet streaming, satellite radio, and more, including NHL Game Centre Live and Centre Ice, plus represent pretty much all Canadian aspects of the NHL. Rogers owns a 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
The deal comes as a blow to Bell, the parent company of TSN, which again has lost its NHL national broadcasting rights, bringing the network back to the days of 1998-2002 when it also had no national licensing deal in place.
Bell said the following statement to CTV News:
We congratulate the NHL on this announcement. We submitted a bid we believed was valuable for the NHL and appropriate for our business but were ultimately outbid. In hockey, our partnerships with the Leafs, Jets, Canadiens, Sens, and Hockey Canada (including the World Juniors) remain core to our TSN and RDS TV, radio and digital properties. With an on-air broadcast team unmatched in terms of talent and experience and our extensive array of pro sports content, we’re committed to TSN remaining Canada’s Sports Leader.
TSN does still own the iconic Hockey Night in Canada theme song, which it acquired in 2008 after the CBC could not negotiate a new deal with the song’s composer.
What do you think of this Rogers/CBC deal with the NHL?
