NHL on Sportsnet

This article uses bare URLs, which may be threatened by link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation). (November 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

NHL on Sportsnet
Also known as	Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey Rogers Hometown Hockey NHL on Rogers Labatt Blue Tuesday Night Hockey (1998–2001) Labatt Blue NHL Gamenight (2001–2002) NHL Gamenight on Sportsnet NHL Gamenight Replay
Genre	Sports
Created by	Rogers Media / Sportsnet
Starring	Various
Opening theme	"The Hockey Song" (1998–2002) "Sportsnet NHL theme" (2014–present)
Country of origin	Canada
Production
Production locations	Rogers Building, Toronto
Release
Original network	Sportsnet
Picture format	NTSC HDTV 1080i
Original release	October 9, 1998 (1998-10-09) – present (present)
Chronology
Preceded by	NHL on TSN (national cable broadcaster) Hockey Night in Canada (national over-the-air broadcaster)
Related shows	Hockey Night in Canada NHL on ESPN / NHL on ABC (U.S. rightsholders) NHL on TNT (U.S. rightsholders)
External links
NHL on Sportsnet

NHL on Sportsnet is the blanket title for presentations of the National Hockey League broadcast held by a Canadian media corporation, Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Media division, as well as the Sportsnet Radio chain. Sportsnet (then known as CTV Sportsnet) previously held the national cable rights for NHL regular season and playoff games from 1998 to 2002. In November 2013, Rogers reached a 12-year deal to become the exclusive national television and digital rightsholder for the NHL in Canada, succeeding both CBC Sports and TSN.

The first telecasts under the new contract premiered on October 8, 2014—the first night of the 2014–15 NHL season; the deal primarily emphasizes increased access to NHL content in Canada, with plans to leverage Rogers' various broadcast and cable television outlets, along with CBC Television as part of a time-brokerage agreement, to air a larger number of NHL games nationally than under previous deals with CBC and TSN. Rogers' national contract complements its existing regional coverage of the NHL, holding partial or exclusive regional rights to four of the league's Canadian franchises.

Sportsnet shows two flagship national games per week, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, and Rogers Hometown Hockey on Monday nights—which features segments hosted on-location by Ron MacLean from various Canadian cities as part of a nationwide tour. On Saturday nights, the Sportsnet channels, CBC, and Citytv broadcast Hockey Night in Canada, which broadcasts all evening games involving Canadian teams. The Sportsnet channels occasionally show games that exclusively involve teams from the United States, Sportsnet and CBC share in coverage of the post-season, and Rogers' multicultural Omni Television simulcasts selected games in the Punjabi language.

Rogers hired a number of prominent personalities from CBC Sports to augment its on-television staff, including commentators Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, Garry Galley, Bob Cole and Greg Millen, Coach's Corner hosts Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, and reporters Elliotte Friedman, and Scott Oake. Dave Randorf, Paul Romanuk, and Mike Johnson also jumped to Sportsnet from TSN to join the coverage, and, from 2014 to 2016, George Stroumboulopoulos, who formerly hosted a talk show for CBC, served as the studio host for Hockey Night in Canada in a bid to attract a younger demographic of viewers.

Rogers' inaugural season as sole rightsholder was met with mixed reception; while receiving praise—especially among younger viewers, for its "hipper" production and the increased number of games available on a national basis than under previous rights deals, initial criticism centred primarily upon the quality of George Stroumboulopoulos's hosting and his succession of Ron MacLean on Hockey Night (a move which was later reversed for the 2016–17 season), along with its use of elements perceived as being gimmicks.

History[]

1998–2002 contract and other previous contracts[]

Rogers Media's Sportsnet networks have historically been a prominent broadcaster of the National Hockey League in Canada. By the time the regional sports network first launched on October 9, 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, the network had already wrestled the national cable rights to the NHL from long-time holder TSN. From 1998–99 until 2001–02, Sportsnet aired Labatt Blue Tuesday Night Hockey weekly during the regular season, and covered first-round playoff series that did not feature Canadian teams. The network's first live event was an opening night match between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers.^[1] Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson served as the lead broadcast team.^[2] Kevin Quinn and Ryan Walter served as the secondary team.^[3] Darren Dreger as the studio host^[2] and Greg Millen (1998–1999),^[4] joined by other personalities such as Nick Kypreos (1998–2002),^[5] and Mike Keenan (1999–2000).^[3]

As reflected by its influence, Fox Sports Net (Fox also held a minority stake in the channel upon its launch),^[1] Sportsnet and its four regional feeds also picked up regional broadcast rights to other Canadian NHL teams. As of the 2013–14 NHL season, Sportsnet held regional rights to five of the seven Canadian franchises, including the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs (which are jointly owned by Rogers and Bell Canada through a majority stake in MLSE), Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks. Rights to the remaining two, the Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets, and national cable rights to the league as a whole, were held by the competing network TSN.^[6][7][8][9] National broadcast television rights were held by CBC Television, who used its rights to broadcast the long-running Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights, and share coverage of the post-season with TSN (including exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals).^[9]

2014–15 contract[]

Negotiations[]

The National Hockey League had aimed for its next round of Canadian broadcast rights deals to total at least $3.2 billion. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recognized the financial difficulties and budget cuts being faced by the CBC, despite the success of its NHL telecasts (which were responsible for at least half of CBC Television's total advertising revenue),^[10] by offering a slightly higher-valued contract that would have preserved a national doubleheader on Saturday nights (as opposed to regional games), along with playoff coverage, allowing the advertising-supported public broadcaster to maintain coverage of marquee games that could attract advertising revenue. Rights to the remaining properties not covered under the CBC's contract (including cable and digital rights) would have been offered to other broadcasters.^[11]

CBC Sports' staff, including executive director Jeffrey Orridge, in what was described as a "very aggressive bid", continued to insist that CBC have exclusivity for every Saturday night game involving Canadian teams.^[11] The CBC was ultimately unable to reach an agreement,^[11] and its exclusive negotiation window expired at the end of August 2013.^[12] which led to a bid by Bell Media for sole national rights to the NHL; Bell owns CTV, previous English cable rightsholder TSN, as well as previous French rightsholder RDS.^[11] Bell attempted to contact the CBC in regards to forming a partnership, but they did not respond. In turn, Rogers Communications prepared a bid of its own; on November 20, 2013, a group of seven Rogers executives, including then-CEO Nadir Mohamed, Keith Pelley, president of Rogers Media, and Rogers Broadcasting president Scott Moore, travelled to the NHL's offices in New York City to deliver a 90-minute presentation to the league and Commissioner Gary Bettman. Rogers would successfully reach a deal to become the exclusive national rightsholder for the National Hockey League in Canada.^[12]

The next day, CBC president Hubert Lacroix, who was in Montreal, was invited to an afternoon conference call with Neil McEneaney, Orridge, deputy commissioner Bill Daly, NHL chief operating officer John Collins, Bettman, and Pelley, in which CBC staff learned of the deal, but also of a proposal by Pelley for them to partner. Pelley, Moore, and senior vice-president of media sales Jack Tomik met with Orridge, McEneany, and CBC lawyer Jacques Gaboury in Toronto to begin negotiating a sub-licensing arrangement for Saturday night games.^[11][12] After several additional days of negotiations at a local hotel, a near-final proposal was completed on the Sunday, November 24, for presentation to Lacroix and the CBC's twelve-person board of directors the next day.^[12]

Announcement[]

On November 26, 2013, Rogers Communications publicly announced its 12-year deal to become the exclusive national rightsholder for the National Hockey League beginning in the 2014–15 season. Valued at $5.2 billion over the length of the contract, and covering television and digital rights to the league (national French rights were sub-licensed to Quebecor Media for TVA Sports), the value of the contract surpasses the league's most recent U.S. rights deal with NBC by more than double. Under the contract, Rogers paid $150 million upfront, and will make annual payments beginning at $300 million, escalating to $500 million over the life of the contract. As part of the deal, Rogers also took over Canadian distribution of the NHL Centre Ice and GameCentre Live services. Rogers Media president Keith Pelley emphasized the increased amount and accessibility of NHL content that Rogers planned to offer under the deal, stating that "Canadians will have more games, more content and more choice than they've ever had before."^{[9][13][14][15]} Also of note was Rogers' plans to maintain the long-running Hockey Night in Canada on CBC through a sub-licensing agreement with the league's previous broadcast television rightsholder, but also extend the brand by airing Hockey Night games across its own networks alongside CBC.^{[9][10][13][14][15]}

Critics considered the deal to be a major coup against Bell Media, showing concerns for how its sports networks, particularly TSN, could sustain themselves without what they considered to be a key sports property in Canada. TSN and RDS still retain some NHL coverage as of the 2014–15 season, including TSN's existing rights to the Winnipeg Jets, an extension of French-language rights to the Montreal Canadiens for RDS, along with newly introduced regional coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs for TSN (which are split with Sportsnet per Bell and Rogers' joint majority ownership of its parent company), and the Ottawa Senators for both TSN and RDS.^{[7][10][13][16]}

On February 4, 2014 at the NHL's upfronts, Rogers unveiled more detailed plans for its NHL coverage.^[17][18] In preparation for the transition, Rogers and the NHL sought input from viewers via online surveys and a "listening tour" through locations within Canadian NHL markets, along with Kingston, Sudbury, and Red Deer, Alberta. These efforts focused primarily on gauging how viewers (including "core" fans, younger viewers, and those new to the country) consume NHL content, and help determine how Rogers would present, market, and distribute its overall coverage to these varying demographics.^[19] The hiring of George Stroumboulopoulos—the former host of a self-titled CBC talk show and an alumnus of the now-Rogers owned sports radio station CJCL—as the main on-air host of Hockey Night, was intended to help the telecasts appeal to a younger audience.^[20] Rogers also announced plans to use its multicultural Omni Television stations to broadcast a doubleheader of Hockey Night in Canada games with commentary in Punjabi (carrying over from CBC's past digital coverage of games in the language), and ancillary hockey content in 22 languages, such as Hockey 101—an instructional series explaining the basic rules and concepts of hockey.^[21][22]

As a part of the winning bid success, Rogers decided to host a three-day, pre-season employee seminar at Toronto's exclusive Shangri-La Hotel.^[23] It was followed up by a party at the Ritz-Carleton Hotel in September 2014.^[24]

Rogers sought to increase the prominence of NHL content on digital platforms by re-launching the NHL's digital out-of-market sports package GameCentre Live as Rogers NHL GameCentre Live, adding the ability to stream all of Rogers' national NHL telecasts, along with in-market streaming of regional games for teams whose regional rights are held by Sportsnet.^[25] GamePlus—an additional mode featuring alternate camera angles intended for a second screen experience, such as angles focusing on certain players, net and referee cameras, and a Skycam in selected venues, was also added exclusively for GameCentre Live subscribers who are subscribed to Rogers' cable, internet, or wireless services.^[19][26]

In the lead-up to the 2014–15 season, Rogers began to promote its networks as the new home of the NHL through a multi-platform advertising campaign; the campaign featured advertising and cross-promotions across Rogers' properties, such as The Shopping Channel, which began to feature presentations of NHL merchandise, and its parenting magazine Today's Parent, which began to feature hockey-themed stories in its issues.^[27] On May 28, 2014, Rogers announced a six-year sponsorship deal with Scotiabank, which saw the bank become the title sponsor for Wednesday Night Hockey and Hockey Day in Canada, and become a sponsor for other segments and initiatives throughout Rogers' NHL coverage.^[28]

Sportsnet's coverage premiered on October 8, 2014 with an opening night doubleheader of Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, featuring the Montreal Canadiens at the Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks. The inaugural game was the most-watched program of the night in Canada, and the most-watched telecast in Sportsnet's history, with 2.01 million viewers (beating the previous record of 1.44 million set by the Toronto Blue Jays' home opener in 2013, but since surpassed by multiple games of the 2015 American League Division Series involving the Blue Jays, which topped out at 4.38 million viewers for game 4).^[29][30] However, viewership was down from 2013's opening night game, which was televised by CBC.^[31]

In June 2021, Rogers announced that it would move its NHL studio from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre to the Rogers Building for the 2021–22 season.^[32]

Ultra high-definition[]

On October 5, 2015, Rogers announced that it planned to produce 101 Sportsnet telecasts in 4K ultra-high-definition format in 2016, including "marquee" NHL games.^[33]

Beginning with a January 23, 2016 Toronto Maple Leafs/Montreal Canadiens game as part of Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet planned to broadcast 8 regular season games in the 2015–16 season in 4K—all of which were hosted by Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa, as well as two playoff games to be determined. At the time, Bell Media and Rogers Media via the joint venture shared the only 4K-capable production unit operating in Canada, which was being used for Toronto Raptors NBA basketball and NHL games being televised by TSN and Sportsnet. Sportsnet chose to upconvert non-4K content to the format in its telecasts, arguing that using only 4K footage would hinder the telecast's ability to provide storytelling.^[34][35][36]

Coverage[]

On Wednesday nights, Sportsnet airs Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, which serves as its flagship weekly broadcast. Other all-U.S. games are occasionally shown across the Sportsnet channels. Sportsnet also airs coverage of the entry Draft.^[17][18][37] Rogers stated that in combination with its existing regional rights to the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames, it would have an effective monopoly on all NHL telecasts in Western Canada (aside from portions of the Jets' market that are shared with the Flames and Oilers, such as Saskatchewan).^[6][38]

Sportsnet's NHL broadcasts, along with its studio show Hockey Central, originated from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, the headquarters of former rightsholder CBC. Rogers rented Studio 41 of the facility, which is adjacent to Studio 42, the previous home of Hockey Night in Canada,^[17] to build an 11,000 square-foot studio for its NHL programming. The $4.5 million set, designed by Jack Morton/PDG, features fourteen cameras, a 38 feet (12 m) wide, 11 feet (3.4 m) high arc-shaped video wall nicknamed the "Goliath", and 9 distinct set areas that serve various functions. The set areas include a central, rotating desk, three separate set areas for regional games and other segments, a "demo wall" (a video wall with a screen under the floor directly in front of it; virtual ice markings can be projected on the floor for play analysis), an interactive "puck wall" that can display stats for specific teams by placing their corresponding puck prop into a reader. During his tenure as host, the set featured an informal interview area intended for Stroumboulopoulos, which featured red armchairs as an homage to his previous talk show. The studio can produce broadcasts for up to three channels at once using its various sets and cameras.^[39][40][41]

Sportsnet staff emphasized a focus on storytelling throughout its NHL coverage, with a particular focus on the personal lives of the league's top players. Although Sportsnet executive Scott Moore did explain that Sportsnet's overall goal was to "celebrate" hockey and downplay some of the NHL's recent issues, such as labour disputes, he emphasized that the network would not be the NHL's "cheerleaders", and would still be prepared to discuss issues that affect the game.^[42][43] Sportsnet's coverage also places an emphasis on new technology; referees can be equipped with helmet cams for first-person perspectives, and a Skycam was installed at Air Canada Centre for use in aerial shots. Rogers plans to install Skycam units at each Canadian NHL arena for use in its coverage and the GameCentre Live GamePlus features.^[26][44]

Hometown Hockey[]

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled Hometown Hockey. (Discuss) (October 2021)

Sportsnet also broadcasts Rogers Hometown Hockey as its other national TV game of the week. The games are co-hosted on-location by Ron MacLean and Tara Slone from various Canadian cities as part of a nationwide tour: each tour stop features a weekend festival with community activities culminating with exclusive live game telecast. Continuing Sportsnet's focus on storytelling, the Hometown Hockey games feature segments profiling local players and teams from each city.^[42][45] London, Ontario hosted the first broadcast of the 2014-15 season on October 12, 2014.^[46]

The games and tour contribute to an effort by Rogers to improve its public image, particularly under CEO Guy Laurence, by associating itself with the sport of hockey at a local level. MacLean characterized Hometown Hockey as an extension of Hockey Day in Canada and the Kraft Hockeyville competition—highlighting grassroots hockey throughout the country on a weekly basis. He also felt that the Sunday night timeslot was "a good hockey night", believing that it could be "[a] family-forward way of doing the show to get the kids involved. Families can have it on while they get ready for school or work Sunday night. For me, after 27 years, honestly, what’s wrong with doing something different?" The games also seek to emulate the success of ESPN's College GameDay, and NBC's Sunday Night Football—which airs against Hometown Hockey during the National Football League season.^{[42][45][47][48]}

At least one Canadian-based franchise is featured during each game, although it may also air a game between two American-based teams, provided that there are no scheduled games involving Canadian teams on a Sunday.^[49] Most Hometown Hockey games are aired in primetime, although it has occasionally aired in the afternoon (such as the second half of the Montreal Canadiens' traditional matinee games on the weekend of the Super Bowl; typically no other games are scheduled that evening).^[50][51] The games were carried by City during its inaugural season, although infrequently moved to Sportsnet in the event of scheduling conflicts with City (such as the Grammy Awards).^[52][53] Beginning in the 2015-16 season, Hometown Hockey moved exclusively to Sportsnet; Moore explained that introducing Hometown Hockey on City was intended to incubate the brand, but that airing it on Sportsnet made sense from an economic standpoint due to its status as a pay channel, and enabled City to return to entertainment programming on Sundays.^[54][55]

On March 8, 2020 in recognition of International Women's Day, the Hometown Hockey game that night featured the first all-female broadcast team in NHL history—with play-by-play commentator Leah Hextall, analyst Cassie Campbell-Pascall, and sideline reporter Christine Simpson. Women also served as the executive producer, game producer and director for the telecast.^[56]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hometown Hockey games and tour were suspended for the 2020–21 NHL season. However, two Sunday night Ottawa Senators games (one against the Montreal Canadiens and one against the Toronto Maple Leafs) were produced nationally under the NHL on Sportsnet banner in lieu of regional rightsholder TSN.^[57] A branded segment and virtual audience is featured during Hockey Night in Canada.^[58]

Beginning with the 2021–22 season, Hometown Hockey broadcasts were moved to Monday nights.^[59]

Indigenous representation[]

On March 24, 2019, the Hometown Hockey was broadcast from First Nations territory for the first time, visiting the Enoch Cree Nation outside of Edmonton. Ahead of the game, Rogers announced a partnership with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to simulcast that night's game with commentary in Plains Cree. It was the first-ever NHL broadcast in the language: Clarence Iron of Pinehouse, Saskatchewan's CFNK-FM (who is known locally for his radio broadcasts of indigenous teams in the language) served as the play-by-play announcer, while former NHL player John Chabot and Northern Cree member Earl Wood hosted the studio segments.^[60][61]

In December 2019, it was announced that Sportsnet and APTN would continue the broadcasts, with six Sunday-night games planned per-season over the next three years. The expanded package began with a Montreal Canadiens/Florida Panthers game in February 2020.^[62] On March 1, 2020, the tour broadcast from the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba.^[63]

Awards[]

In 2017 and 2018, Ron MacLean was nominated for Best Sports Host at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards and the 6th Canadian Screen Awards respectively.

In 2020, the Hometown Hockey broadcast from Enoch Cree Nation was nominated in the Best Sports Program or Segment category at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards.

Season 1 Overview[]

In season 1, the tour kicked off in London, Ontario, home of the London Knights. Live tour musical performances included appearances by:

• Blue Rodeo (Saskatoon)^[64]
• Sarah Harmer (Kingston)
• Paul Brandt (Lethbridge)^[65]

Season 2 Overview[]

In season 2, the tour kicked off in Kitchener, Ontario, home of the Kitchener Rangers. Live tour musical performances included appearances by:^{[66][67][68][69][70][71][72]}

• Barenaked Ladies (Kitchener)
• Rankin Family (Sydney)
• The Tenors (Sarnia)
• Tim Hicks (Oshawa)^[73]
• Coleman Hell (Thunder Bay)
• Scott Helman (Penticton)
• Jess Moskaluke (Prince Albert)
• Gord Bamford (Calgary)

Season 3 Overview[]

In season 3, the tour kicked off in Newmarket, Ontario, home of Connor McDavid. Live tour musical performances included appearances by:^{[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][non-primary source needed]}

• Walk Off the Earth (Newmarket)
• Sam Roberts (Montreal)
• Suzie McNeil (Milton)
• Jason Blaine (Petawawa)
• Paul Brandt (Cochrane)
• USS (Edmonton)
• Kathleen Edwards (Ottawa)
• Tara Slone's Joydrop (Guelph)
• Tom Cochrane (Hamilton)

Season 4 Overview[]

In season 4, the tour kicks off in Niagara Falls, Ontario, home of Derek Sanderson. Live tour musical performances include appearances by:^[81]

• Tim Hicks (Niagara Falls)^[82]
• Matt Mays (Truro)^[83]
• Bleeker (Orillia)^[84]
• Brett Kissel (Airdrie)^[85]
• The Northern Pikes (Spruce Grove)^[86]
• 54-40 (Cowichan Valley)^[87]
• Nice Horse (Lacombe)^[88]
• Paul Brandt (Canmore)^[89]
• Jess Moskaluke (Regina)^[90]
• Steven Page and The Transcanada Highwaymen (Belleville)^[91]
• Ferraro (Markham)^[92]
• Skydiggers (Brampton)^[93]
• Cold Creek County (Cornwall)^[94]
• Jonas & The Massive Attraction (Montreal)^{[95][non-primary source needed]}

Season 5 Overview[]

In season 5, the tour kicks off in Kitchener, Ontario, home of Hockey Hall of Famer Scott Stevens. Live tour musical performances include appearances by:

• The Pursuit of Happiness (Kitchener)^[96]
• Walk Off the Earth (Burlington)^[97]
• The Trews (Glace Bay)^[98]
• The Men of the Deeps (Glace Bay)
• (Mount Pearl)^[99]
• Beverley Mahood (Aurora)^[100]
• (Chatham-Kent)^[101]
• Jim Cuddy (Mississauga)^[102]
• The Road Hammers (Strathcona County)^[103]
• Gord Bamford (Leduc)^[104]
• The Dudes (Okotoks)^[105]
• Doc Walker (Winkler)^[106]

Season 6 Overview[]

In season 6, the tour kicked off in Halton Hills, Ontario, home of former NHL Director of Officiating Bryan Lewis.^[107] Live broadcast musical performers included:

• Shawn Hook (Ottawa)^[108]
• William Prince (Peguis First Nation)^[109]

Season 7 Overview[]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was suspended, as were the Hometown Hockey-themed Sunday national games. During Hockey Night in Canada, a branded segment and virtual audience was featured for the duration of the 2020-21 NHL regular season.^[110]

Season 8 Overview[]

In season 8, the tour is scheduled to resume, kicking off in Ayr, Ontario in North Dumfries, home of NHLers Jay Wells and Kyle Clifford.^[111][112]

Series overview[]

Season		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	25[113]		October 12, 2014 (2014-10-12) (Canada)	April 5, 2015 (2015-04-05) (Canada)
	2	24[114]		October 11, 2015 (2015-10-11) (Canada)	April 3, 2016 (2016-04-03) (Canada)
	3	24[115]		October 16, 2016 (2016-10-16) (Canada)	April 9, 2017 (2017-04-09) (Canada)
	4	24[116]		October 8, 2017 (2017-10-08) (Canada)	April 1, 2018 (2018-04-01) (Canada)
	5	25[117]		October 7, 2018 (2018-10-07) (Canada)	March 31, 2019 (2019-03-31) (Canada)
	6	25[118] (planned), 22 (actual)		October 6, 2019 (2019-10-06) (Canada)	March 7, 2020 (2020-03-07) (Canada)
	7	0		January 16, 2021 (2021-01-16) (Canada)[110]	May 15, 2021 (2021-05-15) (Canada) 1
	8	8 announced as of Oct. 25		October 18, 2021 (2021-10-18) (Canada)[119]	TBA (Canada)

• ^Note 1 : During season 7, Rogers Hometown Hockey became an in-studio segment in Toronto on Saturday nights during Hockey Night in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were no full episodes, the series had a presence during the 2020-21 NHL regular season.^[110]

Hometown Hockey Tour Stops[]

Season	Stop	Stop location[113][120][121][122]		Date	Matchup[113][114][123][124]
		City	Province		Away team	Home team
1	1	London	Ontario	October 12, 2014	Toronto	New York Rangers
	2	Selkirk	Manitoba	October 19, 2014	Calgary	Winnipeg
	3	Saskatoon	Saskatchewan	October 26, 2014	Ottawa	Chicago
	4	Red Deer	Alberta	November 2, 2014	Calgary	Montreal
	5	Burnaby	British Columbia	November 9, 2014	Vancouver	Anaheim
	6	Kelowna		November 16, 2014	Montreal	Detroit
	7	Fort McMurray	Alberta	November 23, 2014		New York Rangers
	8	Brandon	Manitoba	November 30, 2014	Vancouver	Detroit
	9	Sudbury	Ontario	December 7, 2014		Ottawa
	10	St. Catharines		December 14, 2014	Calgary	Chicago
	11	Kingston		December 21, 2014	Toronto
	12	Peterborough		December 28, 2014	Vancouver	Anaheim
	13	Owen Sound		January 4, 2015	Tampa Bay	Ottawa
	14	Moncton	New Brunswick	January 11, 2015	Florida	Edmonton
	15	Charlottetown	Prince Edward Island	January 18, 2015	Arizona	Winnipeg
	16	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	Quebec	February 1, 2015		Montreal
	17	St. John's	Newfoundland & Labrador	February 8, 2015	Montreal	Boston
	18	Cole Harbour	Nova Scotia	February 15, 2015	Philadelphia	Buffalo
	19	Boischatel	Quebec	February 22, 2015	Vancouver	New York Islanders
	20	Sault Ste. Marie	Ontario	March 1, 2015	Toronto	Washington
	21	Thompson	Manitoba	March 8, 2015	Calgary	Ottawa
	22	Regina	Saskatchewan	March 15, 2015	Philadelphia
	23	Prince George	British Columbia	March 22, 2015	Vancouver	Arizona
	24	Lethbridge	Alberta	March 29, 2015	Chicago	Winnipeg
	25	Kanata	Ontario	April 5, 2015	Ottawa	Toronto
2	26	Kitchener	Ontario	October 11, 2015	Montreal	Ottawa
	27	North Bay		October 18, 2015	Edmonton	Vancouver
	28	Gatineau	Quebec	October 25, 2015	Calgary	New York Rangers
	29	Sherbrooke		November 1, 2015	Winnipeg	Montreal
	30	Fredericton	New Brunswick	November 8, 2015	Edmonton	Chicago
	31	Sydney	Nova Scotia	November 15, 2015	Toronto	New York Rangers
	32	Corner Brook	Newfoundland & Labrador	November 22, 2015	New York Islanders	Montreal
	33	Wolfville	Nova Scotia	November 29, 2015	Florida	Detroit
	34	Brantford	Ontario	December 6, 2015	Buffalo	Edmonton
	35	Summerside	Prince Edward Island	December 13, 2015	Vancouver	Chicago
	36	Sarnia	Ontario	December 20, 2015	Calgary	Detroit
	37	Oshawa		December 27, 2015	Toronto	New York Islanders
	38	Thunder Bay		January 3, 2016	Ottawa	Chicago
	39	Swift Current	Saskatchewan	January 10, 2016		Washington
	40	Grande Prairie	Alberta	January 17, 2016	Montreal	Chicago
	41	Whitehorse	Yukon	January 24, 2016	Calgary	Carolina
	42	New Westminster	British Columbia	February 14, 2016	Philadelphia	New York Rangers
	43	Abbotsford	British Columbia	February 21, 2016	Calgary	Anaheim
	44	Victoria		February 28, 2016	San Jose	Vancouver
	45	St. Albert	Alberta	March 6, 2016	Edmonton	Winnipeg
	46	Penticton	British Columbia	March 13, 2016	Toronto	Detroit
	47	Calgary	Alberta	March 20, 2016	Calgary	Montreal
	48	Prince Albert	Saskatchewan	March 27, 2016	Chicago	Vancouver
	49	Winnipeg	Manitoba	April 3, 2016	Minnesota	Winnipeg
3	50	Newmarket	Ontario	October 16, 2016	Buffalo	Edmonton
	51	Saint John	New Brunswick	October 23, 2016	Vancouver	Anaheim
	52	Grand Falls-Windsor	Newfoundland & Labrador	October 30, 2016	Toronto	New York Islanders
	53	Halifax	Nova Scotia	November 6, 2016	Winnipeg	New York Rangers
	54	Montreal	Quebec	November 13, 2016	Montreal	Chicago
	55	Windsor	Ontario	November 20, 2016	Calgary	Detroit
	56	Timmins		November 27, 2016	Arizona	Edmonton
	57	Barrie		December 4, 2016	Winnipeg	Chicago
	58	Stratford		December 11, 2016	Colorado	Toronto
	59	Milton		December 18, 2016	Ottawa	New York Islanders
	60	Petawawa		January 1, 2017		Washington
	61	Moose Jaw	Saskatchewan	January 8, 2017	Edmonton	Ottawa
	62	Vancouver	British Columbia	January 15, 2017	New Jersey	Vancouver
	63	Vernon		January 22, 2017	Vancouver	Chicago
	64	Edmonton	Alberta	February 5, 2017	Edmonton	Montreal
	65	Cochrane		February 12, 2017	Montreal	Boston
	66	Cranbrook	British Columbia	February 19, 2017	Toronto	Carolina
	67	Nanaimo		February 26, 2017	Ottawa	Florida
	68	Medicine Hat	Alberta	March 5, 2017	Vancouver	Anaheim
	69	Lloydminster	Saskatchewan	March 12, 2017	Montreal	Edmonton
	70	Ottawa	Ontario	March 19, 2017	Ottawa	Montreal
	71	Portage La Prairie	Manitoba	March 26, 2017	Vancouver	Winnipeg
	72	Guelph	Ontario	April 2, 2017	San Jose	Vancouver
	73	Hamilton		April 9, 2017	Columbus	Toronto
4	74	Niagara Falls	Ontario	October 8, 2017[125]	Montreal	New York Rangers
	75	Haliburton		October 15, 2017[125]	Boston	Vegas
	76	Charlottetown	Prince Edward Island	October 22, 2017[126]	Vancouver	Detroit
	77	Truro	Nova Scotia	October 29, 2017[127]	Pittsburgh	Winnipeg
	78	Orillia	Ontario	November 5, 2017[128]	Montreal	Chicago
	79	CFB Kingston		November 12, 2017	Edmonton	Washington
	80	St Thomas		November 19, 2017	Ottawa	New York Rangers
	81	Oakville		November 26, 2017[129]	Vancouver
	82	Winnipeg	Manitoba	December 3, 2017	Ottawa	Winnipeg
	83	Surrey	British Columbia	December 10, 2017	Edmonton	Toronto
	84	Airdrie	Alberta	December 17, 2017	Calgary	Vancouver
	85	Spruce Grove	Alberta	December 31, 2017	Toronto	Vegas
	86	Williams Lake	British Columbia	January 7, 2018	Vancouver	Montreal
	87	Kamloops		January 14, 2018		Minnesota
	88	Cowichan Valley		January 21, 2018		Winnipeg
	89	Lacombe	Alberta	February 4, 2018	Ottawa	New York Rangers
	90	Canmore		February 11, 2018	Calgary	New York Islanders
	91	Regina	Saskatchewan	February 18, 2018	Toronto	Detroit
	92	Belleville	Ontario	February 25, 2018[130]	Edmonton	Anaheim
	93	Markham		March 4, 2018	Winnipeg	Carolina
	94	Brampton		March 11, 2018[131]	New York Islanders	Calgary
	95	Cornwall		March 18, 2018	Dallas	Winnipeg
	96	Bathurst	New Brunswick	March 25, 2018	Nashville
	97	Montreal	Quebec	April 1, 2018	New Jersey	Montreal
5	98	Kitchener	Ontario	October 7, 2018	Toronto	Chicago
	99	Parry Sound		October 14, 2018	Carolina	Winnipeg
	100	London		October 21, 2018	Calgary	New York Rangers
	101	Burlington		October 28, 2018	Ottawa	Vegas
	102	Nepean		November 4, 2018	Tampa Bay	Ottawa
	103	Glace Bay	Nova Scotia	November 11, 2018	New Jersey	Winnipeg
	104	Mount Pearl	Newfoundland & Labrador	November 18, 2018	Vegas	Edmonton
	105	Dieppe	New Brunswick	November 25, 2018	Calgary	Arizona
	106	Boisbriand	Quebec	December 2, 2018	San Jose	Montreal
	107	Aurora	Ontario	December 9, 2018	Calgary	Edmonton
	108	Chatham-Kent		December 16, 2018	Tampa Bay	Winnipeg
	109	Mississauga		December 23, 2018	Detroit	Toronto
	110	Collingwood		December 30, 2018	Vegas	Arizona
	111	Strathcona County	Alberta	January 6, 2019	Edmonton	Anaheim
	112	Langley	British Columbia	January 13, 2019	Florida	Vancouver
	113	West Kelowna		January 20, 2019	Arizona	Toronto
	114	Leduc	Alberta	February 3, 2019	Edmonton	Montreal
	115	Whistler	British Columbia	February 10, 2019	Toronto	New York Rangers
	116	CFB Esquimalt		February 17, 2019	Montreal	Florida
	117	Okotoks	Alberta	February 24, 2019	Calgary	Ottawa
	118	Winkler	Manitoba	March 3, 2019	Winnipeg	Columbus
	119	Steinbach		March 10, 2019		Washington
	120	Lethbridge	Alberta	March 17, 2019	Vancouver	Dallas
	121	Enoch		March 24, 2019	Montreal	Carolina
	122	Saskatoon	Saskatchewan	March 31, 2019	Calgary	San Jose
6	123	Halton Hills	Ontario	October 6, 2019[132]	Winnipeg	New York Islanders
	124	Halifax	Nova Scotia	October 13, 2019	Pittsburgh	Winnipeg
	125	St. John's	Newfoundland & Labrador	October 20, 2019	Edmonton
	126	Fredericton	New Brunswick	October 27, 2019	San Jose	Ottawa
	127	Strathroy-Caradoc	Ontario	November 3, 2019	Calgary	Washington
	128	Welland		November 10, 2019	Toronto	Chicago
	129	Dauphin	Manitoba	November 17, 2019	Calgary	Vegas
	130	Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo	Alberta	November 24, 2019	Edmonton	Arizona
	131	Red Deer		December 1, 2019	Montreal	Boston
	132	Prince Rupert	British Columbia	December 8, 2019	Buffalo	Edmonton
	133	Abbotsford		December 15, 2019	Vancouver	Vegas
	134	Strathmore	Alberta	December 22, 2019	Calgary	Dallas
	135	Whitby	Ontario	December 29, 2019	Montreal	Florida
	136	Cobourg		January 5, 2020	Calgary	Minnesota
	137	Vaughan		January 12, 2020	Toronto	Florida
	138	Ancaster		January 19, 2020	Winnipeg	Chicago
	139	Chateauguay	Quebec	February 2, 2020	Columbus	Montreal
	140	Ottawa	Ontario	February 9, 2020	Chicago	Winnipeg
	141	Quebec City	Quebec	February 16, 2020	Toronto	Buffalo
	142	LaSalle	Ontario	February 23, 2020	Calgary	Detroit
	143	Peguis First Nation	Manitoba	March 1, 2020	Vancouver	Columbus
	144	Salmon Arm	British Columbia	March 8, 2020	Vegas	Calgary
	145 2	North Vancouver	British Columbia	March 15, 2020	Winnipeg	Vancouver
	146 2	Campbell River		March 22, 2020		Dallas
	147 2	Edmonton	Alberta	March 29, 2020	Anaheim	Edmonton
8	145	North Dumfries, Ontario[133]	Ontario	October 18, 2021[134]	New York Rangers	Toronto
	146	Lindsay[112]		October 25, 2021	Washington	Ottawa
					Toronto	Carolina
					Calgary	New York Rangers
	147	Belleville[112]		November 1, 2021	Ottawa	Chicago
	148	Oro-Medonte[112]		November 8, 2021	Los Angeles	Toronto
	149 3	Greater Sudbury[112][135][136]		November 15, 2021	NY Islanders	Tampa Bay
	149	Tillsonburg[137][138]		November 22, 2021	Pittsburgh	Winnipeg
					Ottawa	Colorado
	150	Grimsby[137][139]		November 29, 2021	Vancouver	Montreal
					Arizona	Winnipeg
	151	Pembroke[137][140]		December 6, 2021	Colorado	Philadelphia
	152 4	Sydney[141][142]	Nova Scotia	December 13, 2021	Game between Calgary and Chicago was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
	153 5	Gander[143][144]	Newfoundland and Labrador	December 20, 2021	Game between Montreal and NY Islanders was postponed due to the postponement of all cross-border games.
	154 5	No event		December 27, 2021	Games between Ottawa and Washington, Toronto and Columbus were postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.
	155 5	Six Nations[145][146]	Ontario	January 3, 2022	Carolina	Toronto
					Minnesota	Ottawa

• ^Note 2 ^Note 2 : On March 11, 2020, the remaining dates on the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour were cancelled due to concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the intention of the remaining episodes originating from the Sportsnet studio in Toronto. On March 12, 2020, the NHL announced the suspension of the 2019–20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• ^Note 3 : On November 10, 2021, Rogers announced the Sudbury stop scheduled for November 15 was postponed due to concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• ^Note 4 : On December 13, 2021, the Hometown Hockey broadcast from Sydney took place as scheduled, but the live game between the Calgary Flames and the Chicago Blackhawks was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols involving the Flames. No other games were scheduled on that date.
• ^Note 5 : On December 16, 2021, Rogers announced the pausing of all tour stops through the end of January 2022 due to concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Regularly-scheduled broadcasts will instead originate from the Sportsnet studio in Toronto. The live game between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders on December 20, 2021 was postponed due to the league-wide decision to postpone all cross-border games through December 23 amid COVID-19 concerns. All NHL games scheduled for December 27, 2021 were postponed due to a league-wide pause amid COVID-19 concerns.

Hockey Night in Canada[]

Hockey Night in Canada remains in its traditional Saturday night timeslot, but rather than having games split across CBC Television stations on a regional basis, multiple games are broadcast nationally, split across CBC, Citytv, and the Sportsnet networks. FX Canada was also initially involved, with the channel typically airing an all-U.S. game. Three to five games air during the early, 7 p.m. ET window, and two more air on Sportsnet and CBC for the 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT west coast window. Rogers estimated a 300% increase in the number of Hockey Night games available nationally under the new arrangement.^{[6][9][17][18]} Though split national/regional broadcasts are possible, arrangements will be made to ensure that viewers have on-air access to any games affected, ensuring that no Saturday night game will be unavailable to viewers on a regional basis.^[14] Alongside HNIC, CBC also broadcast the NHL Winter Classic and All-Star Game during the 2014–15 season.^[147][148] The Winter Classic was removed from CBC's package and moved to Sportsnet for 2016.^[149]

CBC's games are no longer produced by CBC Sports and Rogers sells all advertising during the telecasts, but CBC is still provided with advertising time for its own programming.^[18] While CBC did not pay a rights fee to either Rogers or the NHL, the public broadcaster does not receive any revenue from the telecasts, aside from payments by Rogers for its use of certain CBC personalities and ancillary staff, and its rent of studio space.^[9][10][11] In order to assign responsibility for the content of the telecasts, compliance with regulatory guidelines, and advertising to Rogers, its NHL telecasts on CBC are legally considered to be broadcast by a part-time television network owned by the Sportsnet subsidiary, which is affiliated with CBC's English-language television stations. A license for this arrangement was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in April 2015.^[150]

Some of CBC's personalities and production staff were retained for the new Hockey Night in Canada—certain staff members, such as producers Joel Darling and Sherali Najak, remain employed by the CBC, while some jumped to Rogers entirely.^[151] From 2014 through the 2015–16 season, Ron MacLean was replaced as host by George Stroumboulopoulos. Ron MacLean and Don Cherry continued to present their traditional Coach's Corner segment during the first intermission of Hockey Night games up until November 9, 2019.^[151][152]

CBC President Hubert T. Lacroix, in notifying CBC employees of the deal in an internal memo, noted that the new sub-licensing arrangement with Rogers "may not be the ideal scenario [for the CBC] but, it is the right outcome for Canadian hockey fans", as it allowed the NHL and the Hockey Night in Canada brand to remain on CBC and be made available to a wider audience with minimal cost to the public broadcaster, which has gone through reductions in funding in recent years.^[10] Lacroix, in his memo, believed that CBC's non-hockey content would remain well-promoted on the new Hockey Night, and that being shut out of the package entirely would have been a major blow to the CBC's prestige.^[153] In turn, CBC announced in April 2014 that it would cut a total of 657 jobs across its divisions, and no longer pursue broadcast rights to professional sporting events. The loss of Hockey Night was cited as a factor to the budget cuts, but was also credited to the performance of CBC's entertainment programming.^[154]

The sub-licensing deal was initially announced as lasting for four years; CBC staff described the agreement as a means of providing a "structured exit from hockey" in the event that Rogers does not extend the agreement. The deal was also considered a low-cost means of allowing CBC to maintain a level of major sports output in the lead-up to future Olympic Games and the 2015 Pan-American Games, whose rights are owned outright by CBC. In the case of the Olympics, CBC's coverage is sub-licensed to Rogers and Bell Media networks under a similar time-brokerage and production subsidization arrangement.^{[14][155][156]} In 2017, The Globe and Mail reported that the CBC and Rogers had quietly extended the agreement into a fifth season, while Moore stated that he wished to extend the partnership further.^[157] On December 19, 2017, Rogers announced that it had renewed this arrangement through the remainder of its current NHL contract.^[158]

Regional coverage[]

As of the 2019–20 season, Sportsnet's regional feeds collectively hold regional broadcast rights to four of the seven Canadian NHL franchises: the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sportsnet Ontario (split with TSN4),^[38] the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on Sportsnet West, and the Vancouver Canucks on Sportsnet Pacific. The Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and Winnipeg Jets have regional television deals with TSN, and the Buffalo Sabres' Canadian regional rights are held by TSN parent company Bell Canada.^[38][159]

Unlike Sportsnet's national games, these games are subject to blackout outside of the teams' home markets. These games can be watched out of market on NHL Centre Ice or Rogers NHL Live.^[25] In-market streaming of regional games on Sportsnet is also available on Rogers NHL Live.^[25] Due to its ownership of the national contract, Rogers has a monopoly on all English-language telecasts of teams whose regional rights are exclusively owned by Sportsnet.^[38]

A select number of regional Sportsnet games may be aired nationally on the network's sister channels (usually Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360 or an out-of-market Sportsnet channel). In the case of all-Canadian matchups (e.g. Battle of Alberta, Canucks–Flames rivalry), most markets, including the host city, may receive the home team's broadcast. For instance, if a Canucks–Flames game in Calgary is aired nationally, a majority of the markets would receive the Flames' home broadcast, while only the Vancouver market would receive the Canucks' road broadcast.^[160]

In the 2013–14 season, Sportsnet lost the Senators to TSN, but acquired rights to the Canadiens to replace them on Sportsnet East under a three-year deal.^[161] The contract expired after the 2016–17 season, and the team moved to TSN2 the following season;^[162][159] TSN's owner Bell holds an ownership stake in the Canadiens, as well as its regional French-language rights. Both Rogers and Bell own stakes in the Maple Leafs and split broadcast rights between them.^[161]

On January 6, 2021, Rogers announced extended regional rights agreements with both the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames under the terms of a new multi-year deal.^[163][164]

Post-season[]

The Sportsnet networks and CBC share in coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs under the Hockey Night in Canada banner. Selected games are simulcast with Punjabi-language commentary on Omni Television.^[165][166] All games from the conference finals onward are simulcast with CBC.^{[13][14][167][168]}

Like in the previous national deal with CBC and TSN, the league still gives U.S. rights-holders (ESPN, ABC and TNT hold the national American TV rights as of 2021) the first choice of games and times during the playoffs. As then-rightsholder NBC preferred afternoon playoff games on the weekends, there were at least two Saturdays in May 2015 that did not have a post-season night game.^[169]

World Cup of Hockey[]

Sportsnet and TVA Sports held broadcast rights to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, organized by the NHL and the NHL Players Association. Although it was initially reported that Rogers was allowed to match competing bids for the rights per its NHL rights contract, blocking a competing bid by TSN, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman denied that there was such a stipulation, and that the bidding process was "competitive".^[170][171] Similarly to HNIC, CBC aired Sportsnet-produced coverage of the tournament's semi-finals and final series.^[172][173]

Personalities[]

While primarily using existing Sportsnet talent, a number of CBC Sports personalities, including the lead play-by-play crew of Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and, until 2016, Glenn Healy, veteran play-by-play man Bob Cole, rinkside reporter Scott Oake and studio analyst Elliotte Friedman,^[174][175] joined Rogers to participate in Sportsnet's coverage and Hockey Night. These CBC alumni are joined by two former TSN personalities, Dave Randorf and Paul Romanuk.^[176][177]

From 2014 to 2016, George Stroumboulopoulos served as the studio host for Hockey Night in Canada. Caroline Cameron hosts Wednesday Night Hockey, while she also hosts Thursday night games along with Hockey Central Saturday. As of the 2021–22 season, Ron MacLean was reinstated as Hockey Night host (shared with David Amber); he continued to co-host the traditional Coach's Corner segment with Don Cherry, while also serving as the on-location host for Hometown Hockey, accompanied by Citytv Calgary's Breakfast Television host Tara Slone.^[151] MacLean and Oake are still under contract with the CBC, with MacLean through at least 2016 for the 2016 Summer Olympics.^{[175][178][179][180]}

Sportsnet did not give any on-air assignments to Bob Cole during the 2018 playoffs—an exclusion that caught the veteran commentator off-guard, forcing Cole to retire the following season.^[181] Over the 2018 off-season, Paul Romanuk departed Sportsnet, while John Bartlett (who called regional Montreal Canadiens games with Sportsnet through the 2016–17 season, and for the 2017–18 season with TSN2) returned to Sportsnet to call national games and regional Toronto Maple Leafs games.^[182] Meanwhile, studio host Daren Millard also left Sportsnet that year, eventually joining the Vegas Golden Knights television team the next year.^[183][184]

In August 2019, long-time Sportsnet NHL analysts Nick Kypreos, Doug MacLean and John Shannon left the network.^[185][186]

On November 11, 2019, Don Cherry was fired by Sportsnet after controversial remarks relating to Canadian immigrants he made during the November 9 Coach's Corner broadcast.^[187]

On June 5, 2020, Sportsnet announced that it had hired TSN commentator and former Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Chris Cuthbert.^[188] Cuthbert replaced both Dave Randorf (no. 2 announcer) and John Bartlett (Maple Leafs regional announcer); Randorf left Sportsnet to join the Tampa Bay Lightning as its television voice, while Bartlett continued to call select national games. Greg Millen, who like Bartlett was also reassigned to national game duty, was replaced by Craig Simpson on the Maple Leafs' regional broadcasts.^[189]

During the 2020–21 season, Cuthbert filled-in for Jim Hughson as the lead play-by-play voice of Sportsnet after Hughson opted to call only nationally televised Canucks home games and was promoted full-time the following season after Hughson's retirement.^[190][191] Meanwhile, HNIC Punjabi-language voice Harnarayan Singh was promoted to secondary play-by-play announcer, filling in the role originally given to Cuthbert and fully replaced Cuthbert full-time.^[189]

In the summer of 2021, Sportsnet talents Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Leah Hextall joined the NHL on ESPN broadcast team in the U.S. Similar to the situation involving TSN and fellow ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro, Campbell-Pascall and Hextall would continue to work with Sportsnet whilst making occasional appearances south of the border on ESPN.^[192][193]

Reception[]

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star felt that, especially during intermission segments, Rogers' broadcasts had a faster pace and were relatively "busier" than those of CBC, explaining that "[they] spent $4.5 million on a new set, and it feels like they want to show off every bit so they get their money’s worth, with George Stroumboulopoulos walking around and the puck wall in particular feeling gimmicky."^[194]

In a November 2014 poll by the Angus Reid Institute, 60% of 1,504 adults surveyed felt that George Stroumboulopoulos was not a "credible replacement" for Ron MacLean on Hockey Night in Canada, and 74% of those surveyed felt that Rogers' moves to reduce his role on Hockey Night had hurt its brand.^[195] MacLean compared the reaction to Stroumboulopoulos on Hockey Night to his own introduction in 1987 following the firing of Dave Hodge, and presumed that the reaction then may have been just as bad, if not worse, than the reaction to Stroumboulopoulos. However, MacLean credited the work of his colleagues Bob Cole, Dick Irvin, Jr., and Don Cherry for helping maintain the integrity of Hockey Night in Canada under his tenure as host, and felt that "George will be fine."^[195]

During a survey conducted in December 2014 in which participants were asked to rate the quality of Rogers' NHL coverage on a scale of 1 to 10, those surveyed gave the telecasts an average score of 6.1 out of 10. Reviews were more positive among younger demographics (such as teens and millennials who gave an average score of 6.5 out of 10), citing the expanded availability of games, the "hipper" feel of the telecasts and how they are produced, but were lower among older viewers.^[196] Criticism was directed primarily towards how the contract affected the availability of Montreal Canadiens games and other French-language broadcasts, the "gimmicky" feel of their production, and the presence of George Stroumboulopoulos—who received an average rating of 5.7 out of 10 on the survey and, again, received relatively better reception among younger viewers with an average score of 6.2 out of 10.^[196][197]

Rogers' use of CBC's television stations as part of the deal also received criticism from other broadcasters and advocacy groups. They argued that Rogers' sub-licensing deal would harm the broadcaster's viability due to its inability to collect further advertising revenue from its most popular program. The Globe and Mail wrote that CBC's sub-licensing deal also effectively "handcuffs" the public broadcaster during the playoffs, as CBC would not have significant ad revenue of its own for several weeks due to the almost nightly games being played. During Rogers' request for a separate network license for Hockey Night in Canada, the CRTC received interventions asking them to require that Rogers provide additional financial compensation to the CBC for airing its content. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations of British Columbia also argued that the agreement was not in the public interest, as it meant only to leverage the Hockey Night brand and legacy as part of the transition to Rogers as the national rightsholder. The CRTC ruled against these interventions, arguing that the agreement allowed CBC to continue filling a large portion of its schedule with programming that would have been otherwise displaced by the complete loss of NHL content, at little to no cost.^[150][198]

On June 19, 2016, the Toronto Star reported that Rogers planned to reinstate Ron MacLean as host of Hockey Night in Canada for the 2016–17 season.^[199] On July 27, 2016, Sportsnet confirmed the changes, announcing that MacLean would host both the early-window games and Hometown Hockey beginning in the 2016–17 season. David Amber took over as host of the west coast games.^[200] The previous post-game show After Hours (traditionally aired after the late game in the doubleheader) was also revived; Sportsnet vice-president of production Rob Corte explained that these changes were meant to return Hockey Night to a "grassroots" feel.^[157]

Viewership[]

Ratings for Rogers' inaugural season of NHL broadcasts were mixed in comparison to the previous CBC and TSN arrangements. Rogers had aimed for a 20% increase in overall viewership for national NHL broadcasts during its first season as rightsholder.^[201] During the first two months of its inaugural season, Numeris estimated an increase in average viewership for Wednesday night games and east coast games on Hockey Night (with the latter averaging 2.18 million viewers),^[147] and a 9% increase in the number of viewers who have watched at least part of a game.^[201] However, viewership of west coast games during Hockey Night fell by 17%; Moore argued that this was a side effect of the new format for Hockey Night, as the audience is "splintered" by those who do not switch channels to watch the late games (as opposed to the previous arrangement, in which all games were solely aired by CBC, thus all the early games would lead into the late game). In total, these numbers were behind Rogers' expectations.^[201]

Although a 67% improvement over the entertainment programs formerly broadcast by City on Sunday nights, ratings for the first eight Hometown Hockey games were modest and lower than expected by Rogers, with only two games (its debut game, and an Ottawa Senators/Toronto Maple Leafs game on November 9, 2014 which had been rescheduled from a Wednesday night game following the Parliament Hill shootings)^[202] surpassing one million viewers.^[201][203] Moore admitted that the Sunday primetime games were a new concept that still needed time to establish, again drawing comparisons to Sunday Night Football, but that they were succeeding in their goal of attracting more viewership to City.^[203]

By January 2015, average viewership for Hockey Night east-coast games fell to 1.69 million viewers, in comparison to the average 1.8 million that CBC brought at the same point in the previous season; the poor performance of the heavily viewed Toronto Maple Leafs was partially blamed for the decline. Ratings for the 2015 NHL All-Star Game also fell sharply, losing over half its viewers in comparison to the 2012 edition. Moore disputed the accuracy of Numeris's numbers, arguing that they did not properly account for multi-platform viewership, and that its ratings panel did not cover enough sports-oriented demographics. Numeris acknowledged that it would look into Rogers' complaints, but noted that its ratings panels were meant to represent a wide array of Canadian demographics, and that, although they are not yet reported separately, its ratings did account for viewership on digital platforms.^[147] The Maple Leafs' ratings would fall as low as 743,000 viewers. Aggregate ratings began to recover by March; the March 21 east coast games (which saw the Maple Leafs' game moved to Sportsnet in favor of a Montreal Canadiens game on CBC) drew aggregate ratings of around 2.2 million viewers across CBC, City, and Sportsnet, with the Canadiens bringing 922,000 viewers.^[204]

Viewership rebounded for the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, with five Canadian teams involved in the first round; average viewership of first-round games increased over the previous season, with one of the games in the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens' first round series on CBC seen by 3.76 million viewers.^[54][205] However, following the elimination of all Canadian teams from contention, ratings dropped significantly, with Numeris estimating an overall decrease of 8% in average viewership on CBC, and a 14% decrease in average viewership for Sportsnet in comparison to TSN's 2014 playoff coverage. With 2.62 million viewers, Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final was the lowest-rated deciding game since Game 7 in 2003; the game competed against a match of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup involving Team Canada on CTV and TSN (1.8 million), and a Toronto Blue Jays/New York Mets game on Sportsnet (782,000; the team was in the midst of a major winning streak).^[206]

The 2015–16 season saw major ratings declines, with Hockey Night in Canada down 18%, Hometown Hockey down 34%,^[207] and ratings for the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs were down by 61% over the first five days of play,^[208] as no Canadian team made the playoffs for the first time since 1970.^[209][210] The lack of Canadian teams resulted in cuts to coverage; Sportsnet used just three dedicated play-by-play crews during the first round (with a fourth used for select games) and only produced its own coverage for games which aired on the CBC (all other games were simulcast from U.S. broadcasters).^[211][210]

In 2017, five Canadian teams qualified for the first round of the playoffs, which was expected to improve ratings. Scott Moore told The New York Times that he was extremely positive over the large number of Canadian teams in contention—this time including the top Canadian media market of Toronto. He warned that "there's going to be a year where Edmonton is playing Montreal in the Stanley Cup final, and someone will think I'm a genius."^[212]

In 2018, while only two Canadian teams made the playoffs, they once again included the Maple Leafs, as well as the Winnipeg Jets—who ultimately advanced to the Western Conference final, but were defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season. Sportsnet stated that the Jets' second-round series had an average of 2.2 million viewers.^{[213][214][215]}

GamePlus dispute[]

The GamePlus features added to the Rogers NHL GameCentre Live service provide additional in-game camera angles for subscribers who also subscribe to Rogers' cable, internet, or wireless services. In October 2014, Bell filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), arguing that the exclusivity of GamePlus to Rogers subscribers was anti-competitive and showed undue preference. Bell felt that the exclusivity violated a CRTC ruling banning vertically integrated telecommunications companies from being the exclusive distributor of television content on internet and mobile television platforms, as footage from these additional angles are occasionally incorporated into the linear telecast.^{[216][217][218]}

Rogers objected, arguing that GamePlus was an interactive second screen experience that is separate from the telecast by nature. Rogers' CEO Guy Lawrence also accused Bell of attempting to "stifle innovation in hockey", and suggested that its actions were in retaliation for TSN's loss of national cable rights to the NHL.^[217] On March 17, 2015, the CRTC dismissed the complaint and ruled in favour of Rogers, affirming that the GamePlus content was not "mainly" intended for television, and thus not subject to the non-exclusivity rules.^[218]

For the 2018–19 season, Rogers discontinued the free trials, subscriptions, and additional GamePlus features to Rogers' cable, internet, and wireless service users, and required all users to pay the regular fees.^[219]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Shoalts, David (2018). Hockey Fight in Canada: The Big Media Faceoff Over the NHL. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-77162-204-2.

External links[]

• Rogers NHL website
• Sportsnet.ca NHL section
• Hometown Hockey official website

Preceded by TSN	NHL English network broadcast partner in Canada 1998 - 2002	Succeeded by TSN
Preceded by TSN and CBC	NHL English network broadcast partner in Canada 2014 - present	Succeeded by none