NHL on TNT

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NHL on TNT
NHL on TNT logo 2021.svg
GenreNHL hockey telecasts
Presented byKenny Albert
Eddie Olczyk
Keith Jones
Brendan Burke
Darren Pang
Liam McHugh
Wayne Gretzky
Anson Carter
Rick Tocchet
Paul Bissonnette
Henrik Lundqvist
Jennifer Botterill


Stéphane Auger
Jamal Mayers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Production locationsVarious NHL venues (game telecasts and occasional pregame, intermission, and postgame shows)
Turner Studios, Atlanta, GA (most studio segments, pregame, intermission, and postgame shows)
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time150 minutes or until game ends
Production companyTurner Sports
DistributorWarnerMedia
Release
Original networkTNT
TBS
HBO Max
Picture format1080i (HDTV)
Original releaseSeptember 30, 2021 (2021-09-30) –
present (present)
Chronology
Preceded by
  • NHL on NBC (2005–2021)
Related shows
  • NHL on ESPN/NHL on ABC (American rightsholders)
  • NHL on Sportsnet/Hockey Night in Canada (Canadian rightsholders)
  • TSN Hockey (Canadian cable broadcaster)
External links
Website
Production website

The NHL on TNT is a presentation of the National Hockey League (NHL), games produced by Turner Sports, and televised on TNT and TBS in the United States.

In 2021, Turner Sports reached a seven-year contract to serve as one of the two rightsholders of the NHL in the United States, alongside ESPN and both replacing NBCUniversal. Turner Sports will hold rights to "up to" 72 nationally-televised regular-season games[1] per season, the annual NHL Winter Classic game on New Year's Day, half of the Stanley Cup playoffs (with games airing on TNT and TBS), and the rights to every other Stanley Cup Finals beginning in 2023.[2] The contract also includes an option for WarnerMedia's HBO Max to carry games.

Turner Sports has previously aired hockey, as the regional home for the Atlanta Flames and Atlanta Thrashers, and as the cable home for Olympic ice hockey from 1992–1998 for CBS. The co-owned AT&T SportsNet regional sports networks also hold local rights to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Seattle Kraken, and Vegas Golden Knights. However, Turner Sports never had a national contract with the NHL until the current deal was reached.

History[]

Prior to a national contract[]

1970s[]

For a short period in the 1970s, WTCG,[3] the predecessor to TBS, was the television home of the Atlanta Flames. All of the Flames' radio and television broadcasts were simulcasts. The Flames' games were also broadcast on the radio by WSB (AM). Jiggs McDonald[4][5] was the main play-by-play announcer with Skip Caray[6] substituting from 1976–80. Color commentators included Andy Still (1972-73), Bob Neal (1973–74), Ed Thilenius (1974–75; home and televised games only), Bernie Geoffrion (1975–79), and Bobby Harper[7] (1979–80; home games only). Pete Van Wieren[8] also did play-by-play for the Flames. The Flames left Atlanta for Calgary prior to the 1980-81 NHL season.[9]

1990s and 2000s[]

As previously mentioned, from 1992–1998, TNT served as the American cable television partner for CBS in its coverage of the Winter Olympic Games. Jiggs McDonald handled the play-by-play for ice hockey at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics with Bill Clement on color commentary in 1992 and Joe Micheletti in 1994. In 1998, Mike "Doc" Emrick[10] provided the play-by-play commentary alongside color commentators Peter McNab, Joe Micheletti, and Digit Murphy.

Turner launched the regional Turner South network in 1999, which carried games of the Atlanta Thrashers, which were owned at that time by Turner parent Time Warner. Matt McConnell was the primary television play-by-play announcer for the Thrashers from 1999–2003 with JP Dellacamera taking over for the rest of the way in Atlanta. Darren Eliot was the television color commentator throughout the Thrashers' entire existence before their 2011 departure to Winnipeg as the Jets. Time Warner sold the Thrashers in 2003, and sold Turner South to Fox Cable Networks in 2006.

2010s and 2020s[]

Following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, AT&T SportsNet, a regional sports network system acquired in 2015 as a part of DirecTV, was moved into the WarnerMedia News & Sports division under Jeff Zucker in March 2019, alongside Time Warner's existing national sports unit Turner Sports.[11]

AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, and Root Sports Northwest (majority owned by the Seattle Mariners) currently serve as the regional outlets for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, and Seattle Kraken, respectively.[12]

National contract (2021–present)[]

In order to increase the value of its U.S. media rights after the expiration of their ten-year deal with NBC Sports, the NHL pursued having multiple media partners for its next round of media rights deals, including possible deals with streaming services.[13] After announcing on March 10, 2021 that ESPN will serve as its primary rightsholder, on April 27, Turner Sports and the NHL announced that they had agreed to a seven-year agreement to hold the second half of its new media rights beginning in the 2021–22 season;[14][15][16][17][18]

  • Turner Sports will hold rights to up to 72 exclusive national games per-season, which can air on either TNT or TBS.[16]
  • Turner Sports will hold rights to the NHL Winter Classic annually.
  • Turner Sports will share in coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs with ESPN and ABC, holding rights to "half" of the games in the first two rounds, and one conference final per-season (ESPN will have the first choice of conference finals).
  • Turner Sports will hold rights to the Stanley Cup Finals in odd-numbered years beginning 2023.
  • There is an option for HBO Max to hold over-the-top streaming rights, including simulcasts of TNT's games, and the option for games exclusive to the service. WarnerMedia executives indicated following the contract announcement that they had only just begun to study how the streaming service might be involved, and that they did not plan to air games on HBO Max within the 2021 calendar year.[19]
  • TNT will produce a studio show for its coverage, modeled after Inside the NBA.[20][21][22]
  • Bleacher Report will be able to distribute highlights on digital platforms. The site will launch Open Ice, a new content brand focusing on NHL-related content. Online personality and streamer Andrew "Nasher" Telfer was hired as a contributor for the brand.[23][24]

The deal was reported to be valued at $225 million per-season.[25]

On May 5, 2021, Richard Deitsch of The Athletic reported that Rangers radio voice Kenny Albert and Blackhawks TV color commentator Eddie Olczyk will serve as the lead play-by-play announcer and color commentator respectively for Turner Sports, continuing their roles on NBC the previous season after Mike Emrick's retirement.[26] On May 25, the New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported that Oilers and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky will be TNT's lead studio analyst.[27] Turner confirmed the hiring of Albert, Olczyk, and Gretzky in these roles the following day;[28][29][30][31][32][33] Craig Morgan, an Arizona-based reporter on the Arizona Coyotes and correspondent for the NHL Network, reported that Darren Pang and Keith Jones, color commentators for the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively, will also be joining Turner[34] On June 9, Morgan reported that NBC’s Anson Carter will be doing the same.[35] On June 28, Marchand reported that Islanders play-by-play man Brendan Burke was in talks to join Turner as their #2 play-by-play man.[36] On August 31, it was reported that Liam McHugh will join TNT from NBC.[37]

On September 14, 2021, TNT announced its slate of on-air staff for its inaugural season.[38] Jones, who served as a studio analyst at NBC, will serve as the lead "Inside-the-Glass" reporter, joining the lead broadcast team of Albert and Olczyk.[38][24] Burke[39] and Pang were named as the secondary broadcast team. McHugh and Carter were named to the studio team,[38][35] along with former Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet[38][40] and veteran Paul Bissonnette, who all joined Gretzky in studio.[38] Hockey Night in Canada’s Jennifer Botterill, and NHL Network’s Jackie Redmond, and Tarik El-Bashir also appear as contributors.[38][24] TNT later added former referee Don Koharski as a rules analyst, and former Blackhawk Jamal Mayers as an extra contributor. On November 23, TNT added Rangers great Henrik Lundqvist to its studio panel, starting on the next day's broadcast.[41]On November 30th, TNT welcomed former referee Stéphane Auger to their team, as another rules analyst, replacing Koharski, who left to take a job with the National Lacrosse League. He made his debut during the Penguins-Oilers game the following night.

TNT's first broadcasts were a preseason doubleheader on September 30, 2021 between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, and the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings.[42] TNT then aired its first regular season games on October 13, 2021, with a doubleheader between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche.[43] For the 2021-22 season, TNT will air 50 games, primarily on Wednesday nights (with 15 doubleheaders), seven weeks of games on Sundays in March and April 2022, and rights to the Winter Classic, Stadium Series and Heritage Classic outdoor games (the last of which featuring an American team for the first time).[44]

Due to conflicts with AEW Dynamite, TNT will only air a single Wednesday night game in the 10:00 p.m. ET window from October 27 through December 29, 2021. On January 5, 2022, Dynamite will move to TBS, allowing TNT to begin airing weekly doubleheaders.[44][45][46] Dynamite aired special Saturday-night editions for two weeks in October 2021 due to Wednesday doubleheaders scheduled on October 13 and 20.[47][48]

Production[]

A Turner Sports executive stated that TNT's goal for its coverage was to provide information on-air that would appeal to both mainstream viewers and "diehard fans", including leveraging the NHL's new player and puck tracking system for on-air features and graphics, and high frame rate cameras. The network is also experimenting with an on-ice power play clock graphic, similar to the on-court shot clock graphic used in TNT's NBA coverage.[43] TNT's studio coverage originates from Turner's headquarters in Atlanta, with a set featuring projection mapping effects.[49]

On-air staff[]

Studio personalities[]

  • Liam McHugh: studio host (2021–present)[38][50]
  • Wayne Gretzky: part-time studio analyst (2021–present)[51]
  • Anson Carter: studio analyst (2021–present)[38][35][52]
  • Rick Tocchet: studio analyst (2021–present)[38][40]
  • Paul Bissonnette: studio analyst (2021–present)[38][53]
  • Henrik Lundqvist: studio analyst (2021–present)[41]

Play-by-play[]

Color commentators[]

Inside-the-Glass reporters[]

  • Keith Jones: "Inside-the-Glass" reporter (2021–present)[38][34]

Contributors[]

Yet to Debut[]

  • : contributor (2021–present)[38]

Rules analyst[]

Former personalities[]

See also[]

  • National Hockey League on television

References[]

  1. ^ Lucia, Joe (September 16, 2021). "ESPN, Turner release NHL schedules for 2021-22 season, featuring 78 regular season games on cable and broadcast". Awful Announcing.
  2. ^ Lucia, Joe (April 27, 2021). "Turner's NHL deal will include "up to 72" exclusive national games each season, half the Stanley Cup Playoffs, HBO Max streaming". Awful Announcing.
  3. ^ Turner, Burke, Ted, Bill (10 November 2008). Call Me Ted. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780446543361.
  4. ^ Astorian, Laura (May 26, 2011). "Former Atlanta Flames Broadcaster Questions Winnipeg As A Market". SB Nation.
  5. ^ "Celebrating 50 Years of Jiggs McDonald behind the Mike". Journeys’ Portfolio.
  6. ^ Herrmann, Mike (February 16, 2017). "Harry Caray's grandson, Josh, calls the games for Stony Brook". Newsday.
  7. ^ "Harper To Do Flames Games". The Atlanta Constitution. Georgia, Atlanta. October 10, 1979. p. 42. Retrieved June 29, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  8. ^ Castiglione, Lyon, Joe, Douglas B. (April 2012). Can You Believe It?: 30 Years of Insider Stories with the Boston Red Sox. Triumph Books. p. 126. ISBN 9781617496325.
  9. ^ Reedy, Joe (April 26, 2021). "AP sources: Turner Sports gets rights to second NHL package". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021.
  10. ^ "Emrick handled hockey play-by-play duties for CBS at Albertville in 1992 and on CBS and TNT at Lillehammer in 1994 and Nagano in 1998". Archived from the original on 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  11. ^ Feiner, Lauren (March 4, 2019). "WarnerMedia reorganizes its leadership team after AT&T acquisition". CNBC. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  12. ^ McIntosh, Andrew (26 January 2021). "NHL's Seattle Kraken signs multiyear TV broadcast rights deal". Puget Sound Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  13. ^ Ourand, John (May 27, 2019). "NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman relishes the opportunities as next media deal approaches". sportsbusinessdaily.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Rosen, Dan (April 27, 2021). "NHL, Turner Sports reach deal for games on TNT, TBS". NHL.com. NHL Enterprises, L.P. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
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  23. ^ Hill, Michael P. (September 15, 2021). "Turner Sports unveils 'NHL on TNT' logo design". NewscastStudio.
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External links[]

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