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SportsChannel America was the official American television provider of the National Hockey League from 1988-1992.
Terms of the deal
Taking over for ESPN, SportsChannel's contract paid $51 million ($17 million per year) over three years, more than double what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for the previous three years. SportsChannel America managed to get a fourth NHL season for just $5 million.
SportsChannel's availabilty
Unfortantely, SportsChannel America was only available in a few major markets, and reached only a 1/3 of the households that ESPN did at the time. SportsChannel America was seen in fewer than 10 million households. To put things in persepctive, by the 1991-92 season, ESPN was availabe in 60.5 million homes whereas SportsChannel America was available in only 25 million. When the SportsChannel deal ended in 1992, the league returned to ESPN for another contract that would pay $80 million over five years.
SportsChannel America took advantage of using their regional sports networks' feed of a game, graphics and all, instead of producing a show from the ground up, most of the time. Distribution of SportsChannel America across the country was limited to cities that had a SportsChannel regional sports network or affiliate. Very few cable systems in non-NHL territories picked it up as a stand alone service. SportsChannel America also did not broadcast 24 hours a day at first, usually on by 6 p.m., off by 1 or 2 a.m., then a sportsticker for the next 16 hours.
Philadelphia
Since SportsChannel Philadelphia did not air until January 1990, PRISM picked up the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals. Other than that, there was no NHL television coverage in Philiadephila except for the Flyers for the first half the the original deal.
Lawsuit
Shortly after the ESPN deal was signed, SportsChannel America would contend that its contract with the NHL gave them the right to match third-party offers for television rights for the 1992-93 season. SportsChannel America accused the NHL of violating a nonbinding clause. SportsChannel America argued that it had been deprived of its contractual right of first refusal for the 1992-93 season. Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court justice Shirley Fingerwood would deny SportsChannel America's request for an injunction against the NHL. Upholding that opinion, the appellate court found the agreement on which SportsChannel based its argument to be "too imprecise and ambiguous" and ruled that SportsChannel failed to show irreparable harm.
Regular season coverage
SportsChannel America would televise about 80-100 games a season. It was very rare to have a regular-season game on SportsChannel America that wasn't a regional SportsChannel production from the Chicago Blackhawks, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders or Philadelphia Flyers. The San Jose Sharks were added in 1991-92. SportsChannel America for the most part, used the local telecasts
The dedicated SportsChannel America station was little more than an overflow channel in the New York area for SportsChannel New York.
Production
A fair amount of times in their first season, they would use their own production services for games. But very rarely would this sort of practice occur in the last three seasons. Since programming was so sparse otherwise on SportsChannel America, usually the games were replayed immediately following the live telecast.
For playoff coverage, if any of the aforementioned teams made the playoffs, SportsChannel America would focus on those teams, using their facilities. Sometimes, they would use the CBC feed for other series (the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens comes to mind). For the Stanley Cup Final, SportsChannel America would use their own facilities.
John Shannon was the senior producer of The NHL on SportsChannel America.
Announcers
- Herb Brooks
- Gerry Cheevers
- Bill Clement
- John Davidson
- Don Edwards
- Mike Emrick
- Pat Foley
- Jiggs McDonald
- Peter McNab
- Bob Papa
- Rick Peckham
- Denis Potvin
- Leandra Reilly
- Pete Stemkowski
- Dale Tallon
- Gary Thorne
- Ed Westfall
Commentating crews
- Chicago Blackhawks: Pat Foley and Dale Tallon (in 1992, SportsChannel America rode them all the way to the Conference Finals)
- Hartford Whalers: Rick Peckham and Gerry Cheevers
- New York Islanders: Jiggs McDonald and Ed Westfall
- New Jersey Devils: Gary Thorne and Peter McNab
- Philadelphia Flyers:Mike Emrick and Bill Clement
- San Jose Sharks (1991-92 only): Joe Starkey and Pete Stemkowski
Bob Papa and Leandra Reilly were the studio hosts during the regular season coverage. For the Stanley Cup Final, Jiggs McDonald served as the play-by-play man while Bill Clement was the color commentator. Also during the Stanley Cup Finals, Mike Emrick served as the host while John Davidson served as the rinkside and intermission anaylst.
Special programming
In 1989, SportsChannel America provided the first ever American coverage of the NHL Draft.
In September 1989, SportsChannel America covered the Washington Capitals training camp in Sweden and pre-season tour of the Soviet Union. The Capitals were joined by the Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames, who held training camp in Prague, Czechoslovakia and then ventured to the Soviet Union. Each team played four games against Soviet National League clubs. Games were played in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Riga. The NHL clubs finished with a combined 6-2 record against the top Soviet teams, including the Red Army club and Dynamo Moscow. Five of the eight contests were televised by SportsChannel America.
All-Star Game coverage
SportsChannel America was the exclusive broadcaster of the 1989 All-Star Game. The following year, they covered the first ever NHL Skills Competition and Heroes of Hockey game. SportsChannel America would continue their coverage of these particular events through 1992. In 1991, SportsChannel America replayed the third period of the All-Star Game on the same day that it was played. That was because NBC broke away from the live telecast after the second period in favor of Gulf War covearge.
See also
External links
- The DrewL Bucket: Can OLN Help Rescue NHL?
- NHL inks SCA deal for $5.5m. (cable television contract between National Hockey League and SportsChannel America) (Multichannel News)
- CBA: TV and the price of expansion
- Is the NHL better off?
- ESPN fails to match, Comcast gets NHL
- Dear Uncle Erza
- Google Groups - 1990
- Google Groups - 1991
- Google Groups - 1992
- Google Groups - 1993
- The NHL on SportsChannel America (1988-1992)
| Preceded byESPN | NHL network broadcast partner (with NBC) in the United States 1988 - 1992 |
Succeeded byESPN and ABC |
