Comcast, NBC and the NHL lockout
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Comcast, NBC and the NHL lockout
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
In a way, the owner-imposed NHL lockout is being partially funded by Comcast, the Flyers’ parent company.
The NBC Sports Group, a subsidiary of Comcast, is paying the league about $180 million in rights fees this season -- and a network spokesman said on Monday that the NHL will receive all of that money even if no games are played in 2012-13.
There is an asterisk, however. If no games are played this season, the league will grant NBC a “free year at the back end of the agreement,” said the NBC spokesman, who asked to remain anonymous.
Last spring, the NHL and NBC signed a 10-year, $1.8 billion TV deal that starts this season and includes the highly popular Winter Classic. Nation-wide, the deal has been erroneously reported as a $2 billion deal, the spokesman said.
Theoretically, the 11th year would be worth more than $180 million, so NBC would seem to be gaining in the “trade-off” and paying for the first year even if all games are canceled.
The lockout “didn’t take us by surprise,” said the spokesman, “which is why we have protection” at the back end of the deal.
One wonders how resolute the NHL would be in its negotiating if it didn't have the $180 million guarantee in its back pocket.
On Monday, the lockout reached its 37th day, and no talks are scheduled between the league and the players’ union. The sides are locked in a labor war that has canceled the first three weeks of the season.
The NHL says it needs to have a new collective bargaining agreement in place sometime Thursday in order to save an 82-game season. The league wants to start a one-week training camp on Friday and begin the season Nov. 2.
The league estimates it will have lost $330 million if games canceled through Nov. 1 are not played at a later date.
Some of the NHL games this season were scheduled to be telecast on NBC and most were slated for NBC Sports Network, formerly Versus. To replace the NHL games, NBC is showing soccer, boxing, college hockey, and college basketball, along with rebroadcasts of the London Olympics.
NBC would not say how much advertising revenue it is losing by not having the NHL telecasts.
Locally, Comcast said it is not giving refunds to subscribers because they do not have Flyers games during the NHL lockout. Comast SportsNet is instead providing alternative programming, a spokeswoman said.
To help fill the void created by the lockout, CSN is showing Philly Sports Classics. The network is “in discussion” to add some AHL Phantoms games, a spokeswoman said. The Phantoms’ Feb. 22 game at the Wells Fargo Center against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been on the CSN TV schedule since before the lockout.
Breakaways. Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds, who had four goals, 10 assists and 35 penalty minutes in nine games with Crimmitschau, and the St. Louis Blues’ Chris Stewart have left the second-tier Germany team and joined Liberec in the top-level Czech Republic league….Brayden Schenn leads the 2-2 Phantoms in goals (3), points (5) and shots on goal (20). Defensemen Oliver Lauridsen and Cullen Eddy lead the team with plus-3 ratings….A free skating session will be open to the public Nov. 9 after a 4:30 p.m. ceremony for the grand opening of the refurbished Tarken Ice Rink in Oxford Circle. The Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation played a major role in the refurbishing.
Contact Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com. Follow on Twitter @BroadStBull.
So between paying the salaries of players that the small-market teams can't afford, and paying the league to lock the players out, we're basically footing the bill for this whole clusterintercourse. Great.— janiscortese- Bring in the replacements. I'll watch anything now.— schnitzelboy
- There's plenty of streaming Euro hockey going on. If you'll watch anything, then go watch it. — janiscortese
- BTW -- in terms of who's to blame? The league, sure. Snider? No way. The thing about him is that whatever we as Flyers fans feel, he feels it more. That's what's good about him. The team and hockey mean something to him -- the Flyers aren't just one more faceless revenue stream. If they win and I'm happy, he's happier. If they lose and I'm down, he's more down. I want a cup, but he wants it more. We hockey lovers in Philadelphia have a GREAT team owner, and I'm not sure how many of us know it. Snider wants another cup so bad he can taste it; the LAST thing that cynical, canny old bastadge wants is a season-long lockout, or worse.— janiscortese
- I think you're right about how bad Snider wants another Cup but he finds himself in a tight spot and unable to do much about the situation. If he stands anywhere to long on either side of this issue, the other will just claim he is speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
— tune433 - There's no "i" in team. For better or worse the players and owners are a team....a highly dysfunctional team, but a team no less. When they figure this out they'll come to agreement.— meteo30
- Done with hockey. Pretty soon it will be the 6th sport in the USA.— Servo
- The answer, in two words: Lingerie Hockey.
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— Quixote II - great article, based on this i am cancelling my comcast and switching to verizon. no way i am going to underwrite the owners. anyone who has comcast is subsidizing the owners lockout. the owners get their 180 mil whether there is a season or not. tell your friends, cancel your comcast accounts. hit these guys in their pockets just like the owners are doing to the players— bier
Comment removed.- Uncle Comcast coughs and $180 million comes out. that's nothing, but watch your Comcast bill next month for a mysterious 5 dollar NHL fee.— Tyrone Biggums
- Time to bring back the WHA. Surely there must be 6 rich entrepreneurial guys who love hockey. Start a new 6 team league. Do it right, expand slowly, keep costs down and you can blow the NHL right out of the water.
— TexColorado - I wish the Phantoms were still in town.— thegreengrass
