The NHL Network (Known later on asThe NHL '78 and '79 respectively) was an American televisionsyndication package that broadcastNational Hockey League games from the1975–76 through1978–79 seasons.[1][2] The NHL Network was distributed by theHughes Television Network.[3]
After being dropped byNBC after the1974–75 season,[4][5][6] the NHL had no national television contract in the United States.[7][8][9] In response to this, the league put together a network of independent stations covering approximately 55% of the country.[10][11][12]
Games typically aired on Monday nights[13] (beginning at 8 p.m.ET) or Saturday afternoons. The package was offered to local stations with no rights fee.[14] Profits would be derived from the advertising, which was about evenly split between the network and the local station. The Monday night games were often billed asThe NHL Game of the Week.[15] Viewers in New York City, Buffalo, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Los Angeles got theGame of the Week on a different channel than their local team's games. Therefore, whenever a team had a “home” game, the NHL Network aired the home team's broadcast rather than their own.
Initially, the Monday night package was marketed toABCaffiliates, the idea being that ABC carriedMonday-night NFL football in the fall and (starting in May1976)Monday-nightMajor League Baseball in the spring and summer; as such, stations would want hockey to create a year-round Monday night sports block. But very few ABC stations picked up the package.
During the1975–76 season, the NHL Network showed selected games from theNHL Super Series[16][17] (the big one in that package wasRed Army at Philadelphia,[18] but the package did not include Red Army atMontreal on New Year's Eve 1975, which was seen only onCBC) as well as some playoff games. During the1976–77 season, the NHL Network showed 12 regular season games on Monday nights plus theAll-Star Game. By1978–79 (the final season of the NHL Network's existence), there were 18 Monday night games and 12 Saturday afternoon games covered.
The1979 Challenge Cup[19] replaced the All-Star Game. It was a best-of-three series between the NHL All-Stars against theSoviet Union national squad.[20][21] Only the third period of Game 2, which was on a Saturday afternoon, was shown onCBS as part ofThe CBS Sports Spectacular.[22] Unfortunately, CBS and their sponsors had a problem with the rink board advertising that the NHL sold atMadison Square Garden, and refused to allow them to be shown on TV. As a result, CBS viewers were unable to see the far boards above the yellow kickplate, and could only see players' skates when the play moved to that side of the ice. Games 1 and 3 were shown on the NHL Network,[23][24][25] where the advertising was no problem.
When Saturday afternoon games were added, the NHL said that they would start at 1 p.m. and end by 4 p.m.ET. Markets with only three stations were reluctant to give upprime time programming slots. Ultimately, the plan failed, as not only did they not gain new markets, but many stations that already carried the Monday game didn't pick up the Saturday one. A few of the markets in the Eastern Time Zone that aired the Saturday afternoon games includedBoston,Buffalo,New York City,Washington andSpringfield, MA.
In addition, the NHL gave stations the option of starting the Saturday afternoon broadcasts at 1 Eastern time or starting at 2 EST, with the full open and a first-period summary preceding live action of the final two periods.WDCA (theWashington, D.C. affiliate) andWWLP (theSpringfield, MA affiliate) took that option.WPGH inPittsburgh andWTCG inAtlanta didn't pick up the Saturday package, leaving their markets without Saturday coverage. WPGH and WTCG also showed the Monday games ontape delay at midnight and 11:30 p.m. ET, respectively. Meanwhile, by1978,[26]WUAB inCleveland andWBFF inBaltimore dropped hockey coverage completely (Cleveland lost its NHL team, the Cleveland Barons, thatyear after just three seasons in that city, which may have led WUAB to drop the package).
Also inBuffalo, the Saturday afternoon games during January and February were onWGR. Meanwhile, the Saturday games during March were onWUTV. WUTV carried theMonday Night Hockey package, while WGR was theover-the-air station for theBuffalo Sabres. In New York,WOR did not carry Saturday games in January or February. Meanwhile,WNEW (also in New York) carried the March Saturday games (at 2 p.m.). In both Buffalo and New York, college basketball andWorld Championship Tennis they knocked the NHL off its usual Monday night carrier.
In1977–78,KBJR inDuluth picked up the Saturday afternoon package and dropped the Monday night games. In that same season,WHMB inIndianapolis joined the network with Saturday afternoon games at 2 p.m. and Monday night games at 11 p.m. In addition, the Iowa PBS stations had dropped the NHL by this point.
The1976 Stanley Cup Finals on the NHL Network marked the first time that the NHL's championship series was nationally televised in its entirety in the United States.[11][27] When the NHL Network broadcast playoff games in 1976,Marv Albert split play-by-play duties with an announcer from one of the participating teams. For instance, on April 18, 1976 (Montreal atChicago), it was Brad Palmer (who was the intermission host for Chicago Black Hawks telecasts onWFLD 32) who split the play-by-play duties with Albert. Albert did play-by-play for the first and third periods while Palmer did the second. Starting in the1978 playoffs, the NHL Network begansimulcasting many games withHockey Night in Canada. In these games,Dan Kelly, who was the NHL Network's lead play-by-play announcer, was assigned to do play-by-play along withHNIC color commentators. This for example, happened in Game 7 of the quarterfinal series between theToronto Maple Leafs andNew York Islanders (April 29), where Kelly teamed up withBrian McFarlane. The entire1978 Stanley Cup Finals between theMontreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins and the entire1979 Stanley Cup Finals between theMontreal Canadiens andNew York Rangers were both simulcasted as well.[28] However, had that final gone to Game 7, then that game would have been broadcast onABC.[29]
In most U.S. NHL cities, the Hughes NHL affiliate was thesame one that aired the local team's games. About a couple of dozen other stations carried the games. The network had 47 stations[26][30] for the1976–77 season.
| City | Station |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | WTCG[31] |
| Baltimore | WBFF |
| Boston | WSBK[32] |
| Buffalo | WUTV (Monday night games) |
| WGR/WUTV (Saturday afternoon games) | |
| Charlotte | WRET |
| Chicago | WSNS[13][33][34][35] |
| Cleveland | WUAB (tape delay) |
| Council Bluffs | KBIN |
| Dallas | KXTX (tape delay to 10 p.m.CT) |
| Denver | KWGN |
| Des Moines | KDIN |
| Detroit | WGPR |
| Duluth | KBJR |
| Galveston | Local cable |
| Greenfield | WRLP |
| Greensboro | WGHP |
| Houston | KRIV (tape delay to 11:30 p.m.CT) |
| Indianapolis | WHMB |
| Iowa City | KIIN |
| Los Angeles | KHJ (tape delay to 8 p.m.PT) |
| Miami | WPBT |
| New York City | WOR[36][37][38][39] |
| WNEW | |
| Omaha | KETV (tape delay to 11:30 p.m.CT) |
| Philadelphia | WTAF |
| Pittsburgh | WPGH |
| Red Oak | KHIN |
| Rochester, NY | WROC |
| San Francisco | KQED |
| Seattle | KSTW (tape delay to 10:30 p.m.PT) |
| Sioux City | KSIN |
| Springfield | WWLP |
| St. Louis | KDNL |
| Washington, D.C. | WDCA (tape delay to 9 p.m.ET) |
Despite the presence of theMinnesota North Stars, there was no NHL Network affiliate in theMinneapolis-St. Paul area.
By the time thatNBC’s contract with the NHL ended after the1974–75, they were getting a 3.8rating. Meanwhile, the ratings for the NHL Network in its first month of existence were 3.1 inNew York, 1.9 inLos Angeles, and 1.3 inChicago. By1978–79, the Monday night games were seen by about 1 million viewers; 300,000 of which were in theBoston area. Also in 1978–79, the 2 p.m. ET version of the Saturday broadcasts (with the first period cut out) was picked up by all participating affiliates except WSBK-TV Boston (which carried the entire game), and often, the cities whose local teams were playing if the local station aired the NHL Network version of a game instead of a locally produced broadcast.
Marv Albert was the lead play-by-play man during thefirst season in which he was paired with a local guest announcer.[45] They typically, would split play-by-play duties.
As previously mentioned, for Game 4 of the 1976 quarterfinal playoff series between theMontreal Canadiens andChicago Black Hawks (April 16), Marv Albert and Brad Palmer called the game. Albert handled play-by-play for the first and third period while Palmer, the Black Hawks' TV host, handled play-by-play for the second period. They in the process, acted as analysts for each other. Played atChicago Stadium, the game wasblacked out in the Chicago area.
Meanwhile, Marv Albert also during the 1976 playoffs, teamed withTim Ryan (who split play-by-play duties with Albert) andGeorge Michael for Game 1 of theNew York Islanders-Buffalo Sabres series (April 11) andTerry Crisp for Game 7 of theToronto Maple Leafs-Philadelphia Flyers series (April 25). Terry Crisp also worked alongside play-by-play menGene Hart andDon Earle on Game 4 of the Toronto-Philadelphia mentioned above series (April 17).
The analysts for the1976 Stanley Cup Finals were active players and each game featured different color commentators. These players wereStan Mikita,Garry Unger,Chico Resch andCurt Bennett. This format continued in1977 with Stan Mikita, Garry Unger, Chico Resch,Don Awrey replacing Curt Bennett, who instead worked with Marv Albert andDan Kelly on Game 4 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Boston Bruins playoff series (May 1).
Dick Stockton served as host for a season.[50] Scott Wahle was the studio host for the1978–79 and1979–80 seasons. Meanwhile,Stan Fischler was on the broadcasts as an intermission analyst.
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