As with most otherprofessional sports,ice hockey isbroadcast both onradio andtelevision.
The first dissemination of game scores via electronic means was done bytelegraph, starting in the 1890s. In Montreal'sVictoria Rink, telegraph lines were installed to send game descriptions to operators inWinnipeg for the 1896 Stanley Cup challenge between Montreal and Winnipeg.
On February 8, 1923 the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game was made.Toronto Daily Star reporterNorman Albert described the third-period action of a game between Midland and North Toronto at Toronto'sArena Gardens.[1] The radio station wasCFCA, owned by the newspaper. The station also carried the first NHL radio broadcast on February 14, 1923, with the broadcast of the third-period of a game between theToronto St. Patricks and theOttawa Senators at the same arena.[2]
The first complete hockey game carried over the radio was on February 22, 1923 on CJCG out ofWinnipeg of a game between the Winnipeg Falcons and the Port Arthur Bearcats.[3] The first complete broadcast of a professional game was made on March 14, 1923 onCKCK out ofRegina, Saskatchewan and reported byPete Parker. The game was not an NHL contest, but rather aWestern Canada Hockey League featuring theRegina Capitals. The first hockey game televised in Canada was on October 11, 1952 of a game between theMontreal Canadiens and theDetroit Red Wings, played at theMontreal Forum, a few weeks after television arrived in Canada.[4] However, the 1952 Memorial Cup finals, taking place several months before the inauguration of TV broadcasting in Canada, were televised on a closed-circuit basis toCBC Television's offices, using equipment leased fromNBC in New York.Foster Hewitt was play-by-play commentator for the test run, so network and ad executives could see how well hockey could be televised.
As in other sports, television has had a major effect on hockey. The infusion of money has made the major leagues far more professional with vastly higher salaries for players. It has also changed the game as NHL rules now mandate three commercial breaks per period, giving players time to recuperate and allowing the better players to be on the ice longer. However, it also lengthens and slows the games considerably.
Games today are also broadcast over theInternet. The NHL website[5] allows fans to listen to online broadcasts of every NHL game.
Yes TV'sAll Sports Network signed a multi-year deal with the NHL to broadcast over 130regular season games, beginning in the2008–09 NHL season to broadcastNHL All-Star games,Stanley Cup playoffs andStanley Cup Finals, as well as NHL highlight programs.[6]
In Canada,NHL hockey is broadcast every Saturday night onCBC's longest-running television show,Hockey Night in Canada. During the week, other games are shown on cable channelsTSN andRDS.Various local channels carry other games as well. During the NHL playoffs, CBC carries four of the Conference Quarterfinals (first, second, fourth, and sixth choice), two of the Conference semifinals (first and third choice), all games of one conference final and games 4-7 of the other (or all games if involving a Canadian team). TSN gets the remainder.
CBC also carries many international tournaments, such as theWorld Cup of Hockey. TheWinter Olympics in1998,2002 and2006 were on CBC, but the2010 games were onCTV andRDS. Major games like those of the1972 Summit Series or the2002 Winter Olympics have received some of the highest ratings in Canadian television history. Other well-known tournaments, like theSpengler Cup or theMemorial Cup, are carried onRogers Sportsnet. TSN and RDS carry allIIHF events, such as theWorld Junior Championships andWorld Championships.
SeveralCanadian Hockey League (CHL; the umbrella organization for Canada's junior hockey leagues) andAmerican Hockey League (AHL) games are broadcast by local channels in Canada, as is the occasionaluniversity game.
Hockey Night in Canada, orHNIC, is by far CBC's most profitable show and supports many of the corporation's other ventures.
According to Foster Hewitt's book His Own Story the first TV hockey broadcasts occurred in the late 1940s in New York and Detroit as Foster was interviewed as a hockey guest in both cities.[7] Hockey hasn't traditionally fared as well on American television compared to theNBA,MLB, or theNFL. In fact, hockey broadcasting on a national scale was spotty prior to 1981;NBC andCBS held rights at various times, but neither network carried anything close to a full schedule, even carrying only selected games of the Stanley Cup Finals. From 1971 to 1995, there was no exclusive coverage of games in the United States.
In 1981, the fledglingUSA Network (formerly MSG Network) carried 35 regular-season games a year and a full schedule of playoff games through 1985, supplanted byESPN in 1985 andSportsChannel in 1989. ESPN regained the national hockey contract in 1993, joined by theFox network in 1995.
Fox had put much effort into trying to stimulate American interests in the game, but had achieved little success. One of their schemes was to make thehockey puck more visible by highlighting it on television with a blue comet, usingFoxTrax. When aslapshot over 70 miles per hour was made, the puck would leave a redcomet trail on the television. This idea was met with great derision in Canada, especially to diehard hockey fans, and also met with little success in the United States, often ridiculed by comedians on both sides of the border.
Fox got out of the hockey business in 1999 after being massively outbid - surprisingly, given Fox's low ratings - by ESPN's fellowDisney networkABC. This $600 million contract was signed in 1998 and was regarded as a failure.
Before the 2004–05 lockout, the NHL had reached two separate deals with NBC and ESPN. The NBC deal stipulated that the network would pay the league no rights fees - an unheard of practice to that point. NBC's deal included six regular season windows, seven postseason broadcasts and games 3–7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in primetime. The contracts were to commence when the lockout ended. The NBC deal was to expire after the 2006–07 season, but NBC picked up the option to renew for the 2007–08 season (Just like theAFL/NBC agreement, which the network did not renew in 2006). The NHL and NBC share in revenues from advertising.
ESPN had a two-year deal that they opted out of after the lockout, leaving the NHL without a cable partner. In August 2005, Comcast (who owns the Philadelphia Flyers) paid $70 million a year for three years to put games on the OLN network, now known asVersus. Versus is now known as theNBC Sports Network. Due to the abbreviated off-season, the 2005–06 schedule did not offer OLN exclusivity, which they received in 2006–07. NBC Sports Network will also cover the playoffs and will exclusively air Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
On March 10, 2021, ESPN andTurner Sports agreed to seven-year deals to air NHL games, including airing NHL games onABC, where for the first time, will air the Stanley Cup Finals matches in its entirely, although this only occurs during even-numbered years, while Turner Sports will also the Stanley Cup Finals during odd-numbered years. ESPN will also air up to 75 games[8][9]
The NHL's American television popularity has been increasing since the debut of theNHL Winter Classic in 2008; the Winter Classic has earnedNielsen ratings on par with those the league had in 1975, when there were far fewer channels and much less audience fracturing.
Minor league hockey has more limited national coverage; theAmerica One network currently holds broadcast rights to select games in theAmerican Hockey League and theECHL, the two top minor leagues in North America.
Individual teams (both major and minor, though far more common in the major leagues) have long contracted to air their games on local channels, primarily onRegional sports networks and in a few cases on broadcast channels as well.
Collegiate hockey's television coverage has expanded in the late 2000s, with national networksCSTV, andESPNU carrying numerous regular-season contests. ESPNU airs theNCAA'sDivision I tournament (with the semifinals airing onESPN2 and the final game onESPN), and CSTV carries games from other levels' tournaments. Regular-season games can also be found on specialty channelsBig Ten Network andFox College Sports, along withMidwest regional sports networksFSN North,FSN Wisconsin, andFSN Detroit.
In 2004, the NHL announced that games would be broadcast across the European continent on theESPN America as part of a four-year deal that would also include live streaming of games across the Internet.[10] The league previously had agreements with theGalaxie network of the Czech Republic andNTV's TV7 channel in Russia.[11]
| Equipment |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions |
| ||||
| Rules |
| ||||
| Skills | |||||
| Levels of play | |||||
| Variations | |||||
| Strategy | |||||
| Terminology |
| ||||
| Statistics | |||||
| In popular culture | |||||
| Related topics | |||||
