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Big News For NHL Network in the U.S.

by Paul on 10/03/08 at 01:32 PM ET
Comments (10)

I have given KK readers a few hints about this, now it is official!

NEW YORK (October 3, 2008) –

With more live game coverage than ever before, NHL Network today unveiled its U.S. broadcast schedule for the 2008-09 regular season. It includes 75 regular-season games, all in HD.

Highlighting the schedule is the inclusion of CBC’s award-winning Hockey Night In Canada, now available to U.S. fans through NHL Network for the first time. Every Saturday night, NHL Network will not only broadcast the live Hockey Night In Canada double-header, but also the CBC pre-game show Scotiabank Hockey Tonight and post-game show After Hours.

More details and complete broadcast schedule below.

Regular-season coverage on NHL Network gets underway in the U.S. on Saturday, Oct. 4 when the New York Rangers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague, Czech Republic and the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins meet in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Bridgestone NHL Premiere 2008™.

Additional highlights for the 2008-09 NHL broadcast schedule include:

Live NHL games every Saturday night throughout the season
26 double-headers and 1 triple-header
17 Wednesday-night games featuring TSN’s broadcast of Wednesday Night Hockey
5 games featuring the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings
7 games featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby
2 games featuring the Washington Capitals and last season’s Hart Trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin
5 original NHL Network game productions

“NHL Network is an important platform in super-serving our fans with the hockey content they demand, 24 hours a day,” said John Shannon, NHL Executive Vice President of Broadcasting and Programming. “With top-quality production of marquee match-ups on a consistent schedule, in addition to new original programming, NHL Network is creating appointment television for hockey fans nationwide.”

NHL Network is the first 24-hour network dedicated to the National Hockey League with unprecedented access to the most comprehensive hockey coverage both on and off the ice. In addition to live NHL games, NHL Network will broadcast live college hockey and the Memorial Cup. The network also airs post-game press conferences, special event programming on-location from NHL events such as NHL Winter Classic™, NHL All-Star weekend, NHL Entry Draft and the Stanley Cup™ Final and its signature daily live highlight show – NHL on the Fly – which airs nightly throughout the hockey season.

NHL Network is now accessible to more than 80 million homes through all of its carriage arrangements, including those with Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network® and Time Warner Cable. NHL Network launched in the U.S in October of 2007 and in Canada in 2001. This is the second season NHL Network will broadcast live NHL games in the U.S.

February
· Wednesday, Feb. 4 Toronto @ Buffalo 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.7 Toronto @ Montreal 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.7 Chicago @ Vancouver 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Feb. 11 Ottawa @ Buffalo 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.14 Pittsburgh @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.14 Calgary @ Phoenix 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Feb. 18 Montreal @ Washington 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.21 Ottawa @ Montreal 3:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.21 Vancouver @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.21 Calgary @ Edmonton 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Feb. 25 NY Rangers @ Toronto 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.28 Toronto @ Ottawa 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Feb.28 Minnesota @ Edmonton 10:00 PM ET

March
· Wednesday, Mar. 4 Montreal @ Buffalo 7:30 PM ET
· Friday, Mar. 6 Montreal @ Atlanta 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.7 Edmonton @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.7 San Jose @ Vancouver 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Mar. 11 Tampa Bay @ Ottawa 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.14 Calgary @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.14 Colorado @ Edmonton 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Mar. 18 Dallas @ Calgary 9:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.21 Toronto @ Montreal 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.21 Vancouver @ Phoenix 10:00 PM ET
· Wednesday, Mar. 25 Calgary @ Pittsburgh 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.28 Boston @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Mar.28 Minnesota @ Calgary 10:00 PM ET

April
· Wednesday, Apr. 1 Philadelphia @ Toronto 7:30 PM ET
· Saturday, Apr.4 Montreal @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Apr.4 Vancouver @ Edmonton 10:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Apr.11 Ottawa @ Toronto 7:00 PM ET
· Saturday, Apr.11 Edmonton @ Calgary 10:00 PM ET

* Subject to change, subject to local blackout

Filed in: NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting, NHL Network | KK Hockey | Permalink

Comments

This is great news as Cablevision is adding NHLN-HD on 10/16.

Posted by RemyM on 10/03/08 at 12:47 PM ET

Will games on the NHL Network also appear on Centre Ice? I will feel extremely slighted if they don’t considering I just shelled out $160 for the package…

Posted by Jamie from Boston on 10/03/08 at 01:13 PM ET

No Jamie, but I do know may carriers give you the NHLN if you subscribe to CI.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 10/03/08 at 01:15 PM ET

Hopefully NHL on the Fly will now be in HD.

Posted by Paul from NJ on 10/03/08 at 01:20 PM ET

Are they going to be adding additional games such as one that feature 2 U.S. teams later on?

Also yes this means HNIC is no longer part of Center Ice. From NHL.com’s center ice page.

The hockey games included in NHL CENTER ICE are in addition to those available nationally on VERSUS, NBC, the NHL Network and your in-market networks (such as a regional sports network and/or over-the-air station).

Posted by jkrdevil on 10/03/08 at 02:03 PM ET

Some weeks Hockey Night in Canada shows more than one 7 PM game. When this happens I would hope that these would be included in the NHL Center Ice Package.

Posted by leafsfan1967 from Philadelphia on 10/03/08 at 02:09 PM ET

Last season I had Comcast cable here in Denver, which doesn’t carry the NHL Network. The games carried on the NHL network were blacked out on Center Ice, which was terrible. This year I switched to DirecTV and now get the NHL Network in HD, so hopefully I’m covered.

Posted by RJ on 10/03/08 at 02:38 PM ET

Anyone know if games on the NHL Network are also blacked out on the new Gamecenter Live online package? This would be a terrible thing, because the only reason I want to buy this package is because I don’t have digital cable/satellite.

Posted by SM from Atlanta on 10/03/08 at 03:14 PM ET

NHL is so f’in stupid about their TV stuff. So now to see NHL games I have to have my local station, VS, NBC, Center Ice, AND NHL network.
Well thats just great, except for the fact that I have to pay extra for VS, 160 for Center Ice, and I can’t get NHL network were I live.
So now i just lost 75 games this season, and yet I’m still paying out the ass just to watch hockey.
Also, I had to pay 200 PER TICKET to get on the season ticket waiting list, and until the new arena is built and I get my season tickets I have to pay $75+ per ticket for top level balcony seats on ebay because tickets to any good games sold out in 10 minutes.
Add all that up plus gas to games, parking at games, and I am going to be spending a couple thousand this season just to watch hockey on TV and go to a couple games. Thats just plain ridiculous.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 10/03/08 at 04:24 PM ET

Um, there are only 3 games listed here for the Red Wings, not 5, as claimed in the header.

Posted by Larry Aurie #6 from New York, NY on 10/04/08 at 01:39 PM ET

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