NHL and TSN Announce Six-Year Multi-Platform Extension

TSN and
the NHL have agreed to a new six-year broadcast and digital rights deal that
provides the NHL on TSN with more coverage of Canadian teams than ever before. The
agreement commences with the 2008-09 season and runs through 2013-14.
“This
landmark agreement provides TSN with its strongest NHL package ever.
Giving Canadian hockey fans more coverage of their teams has always been
a top priority for TSN and this new deal delivers with greater access to
Canadian teams and expanded hockey coverage on the digital platforms,” says Rick
Brace, president, revenue, business planning and sports, for CTV Inc. “The deal
underscores TSN’s valued partnership with the NHL and we look forward to
reaching new audiences and achieving new milestones with our all-encompassing
NHL programming.”
“TSN does an outstanding job of capturing all aspects of NHL hockey, and
we are extremely pleased that our fans in Canada can look forward to six more
seasons of creative, innovative and passionate NHL coverage,” says NHL Deputy
Commissioner Bill Daly.
TSN will
televise 70 regular season games annually; for the first time, with all games
featuring at least one Canadian team. TSN will also televise the first three
rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the possibility of featuring a
Canadian team in the Conference Quarter-Finals. This is the first time TSN
would have coverage of a Canadian team in the post-season.
A vast
majority of games will be shown in High Definition on TSN HD. Headlining TSN’s
increased Canadian team coverage is the Toronto Maple Leafs with 17 appearances
annually, followed by Montreal with 15, and 10
appearances each for Vancouver, Calgary,
Edmonton and Ottawa.