NHL Announces TV Schedule Despite Looming Threat of Lockout

Despite an on-going labor dispute between the NHL and NHLPA that threatens to wipe out games from the schedule, the league announced its planned television schedule yesterday for national partners NBC, NBC Sports Network, CBC, TSN, TSN2, RDS, and NHL Network-U.S. for the 2012-13 regular season.

In the U.S., NBC and NBC Sports Network enter the second season of the 10-year agreement with the NHL, the largest media rights deal in League history. It also is the eighth consecutive season both networks have served as a national television partner of the NHL in the U.S.

In Canada, CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada begins its 60th regular season of NHL® broadcasts. TSN, whose relationship with the NHL dates back to 1987, continues as the League’s national English-language cable partner. French-language telecast partner RDS has been televising NHL games since its inception in 1989 and enters its 10th consecutive season presenting every Montreal Canadiens game.

NBC Sports Group
NBC Sports Group will televise 100 games across NBC and NBC Sports Network.

NBC Sports Network will air NHL games three consecutive nights each week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday nights will be exclusive, and in January, NBC Sports Network will add a second exclusive night on Sundays. The network will include a live pre-game (NHL Live™) and post-game (NHL Overtime) show before and after every telecast.

NBC Sports Network also will televise NHL All-Star Weekend live from Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 25-27. Coverage includes the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft, NHL All-Star Skills Competition and the NHL All-Star Game.

For the second consecutive season, NHL on NBC broadcast coverage launches on Thanksgiving Friday, with the 2012 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown featuring the Boston Bruins playing host to the New York Rangers at 1:00 p.m. ET. NBC will follow up that broadcast with the 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Tuesday, Jan. 1, at Michigan Stadium on the campus of the University of Michigan, before airing the weekly “Game of the Week” beginning Jan. 20. On Feb. 17, Hockey Day in America will be expanded to a triple-header, with two afternoon games on NBC followed by evening game on NBC Sports Network.

CBC
CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada returns for its 60th season, highlighted by 101 regular-season games, including a special Nov. 1 match-up between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, just as it did in 1952 when Hockey Night in Canada first took to the TV airwaves.

The 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic and the 60th NHL All-Star Game also return exclusively to CBC this season. Hockey Night in Canada on CBC will continue to honor Canada’s pastime as Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada celebrates its 13th annual broadcast from Lloydminster AB/SK, Canada’s only border town, on Feb. 9, 2013. All Canadian teams will be featured on the day-long broadcast, which commemorates and highlights local hockey heroes.

In addition, all 101 regular-season games will be streamed online as well as available for iPad and iPhone users.

TSN
TSN platforms will broadcast 237 NHL regular-season games during the 2012-13 season, its most extensive broadcast package ever. TSN will broadcast 88 regular-season games nationally, including 74 games featuring Canadian teams. TSN2 will air 63 games. Highlighting TSN’s 2012-13 NHL regular-season broadcast schedule is the Hockey Hall of Fame Game, airing for the first time on TSN, featuring New Jersey at Toronto on Friday, Nov. 9. In addition, TSN has exclusive Canadian coverage of the NHL Draft, NHL Draft Lottery and the Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration, while retaining the English-language exclusivity of “Wednesday Night Hockey” during which there is no other national or local NHL telecasts.

RDS
RDS will once again have French-language coverage of all 82 regular-season Montreal Canadiens games. RDS and RDS INFO also will broadcast a package of games featuring other NHL teams, including the 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic and full coverage of the NHL All-Star Weekend.

NHL Network-U.S.
NHL Network-U.S. will televise 78 live games for its American audience this season, focusing on Thursday nights and Saturdays, including 14 doubleheaders and three tripleheaders. Regular-season coverage on NHL Network-U.S. gets underway on Friday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET and features Nashville at Detroit.

On Saturday evenings, NHL Network-U.S. will continue to incorporate CBC’s programming “Coaches Corner” and “Hotstove” into intermission content for American fans.

NHL Network’s signature show, NHL Tonight returns across North America, providing highlights and analysis of every NHL game on a nightly basis. In addition to NHL Tonight, the network also will feature live original programming each evening with Cisco NHL Live and NHL On the Fly. As