NBC brings more energy than CBC
                                                                      
by WILLIAM HOUSTON
From Thursday's Globe and Mail


Depending on which network you watched last night, you saw a different hockey game.

The CBC and NBC have different philosophies when it comes to televising hockey and they stood out during the fifth game of the Stanley Cup final.

NBC takes a journalistic approach. There's plenty of reporting and analysis. They try to get the information to you quickly.

The CBC has a style that isn't quite as energetic or urgent. At times the telecast seems almost cinematic in the sense that talk is less important than pictures.

Both work. It depends on what you want from a telecast. But for such a pivotal game, the CBC's coverage seemed too low-key at times.

On one subject, NBC and CBC were in agreement: The officiating, given the importance of the game, was poor. NBC's Pierre McGuire made note of cheap calls and so did the CBC's Harry Neale.

Analysts complaining about penalties gets tiresome quickly, but in this case, they were right.

"Too many chintzy calls," the CBC's Don Cherry said.

The analysis of CBC colour commentator Greg Millen was effective. He quickly made note of Ottawa's line changes, in particular Daniel Alfredsson moving off the big line.

NBC's Ed Olczyk did the same, and McGuire brought an extra dimension to the analysis.

When Ottawa's Anton Volchenkov was penalized in the first period, McGuire reported that the Ottawa bench was furious. He knew this because he was standing beside the Senators' bench, at ice level.

The CBC's broadcasters worked from the booth.

NBC was quicker off the mark for the opening segments.

While the CBC was airing pictures of the arena and players arriving at the rink, NBC announcer Mike Emrick was setting up the game.

When CBC's Ron MacLean was setting up the game, NBC's panel was making predictions. Both studio analysts Brett Hull and Ray Ferraro picked Anaheim to win.

CBC didn't get to Cherry and his prediction until three minutes into the telecast. He thought Ottawa would extend the series.

By that time, McGuire was on the ice interviewing the Ducks' Chris Pronger, who was returning from a suspension.

One miss by NBC: It didn't air the singing of the U.S. anthem, in which the soloist, taking a page from Canadian performers, put away the microphone and allowed the spectators to sing.

The CBC's Bob Cole had a reasonably good night, but Ottawa's first goal, by Alfredsson, took him by surprise. The puck was clearly in the net, but Cole was late by a moment or two in reporting it.

Why hockey fails

NBC is almost certain to deliver the lowest ratings for the Stanley Cup final since 1994 when the National Hockey League started putting telecasts on U.S. network television.

NBC's 1.1 national rating (percentage of households tuned in) for its first telecast of the final last Saturday matched the network's historic low for a prime-time show — a repeat of a West Wing episode in July, 2005. The second telecast, on Monday night, earned a 1.9 rating.

The NHL has plenty of reason to worry, because U.S. numbers for the Cup final have been trending downward since 1997.

Fox Television earned a 4 rating in 1997, when the participants were the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers, two high-profile teams playing in strong hockey markets.

For the next several years, ratings for the Cup final stayed above 3. Then, in 2003, for the Anaheim-New Jersey Devils series, ABC's average for five telecasts dropped to 2.9. The two teams had little marquee value.

The following year, for the Calgary Flames-Tampa Bay Lightning series, ABC's average fell further, to 2.6. Yes, it was a close, seven-game series, but it was another uninspiring matchup.

ABC said goodbye to the NHL, and the league said goodbye to hockey, shutting down in 2004-05. When play resumed, NBC stepped up as the league's new broadcaster. Gone were the days when Cup coverage earned ratings over 3.

NBC's average for five games in 2006 (Edmonton Oilers-Carolina Hurricanes) plummeted to a 2.3. This year, after two telecasts, it's 1.5.

What's gone wrong? NBC and the NHL have been toppled by two hard shots — a declining interest in the game, caused largely by the cancelled season, and matchups that have held little appeal.

The success of small-market teams is a source of pride to the NHL. It's certainly a testament to the league's level playing field. But it has done nothing to help the TV numbers.