NHL set to unveil online broadcasting network
by Vito Pilieci
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, April 07, 2008

OTTAWA - The National Hockey League is launching a new online broadcasting network to provide homemade highlight packages, team updates and hockey-themed broadcasts over the Internet.

Called the NHL Network Online, the service will initially offer seven stations of NHL exclusive programming when it goes live at http://www.NHL.com on Wednesday.

"To really continue to serve our fans we needed to upgrade our broadband capabilities," said Larry Gelfand, senior vice-president of media sales for the NHL. "Fans can't get enough broadband. We have access to so much great content. This is really about being hyper-competitive in a hyper-competitive industry."

The league hopes the new website helps it to further reach out to its fans. According to studies done by market researcher Scarborough Research, NHL fans rank as the most technologically savvy.

More than 53 per cent of NHL fans have a broadband Internet connection at home, as opposed to 46 per cent of National Football League fans and Major League Baseball fans. Only 44 per cent of National Basketball Association fans have high-speed connections at home.

The seven stations available on the NHL Network Online will include: The Hockey Show, which will be a daily show produced from Monday to Friday, offering news on players and teams. It will also have dedicated on-air talent and reporters in each NHL city.

Livewire, another station, will offer fans exclusive video footage of pre-game warm-ups, news conferences, plus live streams of various teams' morning skates and practices.

The Playoff Channel is dedicated to bringing fans all of the news, player and player bios as NHL teams make their way through the playoffs.

Other channels will offer game highlights, classic games, NHL radio programming from XM satellite radio and a podcast channel where fans can sign up to have all NHL online content downloaded to their portable media player.

There are no plans to use the website to broadcast games live.

Gelfand said the NHL is likely to offer more stations on the website in the future to offer fans coverage of annual events such as the amateur draft, the NHLAll-Star Game and the annual NHL awards ceremony.

Spearheading the NHL's new online initiative is Andre Mika, an Emmy award-winning television producer who was responsible for producing Live Earth in 2007.

"We have hired the pro of all pros," Gelfand said. "(Mika) is an individual who has years and years of experience programming online at a very high level. He has programmed some of the biggest events in the online world, such as Live Earth, and he was on staff at AOL Music, programming their online content. We are very fortunate to have him."

Even though it hasn't gone live yet, the new website has attracted the interest of advertising sponsors. Dodge, Budweiser and Cisco Systems Inc. have all signed agreements to sponsor various stations.

The NHL has already formed partnerships with online broadcasters such as Joost and Hulu, which make replays of games available to people over the Internet.

Another partnership between the NHL and Youtube has supplied millions of people with highlights from league games.

The NHL Channel on YouTube has more than 25,600 subscribers. To date, NHL videos on Youtube have been watched more than 20 million times.