NHL Network

[bob2274]

Now that MLB has forced the big cable companies and DirecTV into carrying their channel in 2009, has anyone heard anything about when the NHL Network will be launching in the US? Comcast owns Versus, and part of their NHL deal was that they would launch the NHL Network by summer of 2007. Versus renewed their NHL deal recently, but there hasn't been a peep about the NHL Network. Since a cable company is in charge of launching it, I assume it will be on a sports tier (rightly so), and my guess is it will be on channel 276 for those of us who have Comcast.

For anyone in Canada that already gets NHL Network, what do you think of it? 

[Kenz aFan]

I used to have the NHL Network via my satellite provider, but I ended up dropping it, because all the games I really wanted to watch were all being televised already locally to through other channels. Having every game available was nuts, since in my case, all of my team's games are on TV, either in English or in French.

Up here we don't have any MLB packages, so I pay for the MLB.TV packages, which allows me to watch every game I want, except the Blue Jays, who have most games on TSN or Roger's Sports Net, which means I can see pretty much any game I want.

If my satellite provider offered a MLB package at something close to the MLB.TV Mosaic prices, you can bet I would have that over the MLB.TV, and even if the price was a bit higher, I would get it.

[bob2274]

One thing I heard about the NHL Network as it exists in Canada is that they can't show live games while any of the Canadian teams are playing. In the US, those kind of restrictions wouldn't be needed. The thing I like the most about the channel is that it shows quite a few AHL and ECHL games too. From the rumor mill, I heard that our version will be a simulcast of the Canadian version for the most part, but no one will say when it starts. I would also guess that there will be a partnership with Versus in addition to TSN.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Haven not heard a squeak about that...pissed me off that the Ottawa game wasn't on Vs. tonight.

One thing I heard about the NHL Network as it exists in Canada is that they can't show live games while any of the Canadian teams are playing. In the US, those kind of restrictions wouldn't be needed. The thing I like the most about the channel is that it shows quite a few AHL and ECHL games too. From the rumor mill, I heard that our version will be a simulcast of the Canadian version for the most part, but no one will say when it starts. I would also guess that there will be a partnership with Versus in addition to TSN.