What will the new Rogers TV megadeal mean for Oilers fans? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since last night when Bob McKenzie tweeted out the news that he so fittingly broke. TSN is out of the National Hockey market and Rogers/Sportsnet is the big dog now. So selfishly the very first thought that went through my head was “I don’t care as long as all 82 Oiler games get broadcast.… But that isn’t true, I do care.
I care because TSN really has been world class with their hockey coverage and game presentations. The TSN panel has been home to hockey’s most plugged in figures and (sometimes) a high profile ex-coach or two. These are the guys who have built the NHL draft into the spectacle it has become, the World Juniors into a Christmas tradition, and still let me hear the proper Hockey theme song while they did it. It was shocking to see them so completely defeated by this most recent power clash. They didn’t lose these rights for a few years and then they can re-bid. This is a 12 year deal. This is a deathblow to hockey broadcasting in Canada as we know it.
But this isn’t a eulogy to TSN even if it reads like one, the hockey media landscape is changing and it doesn’t have to be for the worse, but it will take some work to get better. The Oilers are already a Sportsnet product in large part due to the regional deal they already have in place, so we’re talking about smaller changes for Oiler fans. For example, TSN is only broadcasting 10 Oiler games this year. Those games will be absorbed into the Sportsnet schedule or the CBC schedule, and it should happen relatively easily.
Those ridiculous Saturday morning starts that were scheduled because CBC owned the National Airwaves during prime hours are going to end, presumably. Rogers is free to broadcast whatever it likes during those times. If they want a Canucks game as the double header on HNiC and the Oilers game to be on at the same time on Sportsnet West then that’s their prerogative. The fans, specifically Oiler fans who have been shut out of Saturday night Hockey, can win in a big way here. Make no mistake, I love Hockey Night in Canada and I would hate to see them die out as collateral damage in this Rogers Coup, but they haven’t been overly kind to this Western market (and understandably so).
Sportsnet is going to need some more talent to take on the task that they’ve given themselves. It’s a crying shame that the talents of someone like a Ray Ferraro are barely seen anymore by Oiler fans. There will be layoffs and talent will be jumping ship to the new media powerhouses and they would be insane not to offer the moon to guys like Ferraro, McKenzie, and Dreger despite their strong TSN associations. The HNiC broadcast will be completely controlled by Rogers, from the creative direction to the personnel. Imagine to your hockey fan’s delight a HNiC hotstove panel of Friedman, McKenzie, Dreger, and Brunt; no more Healy and Weekes (if there’s justice in this world).
There’s a new future for how we consume our Hockey and the possibilities are exciting. Everything is too new, too fresh to get a solid read on how things go, but when the 2014 NHL Draft ends the free agent deals that might excite me most could be the ones involving former TSN and CBC broadcasters, not NHL players. Oilers broadcasts could see in influx of talent, both in front of the camera or behind it. Time slots can be better for every party involved. Exciting times, these are.
What do you want to come from this new deal?
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