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NHL on SportsChannel America was the presentation of National Hockey League broadcasts on the now defunct SportsChannel America cable television network.

Terms of the deal

Taking over for ESPN, SportsChannel's contract paid $51 million ($17 million per year) over three years, more than double what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for the previous three years SportsChannel America managed to get a fourth NHL season for just $5 million.

SportsChannel's availability

Unfortunately, SportsChannel America was only available in a few major markets,[1][2] and reached only a 1/3 of the households that ESPN did at the time.[3] SportsChannel America was seen in fewer than 10 million households[4]. In comparison, by the 1991–92 season, ESPN was available in 60.5 million homes whereas SportsChannel America was available in only 25 million. As a matter of fact, in the first year of the deal (1988–89), SportsChannel America was available in only 7 million homes when compared to ESPN's reach of 50 million. When the SportsChannel deal ended in 1992, the league returned to ESPN for another contract that would pay $80 million over 5 years.

SportsChannel America took advantage of using their regional sports networks' feed of a game, graphics and all, instead of producing a show from the ground up, most of the time. Distribution of SportsChannel America across the country was limited to cities that had a SportsChannel regional sports network or affiliate. Very few cable systems in non-NHL territories picked it up as a stand alone service. Regional affiliates of the Prime Network would sometimes pick up SportsChannel broadcasts, but this was often only during the playoffs. SportsChannel America also did not broadcast 24 hours a day at first, usually on by 6 p.m., off by 1 or 2 a.m., then a sportsticker for the next 16 hours.

Philadelphia

Since SportsChannel Philadelphia did not air until January 1990, PRISM (owned by Rainbow Media, the owners of SportsChannel, at the time) picked up the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals. Other than that, there was no NHL television coverage in Philadelphia except for the Flyers for the first half of the original deal.

See also: 1988–89 Philadelphia Flyers season and 1989–90 Philadelphia Flyers season

Lawsuit

Shortly after the ESPN deal was signed, SportsChannel America would contend that its contract with the NHL gave them the right to match third-party offers for television rights for the 1992–93 season. SportsChannel America accused the NHL of violating a nonbinding clause. SportsChannel America argued that it had been deprived of its contractual right of first refusal for the 1992–93 season. Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court justice Shirley Fingerwood would deny SportsChannel America's request for an injunction against the NHL. Upholding that opinion, the appellate court found the agreement on which SportsChannel based its argument to be "too imprecise and ambiguous" and ruled that SportsChannel failed to show irreparable harm.

Coverage overview

Regular season coverage

SportsChannel America would televise about 80–100 games a season (whereas ESPN aired about 33 in from 1985–88). Whereas the previous deal with ESPN called for only one nationally televised game per week, SportsChannel America televised hockey two nights/week in NHL cities and three nights a week elsewhere.

It was very rare to have a regular-season game on SportsChannel America that wasn't a regional SportsChannel production from the Chicago Blackhawks, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, or Philadelphia Flyers. The San Jose Sharks were added in 1991–92. As previously suggested, SportsChannel America for the most part, used the local telecasts. The dedicated SportsChannel America station was little more than an overflow channel in the New York area for SportsChannel New York.

Special programming

In 1989, SportsChannel America provided the first ever American coverage of the NHL Draft.

In September 1989, SportsChannel America covered the Washington Capitals training camp in Sweden and pre-season tour of the Soviet Union. The Capitals were joined by the Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames, who held training camp in Prague, Czechoslovakia and then ventured to the Soviet Union. Each team played four games against Soviet League clubs. Games were played in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Riga. The NHL clubs finished with a combined 6–2 record against the top Soviet teams, including the Red Army club and Dynamo Moscow. 5 of 8 contests were televised by SportsChannel America.

All-Star Game coverage

SportsChannel America was the exclusive broadcaster of the 1989 All-Star Game. The following year, they covered the first ever NHL Skills Competition and Heroes of Hockey game. SportsChannel America continued their coverage of these particular events through 1992. In 1991, SportsChannel America replayed the third period of the All-Star Game on the same day that it was played. That was because NBC broke away from the live telecast during the 3rd period in favor of Gulf War coverage.

Year Play-by-play Color commentator Ice level reporter Studio host Studio analysts
1989 Jiggs McDonald Scotty Bowman Gary Thorne Denis Potvin and Herb Brooks

Stanley Cup playoffs

Divisional finals
Year Teams Play-by-play Color commentator(s)
1989 Montreal-Boston Rick Peckham

Mike Emrick
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney

Bill Clement
Dale Tallon
Herb Brooks

Pittsburgh-Philadelphia (Games 1–5 aired on tape delay) Rick Peckham

Mike Emrick
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Gerry Cheevers

Bill Clement
Dale Tallon
Herb Brooks

St. Louis-Chicago Rick Peckham

Mike Emrick
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Gerry Cheevers

Bill Clement
Dale Tallon
Herb Brooks

Calgary-Los Angeles Rick Peckham

Mike Emrick
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald, Bill Clement, John Davidson, and Herb Brooks

Gerry Cheevers

Bill Clement
Dale Tallon
Jiggs McDonald, Bill Clement, John Davidson, and Herb Brooks

1990 Boston-Montreal (Games 1–2 aired on tape delay) Mike Emrick

Rick Peckham
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Bill Clement

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Dale Tallon
Ed Westfall

New York Rangers-Washington (Games 3–5 aired on tape delay) Mike Emrick

Rick Peckham
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Bill Clement

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Dale Tallon
Bill Clement and Ed Westfall

Chicago-St. Louis Mike Emrick

Rick Peckham
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Bill Clement

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Dale Tallon
Ed Westfall

Edmonton-Los Angeles (all gawere joined-in-progress) Mike Emrick

Rick Peckham
Pat Foley
Jiggs McDonald

Bill Clement

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Dale Tallon
Ed Westfall

1991 Boston-Montreal Jiggs McDonald, Bill Clement, John Davidson, and Herb Brooks

Rick Peckham
Mike Emrick
Pat Foley

Jiggs McDonald, Bill Clement, John Davidson, and Herb Brooks

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Bill Clement
Dale Tallon

Pittsburgh-Washington (all games aired on tape delay) Jiggs McDonald

Rick Peckham
Mike Emrick
Pat Foley

John Davidson

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Bill Clement
Dale Tallon

St. Louis-Minnesota Jiggs McDonald

Rick Peckham
Mike Emrick
Pat Foley

John Davidson

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Bill Clement
Dale Tallon

Los Angeles-Edmonton (all games were joined-in-progress) Jiggs McDonald

Rick Peckham
Mike Emrick
Pat Foley

John Davidson

Gerry Cheevers and Dave Maloney
Bill Clement
Dale Tallon

1992 Montreal-Boston Bob Cole

Jiggs McDonald
Pat Foley
Chris Cuthbert (Games 1-4) and Pat Foley (Games 5-6)

John Garrett and Dick Irvin, Jr.

Ed Westfall
Dale Tallon
Harry Neale (Games 1-4) and Dale Tallon (Games 5-6)

New York Rangers-Pittsburgh Jiggs McDonald

Bob Cole
Pat Foley
Chris Cuthbert (Games 1-4) and Pat Foley (Games 5-6)

Ed Westfall

John Garrett and Dick Irvin Jr.
Dale Tallon
Harry Neale (Games 1-4) and Dale Tallon (Games 5-6)

Detroit-Chicago Jiggs McDonald

Bob Cole
Pat Foley
Chris Cuthbert (Games 1-4) and Pat Foley (Games 5-6)

Ed Westfall

John Garrett and Dick Irvin Jr.
Dale Tallon
Harry Neale (Games 1-4) and Dale Tallon (Games 5-6)

Vancouver-Edmonton (Games 1-4 used CBC's feed; Games 3-4 were joined-in-progress) Jiggs McDonald

Bob Cole
Pat Foley
Chris Cuthbert (Games 1-4)
Pat Foley (Games 5-6)

Ed Westfall

John Garrett and Dick Irvin Jr.
Dale Tallon
Harry Neale (Games 1-4)
Dale Tallon (Games 5-6)

Conference finals

See also: NHL Conference Finals

Year Teams Play-by-play Color commentator(s) Ice level reporters
1989 Montreal-Philadelphia Mike Emrick Bill Clement and John Davidson and Bill Clement
Calgary-Chicago Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement, John Davidson, and Herb Brooks
1990 Boston-Washington Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement
Edmonton-Chicago Pat Foley Dale Tallon
1991 Boston-Pittsburgh Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement and John Davidson
Edmonton-Minnesota Mike Emrick Bill Clement, and John Davidson and Bill Clement
1992 Pittsburgh-Boston Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement
Chicago-Edmonton Pat Foley Dale Tallon
Stanley Cup Finals
Year Teams Play-by-play Color commentator Studio host Studio analyst Ice-level reporter
1989 Calgary-Montreal Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement Mike Emrick Herb Brooks
1990 Boston-Edmonton Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement Mike Emrick John Davidson
1991 Pittsburgh-Minnesota Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement Mike Emrick John Davidson
1992 Pittsburgh-Chicago Jiggs McDonald Bill Clement Mike Emrick John Davidson

Production

A fair amount of times in their first season, they would use their own production services for games. But very rarely would this sort of practice occur in the last three seasons. Since programming was so sparse otherwise SportsChannel America, usually the games were replayed immediately following the live telecast.

For playoff coverage, if any of the aforementioned teams made the playoffs, SportsChannel America would focus on those teams, using their facilities. For the Stanley Cup Finals, SportsChannel America would use their own facilities. They would also use their own facilities for any Conference Final series that did not involve one of SportsChannel's regional teams.

John Shannon was the senior producer of The NHL on SportsChannel America.

Announcers

Bob Papa and Leandra Reilly were the studio hosts during the regular season coverage. For the Stanley Cup Finals, Jiggs McDonald served as the play-by-play man while Bill Clement was the color commentator. Also in the Stanley Cup Finals, Mike Emrick served as the studio host while John Davidson served as the rinkside reporter and studio analyst (Herb Brooks filled that role in 1989).

Play-by-play

Color commentators

Ice level personalities

Studio personalities

Commentating crews

See also

Chicago Blackhawks seasons

Hartford Whalers seasons

New York Islanders seasons

New Jersey Devils seasons

San Jose Sharks seasons

See also

  1. Swift, E.M. (August 22, 1988). "Woe, Canada". Sports Illustrated. 
  2. Martzke, Rudy. "NHL broadcast boss pleased with cable move", May 2, 1989, p. 3C. 
  3. Taaffe, William (June 27, 1988). "A Better Open; Too Much Brent". Sports Illustrated. 
  4. (January 16, 1989) "Scorecard". Sports Illustrated. 
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