It’s official. The NHL and Turner Broadcasting have reached a contract agreement for NHL TV rights, with details below. Turner will join ESPN in joint broadcasts for the NHL, similar to how they both broadcast the NBA. Monetary details have not been disclosed yet, but it seems almost like a 50/50 split.
- Turner will broadcast 72 national regular season games a year.
- They will get 3 years of Stanley Cup Final exclusively on their networks. They will also get 50% of the other playoff games each year.
- TNT gets the Winter Classic each year.
- Warner Media, which is a subset of Turner Broadcasting, will stream content on HBO Max. That is also a huge win for both sides.
- Bleacher Report will get extensive digital and highlight rights.
The NHL is doing two things with this deal: Keeping traditional TV broadcast rights for the older generations. They are also transitioning to the streaming platforms as the younger generations cut cords with cable TV providers.
The big wins here are again three fold. The NHL gets more money and exposure from multiple platforms across TV and streaming. The fans get a ton of content that the NHL has mostly closed off from social media. Turner Broadcasting gets a big and growing audience to complement their MLB and NBA coverage.
I’m intrigued to see the monetary details of the Turner and NHL contract.
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