My Take on the Media (Part 5)

Alright, it's time for me to wrap up this minseries in my blog by focusing from the end of the NHL lockout to what the sport is today. When the lockout ended after the 2004-05 season, ESPN gave up their rights with the NHL and were picked up by OLN (now Versus), which is a cable network. As one would believe, ratings were very low and have risen over the years, but are not where they were before the lockout. Now that Versus is included in most basic cable packages, there are more viewers watching regularly. With Versus covering many regular season games, NBC decided to step in and helped with broadcasting the NHL, especially the Stanley Cup Finals. Now, Versus and NBC share the broadcasting rights with a lot of small networks all around the country. With all of these stations covering hockey and with satellite radio making a huge help, the NHL and hockey overall is growing, and continues to increase its fan base every year. Personally, i enjoy watching the games now, especially on NBC. They do a great job with their commentary and the way they represent the sport when they air it. Although i am not happy with the time NBC airs its games (Sundays at like 10:30am, i'm still asleep), i believe they do a reat job with the NHL and i hope it continues. After the lockout, many thought the NHL would fold all together. But with the expansion of audiences, the NHL is as strong as ever.

My Take on the Media (Part 4)

Up until the 2004-2005 season, hockey was consistently on the air by ESPN, and the sport of hockey was in my mind growing rapidly. Fan bases remained constant for about ten years and things were looking good. I was a frequent watcher of the NHL and it grew on me to the point that i started to play hockey. But when that 2004-2005 season came along, that's when the NHL took a HUGE downward spiral and began to fade away, especially here in the states. That's when the NHL's lockout took place, banning the sport for on whole year. I have to tell you, that was probbly the worst year of my life. Due to the lokout, ESPN's contract with the NHL expired and ESPN decided not pick it up again. The network thought the sport was dying and it was not in their best interest to continue airing the sport. After ESPN parted ways with the NHL, many fans were lost, as there were no games on national television, only on cable and satellite. OLN, now known as Versus, took over the job for ESPN after the lockout and that's when the new era of the NHL and the media took place.

My Take on the Media (Part 3)

When i first started watching hockey, ESPN was the only network that carried games on a regular basis. But around 1994, FOX got into the business and started to air games almost as frequent as ESPN did. Now here's the interesting thing about FOX's coverage of hockey. In my mind, i believed that FOX tried to make the sport of hockey appeal to those who enjoyed speciall effects and other popular thing you would see in other sports broadcasts. I thought that this idea went away from the sport and in my mind made the sport less popular. Sure, the new effects added such as the FoxTrax, which put an icon on the puck as it went along in order for fans to be able to find the puck easily, made the game look more futuristic, but i think for those who were loyal to the game made it less appealing. FOX did a good job with the NHL and it was unfortunate that they lost their rights to ABC. But from there, i thought the game got  whole lot better.

My Take on the Media (Part 2)

Okay, i got all the hatred of hockey being a mediocre sport in America, and am ready to move on. When hockey was first aired in North America, it was only on radio. Now there is even a channel on satellite that is dedicated specifically to hockey and the NHL(which i believe is a godsend, but I'll get into that later). With all the new technology that is around today, hockey is an ever-changing sport. But what about when hte NHL was first on the air. The farthest back i can remember watching hockey was when it was all over ESPN as well as ABC. That was around the mid 1990's. But after doing some research, i saw that NBC aired hockey games before i was even born. And apparently, that's when the sport was somewhat popular in the states, especially in the New York area. Going back to when i first watched hockey, i was intrigued by how they broadcasted the games. There were few commercials, the commentary was solid, and the overall experience was great. Personally, I thought that ESPN did the best job with broadcasting hockey games, and i am sad that they no longer do it (that may change, though). Back then, hockey was a popular thing to watch, and it was on television a lot. It was then that i first really got into the game thanks to all coverage that was on TV.

My Take on the Media (Part 1)

Alright, it is time to give my take on the media and how it broadcast the sport of hockey all across the country as well as the world. I remember back when i was in elementary school and hockey was a big thing. I could turn on the local channels and be able to see a live hockey game. There were movies such as Slapshot and The Mighty Ducks and everyone was a fan of hockey. But then something happened as i grwe up. Many went away from the sport and turned to other professional sports such as the NFL and NBA (which is a stupid league and should not be as popular as it is today), thus making hockey a dying sport here in America. I think that this sucks. Hockey has been my life for about the past ten years and i wouldn't trade it for the world. Hockey is the greatest and coolest (literally) sport in the world and demands the respect that i give it.

The Origins of Broadcasting Hockey

Since the main reason i am doing this blog is for my communication class, i thought it would be a grand idea to explain the origins of hockey in the media. Hockey over the air can be traced back to even the 1920's, with the first radio broadcasts of live NHL hockey games. With the introduction of hockey games on the radio came the most popular hockey show of all time, Hockey Night in Canada. The show aired on the radio in 1931 and later moved to television in 1952. It currently is one of the most popular shows in Canada. As for the United States, many did not recieve hockey games until the 1970's, when NBC and CBS picked up only a few games and no one had exclusive rights to NHL games. Although there were not many games aired, that changed in 1981 when USA network aired a full schedule of games in the US. Hockey has never done well with ratings compared to other pro sports such as the NFL and NBA. But in the late 1980's to today, hockey broadcasting took a big turn in the amount of exposure of the NHL, epecially in the US.